CLARIE, District Judge:
The appellants were convicted, by a jury, of having conspired, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371, to violate specified sections of the Securities Act of 1933, 15 U.S.C. §§ 77q(a) and 77x and the mail and wire fraud statutes, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341 and 1343. Sentences were imposed ranging from a fine of $10,000 to three years imprisonment and a committed fine of $2,500.1 The indictment contained forty-one counts, but the appellants were named only in the first count. The remaining counts charged six other defendants ánd co-conspirators with fraud2 in the sale of stock to the public. The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Appellants Kapplow, Dermer and Strump were officers of Charters and Co., Inc. (Charters), a Miami, Florida securities brokerage. Appellant Light was not an officer or stockholder in Charters but was one of its biggest customers. The government’s evidence introduced at trial disclosed the existence of an involved scheme, whereby the price of stock in two nearly defunct corporations, Bankers Intercontinental Investment Co., Ltd. (Bankers) and Florida Patsand (Patsand) was artificially inflated and the stock sold to the public; proceeds from the profits were kicked back to the dealers, Charters and Broad-wall Securities, Inc. (Broadwall), a New York broker-dealer. The appellants had originally arranged with Robert Evans, the principal stockholder of Bankers, to have the quoted bids for that stock placed on the National Daily Stock Quotation Service’s “pink sheets” and gradually manipulated upward. The stock was then to be marketed to the public through Broadwall in return for a cash kick-back, from Bankers to Charters, which was initially set at 33%%, and later increased to 40%, of the sales price. In return for its services, Broad-wall was to receive a 30% cash kickback from Charters. To implement this plan a financial report of Bankers had been prepared which falsely described the company as engaging in a number of profitable businesses and having substantial earnings. This report carried the name of a reputable Nassau accounting firm so as to impart to it an aura of authenticity. In December of 1964, however, the Securities Exchange Commission began an investigation into the widespread activity in Bankers stock and appellants decided to stop promoting its sale and change to another stock. This new stock was Patsand. Appellant Light had managed to acquire a large amount of Patsand stock and, after arrangements were made with Broadwall, this stock was begun to be sold to the public under a similar pattern of kickbacks and price raising.
Appellants all testified in their own defense. They denied any participation in the kick-back scheme, either in making or receiving payments, or agreeing to do so. They admitted the occurrence of many of the meetings and transactions testified to by government witnesses, but contradicted the government version of what went on at these meetings and what the transactions represented.
1. The Charge
Appellants’ first claim of error involves the alleged failure of the trial judge to marshal fairly the evidence in his charge. They contend that the Court’s review of the evidence against each defendant in turn, rather than in the order in which it was presented, was indicative of a partisan and biased attitude in favor of the prosecution. In charging the jury in this case, the
1
Light received a sentence of three years imprisonment and a committed fine of $2,500; Dermer received two years imprisonment; Kapplow and Strump received 18 months imprisonment; and Charters was fined $10,000.
2
The other defendants named were Broad-wall Securities, Inc.; its president, Arnold Mahler; three of its salesmen, Norman Babat, Fred Cimino and Alexander Lapidus; and Robert Evans, the largest stockholder in Bankers Intercontinental Investment Company.