Word: ponzi
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...Services Committee hearing, the former investment manager told how his nine years of repeated warnings to SEC enforcement officials went ignored and how they dismissed his detailed "red flag" reports. Markopolos also told the committee that tomorrow he will be turning over evidence to the SEC of another major Ponzi scheme, a $1 billion "mini-Madoff." It's expected that the SEC will pay closer attention to him this time. (Read "Bernie Madoff's Victims: Why Some Have No Recourse...
...enacted, SEC examiners gave Madoff's organization, after registering as an investment adviser, a clean bill of health. Just months earlier hedge fund whistle-blower Harry Markopoulos had given SEC enforcement officials 29 red flags about Madoff's $50 billion fund, presciently calling it the world's biggest Ponzi scheme. Nobody cared. (See pictures of the demise of Bernard Madoff...
Though the complaint against Cosmo does not cite an official Ponzi scheme, it certainly looks and smells like a Ponzi. The complaint alleges that Agape's bridge loans were touted as secured by borrowers' assets and that investors would receive substantial interest returns ranging from 48% to 80% per year. Records indicate that from Jan. 1, 2006, to Nov. 30, 2008, more than $370 million was deposited into Agape accounts - the vast majority of which was provided by more than 1,500 investors - and that less than $10 million of the $370 million was actually used to make loans...
...lawyer who represents salespeople at the firm who "felt something wasn't right." The salespeople were selling friends and family on Agape's high-yield claims. "[Cosmo] actually sat down with investors and explained his investments to them. He was a very convincing salesman," said Devine. (Read "Beyond Madoff, Ponzi Schemes Proliferate...
Kessler's investigations found that brokers "lived lavishly and there were a lot of red flags, not the least of which was that Cosmo was a convicted felon." (Read "The Ponzi Scheme in Every Hedge Fund...