U.S. Department of Justice
David E. O'Meilia
United States Attorney
Northern District of Oklahoma

NEWS RELEASE
July 22, 2008
Tulsa, Oklahoma

Dallas Man Pleads Guilty in Multimillion Stock Scam Involving Tulsa Companies

United States Attorney David E. O'Meilia announced a guilty plea in federal court today in a multimillion dollar "pump and dump" stock manipulation scheme that involved the stock of several companies, including at least two from Tulsa.

Mark Byron Lindberg, age 40, of the Dallas, Texas area, pled guilty to Conspiracy and will pay a $6,229,354 forfeiture money judgment for his participation in a wire and securities fraud that bilked investors across the nation out of millions of dollars. Between May 2004 and July 2007, Lindberg admitted that he and three unnamed co-conspirators, two of which are from Tulsa, attempted to illegally manipulate the stock price of various companies through a number of means including: (a) acquiring a substantial amount of free trading shares of stock in the companies through a number of brokerage accounts; (b) creating and distributing to the public false and misleading promotional materials; and (c) engaging in a coordinated trading of stock in order to manipulate the price of the stocks being traded.

The two Tulsa-based companies in which the stock was manipulated were Deep Rock Oil & Gas and Global Beverage Solutions, formerly known as Pacific Peak Investments. The companies themselves were not involved in the illegal activities and actually became victims of the scheme. Lindberg admitted that he and others caused to be distributed false and misleading promotional material on these and other companies causing the stock price to rise, commonly known as "pumping." Then, after a number of unsuspecting investors had purchased stock in the companies, the defendants would sell or "dump" their shares of stock at the inflated prices, leaving the innocent investors holding stock of reduced value. The conspiracy generated gross trading profits of at least $20 million.

Lindberg was charged by Information filed in federal court in Tulsa on July 14.

The matter was investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the IRS Criminal Investigation Division and the FBI. The government attorneys prosecuting the matter are Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin B. Muhlendorf and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeffery Gallant and Catherine Depew. Muhlendorf was also involved in the initial investigation of the matter by the SEC.