By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — The Federal Bureau of Investigation raided two alleged "boiler room" brokerage firms with mafia connections in Midtown Wednesday.
Seven suspects were arrested in the stings, including Anthony Guarino, a purported member of the Bonnano crime family.
The boiler rooms bilked customers from several states out of $12 million, the FBI said. Six other arrests were made in Florida in connection with the case.
One of the suspected boiler rooms was doing business on the 6th floor at 260 West 36th Street under the name Powercom Energy Services Corp., the FBI said.
The alleged schemers, expected to appear in court on Wednesday, are accused of targeting elderly people with a misleading sales pitch about an investment opportunity in a high-speed video company, according to the complaint. The defendants solicited people they thought would not follow up on the company's operations.
The defendants allegedly misrepresented the services provided by the company and artificially inflated the value of the stock they were selling so that they could sell it at a high price. When the stock dropped, the duped investors were left with empty pockets.
Several of the alleged scam artists in custody will appear in a Manhattan court. One man is still at large in the case.
The Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office is handling the case.
