2 Minnesotans charged in ‘pump and dump’ securities fraud scheme

Two Minnesotans have been charged in connection to an illegal "pump and dump" stock manipulation scheme.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said 42-year-old Mark Allen Miller, of Breezy Point; 59-year-old Saeid Jaberian, of Hopkins; and 35-year-old Christopher James Rajkaran, of Queens, New York, are charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, securities fraud and wire fraud.

The trio allegedly used their control over dormant public shell companies to fraudulently manipulate and pump up the price of the companies’ stock so they could profit from the sale of stock to unwitting investors.

Miller and Jaberian haven’t yet made their initial court appearances.