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by Mike Caswell

Michael Garnick, a Pennsylvania lawyer charged for planning the pump-and-dump of OTC Markets listing Biocube Inc., has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors claim that Mr. Garnick was part of a scheme to manipulate Biocube as high as $1 and sell shares through offshore accounts. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.) The scheme would have included a group of unnamed Canadian promoters who would have received 30 per cent of the money, according to the government.

Mr. Garnick, 58, entered the plea in an appearance before New York Judge Lois Bloom on Feb. 13, 2018. He remains free on a $250,000 bond secured by a property in Philadelphia. He must continue to abide by the conditions imposed on him after his arrest on April 14, 2017, with those conditions including a restriction on travel and from having any contact with his co-defendants or potential witnesses.

The not guilty plea from Mr. Garnick comes with two of his co-defendants having admitted to their parts in the scheme. On Jan. 3, 2018, former Biocube chief executive officer Boris Rubizhevsky entered a guilty plea. Also pleading guilty was Dimitrios Argyros, a New Jersey man who was to set up bank and brokerage accounts in Cyprus as part of the scheme. Prosecutors have not released the plea agreements for the two men, but the fact that they entered a plea is undoubtedly of at least some concern to Mr. Garnick. Those pleading guilty usually agree to help the government and to testify against their co-defendants, if necessary.

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