$100 million New Jersey deli fraud: father and son sentenced

CAMDEN, N.J. — One of the defendants in the infamous $100 million New Jersey deli case was brutally attacked while in a Thai prison awaiting extradition in early 2023, his attorney said at his sentencing for securities fraud in federal court on Tuesday.

The defendant, Peter Coker Jr., was set upon by as many as 10 fellow inmates in the Thai lock-up, his lawyer said.

Coker Jr., 56, was being held there after police found him in Thailand while under indictment in the United States for the scheme that artificially inflated the stock share prices of the deli owner, Hometown International, and a related shell company, E-Waste.

Coker Jr. was sentenced to 40 months in prison during Tuesday’s hearing in U.S. District Court in Camden, New Jersey.

With credit for time served, he owes about 12 months locked up, and then will be transferred to federal immigration custody for deportation. Coker Jr. renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2019, and has citizenship in St. Kitts in the Caribbean.

Earlier Tuesday, his father, North Carolina businessman Peter Coker Sr., was sentenced to six months in jail, to be followed by six months of home confinement, for his role in the case.

The Cokers and a third man, James Patten, admitted to the scheme, which was designed to make both companies attractive candidates for mergers with private firms. Patten is due to be sentenced in June.

Hometown International ended up having a market capitalization of more than $100 million despite owning just a small money-losing deli in South Jersey.

E-Waste had an even larger market cap, despite having no business operations.

Coker Jr.’s lawyer, John Azzarello, cited his time in the Thai prison and in the 26 or so months he has served in an Essex County jail, in asking a judge to sentence him to effectively time served, or only a few months more.

Azzarello called those conditions in both jails “inhumane.”

Azzarello also detailed how Coker Jr. was suffering from severe cirrhosis of the liver as the result of alcohol abuse — “a bottle of whiskey a day” — before he was arrested in Thailand.

He said Coker Jr. had been hospitalized several times for his condition, and that doctors were considering doing a liver transplant.

Coker Jr., speaking to Judge Christine O’Hearn in U.S. District Court in Camden, said, “This crime has changed me profoundly.”

“The assault and the horrors I experienced in Bangkok prison, I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy,” Coker Jr. said, wearing a yellow one-piece jailhouse uniform.

“It was the lowest point in my life.”

He also expressed regret for his role in the scheme, which involved his father and another man.

“It’s very important to me that your honor and my parents know I wish I could go back,” and not commit the crime, Coker Jr. said.

“It kills me, every time I think about it, how my actions affected my parents,” he said.

“My parents should have never been associated with this abhorrent crime,” Coker Jr. said.

“My greed destroyed us both.”

During his sentencing, Coker Sr. was ordered to pay a $500,000 fine and pay up to $644,000 in restitution.

“I do stand before you extremely remorseful for my actions,” Coker Sr. said as his wife, daughter, grandchildren, and friends looked on.

“I’m terribly sorry for my part. This episode has been the worst time of my life,” the 82-year-old Chapel Hill resident said. “I’m sorry for every investor who has been harmed by my actions.”

Federal sentencing guidelines had suggested a prison sentence of 51 to 63 months for Coker Sr.

But prosecutors said they wanted less time than that, namely the top end of a range of zero to 24 months that they stipulated when he pleaded guilty.

Judge O’Hearn said she would have sentenced Coker Sr. to much more time in jail if he were not as old as he is.

“This was a fraudulent scheme from the inception,” Judge O’Hearn said at the start of the hearing.

“The companies are, in fact, worthless, and there is no prospect for recovery,” O’Hearn said.

“This was a multi-year, very sophisticated fraudulent scheme involving a sort of esoteric corporate structure, of which I’ve learned more than I ever care to,” the judge said. “One that was illegal … and it caused harm.”

The judge opened the hearing by delivering a blow to defense lawyers, adopting prosecutors’ argument that there were nearly $5 million in losses from the scheme, which included investments by Duke and Vanderbilt universities.

“What is the motivation here other than…