New Jersey deli fraud defendant Patten seeks no prison time

Courtroom sketch of James Patten, left, and attorney Ira Sorkin at N.J. District Court in Camden, N.J., Oct. 11, 2022

Source: Elizabeth Williams

The final defendant awaiting sentencing in the brazen $100 million New Jersey deli stock manipulation case is asking a judge to give him no prison time — despite having a prior felony conviction that got him locked up.

A lawyer for the defendant, James Patten, in a new filing in New Jersey federal court cited the short jail sentence received by his co-defendant and former employer, Peter Coker Sr.

“Mr. Patten was Peter Coker, Sr.’s employee in the offense conduct,” the lawyer, Adam Brody, wrote.

“Accordingly, if a sentence of six months’ incarceration and six months’ home detention constitutes just punishment for Peter Coker, Sr., then surely Mr. Patten is entitled to a lesser sentence.”

A third defendant, Coker’s son, Peter Coker Jr., received a 40-month prison sentence for his role in the scheme, and has since been released, as has the father.

Brody also cited the former stockbroker Patten’s remorse for his crime of securities fraud, and his history of seizures, which included two in February and May, as other reasons for a non-prison sentence.

The filing revealed that the Winston-Salem, North Carolina, resident Patten has been working as a warehouse materials handler for Coca-Cola, and a part-time handyman at a taproom and brewery since pleading guilty in December 2023.

Prosecutors in late June asked Judge Christine O’Hearn to sentence Patten to between 12 and 18 months when she sentences him on July 21.

That is sharply lower than the term of between 70 and 87 months suggested by federal sentencing guidelines for Patten.

Prosecutors in their filing said that giving Patten a sentence that was more severe than that of the Cokers would be unfair, but also said he deserved to do time in prison.

“He was released in 2012, approximately two years before the beginning of this conspiracy,” prosecutors wrote. “A prison sentence is necessary because his return to fraud so soon after spending approximately two years in prison is troubling.”

CNBC requested that the sentencing submissions by both sides be made public by the court. O’Hearn did so, but several pages of both the prosecution’s and defense’s submissions have been redacted for unstated reasons.

Patten, Coker Sr., and Coker Jr. admitted to scheming to artificially boost the share prices of two thinly traded companies to make them attractive candidates for reverse mergers.

One of the companies, Hometown International, owned just one small, money-losing deli in Paulsboro, New Jersey — Your Hometown Deli — while the other one, 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 Morina, a high school principal and renowned wrestling coach, who was unaware of the stock manipulation scheme.

As a result of the scheme, the market capitalization of both companies at one point exceeded $100 million.

Patten was convicted in an unrelated mail fraud case in 2010 and sentenced to 27 months in prison.

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“When I was released in 2012, I thought that I had learned my lesson and that I would never again put myself or my family in that position again,” Patten wrote in a letter to O’Hearn.

“But I failed,” he added.

Patten in the letter said that within two years of his release, “I started down the road that brings me before the Court now.”

Brody in his filing said Coker Sr. recruited Patten to assist him in what became the stock manipulation scheme.

Patten told the judge that at the time “I felt lost and desperate to regain some sense of my prior life” as a broker, but “no reputable firm would hire me.”

“I should have said ‘no’ when this scheme was presented to me, and agreeing to participate will always be one of the worst mistakes of my life,” Patten wrote. “I knew the scheme was wrong, but I ignored that voice in my head. I have no one to blame but myself.”

His lawyer, Brody, in his sentencing submission to O’Hearn cited letters from family and friends of Patten that the attorney said “paint a consistent and detailed portrait of a man whose defining characteristics are an impressive work ethic, deep devotion to family, and a desire to help others without expectation of reward.”