defrauding investors

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Ex-CEO Found Dead After Missing Sentencing

Former S-Ray CEO Stephen Baird was to meet some of the investors he defrauded of $11M

(Newser) - The former CEO of medical device startup S-Ray has been found dead after missing a sentencing hearing for wire fraud over his misuse of investor money. Stephen Baird, 69, was expected to see many of the 200 investors he defrauded of a combined $10.75 million in US District Court...

Man's Yearslong Manure Scam Sends Him to Prison

Ray Brewer, 66, sentenced to 6 years for cow dung-to-green energy scheme

(Newser) - A California man is going to prison for running a cow dung-to-green energy scheme that authorities say was a load of manure. Ray Brewer, 66, of Porterville was sentenced Monday to six years and nine months in federal prison in a yearslong scam that bilked investors out of $8.75...

Judge Finds Ex-Deputy Who Cheated Investors a New Low

Victims' money went to private jets, gambling debts

(Newser) - When sentencing a former California sheriff's deputy to 14 years in federal prison and ordering him to pay $7.6 million in restitution, US District Judge Michael Fitzgerald put the defendant in context. Christopher Lloyd Burnell, he said, is "one of the most evil people that I have...

Theranos Investor Has Unique Plan to Get Money Back

Marc Ostrofsky plans to sell an NFT of his otherwise worthless stock certificate

(Newser) - Like a lot of Theranos investors, Marc Ostrofsky lost a hefty sum when the blood-testing company went broke. But Ostrofsky thinks he has a way to get his $150,000 back, and maybe even more. CNBC reports that he plans to sell his Series A stock certificate as a nonfungible...

Hundreds Nabbed in Scam Artist Crackdown

Justice Department brags about wave of arrests

(Newser) - Federal authorities have charged more than 500 people with various forms of fraud during a 3.5-month probe, in what Eric Holder today termed the largest crackdown on scam artists in US history. Of those, 343 were criminally charged, with the defendants accused of everything from running Ponzi schemes to...

Germany May Go After Goldman Sachs

One of the nation's big lenders nearly collapsed

(Newser) - Goldman Sachs may soon have another government on its back: Germany will ask the SEC for information about its fraud case against the Wall Street giant. One of Germany's big lenders, IKB, got caught up in Goldman's mortgage investment scheme and required a bailout to avoid collapse, explains the Wall ...

Goldman Withers in SEC Spotlight

 Goldman Withers 
 in SEC Spotlight 
OPINION roundup
Apr 16, 2010 1:14 PM CDT

Goldman Withers in SEC Spotlight

Fraud charges kneecap stock price; observers play wait-and-see

(Newser) - The SEC's civil suit against Goldman Sachs is hardly a slam-dunk, experts agree, but the scrutiny is certainly not doing the firm any good . Some reactions:
  • This "is explosive stuff," Felix Salmon blogs for Reuters . "Goldman Sachs has lost more than $10 billion in market capitalization today,
...

SEC Charges Goldman Sachs With Fraud
SEC Charges Goldman
Sachs With Fraud
Apr 16, 2010 10:26 AM CDT

SEC Charges Goldman Sachs With Fraud

Says firm misled investors on subprime mortgages

(Newser) - The government is accusing Wall Street powerhouse Goldman Sachs of defrauding investors by failing to disclose conflicts of interest in mortgage investments it sold as the housing market was faltering. The SEC today announced civil fraud charges against Goldman and one of its vice presidents. The agency alleges Goldman failed...

'Lebanese Madoff' Shames Hezbollah

Financier accused of using ties to party to dupe Shiites out of their savings

(Newser) - A Lebanese businessman's billion-dollar Ponzi scheme has left thousands of investors penniless and Hezbollah leaders seriously embarrassed, reports the New York Times. Salah Ezzedine—dubbed the "Lebanese Bernie Madoff" by the nation's press—has strong ties to Hezbollah, and many of the mostly Shiite investors in his scheme say...

