BLOG UPDATE 10:02 P.M. EST (U.S.A.): This post has been updated with information on Ronald Keith Owens, 73, who was just sentenced to 60 years in prison for running a “prime bank” Ponzi scheme promising huge returns out of the Bahamas. See update at bottom of post.
Here, directly below, our earlier post . . .
Noticed how many of the alleged Ponzi operators and investment scammers in law enforcement’s sights are well into their senior years?
It’s at once fascinating and unnerving. Grandfathers are supposed to be awaiting their dates with grand kids and golfing pals, not legal garrisons and prison guards. This is sad. It makes one wonder how many other gramps are in a high state of panic, desperately seeking ways to createcash flow to stave off the Ponzi fate for another month.
Topping the list, age-wise, is Richard Piccoli, the alleged operator of the Gen-See Ponzi in the Buffalo, N.Y., area. Piccoli is 82.
Arthur Nadel, on the lam from Sarasota amid allegations more than $300 million in client funds is missing, is 76. Andy Bowdoin, who presided over the alleged $100 million AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme in Quincy, Fla., is 74, and Bernard Madoff, implicated in an alleged $50 billion Ponzi, is 70.
Age is only one area of commonality. Lack of disclosure and a grandiose stretching of the truth also are elements in each of the cases.
Nadel, for example, didn’t disclose he was disbarred in 1982 for using $50,000 in escrow funds, reportedly to pay off a loan shark. He moved on to a finance career that ultimately called for him to oversee $350 million.
Madoff? Experts who passed on deals say they were unnerved by his refusal to discuss specifics. They also found it deal-breaking odd that his accountant worked in a 13-by-18-foot office in a Rockland County, N.Y., shopping strip.
Bowdoin, according to prosecutors, spun a false tale of fabulous business success and did not disclose his previous arrest in Alabama on felony fraud charges — information many investors would have found important.
Piccoli, meanwhile, issued bogus certificates, telling investors his business was endorsed by prominent Catholics and members of the priesthood, authorities said.
It must be a confusing thing to be a grandchild these days, seeing all these senior faces in the news and wondering why older — and presumably wiser — people would choose Ponzi operator for an occupation.
Are there any other gramps out there running Ponzi schemes? And what will they do if asked to say it ain’t so?
UPDATE: The Texas State Securities Board has announced that another senior, Ronald Keith Owens, 73, has been sentenced to 60 years in prison for operating a “prime bank” Ponzi scheme that allegedly was set up in the Bahamas and elsewhere.
Yes, 60 years.
“Owens promised investment returns of up to 30 percent month, but he was operating a Ponzi scam by paying early investors with money raised from newer investors,” the board said. “Owens also used investors’ money to pay for his business expenses and his and his wife’s personal expenses.”http://www.patrickpretty.com/2009/01/
Time for B.C. Liberals to cut ties with fraud-plagued MaximusBring administration of MSP and PharmaCare back to British Columbia, says BCGEU
Vancouver (31 July 2007) - The disastrous decision by the B.C. Liberal government to privatize the management of provincial health records to an American company called Maximus keeps getting worse.
The Virginia-based firm has just agreed to pay $30.5 million to settle a massive fraud case filed by the U.S. government. In the wake of this, the company has just hired an investment bank to assess its options and, most likely, put itself up for sale.
U.S. authorities accused Maximus in the lawsuit of helping the District of Columbia's Child and Family Services Agency submit false claims to the American Medicaid program.
Maximus chosen three years ago by the B.C. government of Premier Gordon Campbell – over the objection of the B.C. Government and Service Employees Union (BCGEU/NUPGE), and many others – as "a suitable partner" to provide "leading edge technology" to "improve the administration" of the province's Medical Services Plan (MSP) and PharmaCare.
In making this flawed decision, the premier and his cabinet put B.C. taxpayers on the hook for a 10-year, $324-million contract that went wrong almost from the day it was signed on Nov. 4, 2004. Maximus Canada is a subsidiary of the parent American firm.
The deal meant that the privacy of millions of B.C. medical records was placed at risk by making them accessible to a U.S. firm, and thus subject to U.S. laws such as the Patriot Act. Maximus also proved to be incompetent, repeatedly missing performance targets.
Criminal charges possibleNow, even after settling the Medicaid fraud, Maximus remains open to criminal charges. It may also face a lawsuit in Connecticut over a failed multi-million-dollar overhaul of the state's law enforcement database.
"There's no telling how many corporate hands are going to be on our personal medical records if Maximus is sold, merged or carved up," says BCGEU president George Heyman.
"British Columbians' medical histories, hospital records and prescription records shouldn't be tangled up in mergers, sales, acquisitions or a corporate push to boost shareholder value," Heyman argues.
