Your Hometown Deli in Paulsboro, NJ
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A federal judge granted a Justice Department request to remain a Securities and Exchange Commission civil case over alleged fraud involving a small-town Recent Jersey delicatessen whose parent company was once valued at $100 million on the stock exchange.
Federal prosecutors had asked earlier in December that the judge adjourn the SEC case on account of the significant overlap between their criminal cases. They argued that adjournment of the civil case would “preserve the integrity” of the prosecution by stopping the defendants from seeing the extent of the evidence presented by the government against them.
Judge Christine O’Hearn granted the request Wednesday, finding that there was no objection from either the SEC or the defendants. The SEC declined to comment beyond public filings.
The decision is the final step in the saga of Your Hometown Deli, a now-closed sandwich shop in Paulsboro, Recent Jersey that prosecutors say was used as a pawn in a global market manipulation scheme. It was the sole asset of Hometown International, a company controlled by financiers James Patten, Peter Coker Sr. and Peter Coker Jr. The latter are father and son.
In September, prosecutors charged the three men with quite a few crimes, alleging that the trio manipulated the market to artificially inflate values A world hometown and one other shell company, E-Waste. Patten and Coker Sr. were arrested the day the charges were announced, while Coker Jr., who lives in Hong Kong, stays at large. The SEC also released a civil lawsuit against the three men on the same day.
Your Hometown Deli had an annual revenue of lower than $40,000 despite Hometown International’s market value of $100 million, based on public records. Paul Morina, head coach and wrestling coach at Paulsboro High School, opened a deli along with his longtime friend Patten in 2014.
Prosecutors say Patten convinced Morina to open a delicatessen under the umbrella of Hometown International. Unbeknownst to Morina, Patten and the father-son duo of Coker “began to position Hometown International as a vehicle for a reverse merger that might make them a significant profit,” prosecutors said.
Earlier this month, prosecutors said they expected to review about two batches of 80,000 documents each by January 27. The court will hold a conference on the status of these documents on January 17.