RSS feedPonzi
’High-growth, high-stakes at Sino-Forest
It’s Tuesday — Sino-Forest results day.
The Chinese forestry firm already stands accused of being a “stratospheric” fraud by research and short-selling outfit Muddy Waters. Today Sino-Forest is set to offer a deeper look at its finances with Q1 results.
Madoff is “too good to be true” – JP Morgan, October 2008
Bernie Madoff. Colombian Interests. Threats to lives. Oh my.
This time two years ago the world’s largest ponzi scheme had just come to light. Some 24 months on and the legal-wrangling between Madoff’s investors and related parties continues.
SEC busts alleged $300m gilded Ponzi scheme
Fraudulent goldbugs?
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged four Canadian men and two others living in Florida with perpetrating a $300 million international Ponzi scheme on investors in a purportedly successful gold mining operation.
Affinity fraud, Caribbeans in New York edition
Affinity fraud, as defined by moneymadeclear:
Affinity fraud refers to investment scams that target members of a group, such as community, religious, ethnic, elderly or professional groups. Examples include church congregations,
Miami, spiritual home of Ponzi schemes
Fresh Ponzi news on Wednesday:
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a prominent Miami Beach-based businessman and philanthropist with fraud for orchestrating a $900 million offering fraud and Ponzi scheme.
The (allegedly) NSFW Ponzi
Latest from the SEC’s enforcement division:
McGinn, MS Capital and MS & Co. also deceived investors into unwittingly investing in a sexually-oriented charter cruise venture created by McGinn. In February 2008,
The latest Ponzi, doing God’s work (no really)
And so to some fresh SEC action:
From at least 2005, Defendants Farah and Dodge, acting through their businesses FRM and CLM, operated a fraudulent ponzi scheme that defrauded at least $20 million from at least 150 investors.
[The Stanford Series] Ponzi victims, unite!
Fraud – it brings people together. As Bloomberg reported on Wednesday:
Victims of Bernard Madoff and accused Ponzi schemer R. Allen Stanford are banding together to lobby Congress for a law that could require Wall Street firms to pay billions of dollars to cover some of the losses they suffered.
What do Ponzi operators spend their money on?
Well, in the case of Francois Durmaz and Robert Pribilski and their USA Retirement Management Services operation…
From at least January 2005 through at least December 2009, Durmaz and Pribilski used USARMS’ investors’ funds to purchase,
Niche demographic or interest group? There’s a Ponzi for that.
Bernard Madoff targeted wealthy Jewish communities in New York’s Upper West Side and Florida’s Palm Beach, Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale. Elsewhere in South Florida, Scott Rothstein targeted hedge funds and money managers for the (formerly) high net worth.
Things that don’t get reported any more…
We’ve pinged an email to the site administrator, but we can report that the SEC’s search function on their website doesn’t work properly.
Try it yourself. Go here and type the word “ponzi” into the search box to the right.
Professional athletes and their money, Ponzi edition
In March 2009, FT Alphaville riffed on the theme of the generally poor financial and investment decisions made by professional athletes.
By the end of the year, another — although not unrelated — trend had emerged:
Ponzi scheme ‘topped $1bn’: FBI
An alleged Ponzi scheme by prominent Florida attorney Scott Rothstein is likely to have topped $1bn, the FBI said on Thursday, reports the WSJ. Authorites are still investigating the massive suspected fraud,
Nouriel Roubini is a Ponzi
We wouldn’t have thought to ask Nouriel Roubini about Bernie Madoff’s alleged Ponzi scheme. But someone else has, and it’s thrown up an interesting tirade from the master of economic doom and gloom. Reprinted in its full forcefulness below,
Commodity ponzi alert
This fresh from the CFTC, the regulator that looks after the commodity markets:
Federal Court Order Freezes Assets of Illinois Commodity Pool Operator Brookshire Raw Materials Management, LLC and its Canadian Principals Based on CFTC Charges of Misappropriating More Than $4.6 Million in a Ponzi Scheme
Washington,
The condensed Markopolos
Madoff whistleblower’s Harry Markopolos’s testimony to Congress makes for fascinating reading.
If you can’t make it through the entire 65-page document, here are some select highlights from Section One.
Ponzi meets treasuries bubble
Well, Goldman aside, talk of a bubble in US treasuries is gaining pace.
To wit, the latest missive from Bill Gross, managing director of Pimco, the world’s biggest bonds fund. In his investment outlook,
Ponzi in the pub
When a US-originated institution meets the British pub crawl, you get this, from the Urban dictionary (HT LOLFed):
Ponzi, the USA edition
With all the world focused on the Madoff ‘Ponzi scandal’ fallout, it’s worth considering some of the other potential Ponzi schemes people have warned about.
One particular warning came from Milton Friedman regarding the USA’s very own social security regime.