Sunday, December 28, 2008

Montana Regulators Charge 5 Residents With Ponzi Scheme Investment Fraud

The Securities Department of the Montana State Auditor's office has filed an amended Notice of Proposed Agency Disciplinary Action against several Montana residents and a corporate entity alleged to have engaged in a Ponzi-type investment fraud scheme. Shawn Swor, of Missoula, Montana and Dan Two Feathers, aka Dan Latham, of Hamilton, Montana, were the original respondents in the action which alleged the sale of "zero coupon bonds" that promised extraordinary returns. Their companies, DTF Consulting Group Trust and TLT Holdings Corporation were also named in the original Notice. The amended Notice adds Eric Schultz, a Bozeman, Montana mortgage broker and his business Big Sky Equity, Inc., Terrence Paulin, a Florida resident and Andre Curtis, a Bermuda resident as respondents. The Notice alleges that the respondents committed securities fraud against at least thirteen investors, defrauding them for nearly $4 million. According to the Notice, the Montana Securities Department alleges "multiple counts of fraud, unethical and dishonest practices, as well as selling unregistered securities and conducting securities business in Montana while not properly registered to do so." Further, the Securities Department has obtained 4 injunctions, freezing assets in accounts used by Swor, Two Feathers, Paulin and Curtis and their companies. We note that Dan Two Feathers was previously convicted in New York State on felony charges of fraud and money laundering in 1999 and was sentenced to more than 3 years in prison.

Read the Better Business Bureau's notice here.

Read the story from the Bermuda perspective here.

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