Bernard Madoff

EDITOR’S NOTE: The briefs below summarize recent developments in Ponzi cases or actions in new Ponzi cases. Sentenced: Matthew B. Pizzolato, 26, Tickfaw, La. Ripped off senior citizens in Ponzi scheme. In sentencing Pizzolato to 30 years in federal prison, U. S. District Judge Lance M. Africk said Pizzolato “stole from hard working Americans” and [...]

First, Richard M. Hersch, 72, told investors they’d earn up to 6 percent a week by plowing money into his company, All States ATM Inc. He then explained the company had “contracts” with major horse-racing tracks in California and elsewhere to operate Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) on the “back side” of the tracks. Ordinary horse-racing [...]

Detectives from the office of Richmond County District Attorney Daniel M. Donovan Jr. have arrested a Staten Island man on charges of stealing $2.5 million from investment clients. Separately, a New York newspaper is reporting that Thomas Carson used some of the money to pay for 30 separate treatments for varicose veins on his legs. [...]

Some of the investors in the Trevor Cook/Pat Kiley Ponzi scheme are none too pleased with Cook’s plea deal, which may place a ceiling of 25 years on any prison sentence he receives while tens of millions of dollars remain missing. One investor has told the PP Blog that a group of investors is seeking [...]

BULLETIN: Scott Rothstein, the disbarred Florida lawyer who sold interests in nonexistent legal settlements, forged the signatures of federal judges on court documents to hoodwink investors and keep money flowing to his $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme and threatened to sue a reporter asking tough questions, has been sentenced to 50 years in federal prison. Rothstein, [...]

BULLETIN: Nevin K. Shapiro, the founder and president of Capitol Investments USA Inc., surrendered to authorities this morning after being charged both criminally and civilly in an alleged $900 million Ponzi and fraud scheme in south Florida and elsewhere, the SEC said. Shapiro, 41, is a prominent Miami Beach businessman and philanthropist in the wholesale [...]

EDITOR’S NOTE: There was significant action in Ponzi cases today. Earlier we reported on the guilty plea of Trevor Cook in Minnesota and the issuance of a bench warrant in South Carolina for Michael Derrick Peninger. The brief below summarizes action in the Ponzi and affinity-fraud case case of Steven Byers in New York, the [...]

UPDATED 7:52 A.M. EDT (April 13, U.S.A.) On the very day Tom Petters was sentenced in Minnesota to 50 years in prison for operating a colossal Ponzi scheme, a federal judge froze the assets of Renee Marie Brown after the SEC accused her of ripping off clients by persuading them to invest in a mysterious [...]

A federal judge has ordered a Florida man to spend nearly 16 years in prison and pay $16.7 million in restitution for fleecing investors in a Ponzi scheme. Sean Healy, 39, of Weston, scammed dozens of investors in Pennsylvania. He went on to live in the lap of luxury in Florida, acquiring a $2.4 million [...]

EDITOR’S NOTE: Autosurf or HYIP promoter? White-collar fraudster of another stripe? Fan of “stored value” debit devices used in the context of well-publicized,  fraudulent business models? Owner of a “shell” company used to disguise the ownership of funds? Figure you’re smarter than the cops and that you’ve perfected your form of deceit as you pocket [...]

An individual or group of individuals believed to be operating internationally created a website that mimicked the website of the U.S. Securities Investor Protection Corp. (SIPC) “in an apparent attempt to target [Bernard] Madoff victims” in a fraud scheme, SIPC said. SIPC and the SEC issued warnings immediately, as did the court-appointed receiver in the [...]

Our new poll asks a simple question: “Is The Average Autosurf/HYIP Promoter Smarter Than The Average FBI Agent, Secret Service Agent, Postal Inspector, IRS Investigator Or SEC/CFTC Investigator?” You may vote only once. There is an option of “Other” in this poll if you don’t want to limit yourself to a “Yes” or “No” answer. [...]

After Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme was exposed in December 2008, Beverly Hills hedge-fund manager Bradley L. Ruderman wrote a letter to clients assuring them them their money was safe and deploring Madoff’s “chicanery,” federal prosecutors in the Central District of California said. “[S]uch disgraceful practices will never happen under my watch,” Ruderman declared in the [...]

Ka-boom! A federal judge has frozen the assets of alleged Ponzi schemer Richard Elkinson, accused of fleecing investors in Massachusetts by telling them he brokered deals for government uniforms and uniforms worn by Olympic athletes. Meanwhile, the attorney general of the United States ventured to Florida today and gave a dramatic speech at the Forum [...]

UPDATED 1:25 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) AdViewGlobal-related stories comprised eight of the 10 “Most Popular” posts on the PatrickPretty.com Blog in 2009, as determined by a software scoring system that measures a range of data. The result suggests that readers were intensely interested in coverage of the controversial autosurf. The finding also suggests that AVG members [...]

Both state and federal prosecutors in Michigan have been attacking Ponzi schemers and affinity fraudsters. Yesterday the office of Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox charged three men with racketeering for their roles in an alleged time-share Ponzi scheme targeted at senior citizens. In a separate Michigan case, federal prosecutors have announced the guilty plea of [...]

And to think that only months ago — in February 2009 — various members of AdSurfDaily wrote to the Senate Judiciary Committee trying to elicit support for Ponzi schemes. The letter-writing campaign was spearheaded by “Professor” Patrick Moriarty and pushed by the Pro-AdSurfDaily Surf’s Up forum. But now the FBI has told the committee, led [...]

One year ago today Bernard Madoff uttered a memorable phrase, describing his securities business economically as “one big lie” — and his Ponzi house of cards came tumbling down. Even as Madoff was uttering those three words to his sons and the FBI soon was to knock on his door, the insiders behind the AdViewGlobal [...]

Federal prosecutors and the FBI demonstrated again this morning that people who enable Ponzi schemers are subject to arrest and prosecution. Today’s announcement that two computer programmers for Bernard Madoff have been charged with serious felonies could send shockwaves across the so called autosurf “industry,” which relies heavily on computers and programming tweaks to fleece [...]