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by Mike Caswell

Ongkaruck Sripetch, the Washington State stock tout known as "King Richards," has requested a jail term of no more than one year for his part in an OTC Markets scheme. Prosecutors in San Diego say that Mr. Sripetch and a group of Canadians boosted companies using a website that Mr. Sripetch controlled called Stockpalooza.com. The men were secretly unloading hundreds of thousands of shares as they were touting the stocks, the government claims.

The request from Mr. Sripetch comes about five months after he pleaded guilty to a charge of offering unregistered securities for sale. Prosecutors are seeking two years in jail, calling his actions a serious offence. They are also asking that the judge impose three years of supervised release and order Mr. Sripetch to pay restitution.

Not surprisingly, Mr. Sripetch has asked for a lighter jail term. In a sentencing memorandum filed on Tuesday, July 26, he portrays his part in the scheme as a desire for success gone awry, arising from his tumultuous upbringing. That upbringing, as set out in the memorandum, goes back to when he arrived in the United States at the age of eight, with his father bringing him from Thailand to the Los Angeles area.

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