Articles Posted in Investment Fraud

Banking giant J. P. Morgan Chase has reached a deal with federal prosecutors to avoid criminal prosecution for its role in the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme. According to the prosecutors, J. P. Morgan, which had custody of Madoff accounts, witnessed suspicious money transfers, too-good-to-be-true investment returns, unverifiable trading activity, and the use of a one-man…

On April 12, 2013, we posted a blog entitled FINRA Charges Discount Firm with Fraudulent Sales, which detailed FINRA’s complaint against Success Trade Securities Inc, an online discount firm, and its CEO, Fuad Ahmed alleging fraudulent sales of promissory notes. New details are emerging in this case. Yahoo! Sports reports that many of Success Trade Securities…

On April 12, 2013, FINRA announced that has filed a complaint against Success Trade Securities Inc, an online discount firm, and its CEO, Fuad Ahmed. The complaint alleges that Success Trade Securities Inc. fraudulently sold more than $18 million in promissory notes to 58 investors, most of them former professional football and basketball players. The notes…

Paul Burks, the mastermind behind ZeekRewards $600 million ponzi scheme is still negatively affecting many investors nationwide. Paul Burks attracted approximately 1 million investors into his ponzi scheme, which was headquartered in Lexington, North Carolina. The SEC closed ZeekRewards operations on August 17, 2012. They alleged that Burks was selling securities without a license and…

On March 22, 2013, the SEC charged Anastasios “Tommy” Belesis, owner of independent broker-dealer John Thomas Financial, and George R. Jarkesy Jr., a Houston-based hedge fund manager, with defrauding investors. The SEC alleged that, as part of the scheme, Belesis and Jarkesy launched two hedge funds that raised a total of $30 million from investors. Then,…

Recently, the SEC charged two investment managers at Oppenheimer & Co. with misleading investors about the valuation policies and performance of a private equity fund, Oppenheimer Global Resource Private Equity Fund I L.P. (OGR). Additionally, on March 11, 2013, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office announced a related action and additional financial penalties against Oppenheimer. According to the SEC, Oppenheimer…

On March 7, 2013, FINRA barred Lighthouse Point, Florida broker dealer Jeffrey Brett Rubin from the securities industry for making unsuitable recommendations to his client. Rubin recommended to his customer, an NFL Player, to invest in illiquid, high-risk securities issued in connection with a now-bankrupt casino in Alabama. As a result, the customer lost approximately $3 million.…

On March 6, 2013, Alabama Securities Commission Director Joseph Borg warned that investors need to be on the lookout for an investment scheme that is designed to defraud investors by tricking them into wiring money to Eastern Europe. This warning was issued because a Birmingham, England-based company operating under the name Profitable Sunrise is promising investors risk-free…

On March 1, 2013, the SEC filed a civil injunctive action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York relating to the fraudulent offer and sale of limited partnership interests in two hedge funds, RAHFCO Funds LP and RAHFCO Growth Fund LP (“RAHFCO Hedge Funds”).The SEC charged RAHFCO Management Group, LLC,…

On February 10, 2013, the New York Times published an article entitled Complex Investments Prove Risky as Savers Chase Bigger Payoff which detailed how regulators across the country are still seeing an increase in losses and fraud cases revolving around complex yield producing products. Since traditional income-producing like, CDs, currently offer low interest rates crisis, many retirement…