June 02, 2016 - 5:11 AM
BUFFALO, N.Y. - A British man has pleaded guilty to his role in operating a Spain-based "boiler room" operation that conned about 250 investors out of nearly $3 million.
The U.S. attorney's office says 52-year-old Martin Rhys-Jones of the United Kingdom pleaded guilty in federal court in Buffalo to laundering money acquired in a wire fraud conspiracy.
Prosecutors say Jones and Arnold Wrobel, a former Buffalo resident, oversaw a boiler room in Barcelona that bilked investors in the U.K. and Canada by getting them to buy nearly worthless shares of restricted stock at highly inflated prices.
Officials say a portion of the proceeds from the criminal operation were funneled through a bank account in western New York before being sent to numerous overseas accounts controlled by Jones and Wrobel.
Wrobel was convicted in December and is awaiting sentencing.
News from © The Associated Press, 2016