Former FBI Agent Jailed in Stock Fraud Case

A former FBI agent accused of helping stock trader Amr I. “Anthony” Elgindy manipulate shares by giving him secret information was jailed Thursday by a federal judge for allegedly contacting a witness in the case.

U.S. District Judge Raymond J. Dearie ordered Jeffrey A. Royer, a former FBI agent in Oklahoma and New Mexico, to jail after authorities accused him of improperly contacting and coaching a witness in the case against him.

Royer and a current FBI agent, Lynn Wingate, are charged with supplying confidential information from FBI databases to Encinitas, Calif.-based Elgindy, who is accused of using the information to target stocks for “short sales”--a bet on falling prices. The agents and Elgindy were indicted last week.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Kenneth Breen told Dearie that Royer contacted a law enforcement officer in New Mexico after he was released from custody Tuesday.

Breen said Royer tried to coach the unidentified officer about the case, and the officer contacted authorities. “This is a defendant who cannot abide by the conditions of his release,” Breen told Dearie.

Defense lawyer Lawrence Gerzog argued before Dearie that Royer’s only reason for contacting the New Mexico officer was to apologize to his friend “for getting his name mixed up” in the case.

Royer will remain at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., until at least Monday or Tuesday, when a hearing will be conducted on the government’s tampering allegation, Dearie said.