CFTC

UPDATED 5:45 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) A federal judge has issued a bench warrant for Michael Derrick Peninger after Peninger did not show up for sentencing yesterday in a $7 million, Ponzi-scheme case in South Carolina. Peninger, 50, of Charleston, was convicted in October of eight counts of mail fraud and one count of making a […]

BULLETIN: (UPDATED 12:35 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Trevor G. Cook, implicated in a $190 million Ponzi scheme that pushed tremendous sums of money all over the world and is believed to have fleeced investors out of at least $139 million, has entered a guilty plea in federal court in Minnesota. No sentencing date has been sent. […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: As is the case with other Ponzi schemes, the alleged Trevor Cook/Pat Kiley scheme in Minnesota is proving to be an incredible paper chase that is consuming hundreds of hours of manpower as attorneys, investigators and support staff work to reverse-engineer what authorities say was an epic, international fraud. Want to be a […]

A grand jury has returned an indictment against a suburban Philadelphia man, accusing him of operating a Ponzi scheme that gathered at least $95 million and fleeced investors of more than $25 million. Charged criminally with mail fraud and money-laundering was Donald Anthony Young, who also has been sued by the SEC. Meanwhile, Matthew Pizzolato […]

A federal judge has ordered a Florida man to spend nearly 16 years in prison and pay $16.7 million in restitution for fleecing investors in a Ponzi scheme. Sean Healy, 39, of Weston, scammed dozens of investors in Pennsylvania. He went on to live in the lap of luxury in Florida, acquiring a $2.4 million […]

BULLETIN: Trevor Cook, the reputed head of a $190 million Ponzi scheme in Minnesota, has been charged criminally with mail fraud and income-tax evasion. Cook, 37, previously had been charged civilly by the SEC and the CFTC. The criminal charges filed today came after a probe by the FBI and the IRS Criminal Investigations Unit, […]

A Florida man has been arrested by the FBI on 21 counts of wire fraud amid allegations he operated a forex Ponzi scheme, collecting more than $10.2 million and pocketing $1 million for himself. The announcement of the arrest of Patrick H. Rakotonanahary, 34, of  Punta Gorda, Fla., was made in Hawaii after a joint […]

In a case that may spread a chill among fraudsters who use YouTube to promote bogus money-making schemes, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has charged a Virginia man with fraud. Ronald W. Smith Jr. of Vansant used a YouTube video to promote a Forex Ponzi scheme that gathered more than $800,000 from 34 investors, […]

UPDATED 5:25 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) KINGZ Capital Management Corp. (KCM) might have been used or contemplated for use as a tool in two far-reaching, incredibly elaborate Ponzi schemes, according to an analysis of public records and other information. One of the schemes ultimately appears to have consumed tens of millions of dollars in a squalid […]

Player in a Ponzi scheme? If alleged Minnesota schemer Trevor Cook’s experience is any indication, you should expect to be placed under a microscope by local merchants and police if you’re named in a complaint by regulators. Cub Foods, a Minnesota-based grocery chain, placed Cook under video surveillance when he entered a local store. A […]

UPDATED 4:06 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) A federal judge in the SEC and CFTC Ponzi scheme cases against Trevor Cook and Pat Kiley has paved the way for the receiver to begin selling property linked to the alleged $190 million scheme. Among the first items up for bid will be 12 large-screen televisions, two slot machines […]