The Chief Executive Officer of a questionable psilocybin mushroom company, Julias Jenge, was arrested for allegedly bamboozling investors late last month.
Police apprehended him at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Virginia on Aug. 22 while attempting to flee to Tanzania. His arrest was linked to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into allegations of securities fraud and reporting false information. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
The dubious company in question, Minerco Inc., has had a troubled history for the past few years. Shares of Minerco were formerly traded on the OTC Markets under the ticker symbol “MINE,” but following an SEC suspension in 2021, they have not been re-listed and remain worthless.
Moreover, Jenge’s involvement with an individual who has a criminal record and who pulled the strings for their alleged fraud scheme is another aspect of the investigation.
“Jenge allegedly concealed the involvement in Minerco of a co-schemer who had a criminal history and who controlled all aspects of Minerco’s operations,” the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement. “Among other things, Jenge allegedly failed to disclose his co-schemer’s involvement with Minerco in public filings, although he was required to do so.”
Following Jenge and his unnamed co-schemer taking over the former beverages company in 2019, they bought up a billion shares. They then released a series of false and misleading news releases in 2020 and 2021 to help inflate the share price. The stock hit a peak price of US$0.016 in February 2021 and an ensuing sale enabled Jenge’s partner in crime to line his pockets with US$8.4 million.
Jenge was supposedly paid US$26,000 for his role in the purported pump-and-dump scheme.
Graph: SEC
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Jenge gets released on US$100K bond; under house arrest
His legal representative was able to provide the judge with information validating that Jenge allegedly had a legitimate reason for traveling to Africa: attending a funeral.
Jenge was then released and placed under house arrest at his girlfriend’s residence in Maryland. He is subject to GPS monitoring and a US$100,000 unsecured bond. This essentially means that if he fails to appear at future hearings or violates any other conditions he may be required to pay that entire sum.
In addition to having an arrest warrant, that is.
“If you somehow make it to Tanzania, you better plan on living there for the rest of your life,” Judge Michael Harvey told Jenge on Aug. 27. Harvey suspects that Jenge may still try to flee the United States.
Jenge was set to appear in a deposition (legal proceeding) regarding an investigation into Minerco by the SEC about a week after he was arrested.
Lies that he and his partner in crime are accused of using to drive up Minerco’s stock price included saying that the company had been acquired by a “specialized research firm,” and that it had exported psilocybin to Mydecine Innovations Group Inc (OTCMKTS: MYCOF). Mydecine denied that this ever happened.
Jenge also apparently lied about holding an MBA in marketing and a Bachelor of Arts degree in accounting. The mushroom CEO claims that he didn’t know about his accomplice’s criminal past, that the press releases were true and that he didn’t make any money from the fraudulent stock trading.
rowan@mugglehead.com
