Magic Mushroom 'Pump and Dump'

Here's what can happen when 'shroom heads take control of a penny stock

"Everyone thought I was crazy, I bit this guy's ear off. … I did all this stuff, and once I got introduced to the ‘shrooms ... my whole life changed." – Mike Tyson

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Magic mushrooms are said to be mind expanding, but here’s a case where they rendered some people stupid.

Two hucksters took control of an inactive penny-stock and talked up its price by a mind-blowing percentage – promising ‘shrooms and the moon.

They began with a January 2020 press release that touted “the world's first publicly traded company in the business of developing, marketing and distributing psilocybin mushrooms, also known as magic mushrooms or psychedelic mushrooms.” (They aren’t really legal … yet.)

They bragged that their company, Minerco, was worth $1 billion. (It wasn’t).

They said Minerco would sponsor a livestream concert with ticket sales eclipsing one million. (It never happened.)

They signed reggae fusion singer Sean Kingston as an ambassador. (At least that much appears to be true).

Kingston hit the top of the charts in 2007 with “Beautiful Girls.” (You got me suicidal, suicidal.) In a February 2020 press release Kingston said he’d been building a relationship with the mushroom company for a while.

"I am 100% behind in their mission as a company. In Jamaica, we have been using cannabis and psilocybin for medicinal purposes for years now …”

Yeah, mon.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued Minerco as well as Bobby Shumake Japhia, 56, and Julius Makiri Jenge, 54, for running a pump-and-dump that bilked investors out of $8 million.

Jenge, who lives in Texas and Michigan, has been charged criminally, as well, and was arrested in August as he prepared to board a flight for Tanzania, according to the SEC’s civil complaint. (Too bad for him. The Serengeti sounds like a wild trip.)

(Photo Credit: Alan Rockefeller, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.)

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