"The promise of new technology and the streamlining of MSP and Pharmacare administration hasn't materialized. Maximus has failed to deliver."
As a result, the BCGEU is calling on the province to withdraw from the contract and bring administration of MSP and PharmaCare back to the B.C. public sector.
"MSP and Pharmacare should be taken back into government where private information can be securely held and administered," Heyman says. NUPGE
I'M PERSONALLY DOWN 2 FAMILY MEMBERS a result of the elaborate fraud $120-million suit against hundreds of Albertans, alleging they were complicit in fraudulent sales involving more than 200 properties across the province
Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams
Insp. Kevin Forsen of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams, an agency of organized-crime investigators from all the province's police forces."
"This investigation was extremely complicated," Forsen said.
Charges laid in $12M Calgary mortgage fraud scheme
BY JASON VAN RASSEL AND MICHELLE BUTTERFIELD, CALGARY HERALDAUGUST 5, 2010
CALGARY — Alberta police have laid charges in a $12-million mortgage fraud scheme.During a two-year investigation, authorities determined there were 22 properties involved in the scheme.The police probe, started in 2008, also uncovered 12 witnesses, all people who knew the accused and were recruited to obtain a mortgage."The nominees, known as straw buyers, were asked to allow their name to be used to obtain a mortgage and were then told that the accused would take it over in their own names after six months," said Insp. Kevin Forsen of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams, an agency of organized-crime investigators from all the province's police forces."In exchange for their identities, each straw buyer allegedly received between $3,000 to $5,000. Eventually, the accused walked away from the scheme with a large amount of money, leaving the nominees holding the mortgages."Alleged ringleader Ali El-Sayed, 31, surrendered to police on July 29. El-Sayed and his company, Ramses Holdings Inc., have been charged with 23 counts of fraud over $5,000. He also faces one count of extortion.Christos Fotopoulos, 28, turned himself in on Wednesday, and has been charged with three counts of fraud over $5,000.An arrest warrant for Russell Kilba, 34, has been issued. Kilba is wanted on 10 counts of fraud over $5,000."This investigation was extremely complicated," Forsen said.Although organized-crime groups remain involved in illegal rackets such as drugs and prostitution, Forsen said they're increasingly diversifying into more complex crimes."Organized-crime entities are looking at all kinds of different avenues to raise funds illegally," he said.
The financial institutions allegedly defrauded were
Bank of Montreal yet to locate 34 of the parties it’s suing BECAUSE I CAN PROVE 8 WERE CREATED BY ONE MALICIOUS AUTHOR
Bank of Montreal lawyer Munaf Mohamed
The bank filed a lawsuit last year against hundreds of individuals and companies claiming it was victimized in allegedly fraudulent deals worth about $70 million.
CALGARY - The assets of a Bank of Montreal mortgage specialist accused in a massive fraud scheme will remain frozen, a Calgary judge has ruled.
In her written decision released Thursday, Justice Adele Kent said evidence suggests Trevor Cockrell was more than just the paper pusher his lawyer claimed.
She noted Cockrell was involved in many of the mortgage deals the bank now says were part of a major fraud scheme in which the lender lost up to $30 million.
"Counsel for Mr. Cockrell argues that as a mortgage specialist, (he) was just a paper pusher, not required to evaluate documents which were submitted in support of applications for mortgages," Kent said.
But the judge said evidence presented by Bank of Montreal lawyer Munaf Mohamed suggested otherwise.
Mohamed told court Cockrell was the mortgage specialist on 43 of the 208 mortgages in which the bank claims it was defrauded.
The bank filed a lawsuit last year against hundreds of individuals and companies claiming it was victimized in allegedly fraudulent deals worth about $70 million.
The Bank of Montreal is taking action against the alleged scammers in a massive mortgage fraud case.
BMO is going ahead with suing hundreds of people, including Alberta lawyers, mortgage specialists, realtors and bank employees.
Thirty-three separate court notices totalling up to $39-million have been posted. All the names in the court notices appear on the mortgage fraud case documents.
Some of the people on the list are being sued for as little as $50-thousand and others up to $8.7 million. Some of the businesses served notices include Phil Hafford Realty and Pillboro Investments.
The alleged mortgage fraud case first made headlines in April. BMO claims it lost more than $30-million in fraudulent mortgages during the real estate boom in Calgary during 2006 and 2007.
The RCMP and Calgary Police have teamed up to tackle the case thought to be the biggest mortgage fraud in Canadian history.
As of Thursday morning, Global News had yet to hear back from BMO’s lawyer on the case. Police say they don’t know how much longer the investigation will take, only that it will be lengthy, as they are dealing with tens of thousands of documents.