Leader of stock swindle that stole $19 million from 12,000 victims gets 3 months in prison

Christian Meissenn, center, leaves federal court in New Haven after receiving a 3-month sentence for his central role in a criminal enterprise that swindled millions of dollars from more than 12,000 victims in a stock pump and dump scheme. His wife Kerry is to Meissenn's right. (David Owens/The Hartford Courant)

Christian Meissenn, the Suffield man who was the central figure in a criminal enterprise that stole more than $19 million from 12,000 victims through penny stock manipulation, received a three-month sentence Thursday in federal court in New Haven.

After a lengthy sentencing hearing that included detailed discussions of Meissenn’s failing health, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer sentenced Meissenn to a prison term that is dramatically shorter than those of his co-defendants. Others implicated in the scheme include Corey Brinson, a former Hartford city councilman and local lawyer, who received a three-year sentence and is already out of prison.


Meissenn, also known as Christian Nigohossian, pleaded guilty two years ago to conspiracy and tax evasion charges and has been cooperating with federal investigators ever since. Between 2009 and July 2016, “Meissenn and others conspired to defraud investors through a stock “pump and dump” scheme,” the government charged. Meissenn and the others “induced investors to purchase securities by making false and misleading representations in calls, emails and press releases concerning the securities and the issuing companies, causing the price of those securities to become falsely inflated.”

They then dumped their shares of the stocks at a significant profit and left the victims with worthless shares in bogus companies

The judge told Meissenn, 46, he was a brazen criminal who made committing fraud and being a con artist a way of life.

“That was your avocation essentially, ripping people off,” the judge said.

And in the process of stealing so much money from so many people, Meissenn caused much pain and heartache for his victims, the judge said.

The judge said he was struck by the “staggering number of victims” and told Meissenn “you made off with a lot of money.” The judge questioned Meissenn and his lawyer, Cody N. Guarnieri, about where the money went.

Both men said it was gone, used to pay debts and other expenses.

The judge said he accepted the statements of people such as Meissenn’s wife, Kerry, who said he was a good father and husband.

“You were also just consumed in your own selfishness and way of life,” the judge said.

In addition to a short prison term, Meyer sentenced Meissenn to three years of supervised release, during which he will be under house arrest, and ordered Meissenn to pay $5.3 million in restitution to his victims and $1.5 million to the IRS for taxes he did not pay on his fraudulently earned income. The judge acknowledged it was unlikely Meissenn would ever repay his victims or the government.

The judge said that an important consideration in his sentence was Meissenn’s health and his doctors’ belief his life will soon end.

“I have to wonder whether some providential force — I’m sure you have too — has sentenced you to something worse than this court can do,” the judge said.

Meyer said he was also concerned about the federal Bureau of Prisons ability to provide adequate medical care to Meissenn, an argument Meissenn’s lawyer made to the judge.

Guarnieri provided the judge and federal prosecutors with detailed information about two ailments for which he said Meissenn is receiving treatment at the Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven Hospital.


Meissenn, Guarnieri told the judge, suffers from Erdheim-Chester disease, a rare slow-growing blood cancer, and retroperitoneal fibrosis, which is characterized by fibrous growths in the abdomen. Meissenn receives chemotherapy treatment, but his outlook is not good, Guarnieri said. Other documents in court files suggest Meissenn could live as long as five years.

The ailment has affected Meissenn’s quality of life, limiting his mobility and forcing him to use a cane, his lawyer said.

Guarnieri asked for a sentence of house arrest and no prison, but the judge said it would send the wrong message to allow someone who stole millions to avoid prison.

“I believe you should serve some prison time, but I don’t believe it should be so much you don’t see your children again,” Meyer told Meissenn.

For his part, Meissenn apologized to his victims and said the experience has brought him great shame. He said as long as he lived, he would work to raise money to pay his victims back. One of those efforts, he said, could involve a movie.

“I live with regret every day,” he said. “I wasted my life.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Avi Perry said there was something cinematic about Meissenn’s story — boiler room stock selling schemes, overseas bank accounts, and a fall.

“It doesn’t have a happy ending for Mr. Meissenn, who is after many decades being held to account, ” Perry said. “It doesn’t have a happy ending for the victims.”

They were people who lost a great deal of money, marriages suffered, healthcare was jeopardized, he said.

“There is something cinematic, but I don’t think it’s a move I’d like to see,” Perry said.

The judge ordered Meissenn to report to prison on Jan. 10.






Brinson was accused of acting as legal counsel for the gang of stock swindlers and laundering more than $3 million that people, including many retirees, around the country thought they were investing in penny stocks. Prosecutors said Brinson and others stole the money.

Meyer, who imposed Brinson’s sentence, said he didn't believe Brinson's claim that he was a naive young lawyer who was unwittingly manipulated by a gang of greedy stock swindlers.

Others involved in the scheme received prison sentences as long as seven years.