NEW YORK (Reuters) - A judge sentenced former Smart Online Inc head Dennis Nouri to eight years in prison after a jury found him guilty of securities fraud and bribery in manipulating the company's stock, U.S. prosecutors said on Thursday.
The office of the Manhattan U.S. Attorney said in a statement that co-defendant Reza Nouri, the former chief executive officer's brother and a former Smart Online employee, was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment.
The brothers were sentenced on Wednesday in federal court in New York following their convictions in a three-week jury trial last June and July.
From May 2005 through July 2007, the Nouris bribed brokers and committed other illegal acts to sell Smart Online stock to customers so the price of the stock went up, the statement said.
It said that, in recorded conversations after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission suspended trading of the company's stock, Dennis Nouri "described how to lie to investigators to cover up the scheme and how to conceal the nature of the illegal kickbacks to brokers."
The case is USA v Nouri, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 07-01029.
(Reporting by Grant McCool; editing by Andre Grenon)
