Sheik Khan — a female — charged with fraud

The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York has charged a group of penny stock players with criminal fraud in sale of a stock called VGTel, Inc. The Securities and Exchange Commission has also also filed a civil suit against members of the group.

San Diegan Sheik F. Khan is among those charged. In Arab parlance, a sheik is a male, but Sheik F. Khan is a female, also known as Abida Khan. According to New York officials, Khan told at least 20 of her clients to sell their annuities — often incurring penalties — to buy VGTel. She told her investors, mostly older people, that they would double or triple their money in VGtel. She was paid $110,000 in kickbacks for soliciting VGtel sales, according to the charges.

She repeatedly phoned a client's stockbroker, impersonating the client, and directing the sale of other investments and the purchase of VGtel, according to the criminal charges. She also purchased VGTel stock in another client's account without authorization, when she knew that the client was away on vacation, according to the charges.