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 […]
Three Hedge Fund Managers Sentenced In Ponzi Scheme Case
Three hedge fund managers have been sentenced in a Ponzi scheme case that conned investors out of $40 million. Jeffrey Toft of Sioux Falls, South Dakota received 66 months in prison. Chad Sloat of Kansas City, Missouri received 70 months. And Michael Murphy of Deep Haven, Minnesota received 48 months. All three of their sentences […]
Indiana Man Receives 22 Year Sentence For North Carolina Ponzi Scheme
Thomas Kimmel, who federal prosecutors have accused of operating a Washington, North Carolina Ponzi scheme aimed at rural church goers, was sentenced in federal court this week to 264 months in prison. After serving that sentence he will serve three years of supervised release. Further, he has been ordered to pay over $16.5 million in […]
TD Bank Rehearing On $67M Ponzi Scheme Verdict Denied
The United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit denied a petition yesterday from TD Bank NA to take a second look at a ruling that investors in Scott Rothstein’s $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme had standing to win a $67 million verdict against the bank. In the court’s order, a three-judge panel decided not […]
Former Alabama Attorney Indicted On Violations Of Alabama Securities Act
Former Dothan, Alabama attorney, Frederick Mitchell McNab was arrested earlier this month by Houston County Sheriff’s deputies. He was released on $310,000 bond and the surrendering of his passport. The arrest followed on the heels of a Houston County Grand Jury indictment charging McNab with thirty-one counts of alleged violations of the Alabama Securities Act. […]
Mississippi Woman Accused Of Operating Gigantic Ponzi Scheme
Gina Palasini was arrested last month in Palm Springs, California as the list of people who claim they lost money by unknowingly participating in a Ponzi scheme operated by the Mississippi fugitive continues to grow. Palasini will be extradited to Mississippi on felony charges for bad checks and then sent to Wayne County for sentencing […]
Texas Judge Awards $40.7 In Bitcoin Ponzi Scheme Case
Last week, U.S. Magistrate Judge Amos Mazzant, a federal judge in Texas, ordered Bitcoin Savings and Trust and its owner, Trendon Shavers, to pay $40.7 million after the SEC proved that the company, which sold investments using bitcoins, was in reality a Ponzi scheme. According to Mazzant, Shavers “knowingly and intentionally” used the company “as […]
Alabama Supreme Court Affirms Class-Action Status In $3.2 Billion Lawsuit
Last week, the Alabama Supreme Court upheld a Jefferson County judge’s ruling that a lawsuit against CVS Caremark Corp. can proceed as a class-action to represent roughly 70,000 investors who assert that they lost $3.2 billion in a securities fraud during the 1990s. The case arises from twenty-one lawsuits filed by investors in 1998 against […]
7th Circuit Upholds Ponzi Scheme Convictions
The Frankowski Firm is investigating a Ponzi scheme involving the owners of Fair Finance, which was once a legitimate company that had provided financial services since the Great Depression. The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit last week upheld the convictions of the three owners–Timothy Durham, James Cochran, and Rick Snow–who turned […]
