James Patton leaves the US District Court in Camden, NJ after his sentencing hearing on July 21, 2026.
Asking for donations cnbc
James Patton, who played a key role in a brazen stock manipulation scheme that led to the creation of a publicly traded company that owned a small, money-losing New Jersey deli with a market capitalization of $100 million, was sentenced Tuesday to 21 months in prison.
Patton, 67, asked Judge Christine O’Hearn to sentence him to no prison time during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Camden, New Jersey.
But O’Hearn repeatedly cited Patton’s prior federal fraud conviction, which resulted in a 27-month prison sentence, before saying the North Carolina resident deserved another prison term for his role in the daily stock fraud.
The judge noted that Patton set the scheme in motion while he was on supervised release for his prison sentence, less than two years after being released from prison, and while he still owed restitution in the earlier case.
“That’s their idea,” O’Hearn said.
Patton, a former stockbroker, is the last of three defendants to be sentenced in the securities fraud case involving Daley.
“I stand before you today to apologize and take full responsibility for my actions,” Patton told the judge. Before that he said he was “deeply sorry” for the impact his crime had on his family and the youth he coaches in wrestling.
“There’s no excuse,” he said.
“I have no comment,” Patton told CNBC as she left court with her partner and three sisters.
In addition to his 21-month prison sentence, Patton must also serve three years of supervised release and is responsible for paying approximately $5 million in restitution.
Patton’s co-conspirators, Peter Coker Sr. and Peter Coker Jr., have already served their prison sentences, which were six months and 40 months, respectively.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey had requested that O’Hearn serve a prison sentence of between 12 and 18 months.
Patton and the Cokers admitted conspiring to inflate the stock price of Hometown International, the company that owned Your Hometown Deli in Paulsboro, New Jersey, and the stock price of a shell company, E-Waste, through manipulated trading.
Prosecutors have said that as a result, Hometown and E-Waste’s stock prices were artificially inflated by 939% and 19,900%, respectively.
The goal of the plan was to make both companies more attractive candidates for reverse mergers with private companies that wanted to be publicly traded.
In 2014, Patton suggested the formation of HomeTown as an umbrella corporation to a high school wrestling teammate, Paul Morina, and another man who at the time were discussing opening a deli in Paulsboro. Authorities have said that Morina and other deli owners were unaware of Patton’s scheme to manipulate Hometown’s stock.
Morina is a high school principal and famous wrestling coach.
Charges were filed against Patton and the Cokers in September 2022, more than a year after CNBC detailed a series of suspicious ties between Hometown and E-Waste, Patton’s prior criminal and civil court issues, as well as Coker Sr., and consulting deals with companies that benefited those two men. Your Hometown Deli closes in early 2022.
CNBC’s reporting began with a client letter that hedge fund manager David Einhorn sent to clients in April 2021, which highlighted the bizarre stock price of Hometown International, which was Daly’s very low single asset.
“Pastrami should be amazing,” Einhorn wrote in that letter.