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Category: Alleged Ponzi Schemes

Ex-Attorney, 72, Indicted In Alleged Ponzi Scheme; Robert G. Tunnell Jr. Charged With 13 Counts Of Wire Fraud, 7 Counts Of Mail Fraud, 1 Count Of Money-Laundering

A former San Francisco attorney who resigned from the bar a decade ago while under investigation for stealing $300,000 from his law firm now has been indicted on charges of running a five-year Ponzi scheme that gathered about $10 million. Robert G. Tunnell Jr., 72, had been a member of the California Bar for 30…

Jul 11, 2011
9News.com (KUSA/Denver) Reports That Marlyn Hinders, Fugitive In $80 Million Genesis Fund Ponzi Scheme, Has Been Arrested

Marlyn D. “Milt” Hinders, a Colorado fugitive charged six years ago in the $80 million Genesis Fund Forex Ponzi scheme, has been arrested in Houston, 9News.com (KUSA) is reporting. Hinders is 72. He was indicted in May 2005. A federal grand jury that had been impaneled in the Central District of California in 2003 accused…

Jul 9, 2011
INCREDIBLE: Texas Forex Fraudster Allegedly Scammed Georgia Attorney Now Jailed In $40 Million Ponzi Scheme; Mark E. Rice Accused By CFTC Of Ripping Off Seminar Swindler Robert P. Copeland

In a case that could provide even more inspiration for lawyer jokes and black comedy on America’s epidemic of white-collar crime and hucksterism, the CFTC has gone to federal court in Texas to accuse an alleged Forex scammer of defrauding a Georgia attorney now serving a 10-year prison sentence for ripping off senior citizens in…

Jul 7, 2011
BULLETIN: Florida Attorney/CPA Lorn Leitman Sentenced To More Than 17 Years In Ponzi And Fraud Caper; Federal Judge Orders Upward Departure From Sentencing Guidelines, Saying Lawyer Targeted Elderly Investors, Friends And Military Members

BULLETIN: A 61-year-old Florida attorney and CPA who targeted elderly investors, retirees, friends and members of the military in companion fraud schemes has been sentenced to 210 months in federal prison. Although sentencing guidelines suggested that Lorn Leitman would serve a maximum of 151 months, U.S. District Judge Marcia G. Cooke of the Southern District of…

Jul 7, 2011
3 PTA Moms Charged In Alleged California Ponzi Swindle; Suspects Claimed They Had Exclusive Deal To Sell Dairy Products At Disneyland, L.A. County Sheriff’s Department Says

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one of those stories of an investor wipeout that may leave you scratching your head and wondering if no person, institution or symbol of America is off-limits in the world of Ponzi criminals. For starters, the scheme allegedly was targeted at least in part at Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) members in the…

Jul 6, 2011
DIALING UP THE BIZARRE: Purported Fundraising ‘Army’ Displays Photo Of Accused AdSurfDaily Huckster Andy Bowdoin Smiling Ear To Ear

Although AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin has described himself in court filings as an elderly man suffering from diabetes, lack of sleep caused by worrying about his ill wife, hyperlipidemia, coronary heart disease and multiple Transient Ischemic Attacks (ministrokes), some of his supporters apparently disagree with Bowdoin’s assessment of his own medical condition. A website with…

Jul 3, 2011
Missouri-Based ‘Trainer’ For Florida-Based AdSurfDaily Was Head Of Purported ‘Religious’ Nonprofit Firm In Oregon; State Dissolved Firm Over Which Erma ‘Web-Room Lady’ Seabaugh Presided; Address For ‘Carpe Diem’ Was A Mail Drop

On Jan. 16, 2008, the state of Oregon recorded the business registration of an entity known as “Carpe Diem,” a purported “religious” nonprofit firm. AdSurfDaily figure Erma Seabaugh of Cape Girardeau, Mo., was listed as Carpe Diem’s president and secretary. ASD members described Seabaugh as a “trainer” for the Florida-based autosurf firm whose operator, Thomas…

Jul 3, 2011
Government Sues Washington State Man Once Imprisoned For Possessing Explosive Device; John Lloyd Kirk Now Accused Of Pushing ‘Redemption’ Tax Scam; Anti-Defamation League’s Brief On Kirk Is On Same Webpage As Brief On AdSurfDaily Figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming

A Washington state man sentenced in the 1990s to 46 months in federal prison for possessing a pipe bomb now has become the subject of a tax investigation. A civil case filed Thursday in Seattle against John Lloyd Kirk accuses him of pushing a “redemption” tax scheme. At least 31 of Kirk’s customers sought fraudulent…

Jul 2, 2011
June Ends With MULTIPLE Fraud Filings By CFTC; Air-Traffic Controllers Who Allegedly Solicited Colleagues Into Fraud Scheme Charged In Georgia; Investigators Link Georgia Scheme To Alleged Botfly Caper In Florida, Saying Federal Aviation Administration Employees Became Investors

EDITOR’S NOTE: The disturbing information that follows this intro is presented largely in capsule form, with links to CFTC charging documents in three new cases. Perhaps the most notable case in this summary is the one filed in Georgia. As things stand, it demonstrates: Interconnectivity: Ties between and among scams and scammers are common in…

Jul 1, 2011
Man Who Fled To Philippines After Bizop Scam Was Exposed By Postal Inspectors Sentenced To 125 Months In Federal Prison; Robert Nicol Bilked More Than $5 Million In Utah-Based Fraud Ventures

A man who ran a Utah-based fraud scheme has been sentenced by a federal judge in Florida to 125 months behind bars. Robert Nicol initially fled to a remote section of the Philippines after the U.S. Postal Inspection Service executed a search warrant in an investigation of Gold Star Vending Inc. in 2007. But authorities…

Jun 30, 2011
Affinity-Fraud Victim, 72, Tells Newspaper He ‘Won’t Trust Anybody’ For The Rest Of His Life; Ohio Real-Estate Ponzi Scheme That Spread By Word-Of-Mouth Was Discovered After Suicide Of Church ‘Praise Band’ Member

UPDATED 9:47 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) A 72-year-old man and his 60-year-old wife built up a $400,000 retirement nest egg through hard work over decades at a cosmetics factory — only to see it consumed in a real-estate Ponzi scheme operated by two church members, including one who killed himself when the scheme was unraveling, the…

Jun 27, 2011