Texas REIT Offices Raided By FBI
The FBI raided the office of a Texas REIT, United Development Funding IV, this week. The firm saw its stock price drop 81% in the past two months after a hedge fund alleged it was operating for years like a Ponzi scheme. “The FBI is lawfully present and conducting law enforcement activity” at the UDF […]
Former Wedbush Securities Broker Defrauds Elderly Customer
In July 2014, Michael Winegar, formerly a broker with Wedbush Securities, allegedly convinced an elderly customer to pay him $100,000. Winegar told the 85-year-old customer that he would use the funds to create an independent advisory firm through which Winegar would supposedly satisfy the $100,000 debt by providing the customer with free investment advice […]
Operator Of Two NC Companies Pleads Guilty To Securities Fraud
Barry Carlton Taylor, operator of two companies in Franklin, North Carolina, pleaded guilty earlier this week to fraud by commodities pool operator and concealment of money laundering charges, after defrauding investors out of about $2.5 million. Beginning in at least August 2011, Taylor solicited investment funds from at minimum eighteen victims totaling roughly $2.5 million. […]
Top Investor Threats
The following is a list compiled by the North American Securities Administrators Association of the top financial products and practices that threaten to trap unwary investors and small business owners: Unregistered Products / Unlicensed Salesmen: The offer of securities by an individual without a valid securities license should be a red alert for investors. Con artists […]
Texas REIT Plummets Following Ponzi Allegations
Stock in United Development Funding IV has gone into a free fall following a report published on an investor website that alleged the real estate investment trust has operated for years like a Ponzi scheme. Harvest Exchange, an online professional network for investors, published an anonymous post about UDF called “A Texas-Sized Scheme: Exposing the […]
Madoff Victims Receive Biggest Payout In Years With Checks For $1.1M
Bernard Madoff’s victims are getting big checks as the trustee unwinding his fraud sends out $1.2 billion in recovered funds, with checks averaging $1.1 million. This payout is the biggest in over three years and comes a week before the anniversary of Madoff’s December 11, 2008 arrest, when thousands of retirees, charities, investment funds, and other […]
Pennsylvania Man Charged With Defrauding Investors Out Of $1.2M
Bernard M. Parker of Indiana, Pennsylvania is charged with defrauding twenty-two investors out of $1.2 million and using the cash to pay his mortgage, debit card purchases, and other personal expenses. Parker, who operated Parker Financial Services from his home, was indicted under seal on counts of securities and mail fraud. The case was then […]
Vermont Man Charged By SEC For Operating Ponzi Scheme
Homero Joshua Garza of Brattleboro, Vermont faces federal charges alleging that he operated a Ponzi scheme that bilked thousands of investors. The SEC charged Garza and his two Bitcoin-mining companies, GAW Miners LLC and ZenMiner LLC, with running the scheme. The companies sold $20 million worth of what appeared to be shares in Hashlets, digital […]
New York Financial Adviser Sentences In Massive Ponzi Scheme
Scott Valente, a 58-year-old stock broker from upstate New York, was sentenced in federal court today to twenty years imprisonment for defrauding over a hundred investors out of over $10 million. He was also ordered to pay $8.2 million in restitution. He had originally spent that money on vacation homes, jewelry for his wife, and […]
History Of Investors Capital Corporation’s Malfeasance
Investors Capital Corporation, a dually-registered independent Broker/Dealer and Investment Advisory firm, has a long history of malfeasance. In the summer of 2014, Patricia S. Miller, a former financial adviser with ICC, was arrested for orchestrating a massive Ponzi scheme that cost her clients millions in savings. Through her scheme, she obtained $4.1 million from over […]
