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by Mike Caswell

Andrew Hackett, the Toronto man appealing a four-year sentence he received in the United States for a 2017 pump-and-dump on the OTC Markets, has asked the appeal judges to let him out of jail. He says that he has a good chance of succeeding on at least one of his appeal grounds. He also claims to have been a exemplary prisoner who will behave himself while out on bond.

The request from Mr. Hackett comes as part of a case in which prosecutors accused him of running a scheme to boost a supposed social media listing though phone rooms and manipulative trades. The evidence against him included testimony of the boiler room operator as well as text messages in which he and others agreed on a target price for the stock. A California jury convicted him on Aug. 2, 2021, following a five-day trial, and the judge handed down the four-year jail term.

Mr. Hackett immediately appealed his sentence and, at least as he sees things, his prospects of success are good enough that the appeal judges should let him out of jail. In a motion for release filed on Tuesday, Aug. 22, he has asked that the judges allow him to go free on an unsecured appearance bond, and that they act quickly in doing so. He says that his appeal raises a "substantial question of law" that is likely to result in a reduction to his prison term.

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