Ponzi Scheme News

Timothy J. Coughlin, Oxford International Credit Union and Oxford International Cooperative Union – South Florida Internet Ponzi Scheme and Securities Fraud and Misrepresentation Litigation and Arbitration Attorney

Published on: April 16, 2014 | By Russell L. Forkey, P.A.

South Florida Internet Ponzi Scheme and Securities Fraud and Misrepresentation FINRA Arbitration and Florida State and Federal Litigation Attorney:

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Timothy J. Coughlin, et al., Civil Action No. 1:14-cv-00562-WTL-MJD (S.D. Ind.)

SEC Charges Indiana Man for Defrauding Investors in “Credit Union” Ponzi Scheme

Keiko Kawamura – South Florida Social Media Fraud and Misrepresentation of Credentials and Trading Experience FINRA Arbitration and Litigation Attorney

Published on: April 9, 2014 | By Russell L. Forkey, P.A.

South Florida, including Dade, Monroe, Broward and Palm Beach County, Florida Social Media and Hedge Fund Misrepresentation of Credentials and Trading Experience FINRA Arbitration and Litigation Attorney:

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced fraud charges against a Honolulu woman posing as an investment banker and soliciting investors through Twitter, Facebook, and other social media.

An SEC investigation found that Keiko Kawamura engaged in two separate fraudulent schemes to raise money from investors while casting herself as an investment and hedge fund expert when in fact she had virtually no prior trading experience. In one scheme, she sought investors for her self-described hedge fund and posted on Twitter some screenshots of brokerage account statements suggesting she was personally obtaining incredible investment returns. However, the account statements were not hers. And instead of investing the money she raised from investors, she spent it on her own living expenses and luxury trips to Miami and London. In a later scheme, Kawamura continued to boast phony experience to attract investors to her subscription service for investment advice. She falsely told subscribers that she had been in the investment banking industry for nearly a decade and had achieved 800 percent returns in her personal brokerage account.

Joseph Signore and Paul Schumack II – Florida Ponzi Scheme and Investment Contract Securities Fraud and Misrepresentation Litigation and Arbitration Attorney

Published on: April 9, 2014 | By Russell L. Forkey, P.A.

South Florida Ponzi Scheme and Investment Contract Fraud and Misrepresentation State and Federal Litigation and Arbitration Attorney:

Securities and Exchange Commission v. JCS Enterprises, Inc. et al., Civil Action No. 14-civ-80468 (S.D. Fla.) (April 7, 2014)

SEC, Criminal Authorities Halt Florida Ponzi Scheme Targeting Investors in Virtual Concierge Machines

Pyramid Scheme, Ponzi Scheme and Affinity Fraud – South Florida Securities and Elder Abuse and Exploitation Litigation and FINRA Arbitration Attorney

Published on: April 1, 2014 | By Russell L. Forkey, P.A.

Securities and Exchange Commission v. World Capital Market Inc., et al., Civil Action No. CV14-2334-CAS (MRWx)

South Florida Pyramid Scheme, Ponzi Scheme and Affinity Fraud Litigation and Arbitration Attorney:

SEC Halts Los Angeles- and Hong Kong-Based Pyramid Scheme Targeting Asian and Latino Communities

Jeremy Fisher – Florida Unregistered Securities and Investment Fraud and Misrepresentation Litigation and Arbitration Attorney

Published on: February 26, 2014 | By Russell L. Forkey, P.A.

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jeremy Fisher, The Good Life Financial Group, Inc., and The Good Life Global, LLC, Civil Action No. 3:13-cv-00683 (W.D. Wisc.)

Jeremy Fisher Indicted for Fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced today that on February 5, 2014, a Grand Jury in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida returned an Indictment charging Jeremy S. Fisher with four counts of wire fraud. The Indictment also seeks forfeiture of property obtained as a result of the alleged criminal violations.

Elder, Senior and Retirement Abuse and Exploitation – Ponzi Scheme – South Florida Securities and Investment Fraud and Misrepresentation Litigation and FINRA Arbitration Attorney

Published on: January 28, 2014 | By Russell L. Forkey, P.A.

