Man Tied to $100 Million NJ Deli Scam Gets 21 Months in Prison

(Bloomberg) — A twice-convicted felon who helped orchestrate a scheme to raise the value of a small New Jersey deli to more than $100 million has been sentenced to 21 months behind bars.

James Patten, 67, was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Christine P. O’Hearn in Camden, New Jersey, more than two years after he pleaded guilty to securities fraud and conspiracy in the case.

Patten and two others were arrested in September 2022 by Hometown International Inc. He was accused of artificially inflating the price of two companies, including, through manipulative trading. This company’s only existence was “Your Hometown Delicatessen” in Paulsboro, New Jersey, just across the Delaware River from the Philadelphia airport.

Greenlight Capital’s David Einhorn gained notoriety on hometown Wall Street when he highlighted the company as an example of irrational enthusiasm in the market in an April 2021 letter to investors. Einhorn noted that despite reaching a nine-figure valuation, the deli barely made $20,000 in sales in 2019 and even less in 2020.

“The bacon must be amazing,” Einhorn said.

Patten, of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, pleaded guilty in December 2023 and was arrested along with two other men, Peter L. Coker Sr. and Peter L. Coker Jr. He admitted to working with companies to manipulate stock prices through coordinated trading that created the false impression that there was actual supply and demand for shares.

Patten, who previously served time in federal prison for mail fraud, faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted at trial for the deli fraud.

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