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by Mike Caswell

Gerald Cocuzzo, a former Florida broker who admitted to taking bribes during the Forcefield Energy Inc. manipulation, has asked the judge to spare him jail. He says that he took the money out of desperation, and believed that Forcefield was a genuinely worthy investment. While prosecutors called Forcefield a $131-million scheme, Mr. Cocuzzo claims that the losses to his clients were a far more modest $250,000. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.)

The request from Mr. Cocuzzo, 37, comes as part of a case in which the government cited a Canadian, Richard St. Julien, for a long-running scheme to manipulate Forcefield. To boost the stock, Mr. St. Julien arranged secret payments to brokers, including Mr. Cocuzzo, prosecutors said. Forcefield went to a $7.54 high during the scheme (and was last at 0.01 cent). Most investors suffered catastrophic losses after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission halted the company on April 21, 2015, citing a possible manipulation in progress.

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