Christopher Cervino, 43, faces fraud and other charges for his alleged involvement in a scheme to trade stock at inflated prices, according to reports. Authorities allege the plan was masterminded by a man previously convicted in another stock scam.

Authorities say Cervino allegedly accepted two payments equaling $35,000 as part of the scheme. Cervino was reportedly recently arrested and charged with conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud and perjury, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. He faces decades in prison and up to $5 million in fines if convicted.

According to his FINRA Broker Check, Cervino was registered with Primary Capital in New York, NY from 10/30/2014 – 01/07/2016 and prior to that he was registered with COR Clearing LLC in Edison, NJ from 08/07/2013 – 10/29/2014. He has six disclosures listed on his Broker Check and he was permanently barred from the securities industry by FINRA in April 2016.
The report also states that Edward Durante, 63, was the alleged mastermind behind the scheme. Authorities claim Durante secretly controlled stock in VGTel Inc. and worked with Cervino and others to inflate its price by arranging phony sales. Authorities say the scam netted Durante and the others involved at least $15 million from about 100 investors between 2009 and March 2015. (SeeArrests Made in $15M Fraud Scheme.)

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