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Category: The Economy

BULLETIN: KABOOM x 1,215! Feds Announce ‘Operation Stolen Dreams’ Mortgage-Fraud Sweep; 1,215 Defendants Charged In Largest Mortgage Scammer Takedown In U.S. History

BULLETIN: UPDATED 1:10 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) At least 1,215 criminal defendants have been named in “Operation Stolen Dreams,” which U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder described as a “three and a half month takedown of mortgage fraud schemes throughout the country.” The mortgage-fraud operation began March 1 and is the largest-such undertaking in U.S. history, Holder…

Jun 17, 2010
KABOOM! KABOOM! KABOOM! KABOOM! KABOOM! 5 Separate Federal Probes Lead To Dozens Of Fraud Arrests In Multiple States; 1 Case Alleges Nearly $2 Billion Scheme

BULLETIN: The U.S. government has announced charges against at least 43 defendants in five separate financial-fraud schemes, the largest of which allegedly involved $1.9 billion and contributed to the collapse last year of a bank with 346 branches and a mortage-lending company in Florida. Smaller schemes in cases outlined by federal prosecutors today involved tens…

Jun 16, 2010
New Jersey Woman Charged In Alleged $45 Million Ponzi Scheme; Antoinette Hodgson Faces Decades In Prison If Convicted

A New Jersey woman was arrested this morning on charges she fleeced more than 20 Greater New York investors by engineeringÂ a $45 million Ponzi scheme involving purported real- estate flips, the FBI said. Antoinette Hodgson, 58, of Montclair, New Jersey, was accused of conspiracy and wire fraud amid allegations she recruited clients by telling…

Jun 16, 2010
INetGlobal Operator Steve Renner In Custody Of U.S. Marshals Service To Begin Sentence In Tax Case

Steve Renner is in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, the agency said this afternoon. Renner, 55, was the operator of the INetGlobal autosurf. He was convicted of income-tax evasion in December 2009. On May 5, he was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank to 18 months in prison, although Renner was not…

Jun 15, 2010
INetGlobal Enters Objection To Magistrate Judge’s Ruling Permitting Government To Approach ‘Current And Former’ Employees In Ponzi Probe

The investigation into the business practices of INetGlobal is turning into a legal slog reminiscent of the AdSurfDaily autosurf Ponzi scheme case. In April, attorney Paul Engh filed a motion, saying he represented INetGlobal employees. Among other things, Engh sought an order that effectively would have blocked the U.S. Secret Service from interviewing the employees,…

Jun 14, 2010
Richard Elkinson Ordered To Pay $29 Million In Ponzi Case; 77-Year-Schemer Still Jailed After Arrest At Mississippi Casino In January

A 77-year-old man who fleeced clients by telling them he brokered contracts for a Japanese company that provided uniforms for the Winter Olympics, the Pan American games and the government has been ordered to pay $29 million in a civil case brought by the SEC. Richard Elkinson is jailed in Massachusetts after being arrested at…

Jun 14, 2010
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…

Jun 14, 2010
Now, A ‘Belgian Royalty’ Ponzi Scheme; SEC Says Guy Albert de Chimay Used Investors’ Funds To Pay Divorce Lawyer, ‘Massive’ Credit-Card Bills, Rent, Payroll

UPDATED 9:31 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Saying Guy Albert de Chimay and his unregistered investment-advisory business “simply stole” clients’ funds while telling investors their money was safe with the “U.S. investment arm of the Chimay royal family of Belgium,” the SEC has gone to court in New York to halt what it described as a massive…

Jun 14, 2010
UPDATE: PP Blog Stories Lost In Migration To New Hosting Platform Retrieved; Some Problems Related To Platform Migration Still Unresolved

Dear Readers, As we noted here, our migration to a new hosting platform — undertaken by our hosting company on Friday — resulted in some problems. In the hours after the migration, we were unable to retrieve data on posts between June 2 and June 11 that somehow went missing. We reassembled data on these…

Jun 13, 2010
Affiliate Links Show That Surf’s Up Mod And ASD Members Hold High Positions In Upstart Surf: Things To Consider If You Are Tempted To Join AdPayDaily

Dear Readers, We have received a few inquiries about a new surfing program called AdPayDaily (APD). Our initial take is that the program is a dressed-up version of AdSurfDaily, AdViewGlobal, BizAdSplash and AdGateWorld and that the operators are persuaded they’ve found a word combination and legal structure that will neutralize critics and law enforcement should…

Jun 13, 2010
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…

Jun 13, 2010