Category: Alleged Ponzi Schemes
-
Shawn Merriman Pleads Guilty In Colorado Ponzi Case; Faces 20 Years In Prison For Swindling Investors And Using Money To Buy Rembrandt Paintings And Go On Safari
Shawn R. Merriman has pleaded guilty to mail fraud in a Ponzi scheme case that swindled dozens of investors in Colorado, Minnesota and Utah. The scheme involved more than $20 million, prosecutors said. Merriman, 46, of Aurora, Colo., faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. The SEC said…
-
U.S. Attorney: Rothstein Ponzi Money Went To Politicians, Charities; ‘High-Ranking’ Police Officers Received ‘Gratuities’
In a criminal information and news release dripping with the word “co-conspirators,” federal prosecutors, the FBI and the IRS said Ponzi proceeds were used to grease wheels in law enforcement and pollute the worlds of business and politics in South Florida. Former attorney Scott Rothstein of Fort Lauderdale was arrested for racketeering yesterday. He was…
-
Scott Rothstein Arrested; Charged With Racketeering
UPDATED 1:19 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) Former Fort Lauderdale attorney Scott Rothstein was arrested by the FBI this morning after being charged with racketeering and other offenses. The arrest occurred only days after Rothstein was disbarred by the Florida Supreme Court. Rothstein pleaded not guilty. He then was jailed without bail. Separately, federal prosecutors moved late…
-
Michigan Man Who Claimed Investment Returns Of 131 Percent Guilty In Ponzi Scheme Case; Mark Richard Hamlin’s Day-Trading Scheme Comparable To ASD’s Dangerous ’80/20′ Reinvestment Program
As Ponzi schemes go, it was far from the largest. But the case of Mark Richard Hamlin demonstrated that even smaller operators use Ponzi schemes to fuel personal spending that consumes an extraordinary percentage of investors’ funds. Hamlin’s day-trading scheme in Michigan gathered about $2 million from at least 90 investors between 2005 and 2008,…
-
A PONZI WORLD FIRST? Regulators Have Evidence Accused Minnesota Schemer Trevor Cook Bought A ‘Submarine’ To Shuttle To Private Island
You’ve heard about the Ponzi mansions. You’ve heard about the luxury automobiles — Scott Rothstein’s $1.6 million Bugatti and the $350,000 Rolls-Royces he and suspects in other Ponzi schemes enjoyed. Now comes word that Trevor Cook, implicated in Minnesota with radio talk-show host Pat Kiley in an alleged Ponzi scheme involving at least $194 million,…
-
BREAKING NEWS: Two-Time Convicted Felon With $3 Million Judgment Against Him Emerged From Prison And Targeted Ponzi Scheme At Chinese-Americans In Oklahoma City, CFTC Says
A man imprisoned between 1996 and 2001 after being convicted in Texas of two financial felonies emerged from the penitentiary and targeted Greater Oklahoma City’s ethnic Chinese in a Ponzi scheme, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said. Kenneth W. Lee also had a $3 million civil judgment placed against him in the 1990s…