In a $100 million New Jersey deli stock scheme, both father and son have pleaded guilty.

• The father and son were found guilty of conspiring to commit a daring stock manipulation scheme on a small New Jersey deli, despite the parent company having an unlikely market capitalization of $100 million.
• In the upcoming spring, Peter Coker Sr. and Peter Coker Jr. will be sentenced in the case heard in U.S. District Court in Camden, New Jersey.
• James Patten, a third defendant, previously pleaded guilty to charges of securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud in connection with Hometown International.

On Thursday, a father and son were found guilty of conspiring to commit a daring stock manipulation scheme involving a small, unprofitable New Jersey deli whose parent company had an unlikely market value of $100 million.

In the upcoming spring, Peter Coker Sr. and his son Peter Coker Jr., who was once a fugitive, will be sentenced in the case heard in U.S. District Court in Camden, New Jersey, as per federal prosecutors.

In December 2023, James Patten, the third defendant, pleaded guilty to charges of securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud related to the former company and another firm.

The Cokers and Patten confessed to their part in the scheme to inflate the stock price of Hometown, which had only one valuable asset, the Your Hometown Deli in Paulsboro, and the shares of a shell company called E-Waste at the time.

The stock price of E-Waste increased by almost 20,000%, while the hometown's stock price rose by more than 900%.

The scam, which lasted from 2014 to September 2022, involved the coordinated trading of the stocks of both companies on the OTC Marketplace, giving the false impression of demand for their shares.

The defendants, through their control of the companies' management and shares, aimed to use them as tools for reverse mergers with privately held companies. As a result, both companies were merged in such deals.

An 82-year-old man from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, has been released on bond after being arrested in September 2022. He will be sentenced on May 13.

An attorney for the elder Coker, Zach Intrater, refused to provide any comment regarding his guilty plea.

Since his extradition from Thailand in March 2023, Coker Jr., a 56-year-old former Hong Kong resident, has remained in custody without bail. He will be sentenced on April 2.

A lawyer for Coker Jr. had no immediate comment Thursday.

The defendants face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

In 2010, Patten was convicted of mail fraud in New Jersey federal court for falsifying financial statements to hide poor investments he made with a client's money. He was sentenced to 27 months in prison.

This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.