Ponzi scheme

CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton recently spoke at New York Law School and had some interesting things to say about Ponzi schemes – or what he referred to as the “Pandemic of Ponzimonium.” 

Nicholas Cosmo, the former owner and president of Long Island-based companies Agape World, Inc., and Agape Merchant Advance, who has been referred to as the “Mini-Madoff,” has been sentenced to 25 years in prison by U.S. District Court Judge Denis R. Hurley.

Ponzi schemes are quite widespread, and investors should be ready to protect themselves, says Sareena Malik Sawhney, MBA, CFE, CFFA, a forensic accountant and authority on financial fraud who serves as a director in the Litigation and Corporate Financial Advisory Services Group of New York accounting firm Marks Paneth & Shron LLP. 

We’ve written a lot about Florida lawyer Scott Rothstein’s Ponzi scheme, prison sentences for others who were involved, Rothstein’s

The man who brought more individuals than anyone else to invest in Nevin Shapiro’s $930 million Ponzi scheme admitted today to failing to report to the IRS millions of the more than $12 million in related commissions he received. 

C. Tate George, a former NBA basketball player and the chief executive officer of purported real estate development firm The George Group, has surrendered to federal authorities for allegedly orchestrating a more than $2 million investment fraud scheme, according to New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman. 

We mentioned a few months ago that Preet Bharara, the Manhattan U.S.

James Scott Brown, an attorney in Leawood, Kansas, and Derek J. Smith, a real estate speculator in the United Kingdom, have pleaded guilty for their roles in a fraud conspiracy that stole more than $52 million from their victims. 

Two Florida men have been charged by the SEC with operating a Ponzi scheme disguised as a purported private equity fund that fraudulently raised approximately $22 million from more than 100 investors, many of whom were Florida teachers or retirees.

We mentioned the other day that Kurt Branham Barton, the president of Triton Financial, L.L.C., was convicted by a jury of running a Ponzi scheme. Barton spent the money he obtained through his financial fraud on a variety of personal items.