Tag: FBI
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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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OFFICIALS: Ponzi Schemes, Investment Fraud Have Led To Staggering Losses In Utah; Hundreds Of Potential Perpetrators Identified
UPDATED 8:38 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Recent Ponzi schemes and cases of investment fraud have cost Utah residents an estimated $1.4 billion, the FBI said today. About 370 investigative “subjects” — defined as “potential perpetrators” in current cases — have been identified, and the agency and its law-enforcement partners have embarked on a public awareness and…
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Wayne McLeod Becomes Subject Of FBI Probe; Agency Asks Victims, Witnesses To Come Forward
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story originally was published June 30. The PP Blog later encountered a database problem, which caused the site to go down and resulted in the temporary loss of some data. The data now has been retrieved. The FBI in Jacksonville has opened a probe into Kenneth “Wayne” McLeod, the Florida man who…
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FBI, SEC Nab Pair Using Gmail To Run Insider-Trading Scam; Undercover Agents Responded To Offer To Sell Disney Earnings Report
So, you want to use Google’s free Gmail service to pull off a scam? From this day forward you should not be confident that you’re not already caught. The FBI today announced that it set up a sting to nail two people who were trying to sell the quarterly earnings report of Walt Disney Co. before…
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Now, A Fast-Food Ponzi Scheme: Feds Say Ohio Man Swindled Millions By Telling Investors He Built Chicken And Burger Restaurants
EDITOR’S NOTE: Here’s one for your Bubba Blue notebook on the various ways to have a Ponzi scheme, as opposed to shrimp — and this one actually wafts with the myth of food — in this case, chicken and burgers. More than 200 investors have been fleeced in a bizarre scheme in which an Ohio…
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Debit-Card Firm Spotlighted In Purported Training Material For Minnesota-Based INetGlobal Was Referenced In $22 Million Ponzi Case In Florida Last Year; Renner Company Now Has Link To Third Ponzi Court Scrape
Training material purportedly produced in November 2009 and published online shows prospects of INetGlobal how to transfer money from the company to a reloadable debit card. The presentation reveals that INetGlobal was using the same debit-card firm that provided services for a Florida man implicated in October 2009 — just a month before the INetGlobal…
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TERROR SUSPECT CAPTURED: Faisal Shahzad Arrested At JFK Airport While Attempting To Flee To Dubai; Vehicle Involved In Failed Times Square Attack Reportedly Bought In All-Cash Deal On Craigslist
A naturalized U.S. citizen born in Pakistan was arrested at JFK Airport in New York late last night after he was removed from a flight bound for Dubai, authorities said. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced the arrest of Faisal Shahzad in an extraordinary news conference in the middle of the night. President Obama was…
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NEWS/UPDATES: Feds Say $900 Million Nevin Shapiro Ponzi ‘Perfect Example Of Greed Run Amok’; Colorado Charges Bela Geczy, Michael Kass With Racketeering In Fraud Case
The acts of Nevin Shapiro — a Florida man arrested in New Jersey yesterday on charges of orchestrating a $900 million Ponzi scheme — represent a “perfect example of greed run amok,” an FBI agent said. Separately, a grand jury in Colorado has charged two men under the state’s organized-crime statute with operating an $18…
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U.S. Marshals, FBI, Police Capture Ponzi Figure Who Ducked Sentencing; Michael Derrick Peninger Returned To Jail Amid Reports He Cut Transmitter On Electronic Monitoring Device
Michael Derrick Peninger was captured yesterday, nine days after he failed to show up for sentencing court in a South Carolina Ponzi scheme case. Authorities said he cut the transmitter on an electronic monitoring device he was ordered to wear prior to fleeing April 12. A federal magistrate judge jailed Peninger yesterday after he was…