IRS

EDITOR’S NOTE: If you’re keeping a “Bubba Blue” notebook on how to have your Ponzi scheme, this alleged caper in Greater Philadelphia involving prepaid phone cards and purported ties to major retailers perhaps merits an entry . . . A 42-year-old Pennsylvania man has been charged in an alleged “prepaid phone cards” Ponzi scheme that [...]

So, you think your cash-gifting “sponsor” has your best interest at heart? Three women who were “leaders” of a cash-gifting scheme in Connecticut were arrested earlier today on charges of conducting a pyramid scheme and engaging in a conspiracy, wire fraud and tax fraud, federal prosecutors said. The scam operated between 2008 and 2011, reached [...]

Fort Lauderdale lawyer Steven N. Lippman conspired with now-disbarred attorney, convicted racketeer and Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein to prop up the Rothstein, Rosenfeldt and Adler (RRA) law firm through electioneering, check-kiting and tax scams, federal prosecutors charged yesterday. A 70-attorney firm that employed about 150 staff members, RRA collapsed in the wake of Rothstein’s epic [...]

Another major Ponzi case appears to be brewing — this one in Pennsylvania, where federal agents were seen carting boxes from the Wilkes-Barre office of attorney Anthony Lupas. Lupas, the former solicitor of the Wilkes-Barre School District, is 77. He now joins a number of alleged swindlers over the age of 65 implicated in fraud [...]

BULLETIN: Ronald James Davenport, the Washington state “sovereign citizen” convicted in November 2011 of filing false liens for billions of dollars against four public officials, has been sentenced to 41 months in federal prison, the Justice Department said today. Davenport was convicted of the false-liens charges during the same month AdSurfDaily figure and purported Washington [...]

An Illinois man hawking a Yukon gold-mining venture via postal mail and email has pleaded guilty to selling unregistered securities, federal prosecutors said. Jeremiah D. Jacob, 32, of Columbia, faces up to five years in federal prison, a fine of $10,000 and three years’ supervised release, the office of U.S. Attorney Stephen R. Wigginton of [...]

BULLETIN: Jacquline Hoegel, an American living in American Canyon, Calif., has been charged criminally in an alleged Ponzi scheme that gathered $129.5 million, the office of U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag of the Northern District of California said. Also indicted was William Wise, a citizen of Canada. Wise, 62, formerly resided in Raleigh, N.C.  A warrant [...]

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Gregory N. McKnight, the operator of the Legisi HYIP Ponzi scheme, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud in federal court in the Eastern District of Michigan, the SEC said this afternoon. McKnight was charged criminally on Feb. 14 — Valentine’s Day. His guilty plea followed two days later, the SEC [...]

BULLETIN: With seven defendants already convicted of Ponzi-related crimes and a North Carolina bank accused of turning a blind eye to the fraud, four new criminal defendants have been named in the Black Diamond Capital Solutions probe. A federal grand jury in Charlotte has returned an indictment against Jonathan D. Davey, 47, of Newark, Ohio; [...]

“The greed in this case is stunning. [Frederick Darren Berg] stole and squandered the dreams of hundreds: dreams of retirement, dreams of homeownership, dreams of a college education for their children and grandchildren. While we could not restore those dreams, today he was held accountable for his acts.” — U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan, Western [...]

Charles G. Martin has been sentenced to 17 years in federal prison — and fellow Forex Ponzi schemer John E. Walsh has been sentenced to more than 12 years — in a case in which investors’ money went to pay for strippers, fine meals, fine hotels, a piano, high-end electronics, artwork, jewelry, flashy cars and [...]