St. Petersburg man pleads guilty to securities fraud
October 20, 2020 - Marc Lawrence, a St. Petersburg man who was senior executive of several corporate entities, pled guilty to two counts of securities fraud and one count of wire fraud in federal court in New York. Lawrence was accused of soliciting millions of dollars from investors in the corporate entities, which collectively were called Downing, a purported venture capital firm that would invest in healthcare start-ups, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. He was accused of making materially false and misleading statements regarding portfolio companies, use of investor proceeds, sources of funding, financial condition and ability to pay salaries to employee-investors, the news release said. Lawrence is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 1. As part of the plea agreement, he agreed to forfeit $150,000 in U.S. currency and pay restitution of $4.4 to victims. A co-defendant, David Wagner, the CEO of Downing, pled guilty to securities fraud and wire fraud last month.