South Florida Elder, Senior and Retirement Financial Abuse and Exploitation FINRA Arbitration and Litigation Attorney:

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Palladino, et al., Civil Action No. 13-11024-DPW (United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts)

Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Palladino, Crim. Action Nos. 13-10207, 13-10891; Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Viking Financial Group, Inc., Crim. Action Nos. 13-10209, 13-10894 (Suffolk Superior Court)

Unregistered Offer and Sale of Securities – South Florida Unregistered Sale of Securities Litigation and Arbitration Attorney

Published on: December 24, 2013 | By Russell L. Forkey, P.A.

Offer and sale of securities sold in violation of the registration provisions of Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933 – South Florida Unregistered Sale of Securities Litigation and Arbitration Attorney:

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Dawn Wright-Olivares and Daniel Olivares, Civil Action No. 3:13-CV-700

SEC Charges Woman and Stepson for Involvment in Zeekrewards Pyramid and Ponzi Scheme; Parallel Criminal Charges and Plea Agreements Also Announced:

Robert A. Helms and Janniece S. Kaelin – Florida Oil and Gas Ponzi Scheme Litigation and Arbitration Attorney

Published on: December 6, 2013 | By Russell L. Forkey, P.A.

Florida Oil and Gas Fruad, Misrepresentation and Ponzi Scheme Litigation and Arbitration Attorney:

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced charges and an emergency asset freeze against the perpetrators of a Texas-based Ponzi scheme involving purported investments in oil and gas projects.

The SEC alleges that Robert A. Helms and Janniece S. Kaelin, who work out of an office in Austin, misled investors about their experience in the oil and gas industry while raising nearly $18 million for supposed purchases of oil and gas royalty interests. Despite representations that nearly all of the money they raised would be used to make oil and gas investments, Helms and Kaelin actually used only a fraction of the offering proceeds for that purpose. Instead, the vast majority of investor funds were used to make Ponzi payments and cover various personal and business expenses.

Boiler Room, Penny Stock (Low Priced) and Ponzi Scheme Litigation and Arbitration Attorney

Published on: November 10, 2013 | By Russell L. Forkey, P.A.

Florida Boiler Room, Penny Stock (Low Priced) and Ponzi Scheme FINRA Arbitration and State and Federal Court Litigation Attorney:

The Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission) Obtains Final Judgment against Defendants Charged with Perpetrating $35 Million International Boiler Room Scheme

Recnetly, the Commission announced that the United States District Court for the Central District of California entered a final, settled judgment against defendants Nicholas Louis Geranio, The Good One, Inc., and Kaleidoscope Real Estate, Inc. for their roles in a $35 million scheme to manipulate the market and to profit from the issuance and sale of certain U.S. companies’ stock through offshore boiler rooms.

Christopher A.T. Pedras – Florida Trading Platform Fraud, Misrepresentation and Negligence FINRA Arbitration and Litigation Attorney

Published on: November 4, 2013 | By Russell L. Forkey, P.A.

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced an emergency asset freeze to halt a Ponzi scheme involving U.S. and New Zealand-based companies peddling sham investment opportunities ranging from a bank trading program to kidney dialysis clinics.

The SEC alleges that Christopher A.T. Pedras, who has residences in Turlock, Calif., and New Zealand, misled his initial investors into believing they were investing in a profitable trading platform in which his company served as an intermediary between global banks. When Pedras and his companies encountered difficulty paying the promised 4 to 8 percent monthly returns, they began steering investors to a different investment program to purportedly increase the value of their investment by 80 percent by funding kidney dialysis clinics in New Zealand. Pedras’s business partner Sylvester M. Gray II and lead sales representative Alicia Bryan helped him solicit investors for both programs, and the money was never invested as promised. Earlier investors were paid supposed returns with funds received from newer investors, and Pedras stole more than $2 million and spent another $1.2 million on sales agents.

According to the SEC’s complaint unsealed late Friday in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Pedras raised more than $5.6 million from at least 50 investors in the U.S. since July 2010 by selling securities in two phases. Pedras, Gray, and Bryan first solicited investors for their Maxum Gold Small Cap Trade Program in which Pedras’s company Maxum Gold purportedly serves as the intermediary between banks that can’t legally trade with each other directly, so they use Maxum Gold’s trade platform to do so indirectly. Maxum Gold purports to share portions of the trading profits with investors.