Ex-Brokerage Officials Plead Guilty: Two former presidents...

Ex-Brokerage Officials Plead Guilty: Two former presidents of a defunct penny-stock brokerage firm--including a former federal securities examiner--and three former brokers pleaded guilty to violating federal securities laws and bilking about $68 million from investors. Sheldon Kanoff, 53, of Flushing, N.Y., a former president of Paramus-based F. D. Roberts Securities Inc., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J., to two counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and defraud the government. Kanoff was an examiner for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s New York office from 1970 to 1983, heading investigations of securities fraud. Former F. D. Roberts president, treasurer and partner Albert Weiss, 44, of Ramsey, N.J., pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and filing a false tax return in 1987. Sentencing was set for Nov. 14.