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Ye another businessman charged with investment fraud
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| Magnetonium |
Holly crap, its another case of money fraud, in billions of dollars worth. Oh, the greed!!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7895505.stm?lss
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US tycoon charged over $8bn fraud
Sir Allen is a US businessman and a cricket promoter
Texan billionaire and cricket promoter Sir Allen Stanford has been charged over a $8bn (£5.6bn) investment fraud, US financial regulators say.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said the financier had orchestrated "a fraudulent, multi-billion dollar investment scheme".
The SEC said the fraud was "based on false promises and fabricated historical return data".
English cricket bosses have pulled out of sponsorship talks with Sir Allen.
The charges against Sir Allen, three of his companies and two executives of those companies followed a raid by US marshals on the Houston, Texas, offices of Stanford Financial Group.
A US judge has frozen the assets of Sir Allen and the other defendants as well as those of the Stanford Group, its Antigua-based subsidiary Stanford International Bank (SIB) and another subsidiary, investment advisor Stanford Capital Management.
A receiver has been appointed to "preserve assets for investors", the SEC said.
'Close circle'
Sir Allen last year promoted the Stanford cricket series which saw a West Indian all-star team - the Stanford Superstars - beat an England team for a $20m prize.
US marshalls enter the Houston offices of Sir Allen Stanford
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) suspended sponsorship negotiations with him following the fraud charges.
The ECB has a five-year deal to play games against the Stanford Superstars.
The SEC said that the Stanford International Bank - the largest in the Caribbean - sold approximately $8bn worth of certificates of deposit to investors, promising "improbable and unsubstantiated high interest rates".
The bank was "operated by a close circle of Stanford's family and friends", the SEC said in a statement.
"We are alleging a fraud of shocking magnitude that has spread its tentacles throughout the world," said Rose Romero of the SEC.
The SEC began investigating Stanford Group last year and intensified their probe following the arrest of US financier Bernard Madoff in December over an alleged $50bn (£35bn) investment fraud.
In the wake of that scandal, SIB falsely told its investors it had no exposure to the funds involved in the alleged Madoff fraud.
The Stanford Group lists its worth as more than $40bn. Antigua and Barbuda granted Sir Allen citizenship about 10 years ago and knighted him in 2006.
Forbes magazine lists him as the world's 605th richest man, with assets of $2.2bn. |
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| Krypton |
| Just heard about this. Seems like these frauds always come out in waves, usually in the middle of the bust cycle. |
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| Magnetonium |
| quote: | Originally posted by Krypton
Just heard about this. Seems like these frauds always come out in waves, usually in the middle of the bust cycle. |
Because it becomes easier to spot them, eh ... they just fall out like dead flies. |
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| jerZ07002 |
| so was it a fraud perpetrated mostly on americans, europeans, or everyone? i'm interested to know how he operated considering the bank is located in the carribean. obviously, if he solicited in the US he would be liable for criminal activities in the US, but for some reason this is interesting to me because it also seems like a tax haven scheme. |
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| Magnetonium |
More investor fraud!!! This time deaf investors are the target ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/busi...E51J0AG20090220
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top U.S. securities and futures regulators halted a $4.4 million Ponzi scheme that targeted deaf investors in the United States and Japan, the Securities and Exchange Commission said on Thursday.
Since at least September 2007, Hawaii-based Billion Coupons and its chief executive Marvin Cooper raised $4.4 million from 125 investors through personal contacts, seminars at deaf community centers and its website, the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission alleged.
The regulators obtained a court order to freeze Cooper and Billion Coupons' assets. The SEC, criticized for not uncovering Bernard Madoff's alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme earlier, also alleged that Cooper used at least $1.4 million in investor funds for personal expenses.
Regulators allege that Billion Coupons and Cooper told investors their funds would be invested in foreign exchange markets and they would receive returns of up to 25 percent compounded monthly from such trading.
But instead, Billions Coupons and Cooper lost the small portion of investor funds it invested in foreign exchange trading and failed to generate enough money to pay the purported returns, the regulators said.
Billion Coupons and Cooper are charged with operating a Ponzi scheme where earlier investors were paid with money from later investors.
Calls to a lawyer for Cooper were not immediately returned. |
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