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by Mike Caswell

New York prosecutors have asked that a judge impose a 10-year jail term on Gerald Cocuzzo, a former Florida broker who participated in the Forcefield Energy Inc. scheme. Mr. Cocuzzo, 38, committed an abuse of trust by using client accounts to buy Forcefield shares while receiving secret kickbacks, the government says. He did so as part of a $131-million market manipulation scheme. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.)

The request from the government comes in a case in which prosecutors cited a Canadian, Richard St. Julien, for a six-year 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.

Mr. Cocuzzo did not have a trial, as he entered a guilty plea on Nov. 8, 2016. His role in the scheme, as described by prosecutors, included accepting kickbacks to buy $485,000 worth of shares in 13 accounts. During the manipulation, he received $18,500 in cash and was owed another $15,000 when the scheme collapsed. The charge to which he pleaded guilty, one count of securities fraud, carries a maximum possible sentence of 20 years.

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