Florida Ponzi schemes

Updated 2:45 P.M. EDT (April 16, 2014) The SEC has sued the operators of an alleged Ponzi scheme in Florida — and federal prosecutors have filed criminal charges. In its announcement of the prosecution against Joseph Signore of West Palm Beach and Paul L. Schumack II of Pompano Beach, the SEC provided a link to […]

BULLETIN: The SEC has sued a Florida woman, amid allegations she swindled Colombian-Americans and other Colombians in a $4 million Ponzi scheme that duped investors into believing her purported “immigration bail bonds” program was backed by the FDIC and an “investment broker” later blamed for payout delays. The woman — Jenny E. Coplan of Tamarac […]

George Louis Theodule, identified by the SEC in a 2008 civil case as a multimillion-dollar Ponzi huckster and affinity fraudster largely targeting the Haitian community through so-called “investment clubs,” now has been arrested on criminal charges, federal prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida said. Investors were duped into believing Theodule’s HYIP “program” through entities […]

Leonard Ansill, a 77-year-old resident of Jupiter Farms, Fla., has become the latest senior citizen accused of swindling investors in a Ponzi scheme — this one of the real-estate variety. Ansill’s booking sheet at the jail shows he is being held on seven criminal charges, including multiple counts of grand larceny. One of his alleged […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This post originally was published Jan. 24 at 7:33 p.m. It was updated Feb. 8 to include this editor’s note reflecting that Andy Bowdoin now is listed as an inmate at the federal prison camp in Pensacola, Fla. (Pensacola FPC.)  The original story published Jan. 24 appears below and includes some edits to […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: They don’t come any weirder than prime-bank swindles — and this one is one of the strangest we’ve ever reported on.  UPDATED 8:19 A.M. ET (NOV. 20, U.S.A.) Two individuals — both now 70 — conducted a prime-bank Ponzi swindle known as “the Trust” since at least 2004, the SEC said late this […]

South Florida sisters Odalis Freixa and Marisela Gamez are listed as inmates held by the Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Department on charges of grand theft, organized scheme to defraud and conspiracy. Freixa is 48, according to jail records. Gamez is 49. Citing Miami-Dade Police documents, NBCMiami is reporting that investigators believe the alleged scam was […]

“Persaud preyed on people who trusted him by promising high and steady returns while hiding his unconventional trading strategy. When Persaud blatantly lied to investors and hid their losses through a Ponzi scheme, he should have known that an SEC enforcement action was in the stars.” — Eric I. Bustillo, director of the SEC’s Miami […]

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (UPDATED 6:23 P.M. EDT U.S.A.) AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin — the confessed author of a $110 million online Ponzi scheme — was jailed at the conclusion of a bond-revocation hearing in Washington today. Bowdoin is being detained at a local Department of Corrections facility in the District of Columbia, the […]

Retooling as it hatches a plan to launch anew? Huddling with its mysterious lawyer because the U.S. Department of Justice called it a “fraudulent scheme” and “pyramid” pushed by an accused felon awaiting trial in his Ponzi scheme case? The website of “OneX” has been displaying an “under maintenance” message for days. The development occurs […]

Daniel Joseph Sebastian, accused last year by the SEC of being a pitchman for the James D. Risher Ponzi scheme, has been found dead in Florida of an apparent suicide, The Ledger.com is reporting. Risher, a 61-year-old recidivist felon last living in Sanibel, Fla., pleaded guilty to Ponzi-related offenses last year and was sentenced to […]