Texan Charged In First Bitcoin Securities Fraud Case
Trendon Shavers of McKinney, Texas, operator of Bitcoin Savings and Trust, was charged yesterday with defrauding investors in what authorities are calling the first federal criminal securities fraud case arising from a bitcoin-related Ponzi scheme. Shavers is charged with misappropriating roughly 146,000 of 764,000 bitcoins, at the time worth over $4.5 million, which he had […]
North Carolina Man Sentenced In Ponzi Scheme Case
Carl David Wright of Iron Station, North Carolina was sentenced Tuesday to four years imprisonment for operating a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors out of $1 million. He will remain out on bond until he is ordered to report to federal prison. After serving his sentence, Wright will spend three years on supervised release and […]
Florida Ponzi Schemer Pleads Guilty To $11.6M Fraud
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 […]
Tiger Woods’ Charities May Lose $500k Donated By Ponzi Schemer
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 […]
Florida Investment Company VP Sentenced To 14 Years Imprisonment
Louis Gallo, former vice president of Commodities Online LLC, a Florida-based investment company, was sentenced last week to fourteen years imprisonment and ordered to pay nearly $20 million in restitution for his participation in a $21 million invest fraud. Gallo’s sentence will additionally include three years of supervised release after he is released from prison. […]
Broker Pleads Guilty To $2.4M Fraud
Richard L. Pearson, a broker affiliated with Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler PA and alleged to have played a role in Scott Rothstein’s $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme, pleaded guilty in Florida federal court to a wire fraud charge, noting that he contributed to investors losing $2.4 million. Pearson and Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler attorney David Boden had each […]
SEC Adopts Securities Arbitration Fraud Intervention Rule
The SEC adopted a rule that will allow securities arbitrators to immediately disclose frauds that have the potential to threaten the investing public when they learn of such frauds in the midst of a case. The SEC’s acceptance of the rule ends years of debate over implementing such a rule that was first proposed after […]
Ex-TD Bank VP Charged In Florida Ponzi Scheme Case
Frank Spinosa, a former vice president of TD Bank from Fort Lauderdale, is facing a potential 20 year imprisonment sentence if convicted on charges made by the FBI in relation to an extensive Ponzi scheme in South Florida. Spinosa is believed to have participated in Scott Rothstein’s $1.2 billion investment fraud. Spinosa was fired from […]
Georgia, Utah Men Sentenced In Ponzi Scheme Case
The Frankowski Firm is investigating a two-man Ponzi scheme that victimized Utah investors. Martin A. Pool of Atlanta, Georgia and Armand R. Franquelin of Liberty, Utah pleaded guilty in May to fraud and money laundering charges. The two admitted that they had persuaded investors to convert traditional Individual Retirement Accounts into self-directed accounts and invest […]
Irish Businessman Receives Seven Years For $11M Ponzi Scheme
Breifne O’Brien, an Irish businessman and socialite, was sentenced this week by a court in Ireland to seven years imprisonment for operating a $10.8 million Ponzi scheme. The scheme consisted of O’Brien selling fake property investments before Ireland’s real estate collapse in 2008. O’Brien pleaded guilty to 14 counts of fraud and theft with regard […]