Dirty Rotten Countess: A Rollicking Tale of Fraud

My pal Bill Singer (of brokerandbroker.com) has an amazing story on his Forbes blog that must be read to be believed.

It involves one of the most brazen stolen identity frauds I’ve ever heard about.  Essentially, the grifters involved have pretended to be related to the Guggenheim Family’s investment interests.  They were raising money from unsuspecting investors for all sorts of nonsense before being nailed…

The allegedly bogus investment opportunities promoted by the Defendants included:

• the sale of $1 billion in diamonds from “the private collection of the Guggenheim family”;

• the offering by “Messrs. Guggenheim” of multibillion dollar “cash-backed Bank Guarantees” through a number of European banks;

• a venture to distribute vodka with The Coca-Cola Company; and

• a $4 billion transaction involving the purchase of crude oil for a refinery in China that was supposedly owned by the Guggenheim family.

Initially, the Guggenheims sued in civil court to have their names removed from the scam.  But now it’s become a criminal matter as the Feds want to know more, a lot more.

Run, don’t walk to hear the story as only Bill Singer tells it.

Source:

Countess Toumei, the Guggenheims, and the Sex Trade (Forbes)