Ponzi Scheme

John C. Boschert of Apopka, Florida pleaded guilty yesterday to fraud for his role in a Ponzi scheme operated out of Clermont, Florida under the name Assured Capital Consultants. Boschert agreed to pay $11.6 million to victims in restitution and is looking at a maximum sentence of twenty years imprisonment. Though his plea will likely result in a reduced sentence. Boschert, Jennifer E. Hoffman of Clermont, and Bryan Zuzga of Michigan are alleged to have operated a fraudulent investment scheme with around 100 victims dating back to 2009. The group promised investors that their funds would be used as collateral to make investments, but according to authorities the money was never used for that purpose. Rather, earlier investors were paid from money invested by newer investors, the defining element of a Ponzi scheme. Hoffman and Zuzga are believed to have purchased homes with the funds they received. The two are currently awaiting trial, which will begin in December. If you [...]

Tiger Woods Foundation Inc. and Tiger Woods Charity Event Corp., charities founded by golfing legend Tiger Woods, may be sued for unknowingly receiving donations acquired from a Ponzi scheme. The organizations received $500,000 in charitable donations from R. Allen Stanford's Ponzi scheme and were unable to sway a federal judge to dismiss a suit seeking to recover the donations as fraudulent transfers. Under other circumstances, receiving such funds would not constitute a fraudulent transfer. For instance, if the operator of a Ponzi scheme buys goods or services, the payments are not fraudulent because consideration was given in return. Since charitable organizations do not necessarily provide consideration for receiving donations, these donations can be fraudulent transfers. The charities argued in front of U.S. District Judge David C. Godbey in Dallas that the Stanford trustee's claims were time barred. Godbey, however, disagreed and denied the charities' request for dismissal earlier this month, finding that the trustee sufficiently showed a basis for reliance [...]

David Boden, an ex-Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler PA attorney pleaded guilty yesterday in a Florida federal court to one count of wire fraud in connection to Scott Rothstein's $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme. Boden admitted that he played a role in causing investors to lose $2.4 million. He also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, stating that he acquired commissions straight from a group investing in Rothstein's scheme but failed to disclose to the group that he was also receiving commissions from Rothstein. Richard L. Pearson, the broker involved in the scheme, also pleaded guilty to a count of wire fraud last week. Boden and Pearson are looking at potential maximum sentences of five years imprisonment and may be forced to pay up to $250,000 in restitution. They will both be sentenced on January 9, 2015. Boden had been brought on as a nonequity shareholder at Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler in 2008. Pearson came in roughly a year [...]