Guilty plea entered in stock spam case

DETROIT, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- A former China World Trade executive has pleaded guilty in a U.S. federal court to multiple counts of fraud stemming from an e-mail stock manipulation scheme.

How Wai John Hui pleaded guilty in Detroit to charges related to sending tens of millions of e-mails that promoted obscure stocks for Chinese companies in an effort to inflate the value of stocks he owned, the Detroit Free Press reported Wednesday.

Hui is a resident of Hong Kong and Canada. Prosecutors said Hui, West Bloomfield, Mich., resident Alan Ralsky and others were in on the spam-for-profits scheme.

"In today's competitive international business world, there will always be a select few who illegally manipulate the system for their own profit," said Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Special Agent Maurice Aouate.