SACRAMENTO - A Northern California man was arraigned Wednesday on federal charges after he allegedly used the names of cartoon characters to open fraudulent online brokerage accounts.
Michael Largent was arraigned on 13 counts of computer, mail and wire fraud. Federal prosecutors allege he stole more than $50,000 from E-Trade Financial Corp., Charles Schwab & Co. and other financial institutions since November.
His attorney, federal defender Jeffrey Staniels, declined comment.
Prosecutors say the 22-year-old used the names of cartoon and comic book characters--including Speed Apex, Hank Hill, Johnny Blaze--to open 58,000 Internet trading accounts.
They say Largent waited until the companies made "micro-deposits" ranging from 1 cent to $2 into each new account to verify the account information. He then transferred the token deposits to other bank accounts or debit cards.
Largent is free on $25,000 bond awaiting a June 19 court appearance. He lives in Plumas Lake, about 35 miles north of Sacramento.
U.S. stocks were mixed on Thursday after retailers reported mostly disappointing sales while other big-name companies announced layoffs and Europ...
China markets opened lower on Tuesday morning as the investors' confidence hit by the signals that global recession are deepening.
The markets have spoken: risk aversion is still the name of the game and that was obvious since the beginning of the week.


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