Lawyer related to the owner of the deli involved in the scams

A lawyer who is not currently licensed and has pleaded guilty to federal offenses related to the shell company’s fraud is listed as a lawyer in the first financial documents filed by a New Jersey firm whose stock valuation has risen to $ 100 million. dollars or more, despite the fact that it holds only one delicacy.

Former lawyer Gregg Jaclin was copied from communications filed by Hometown International deli owner at the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2015 and 2016, the data show.

These include Hometown’s first document to the SEC, which is publicly available.

In June 2020, Jaclin pleaded guilty to criminal charges of conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Separately, in a related case, the SEC in 2019 issued a final ruling against him “for running a fraudulent shell factory system by which counterfeit companies were made public and sold profitably,” a press release noted. that year.

The companies involved in that conduct – none of which was Hometown International – were formed in Nevada with the assistance of Jaclin, who was expelled to New Jersey last October for his actions.

Records show that Hometown International, although it had its only business in southern New Jersey, was itself incorporated into Nevada.

In a 2015 letter to Hometown International, SEC staff wrote, “We believe you are a shell company.”

Hometown International and its directors have not been charged with wrongdoing by the SEC or other government authorities.

Shares of Hometown International, which trades on the over-the-counter market, fell about 33% in the hours after trading on Friday morning. A day earlier, CNBC published articles about the company’s unusually large market capitalization, which was first mentioned in a letter to clients of hedge fund manager David Einhorn.

“The pastrami must be amazing,” Einhorn joked in his letter.

Stock prices recovered significantly during the day. Hometown shares closed at $ 12.99 per share on Friday, down 3.78% from the previous day.

Jaclin, who is still serving a three-year supervised release sentence for his criminal case, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

No other personalities have connected to Hometown International, including its top officers and current lawyer, and anyone monitoring the company’s voicemail when CNBC contacted her.

Paul Morina is the President and CEO of Hometown International, which owns Your Hometown Deli in Paulsboro, New Jersey.

Morina is also the principal and head coach of the famous wrestling team at Paulsboro High School. SEC documents show that it owns 1.5 million shares of the hometown’s stock, with warrants for an additional 30 million shares.

Christine Lindenmuth, a mathematics teacher and administrator at the same high school, is the vice president and secretary of her hometown.

Lindenmuth’s home address is listed as Hometown International’s mailing address.

The biographies of Morina and Lindenmuth in SEC documents do not mention any previous experience of any of them in the food service industry, a listed corporation or the financial industry.

Hills in his hometown have had sales of just $ 35,000 in the past two fiscal years. The deli was closed from mid-March to early September last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Despite this, its shares of nearly 8 million ordinary shares recently traded at levels of almost $ 14 per share, giving it a market capitalization of over $ 100 million.

A woman who answered the phone at the deli on Friday asked, “Do you want to place an order?”

He then hung up after the caller identified himself as a reporter and said he wanted to talk to someone about Hometown International.

In SEC filings, Homeland is clear about its business prospects.

“Our financial situation casts doubt on whether we will continue as a business.” says the company in a file.

The company suggests that it needs to find an acquisition target or additional financing to maintain operations.

“Future success depends largely on the ability of management to locate and attract an appropriate acquisition,” Hometown said in a recording last year.

Key shareholders of Hometown International also include entities in Hong Kong and Macao, China, a mecca for high net worth players.

Hometown President Peter Coker Jr. is listed as the president of a hometown investor who also operated a luxury hotel in Macao known as The 13.

This hotel boasts a fleet of Rolls-Royce Phantoms available as limousines for hotel guests. Online booking sites indicate that Hotel 13 does not currently accept reservations.

Coker’s father, Peter Coker Sr., is listed in the financial records as another key shareholder in his hometown.

Elder Coker, who lives in North Carolina, is listed on the SEC registry as holding 63,334 common shares in Hometown International, with warrants for an additional 1.26 million shares.

The old Coker has been identified in other SEC filings as the founder and CEO of Tryon Capital Ventures, a North Carolina entity. Hometown pays Tryon $ 15,000 a month under a consulting agreement.

“We anticipate extending the term of the consulting agreement with Tryon for an additional one year,” the hometown’s annual report said.

In 2019, an investor named W. Robert Bizzell sued Peter Coker Sr. and other administrative partners of an entity called Tryon Capital LLC in North Carolina Business Court, records show.

The lawsuit involved, among other things, instigating fraud and constructive fraud in connection with Bizzell’s investment in another Coker Sr.-related entity, SSAC Capital. He also said Bizzell’s money was earmarked to help expand a southern-season Southern Chapel’s specialty retail operation.

Bizzell’s lawsuit said the defendants “deviated from” their stated use of his money, which amounted to hundreds and thousands of dollars and turned his interest as a debtor into equity.

Coker Sr. and the other defendants denied Bizzell’s charges.

An August 2020 case showed that the lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed by Bizzell to the detriment, which is normal when civil lawsuits are settled by parties out of court.

John Marshall, a lawyer for Bizzell, declined to comment when contacted by CNBC. He said he was bound by the terms of a confidentiality provision in the settlement agreement.

Coker Sr. did not return comments. A lawyer for him did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Public records show that Coker Sr. lived in Macungie, Pennsylvania.

In 1992, The Morning Call near Allentown published an article stating that American Express Bank, in a bankruptcy case filed by Peter Coker, claimed that it “fraudulently transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars from its assets. to counter its fundraising efforts by nearly $ 900,000. . “

In court newspapers, the American Express said Coker “is a solvent debtor who wants to appear insolvent.”