PatrickPretty.com

Tag: Broward County Sheriff’s Office

  • BULLETIN: FLORIDA — AGAIN: FTC Says ‘High-Pressure’ Telemarketers Conned Seniors In ‘Precious Metals’ Boondoggle; Federal Judge Issues Asset Freeze, Appoints Receiver

    BULLETIN: A federal judge has frozen the assets of three Florida companies and their operator, after the Federal Trade Commission alleged a “precious metals” telemarketing scam aimed at senior citizens was under way and had collected nearly $9 million.

    Named defendants in the case were Anthony J. Columbo, Premier Precious Metals Inc., Rushmore Consulting Group Inc. and PPM Credit Inc., all of Deerfield Beach.

    Customers got trapped in a boondoggle in which they were lured into buying precious metals on credit while their capital was eaten away by undisclosed or misrepresented fees. In some cases, the only way out of the thicket was to pay more money “or lose their investment,” the FTC charged.

    “High-pressure” pitchmen picked the pockets of customers, the FTC charged.

    “The majority of consumers who purchase precious metals from Defendants lose money,” the FTC charged. “Consumers’ equity in their precious metals investments is drained by the fees and commissions that are assessed at the inception of their transactions and by the constant accumulation of service fees and interest charges on the leverage portion of their accounts.

    “These fees, commissions, and interest charges negatively affect consumers’ ability to break even or profit on the precious metals investments,” the FTC continued. “When a consumer’s equity decreases sufficiently, an equity call is issued and the consumer must either invest additional money or allow the precious metals to be liquidated at a loss, making the investments risky. In some instances, consumers’ accounts are liquidated without notice to consumers.”

    Assisting in the FTC probe were the Better Business Bureau of Southeast Florida and the Caribbean, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs, the State of Florida Office of the Attorney General, the Florida Office of Financial Regulation and the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, the FTC said.

    Read the FTC complaint.

    Read the Temporary Restraining Order, originally filed under seal.

  • FLORIDA — AGAIN: State, Local Authorities Say Marguerite Martial Jean Ripped Off Hundreds Of Haitian-Americans In Affinity-Fraud And Ponzi Caper That Targeted Churchgoers

    Marguerite Martial Jean. Source: Broward County Sheriff's Office

    Marguerite Martial Jean has been arrested in Florida on felony charges of operating a $3.4 million Ponzi scheme that targeted Haitian-Americans and churchgoers in the Sunshine State.

    Florida has been plagued by Ponzi schemes and other forms of financial fraud. The announcement of Jean’s arrest was made by Miami-Dade County State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle. Joining Rundle in the announcement were Tom Cardwell of the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, and Jeff Atwater, the state’s chief financial officer.

    Jean, 38, was charged securities fraud, grand theft and organized scheme to defraud. She is being held at the Paul Rein Detention Facility. Bail was set at $300,000.

    Authorties said Jean fleeced at least 293 victims through her companies, which were known as MMJ’s Warehouse and VLM Enterprise. Among other things, Jean posed as a buyer and seller of rice from India who shared money she made on the spread with investors, authorities said.

    “Jean promoted the investment offering to members of her church congregation guaranteeing her promissory notes and made promises to pay investors as much as 22% interest,” authorities said.

    When investigators reverse-engineered the scheme, a “bank analysis revealed that investor funds went to Jean’s personal account, which she subsequently used to pay older investors and finance her lifestyle,” authorities said.