Kennesaw, north Georgia men indicted for securities fraud

By Marcus K. Garner

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Two Georgia men turned themselves in Tuesday after being  charged in federal court with securities fraud and conspiracy for lying to investors about the profits of their public-held company.

A third man from Michigan was arrested on Oct. 17, and all three men were indicted by a federal grand jury on Oct. 15, authorities said.

Benjamin Stanley, 47, of Kennesaw, Rufus Paul Harris, 41, of Adairsville, and Darryl Horton, 48, of Okemos, Mich. allegedly broadcast to investers that stock shares for their company Conversion Solutions Holdings Corp. were selling for three times their actual value. The three in August 2006 issued false press releases and financial statements to inflate the stock price, while secretly transferring their own shares to family members who sold at inflated prices, officials with U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates' office said.

The men claimed their company had as much as $800 million in assets, $500 million of which was in the form of foreign sovereign bonds with more than $19 million in interest, court officials said.

The company CSHC, in fact, had little if any assets of value, or profits from any business, court officials said. But while the alleged false information was out, stock prices tripled, and the defendants' family members sold their shares at inflated prices, court officials said.