BULLETIN: Las Vegas Man, 70, Arrested In Alleged Ponzi Scheme Targeting Fellow Senior Citizens; Hans P. Seibt Booked Into Clark County Jail; State Charges Him With 25 Counts Of Securities Fraud, 6 Counts Of Theft

BULLETIN: The Ponzi cavalcade involving senior citizens continues . . .

Nevada state authorities have arrested Hans P. Seibt of Las Vegas on Ponzi charges. He specifically was charged under state law with 25 counts of securities fraud and six counts of theft, amid allegations he targeted senior citizens.

At 70, Seibt himself is a senior citizen. He was booked into the Clark County Jail, and is being held without bail.

Seibt is expected to make a court appearance Monday, according to Clark County records.

“Targeting senior citizens is particularly egregious,” said Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto.

The office of Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller described Seibt’s alleged crimes as a real-estate Ponzi swindle affecting investors in Nevada and “several other states.”

“So-called interest payments or distributions that are paid to some investors aren’t a guarantee that an investment is legitimate,” Miller said. “That’s the whole basis for a Ponzi scheme. Potential investors just can’t be careful enough, especially in the current economic environment.”

Investors were promised returns of between 10 percent and 12 percent, but Seibt duped them, investigators said.

“Seibt successfully solicited investments of $10,000 or more from his victims, offering them trust deeds, joint venture agreements, and subscription agreements, all of which were supposedly secured by parcels of land Seibt was holding in Nye County,” investigators said.

But the value of the land was “grossly exaggerated in order to support Seibt’s claims to his victims,” investigators said.

And Seibt also didn’t purchase the land as advertised. Instead, he “used the money to pay off other investors and for personal use,” investigators said.

Seibt did business as HSLV Development Corp., and Clark and Nye County Development Corp., investigators said.