Wall Street investment schemes

We noted Sunday that a startling number of senior citizens have been implicated in Ponzi schemes or accused of monumental financial misdeeds. Featured in this graphic are (left to right): Andy Bowdoin, president of fundamentally defunct AdSurfDaily Inc. of Quincy, Fla.; Bernard Madoff, head man at fundamentally defunct Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities of New […]

First the SEC sued fund manager Joseph Forte, accusing him of running a Ponzi scheme that fleeced investors out of tens of millions of dollars. Now Forte has been charged criminally with mail fraud. Authorities said his victims included a church, a charity and a private school. The SEC sued Forte, 53, of Broomall, Pa., […]

Dear Readers, Our best to you with the dawning of the new year — and our thanks for making this Blog one of your stopping points. If you have a moment in the coming days, think about leaving a comment that answers this question: What will you remember most about 2008? One of the things […]

Bernard Madoff was charged with securities fraud Dec. 11. The story about the alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme hasn’t been out of the news since then — not even for a few hours. Over the weekend we reported that the assets of the Elie Wiesel Foundation had been wiped out in the alleged Madoff fraud. […]

In a stunning announcement, the Elie Wiesel Foundation For Humanity said it lost “substantially all” of its assets in the alleged Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme. It has been known for two weeks that significant foundation money was under Madoff’s management. But the foundation now says it had entrusted $15.2 million to Madoff, in essence the […]

BLOG UPDATE 2:19 P.M. EST (U.S.A.): La Tribune, a French business newspaper, is reporting that a founder of Access International Advisors, a hedge fund with large sums invested with Bernard Madoff, has been found dead in his New York City office building. Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, 65, was found this morning. The French newspaper […]

BLOG UPDATE 12:12 P.M. EST (U.S.A.): A bail hearing for Bernard Madoff rescheduled for today has been canceled. Madoff was ordered last week to produce two additional co-signers to guarantee his $10 million bail, but was unable to come up with them. A federal judge, with consent of the prosecution, now has ordered Madoff placed […]

UPDATE 1:03 PM EST (U.S.A.): Quoting Stephen Harbeck, president and chief executive officer of the Securities Investor Protection Corp. (SIPC), Bloomberg News is reporting that Bernard Madoff’s financial records are “utterly unreliable.” We’ve added a link at the bottom of the post. Here, below, our earlier post . . . If you’ve been following the […]

A federal judge has appointed a trustee to liquidate Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securtites under the auspices of the Securities Investor Protection Corp. (SIPC). SIPC went to court earlier today to seek liquidation. Irving H. Picard will serve as trustee. The law firm of Baker & Hostetler will serve as counsel to Picard. “I will […]

And you thought AdSurfDaily members had problems, having been told their money was part of a $100 million Ponzi scheme. Former Nasdaq Chairman Bernard Madoff has been accused of running a monumental Ponzi scheme that sustained itself for years based on his reputation. Socialites from Palm Beach, New York’s celebrity elite, endowments, European banks and […]