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by Mike Caswell

Chester Alvarez, awaiting sentencing in the United States for a Colombian boiler room run by Vancouver's Frank Biller, has asked a judge to spare him any new jail time. He says that he was a minor player in the operation, which he joined after a night of heavy drinking with Mr. Biller. He claims that he came to the operation through the "promise of legitimate employment" and left years later amidst a "moral reckoning" that came with fatherhood.

The request from Mr. Alvarez, 42, comes as part of a case in which U.S. federal prosecutors charged him and others for aggressively promoting several stocks, boosting the companies as hidden shareholders unloaded millions of shares. The scheme generated gains that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission calculated to be $58.3-million. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.) Mr. Alvarez worked as an "opener" and carried out manipulative trades, according to the government.

There was no trial for Mr. Alvarez, as he pleaded guilty on April 4, 2024. With his sentencing date approaching, he has asked that the judge not send him back to jail. In a memorandum filed on Tuesday, Sept. 16, he describes his part in the boiler room operation as being minimal. He says that Mr. Biller hired him in 2014, after a night of heavy drinking with a mutual acquaintance. Mr. Alvarez's job was to read scripts provided by Mr. Biller and to make trades as directed by Mr. Biller.

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