The SEC nailed a Minnesota-based currency fraud today, a bust that I believe will be the opening salvo in a much bigger battle to protect Americans from this burgeoning area of fraud. SEC Obtains Asset Freeze in Minnesota-Based Foreign Currency Trading Scheme FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 2009-253 Washington, D.C., Nov. 24, 2009 — The Securities and…
Ponzi Schemes
Jeffry Picower, a Madoff Castmember, Found Dead
This development is sure to ignite a torrent of speculation and conspiracizing this week… From the New York Times: Jeffry M. Picower, a prominent philanthropist accused of reaping about $7 billion in profit from Bernard L. Madoff’s vast Ponzi scheme, was found dead on Sunday afternoon in a swimming pool at his mansion in Palm…
The Funniest Show on TV is Now Tackling Financial Topics
Yes, I watch Curb Your Enthusiasm, Family Guy, The Office and 30 Rock, and yes, they’re all funny. But they don’t make me laugh out loud or force me to pause and rewind the way It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia does. Sunny is the funniest show on tv, end of story. It airs on the…
Breakfast Links: Livermore, Gasparino & the 2nd Ave Subway
Stuff I’m Reading this Morning… Carney may be onto something re: Epstein‘s “Hedge Fund”. The next Ponzi? (Clusterstock) Thank heavens for Greenback’d, a monster list of every activist investor situation going on right now. (Greenback’d) NEXT Financial gets nailed…gotta supervise those OSJ branches, people. (BusinessWire) Charlie Gasparino has a secret un-admirer who thinks he went…
Madoff Gets a Buck Fifty
Today, Judge Chin meted out a sentence of 150 years to convicted ponzi king Bernard Madoff. A buck fifty, that’s as symbolic a sentence as you’ll get. A punsihment of a buck fifty has another meaning on the streets, where it’s also known as Uno Cincuenta. The Urban Dictionary defines a buck 50 thusly: A tear inflicted by…
TGIF Market Recap: Sail Away with the Shippers
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BARLfUmyBJA] The Reformed Broker, AKA Captain Dry Bulk, here with today’s Market Recap… Quiet day on The Street today overall, but the China-related stuff was on fire. Aluminum, Building Materials and Steel names were all up nicely as of mid-day, but the show-stopper was the shipping sector in light of the DryShips (DRYS) earnings beat….
Chinese Warren Buffett: Berkshire Hatha-Wei Ponzi Frozen
This is by far my favorite of all the ridiculous Ponzi’s (oh, so many to choose from!) From WSJ: A federal judge agreed to freeze the assets of a man accused of running a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme targeting Chinese-Americans, primarily near Dallas. The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Weizhen Tang, who describes himself as the…
Say It Ain't So: The Madoffs Have a Financial Interest in P.J. Clarke's
Awwww Hell No! One of my favorite burger joints in the city is tainted with money from Ma Madoff and the Fake Trading Gang. From Bloomberg: Prosecutors are seeking the Madoff interest in the restaurant P.J. Clarke’s on the Hudson LLC. A woman who answered the phone at PJ Clarke’s declined to comment and wouldn’t…
A Guide to Prison Gangs for Bernie Madoff
Dear Bernie, News of the 150 year jail sentence you may be facing has reached The Reformed Broker in his lair this evening and so I decided to take a moment out to offer some advice. Picking a prison gang is an important choice, not unlike choosing a Palm Beach country club or a Hebrew…
Ruth Madoff Wants to Keep the Secret Stash House
Sure, let Ruth keep The House that Ponzi Built, the upper east side penthouse Madoff Attorney Ira Sorkin is now claiming is “unrelated” to the fraud charges. Yeah, ok…unrelated! Like the gold and art looted from every corner of Europe by the Nazis and hoarded in Swiss banks was “unrelated” to the genocide. Sure. Ruth’s…
