U.S. Probing Voicemail Scam

Authorities said Tuesday that they had broken up a ring of telemarketers who left phony stock tips on voicemails, luring investors into believing they had mistakenly received inside information.

In a new twist on what is known as a “pump and dump,” a woman calling herself “Debbie” offered a tip from “a hot stock exchange guy I’m dating” and reported that the company was about to make a big announcement. The messages were broadcast to hundreds of thousands of people whose purchases inflated shares of six small, thinly traded companies by $179 million, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department said.

The SEC “is fully committed to the vigorous prosecution of those involved in the manipulation of the microcap market,” SEC attorney Peter Bresnan told reporters in Washington.

Michael O’Grady, president of Telephone Broadcast Co. of Augusta, Ga., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to destroying evidence. O’Grady, 38, agreed to pay $75,786 to settle a related SEC case and is cooperating with the probe.

SEC lawyers said the case was the first time they had seen false voicemails used to drive up share prices. The people behind the calls owned the stocks and sold them at a profit.

Larry Gondelman, an attorney who represents O’Grady’s companies, declined to comment.

The suit didn’t name the Florida-based stock promoters who hired O’Grady. Prosecutors said “Debbie,” the woman whose voice was on the phone messages, is married to one of the promoters but didn’t give her real name.