Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Former President of Georgetown Company Sentenced for Securities Fraud Scheme

BOSTON, MA—A former Boxford man was sentenced in federal court late yesterday for making false statements to the public and the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the sale of stock of a company for which he served as president from 2004 to 2007.

DANIEL O’RIORDAN, 46, of Providence Village, Texas, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Mark L. Wolf to six months' imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release and a $ 10,000 fine.

On August 16, 2010, O’RIORDAN pleaded guilty to one count of fraud in connection with the purchase and sale of securities. At the plea hearing, the prosecutor told the court that had the case proceeded to trial, the government’s evidence would have proven that O’RIORDAN was the president of Paradigm Tactical Products, Inc., with offices in Georgetown, Massachusetts when he acted in concert with others to file false documents with the SEC. The evidence would have proven that the false filings were used to fraudulently obtain an exemption from stringent SEC registration, reporting and disclosure requirements in connection with sales of the company’s stock to the public. As president of the company, O’RIORDAN signed a false “Form D” which fraudulently reported that a private offering had been made to purchasers of company stock in 2002, that the purchasers were accredited investors who met SEC investor requirements regarding financial assets and income, and that there were no individuals who owned more than 10 percent of the company’s equity shares. In fact, there was no private offering in 2002, the purported investors did not pay for shares of the company, and the shares of the company were actually owned entirely by someone other than the individuals reported to the SEC. O’RIORDAN was also involved in issuing false press releases about the company for the purpose of influencing public stock sales.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz, Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division and William P. Offord, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation - Boston Field Division made the announcement. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Victor A. Wild and Andrew E. Lelling of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit.

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