Investment Advisory Firm Founder Gets 2-Year Prison Term, Will Pay $1.3M for Fraud Michael J. Breton, a Massachusetts investment adviser, has been sentenced to two years behind bars for running a cherry picking scam that allowed him to bilk clients. Breton, the founder of Strategic Capital Management, admitted to keeping…
Stephen J. Hatch, the mastermind of a $70M Arizona Ponzi scam, has been sentenced to five years in prison. Hatch, who pleaded guilty to fraud, targeted Christian investors, causing many of them to lose their life savings. As part of his plea deal, the Texas man agreed to pay back…
SEC Charges Man Accused of Running $10M Ponzi Scam Mark Anderson Jones, whom the US Securities and Exchange Commission has charged with fraud, has been sentenced to 70 months in prison in a parallel criminal case. Jones pleaded guilty to running a $10M Ponzi scam. According to the SEC, Jones…
Over the weekend, Yasuna Murakami, a Cambridge-Massachusetts based hedge fund manager, was arrested and charged with wire fraud. Murakami, who managed MC2 Capital Management LLC, is accused of misappropriating investors’ funds in a Ponzi-like scam. The arrest and criminal charges come a few months after the state’s regulator, Secretary of…
Eight years after Bernard Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison for defrauding investors in a $65 billion Ponzi scam, thousands of his victims have still not seen any of the money that they lost. These investors’ claims are being handled by Madoff Victim Fund administrator Richard Breedon, whose…
Financial Firm and Its CEO Settle Life Settlement Fraud Charges The US Securities and Exchange Commission announced that Verto Capital Management and its CEO William Schantz III have settled civil charges accusing them of running a Ponzi-like scam involving life settlements. As part of the settlement, Verto Capital and Schantz…
Grand Jury Indicts Texas Woman in $1M Ponzi Scam A federal grand jury has indicted Nemelee Liwanag Jiao on two wire fraud counts for allegedly running a Texas Ponzi scam that cost investors over $1M. At least 35 investors were bilked. According to the indictment, Jiao, a Texas resident, had…
Former Wells Fargo and LPL Financial Broker Receives 41-Month Prison Term for Elder Financial Fraud Robert N. Tricarico, an ex-broker for both Wells Fargo Advisors (WFC) and LPL Financial (LPLA), will serve 41 months behind bars and pay restitution of over $1.2M after he pleaded guilty to elder financial fraud.…
Business partners Janniece Kaelin and Robert Allen Helms have pleaded guilty to bilking investors of up to $20M in a Texas-based Ponzi scam. The oil and gas financiers used the funds raised for energy ventures to cover their own expenses from 1/2010 to 12/2013. The US Securities and Exchange Commission…
Judge Orders Deutsche Bank Subsidiary to Pay $150Mfor Libor Rigging A federal judge is ordering Deutsche Bank Group Services, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank (DB), to pay $150M for its involvement in an interest rate manipulation scam. The London unit pleaded guilty last year to rigging the London Interbank Offered…