Ex-fugitive in $100 million New Jersey deli case leaves Thailand for U.S. court hearing

A erstwhile fugitive charged with stock manipulation successful the bizarre lawsuit of a money-losing New Jersey deli erstwhile valued astatine $100 cardinal was flying successful custody from Thailand precocious Tuesday, en way to a planned tribunal quality successful the United States, his lawyer said.

The defendant, fallen Hong Kong businessman Peter Coker Jr., is expected to look successful U.S. District Court successful Newark, N.J., arsenic aboriginal arsenic Wednesday afternoon, oregon arsenic precocious arsenic Thursday, the lawyer John Azzarello told CNBC.

Coker Jr., 54, was arrested successful the edifice country of Phuket, Thailand, successful mid-January. He was apprehended much than 3 months aft the well-publicized arrests successful North Carolina of his 2 co-defendants: his begetter Peter Coker Sr., and James Patten.

Since his apprehension by Thai authorities, Coker Jr. had been held successful a Bangkok jailhouse and was awaiting transport to the U.S., having waived extradition.

Azzarello said that Coker Jr.'s ineligible squad "is inactive successful discussions with" the U.S. Attorney's Office successful New Jersey connected a imaginable bail package. He would not remark connected whether prosecutors were opposed to a justice releasing Coker Jr. connected bond.

A spokesperson for the prosecutors' bureau did not instantly respond to a petition for comment.

The 80-year-old Coker Sr. and the 64-year-old Patten were freed connected $100,000 enslaved each aft their arrests successful September for the alleged scheme, which spanned 8 years.

All 3 defendants are charged successful a 12-count indictment successful Camden, N.J., national court, that alleges they committed fiscal crimes related to 2 publically traded companies.

One of those companies, Hometown International, owned lone a modest, now-shuttered deli successful Paulsboro, New Jersey. The different firm, E-Waste, was a ammunition institution that had nary assets.

Prosecutors impeach the trio of a strategy to artificially inflate the worth of banal shares of some companies to sky-high levels successful an effort to marque them charismatic takeover candidates for backstage firms hoping to instrumentality vantage of their banal marketplace tickers.

"These tactics artificially inflated the terms of Hometown International and E-Waste's banal by giving the mendacious content that determination was a genuine marketplace involvement successful the stock," prosecutors said successful a quality merchandise past fall. "Their strategy had the eventual interaction of artificially inflating Hometown International's banal by astir 939 percent and E-Waste's banal by astir 19,900 percent."