FBI Highlights Recent Ponzi Schemes It Has Been Investigating

The Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a press release late today outlining the Ponzi scheme fraud investigations it has been involved with that have been in the news since the beginning of 2009, including:

• On 01/05/2009, four Florida defendants were charged in a $1 billion Ponzi investor fraud scheme. Read about it here.
• On 01/23/2009, a Broomall, Pennsylvania man was charged in a large-scale investment fraud that he used as a pyramid, or “Ponzi,” scheme to defraud investors of tens of millions of dollars between 1996 and 2008. Read about it here.
• On 01/26/2009, a Heber Springs, Arkansas man was sentenced to federal prison for defrauding investors of $43 million in a Ponzi scheme. Read about it here.
• On 01/26/2009, a North Haven, Connecticut man was sentenced to 48 months of in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for operating a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme in which he solicited investments for fictitious investment programs. Read about it here.
• On 01/27/2009, the President of a Long Island, New York investment firm was charged in a $370 million Ponzi scheme. Read about here.
• On 02/05/2009, a grand jury in Seattle, Washington indicted three men for operating a $65 million Ponzi scheme. Read about it here.
• On 02/24/2009, the New York FBI Field Office arrested an individual based on the operation of an international, Internet-based "gold unit" Ponzi scheme. Read about it here.
• On 02/24/2009, a Forest Lake, Minnesota man was sentenced for his role in defrauding 519 people nationwide out of approximately $30 million in a Ponzi scheme operated under the name of the Joshua Tree Group. Read about it here.
• On 02/27/2009, a former Brentwood, Tennessee financial advisor and owner of Park Capital Management Group (“PCMG”) admitted to operating an elaborate Ponzi scheme to defraud investors who deposited funds with PCMG for investment in brokered stocks and other marketable securities. Read about it here.
• On 02/27/2009, a Chicago businessman was charged with luring two dozen investors into investing $4.7 million in commodity trading pools and using the money instead to fund two nightclubs, to pay gambling debts and other living expenses, and to make Ponzi-type payments to earlier investors. Read about it here.
• On 03/04/2009, two Arizonans and two others were indicted for a Ponzi fraud scheme. A 90-count indictment alleges at least 300 victims invested $8 million during the scheme. Read about it here.
• On 03/09/2009, a Marblehead, Massachusetts investment advisor was charged with wire fraud in connection with a Ponzi scheme to defraud two of his clients of more than $750,000. Read about it here.
• On 03/12/2009, Bernard L. Madoff pled guilty to an 11-count criminal information and was remanded into custody related to a massive multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme. Read about it here.
• On 03/12/2009, Dennis R. Bolze was arrested in State College, Pennsylvania on federal wire fraud and money laundering charges associated with a Ponzi scheme. Read about it here.
• On 03/18/2009, an Atlanta, Georgia currency trader was charged with operating a $25 million Ponzi scheme. Read about it here.
• On 03/20/2009, Anthony Vassallo of Folsom, California was charged for his role in a massive Ponzi investment fraud scheme that brought in more that $40 million from 150 investors, many of whom he met in his church. Read about it here.
• On 03/31/2009, Manyu Ogale was sentenced to 10 years in prison on a federal charge of mail fraud arising out of a Ponzi scheme under the guise of a foreign currency “hedge fund” that defrauded investors out of more than $23 million. Read about it here.

FraudTalk has chronicled virtually all of these cases in these pages.