United States Attorney
Southern District of New York
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: U.S. ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
December 1, 2005
HERBERT HADAD, MEGAN GAFFNEY
HEATHER TASKER, BRIDGET KELLY
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
(212) 637-2600
FBI
JAMES MARGOLIN, MATTHEW BERTRON
(212) 384-2715, 2720
FORMER BREAN MURRAY INVESTMENT BANKER PLEADS GUILTY
IN FEDERAL COURT TO STEALING ALMOST $1 MILLION
MICHAEL J. GARCIA, the United States Attorney for the
Southern District of New York, announced that LORNE CAPLAN, a
former investment banker at Brean Murray & Co., a New York
investment bank, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court late
yesterday to charges that he stole approximately $990,000 from
clients of Brean Murray.
As explained in the Information to which he pleaded
guilty, CAPLAN was an investment banker at Brean Murray and was
responsible for acting as an intermediary between investors and
companies issuing securities. From time to time, acting in his
role as an investment banker, CAPLAN would contact clients and
facilitate the purchase of securities and provide professional
advice to those clients regarding investment opportunities.
Starting in June 2001, according to the charges, LORNE
CAPLAN solicited two potential investors for an investment in
Standard Mems, a company which, among other things, manufactures
sensors for medical equipment. CAPLAN received a total of
approximately $600,000 from these two victims to be invested in
Standard Mems. Contrary to his representations, CAPLAN then
converted the funds to his personal use. Further, in June and
July 2001, CAPLAN diverted for his personal use an additional
amount of approximately $290,000 that had been previously
invested with Brean Murray & Co. by four other investors in
connection with a bond issue for Standard Mems.
In order to execute the unauthorized wire transfers of
funds from Brean Murray to the other accounts, CAPLAN provided
2
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