Florida Ponzi schemes

BULLETIN: John Neil Hirst has been charged by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in the United Kingdom in a case that alleges he was at the helm of an international Ponzi scheme that targeted British, French and Americans through a company registered in Panama and Seychelles. The company was known as Gilher Inc., the SFO […]

UPDATED 1:14 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) A Florida man who allegedly received $1.5 million from an international Forex fraudster now jailed in the United States has been arrested on charges of bankruptcy fraud, federal prosecutors said. The three-count indictment against Jon Jerald Hammill, 39, of St. Petersburg, was unsealed yesterday. It marked the fourth major Ponzi-related […]

Two Florida residents have been accused by the SEC of operating a $30 million Ponzi and promissory-notes scheme that purported to trade foreign currency amid claims their domestic company was morphing into an “offshore” firm that would operate in a “protected jurisdiction.” The defendants in the case already face a judgment of $50 million from […]

The Miami Herald broke the story last night (see link at bottom of post) that Wells Fargo, which merged with Wachovia Bank in December 2008 and assumed its liabilities, has been sued for $68 million by the court-appointed receiver in the George Theodule Ponzi scheme in Florida. Theodule largely targeted the Haitian-American community in his […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: The SEC has been particularly active in Florida in recent weeks. Now, the agency once again has gone to federal court to allege a spectacular fraud involving people and companies in the Sunshine State. This one involves more than $1 billion and is linked to the Tom Petters’ Ponzi case in Minnesota. Two […]

When Nevin Shapiro was arrested in New Jersey for running a wholesale grocery scam in Florida, the FBI described the scheme as a “perfect example of greed run amok.” Shapiro, who was charged both criminally and civilly earlier this year after investigators uncovered his long-running Ponzi scheme, now has pleaded guilty to securities fraud and […]

Charges against a Florida man accused of running a Ponzi scheme through a bogus wholesale grocery business known as Capitol Investments USA Inc. have been upgraded, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman of the District of New Jersey said. Nevin J. Shapiro, 41, of Miami Beach, originally was charged via criminal complaint in April with one […]

A Florida company — Trade-LLC — and its operators have been accused of running a $28 million Ponzi scheme that fleeced members of three investment clubs. Named defendants by the SEC were Trade-LLC and its managing members, Philip W. Milton and William Center. The scam operated in the Palm Beach Gardens area, and affected more […]

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 […]

UPDATED 1:33 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The failure yesterday of San Joaquin Bank in Bakersfield, Calif., brought the total of bank failures in the United States this year to 99. With weeks remaining in the year, it is a virtual certainty that failures will top the 100 mark. Banks have been failing at an average rate […]

There has been nonstop news about Florida Ponzi schemes in the past 48 hours. Several indictments have been announced, the latest involving Sean Healy of Weston. Healy, 38, was charged in a 55-count indictment unsealed in Pennsylvania with multiple counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors said Healy “spent […]