Courtroom sketch of James Patten (left) and attorney Ira Sorkin in New Jersey District Court in Camden, New Jersey, October 11, 2022
Source: Elizabeth Williams
The last defendant awaiting sentencing in New Jersey’s brazen $100 million deli stock manipulation case is asking a judge not to give him any prison time, despite his prior prison convictions.
In a new filing in New Jersey federal court, defense attorney James Patten cited the short prison sentence received by co-defendant and former employer Peter Coker Sr.
“Mr. Patten was an employee of Peter Coker Sr. who engaged in criminal activity,” attorney Adam Brody wrote.
“Therefore, if a sentence of six months in prison and six months home detention constitutes a just punishment for Peter Coker Sr., Mr. Patten is certainly entitled to a reduced sentence.”
A third defendant, Mr. Coker’s son Peter Coker Jr., was sentenced to 40 months in prison for his role in the scheme and released like his father.
Mr. Brody also cited Mr. Patten, a former stockbroker, for his remorse for securities fraud charges and his history of two previous seizures, one in February and one in May, as reasons for the non-prison sentence.
Since pleading guilty in December 2023, Patten, who lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has worked as a warehouse material handler for Coca-Cola and as a part-time handyman at a taproom and brewery, according to filings.
Prosecutors in late June asked Judge Christine O’Hearn to impose a sentence of 12 to 18 months when Patten is sentenced on July 21.
This is significantly lower than the 70 to 87 month sentence suggested by federal sentencing guidelines for Patten.
Prosecutors said in their filing that it would be unfair to give Patten a heavier sentence than the Cokers, but also said he deserved a prison sentence.
“He was released from prison in 2012, approximately two years before this conspiracy began,” prosecutors wrote. “The fact that he returned to fraud so soon after serving about two years in prison is problematic and requires a prison sentence.”
CNBC requested that the court release sentencing submissions from both sides. O’Hearn did so, but several pages of the prosecution and defense filings were redacted for unstated reasons.
Mr. Patten, Mr. Coker Sr., and Mr. Coker Jr. admitted to conspiring to artificially inflate the stock prices of the two companies, which had small trading volumes, to make them more attractive candidates for a reverse merger.
One of the companies, Hometown International, owned only one small, loss-making deli in Paulsboro, New Jersey, Your Hometown Deli, and the other, E-Waste, was a shell company with no significant business operations.
Patten grew up in Paulsboro, where he was a standout high school wrestler. The deli was run by Patten’s friend and teammate Paul Molina. Paul Molina was a high school principal and a well-known wrestling coach, but he had no knowledge of the stock manipulation scheme.
As a result of this plan, the market capitalization of both companies at one point exceeded $100 million.
Patten was convicted in 2010 in an unrelated mail fraud case and sentenced to 27 months in prison.
“When I was released in 2012, I thought I had learned my lesson and would never put myself or my family in that position again,” Patten wrote in a letter to O’Hearn.
“But I failed,” he added.
In his letter, Patten said that within two years of his release, “I am now on the path to appearing in court.”
Mr. Brody said in his filing that Coker Sr. recruited Mr. Patten to assist in the stock price manipulation scheme.
Patten told the judge that as a broker at the time, “I felt a sense of loss and desperately wanted to regain some sense of my previous life,” but “no reputable firm would hire me.”
“I should have said ‘no’ when this plan was presented to me. Agreeing to participate will always be one of the worst mistakes of my life,” Patten wrote. “I knew my plan was wrong, but I ignored the voice in my head. There’s no one to blame but myself.”
In his sentencing submission to O’Hearn, his attorney Brody cited letters from Patten’s family and friends, saying the attorney “paints a consistent and detailed portrait of a man characterized by an impressive work ethic, a deep dedication to his family, and a desire to help others without expecting anything in return.”
