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Tag: SEC

FLORIDA — AGAIN: Parolee, Larcenist And Recidivist Huckster Charged In New Fraud Caper; Allen E. Weintraub Made Bogus Takeover Bids For Kodak And AMR — And Caused AMR’s Trading Volume To Mushroom Sixfold, SEC Says

Is it the oddest fraud story coming out of Florida to date? A man who emailed Eastman Kodak and AMR in March with offers to purchase the famous companies for billions of dollars had declared bankruptcy in 2007, was on probation for grand theft when the offers were made and extended the offers through a…

May 5, 2011
SEC Says Former Radio Host Pat Kiley Is ‘Frustrating The Search For Truth About His Involvement In A $190+ Million Fraud’

One of the central figures in the Trevor Cook Ponzi scheme civil case is stonewalling investigators and frustrating efforts to get to the truth, the SEC claims in new court filings. Former radio talk-show host Pat Kiley, who was named a defendant in the SEC action filed in November 2009, “has produced no documents, and…

May 4, 2011
BULLETIN: 3 New Defendants In ‘Red Sea Management’ Case Have Been Arrested; New Charges Filed Against Original Defendants In Alleged Stock-Manipulation Scheme Over Which Purported One-Time ‘Consulate’ To Nonexistent Nation Of ‘New Utopia’ Allegedly Presided

BULLETIN: Federal agents have arrested three new defendants in the alleged Red Sea Management stock-manipulation scheme. The arrests occurred in three U.S. states last week, and one of the new defendants already was in custody for a separate scam, federal prosecutors said. Arrested were Timothy Barham Jr., 43, of Henderson, Tenn.; Nathan Montgomery, 30, of…

May 3, 2011
Edward May, 74, Pleads Guilty In Michigan Ponzi Caper That Gathered $200 Million; Feds Say He Used 150 LLCs As Part Of Spectacular, Decade-Long Fraud

The senior-citizen Ponzi cavalcade and incredible paperwork maze continues: Edward May, 74, has pleaded guilty in Detroit to 59 counts of mail fraud in a case in which federal prosecutors alleged he rented office space in Lake Orion, Mich., and established 150 LLCs as part of a $200 million Ponzi scheme that operated for a…

Apr 30, 2011
SPECIAL REPORT: SEC Sues Commodities Online LLC, Alleging Massive Fraud; Firm That Listed Surf’s Up Mod Terralynn Hoy As ‘Director’ Says It Plowed $39 Million Into Alleged Ponzi Scheme Operated By James Clark Howard III And Others

UPDATED 2:25 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) In a complex case unfolding in Florida, the SEC has filed fraud charges against two companies that allegedly sold unregistered securities and conducted a $27.5 million “investment scheme” involving “purported commodities contracts.” A receiver has been appointed to marshal the assets of the murky businesses, which are known as Commodities…

Apr 23, 2011
BULLETIN: Receiver Seizes Website Of EclipseChannel.TV ‘Advertising’ Venture, Saying Recidivist Felon And Accused Ponzi Schemer Robert Stinson Jr. Hatched New Fraud Scheme After Asset Freeze; Cash Used To Pay ‘Mansion’ Rent

BULLETIN: A federal judge in Pennsylvania blocked the launch of an online venture known as EclipseChannel.TV after reviewing evidence that recidivist felon and securities huckster Robert Stinson Jr. was at the helm and had thumbed his nose at court orders and an asset freeze. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Inquirer, quoting federal prosecutors, reported that Stinson, who…

Apr 19, 2011
A NEW WORLD SPEED RECORD? Alabama Jury Takes Only 28 Minutes To Convict Man Of Selling Unregistered Securities; Scott Frye Initially Fled To Philippines, But Small U.S. Community Wouldn’t Be Denied Justice

Want to mess with Alabamans in the securities fraud era? Don’t do it in Coffee County. A jury there took just 28 minutes to convict Scott Frye on five counts of selling unregistered securities or causing them to be sold. That’s an average of 5.6 minutes of deliberations per count. The case was prosecuted by…

Apr 16, 2011
FEDS: Man Ran Theft Scheme From FTC Headquarters, Stealing More Than $218,000 From Consumer Watchdog Agency; Harold Hughes Faces Up To 10 Years In Prison After Guilty Plea

Two weeks after an employee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was accused of stealing confidential information from a government database to profit from illicit stock trades, another government employee accused in a separate case of taking advantage of his position to commit a crime has pleaded guilty. Harold Hughes, 58, of Arlington, Va.,…

Apr 15, 2011
‘Bo’ Beckman’s 11-Room Florida Ponzi Palace Has Screened-In, Heated Pool, Spa, ‘Summer Kitchen,’ Game Room, View Of Golf Course And Two Garages, Appraiser’s Report Says

As alleged Ponzi palaces go, Jason ‘Bo’ Alan Beckman’s Florida property is hardly the gaudiest. Even so, the 11-room home in Palm City has features and amenities many Americans only dream about. But one group of Americans — victims of the Trevor Cook Ponzi scheme — are likely only to have only bad dreams about…

Apr 12, 2011
BULLETIN: Steven Byers, Figure In $255 Million WexTrust Ponzi And Fraud Scheme, Sentenced To More Than 13 Years In Federal Prison

BULLETIN: UPDATED 8:48 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Steven Byers, the president and chief executive officer of WexTrust Capital LLC, has been sentenced to 160 months in federal prison for his role in an alleged $255 million Ponzi and fraud scheme that cost investors millions of dollars. Byers, 48, of Oakbrook, Ill., was sentenced by Judge Denny…

Apr 12, 2011
A PONZI QUANDARY: Convicted And Jailed, 61-Year-Old Schemer May Have Enough Life Insurance To Make Victims Whole. Case May Pose Unique Challenges To Court-Appointed Receiver And Victims Of William Huber’s Massive Fraud

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Ponzi world is infamous for serving up long-term, dark skies and odd stories. Here is a new weather report and entry for the Ponzi Strange-O-Meter. By some accounts, the best definition of financial success is written by CPAs on the Last Great Day of a client’s life. When the final beans are…

Apr 11, 2011