Madoff Lieutenant Expected to Blow Lid Off Scam

(Newser) - Investigators see yesterday's guilty plea of Bernard Madoff's right-hand man as a major breakthrough in their efforts to untangle the elaborate Ponzi scheme, BusinessWeek reports. Frank DiPascali, chief financial officer at Madoff's firm, has promised to cooperate with prosecutors and is expected to name other people involved in the scam...

Ruth Madoff to Bare All Expenditures Over $100

(Newser) - Ruth Madoff won't be able to spend $100 without scrutiny under a deal approved by a bankruptcy judge overseeing the liquidation of her husband's financial firm, the Wall Street Journal reports. Madoff agreed to give a full accounting of her income and any spending over $100 to a court-appointed trustee...

BofA Settles SEC Suit Over Merrill Bonuses for $33M

Commission says bank misled investors over Merrill payout

(Newser) - Bank of America will pay $33 million to settle a federal lawsuit, filed today, which says the bank misled its investors, Reuters reports. During its takeover of Merrill Lynch, the lawsuit charges, Bank of America told investors Merrill wouldn’t pay bonuses without BoA’s permission before the deal closed....

Trustee Sues Ruth Madoff for $44M

Bankruptcy trustee says fraudster's wife received more than she'll admit to

(Newser) - The trustee in the Bernie Madoff case sued the swindler's wife today to demand the return of $44 million to bilked investors, Newsday reports. The complaint doesn't allege criminal activity by Ruth Madoff but says she directly received funds from her husband’s multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme. Ruth Madoff gave up...

Jailed Financier Stanford Wants Cell With Better A/C

Alleged fraudster files a motion to move to cushier Houston jail

(Newser) - Accused financier R. Allen Stanford is demanding he be moved from his current jail to a nicer facility in Houston, on grounds that his current cell is not comfortable enough, the New York Post reports. Stanford, charged with swindling investors out of $7 billion, complained through his lawyer that the...

New $130M Global Ponzi Scheme Busted

(Newser) - London investigators have uncovered a $130 million Ponzi scheme that duped hundreds of celebrities and businessmen around the world, reports the Telegraph. The scammers were so slick that many of their victims refuse to believe they were sucked in by the ersatz high-yield fund, and are still expecting payment, according...

$400M Ponzi Lawyer Gets 20 Years

(Newser) - A high-flying New York lawyer who orchestrated a Ponzi scheme to fund his lavish lifestyle has been sentenced to 20 years in jail, the New York Times reports. Marc Dreier pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy and securities fraud relating to the scam, which bilked hedge funds and other investors...

SEC Staffer Was Waved Off Madoff Probe

Investigator's questions could have exposed Ponzi scheme in 2004

(Newser) - An SEC investigator whose questions could have exposed Bernard Madoff's fraud in 2004 was shifted to an unrelated case after raising the alarm, the Washington Post reports. One of the supervisors who told the staffer to focus instead on a mutual funds investigation later married Madoff's niece, and the relationship...

10 More to Be Charged in Madoff Scam

Source: Disgraced financier may get plenty of company during his century-and-half inside

(Newser) - At least ten more people are likely to be charged as the probe into Bernard Madoff's massive fraud continues, an insider tells AP. The only other person charged so far has been Madoff's accountant. The source declined to say whether the other people likely to face federal charges are relatives...

Where's the Money, Bernie?
Where's the
Money, Bernie?
Jun 29, 2009 4:21 AM CDT

Where's the Money, Bernie?

(Newser) - Investigators have only recovered $1.2 billion of the $13.2 billion bilked from investors by Bernard Madoff since 1995, reports the Wall Street Journal. Eligible victims may be compensated up to $500,000 by the Securities Investor Protection Corp., but the rest will have to come from whatever investigators...

At $5B in Profits, One Client May Have Out-Madoffed Madoff

(Newser) - At least one person looks to have benefited more from Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme than Bernie Madoff, ProPublica reports. Jeffry Picower, a secretive philanthropist and investor in medical technologies, is on the books as having withdrawn some $5.1 billion in returns from 1995 to 2008, well beyond his...

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