“CHiPs” star Larry Wilcox faces securities fraud charges for his involvement in an elaborate kickback scheme involving penny stocks. Mr. Wilcox, who played California Highway Patrol Officer Jonathan Baker in the hit TV show “CHiPs” in the late 70s and 80s, was charged on Thursday, October 7, 2010, by federal regulators.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the U.S. Attorney for Southern Florida and the FBI caught more than a dozen penny-stock promoters, along with Mr. Wilcox, in a sting operation set-up. The promoters were caught in “various illicit kickback schemes to manipulate the volume and price of microcap stocks and illegally generate stock sales,” said the SEC. The schemes revealed by the SEC “generally involved the payment of kickbacks to purportedly corrupt pension fund managers or stockbrokers, who would use their clients’ accounts to purchase the publicly traded stock of microcap issuers controlled or promoted by the individuals and companies charged today.” The SEC has alleged that Mr. Wilcox operated the scam under his company, UC Hub Group Inc. in which he “perpetrated interrelated kickback schemes with two other penny-stock company executives.” The SEC intends to continue its investigation into Mr. Wilcox and the other alleged scam artists to determine if they were behind other scams and to see if, and how many, investors became victims of their alleged investment fraud schemes.
Recovering Losses Caused by Investment Misconduct.