Man Arrested In Google Stock Fraud Pleads Guilty
By WebProNews
Staff Writer
Article Date: 2004-05-18
Shamoon Rafiq, who was arrested for scamming people with a false Google stock sale, has plead guilty to wire fraud. Rafiq was arrested for attempting to sale bogus, pre-IPO Google stock. He faces 51 to 63 months worth of jail time.
Victims of Rafiq's scam had "invested" in almost $3 million worth of nonexistent Google stock. Although Google has since filed for its IPO, at the time of the scam, the company's intentions were unclear. Rafiq told his victims that they would be getting in on a pre-IPO Google stock sale that would be only available to friends and family and that the prices would be discounted.
To further bolster his scam, Rafiq also stated that he attended Stanford with the co-founders of Google. Rafiq's lawyer requested that he be allowed to serve his sentence in the Netherlands because Rafiq is Dutch.
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