Category: Alleged Ponzi Schemes
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Long Prison Terms Ordered In California Ponzi Scheme Cases In Which Operators Threatened Or Attempted Suicide; Roberto Heckscher Gets 20 Years; Patricia Morgen Gets Nearly 16 Years
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a brief on two Ponzi cases in California that led to suicide attempts or threats. Among other things, the case of Roberto Heckscher demonstrates both the danger to life that collapsing Ponzi schemes pose and the fallacy that no Ponzi scheme exists as long as people are getting “paid.” The fallacy…
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BULLETIN: SEC Accuses Four Canadian Businessmen, Two Florida Attorneys Of Perpetrating $300 Million Ponzi Scheme
Question: What’s the second-largest Ponzi scheme in the news in South Florida this week? Answer: The alleged $300 million Ponzi scheme perpetrated by Milowe Allen Brost, Gary Allen Sorenson and Bradley Dean Regier of Calgary; Ward K. Capstick, a Canadian citizen who lives in Snohomish, Wash; Larry Lee Adair of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Martin…
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Ponzi Operator D.J. Harriett Pleads Guilty; Tells Judge He Attempted Suicide During Scheme’s Collapse And Also Is Suffering From Cancer
An Ohio man who fleeced more than 200 people in a $7 million Ponzi scheme tried to commit suicide in November when the scheme was collapsing and also is suffering from pancreatic cancer, the Warren Tribune-Chronicle is reporting. The story of David J. Harriett demonstrates the enormous emotional pressure on both perpetrators and victims in…
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BULLETIN: Ponzi Swindler And Racketeer Scott Rothstein Sentenced To 50 Years In Federal Prison For $1.2 Billion Scam; Schemer Forged Judges’ Signatures, Threatened Reporter
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,…
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SEC: Texas ‘Man Of God’ Ran Nigerian ‘Oil Tanker’ Scheme On Elderly Christians Who Believe He’ll Still Deliver; One Widow May Be Out More Than $1 Million
EDITOR’S NOTE: The allegations against Samuel O. LeMaire are alarming. The case against him may prove to be one that demonstrates how vulnerable people of faith may be to affinity fraud while at once demonstrating how victims don’t want to believe they’ve been fleeced by a con artist even when the evidence is overwhelming. As…
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BULLETIN: Ponzi Suspect Alan Todd May, On Lam From Dallas And Wanted By U.S. Secret Service, Captured In San Francisco
BULLETIN: Ponzi suspect Alan Todd May of Dallas has been captured by the U.S. Marshals Service in San Francisco. May, 45, was wanted by the U.S. Secret Service. In March, the SEC accused May of running an oil-and-gas Ponzi scheme through companies variously known as Prosper Oil & Gas Inc. and Prosper Energy Inc. May,…