ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Two self-proclaimed stock trading experts who used infomercials and seminars in Honolulu and other cities to tout their abilities were indicted on federal fraud charges.

Linda Woolf, 48, of Sandy, Utah, and David Gengler, 34, of Draper, Utah, passed themselves off as successful investors and persuaded consumers to pay anywhere from $3,000 to $40,000 to learn the "Teach Me to Trade" stock picking system, according to an indictment in U.S. District Court in Alexandria.

Honolulu investors were among those targeted during workshops conducted at a Waikiki hotel in April 2005.

Prosecutors say Woolf and Gengler lied or omitted pertinent information about their profits in the stock market and their annual gains and losses during presentations given at hotel seminars across the country. One of Teach Me to Trade's supposed stock trading experts was actually recruited by Woolf from a nail salon, the indictment alleged.

Woolf and Gengler also were featured in Teach Me to Trade infomercials. In one, Gengler explains how he doubled a $10,000 investment in one week as the studio audience oohs and aahs.

Woolf's civil attorney, Mark Pugsley, said Woolf never recommended specific stocks to students at her seminars, and that the information she provided is unrelated to individual investment choices and therefore not a crime under federal securities laws.