Illegal Schemes & Scams Category

Bad advice damages investors, but it is not illegal. That is why it is so common. Then there are illegal scams, the most prominent being Ponzi schemes. These scams may be sold by unlicensed people who have nothing to do with the financial services industry. It pays to make sure you are talking to a licensed professional who has a clean compliance record.

By: Jack WaymirecloseAuthor: Jack Waymire Name: Jack Waymire
Email: jack@paladinregistry.com
Site: http://paladinregistry.com
About: Jack writes for the InvestorWatchdog website and Worth magazine. He worked in the financial services industry from 1976 to 2004. For twenty of those years he was the president of a Registered Investment Advisory firm and a Broker/Dealer. Jack is the author of Who's Watching Your Money? The 17 Paladin Principles for Selecting a Financial Advisor and is a co-founder of PaladinRegistry.com.See Authors Posts (87) | August 27, 2009 | Illegal Schemes & Scams, Ponzi Schemes

As follow-up to a previous blog post James Davis, the former Chief Financial Officer at Stanford Financial Group, pleaded guilty to investment fraud and obstruction of justice charges. Davis said he and his co-conspirators defrauded thousands of investors when they sold them $7 billion of CDs that were issued by the Antiqua-based Stanford International Bank. [...]

By: Jack WaymirecloseAuthor: Jack Waymire Name: Jack Waymire
Email: jack@paladinregistry.com
Site: http://paladinregistry.com
About: Jack writes for the InvestorWatchdog website and Worth magazine. He worked in the financial services industry from 1976 to 2004. For twenty of those years he was the president of a Registered Investment Advisory firm and a Broker/Dealer. Jack is the author of Who's Watching Your Money? The 17 Paladin Principles for Selecting a Financial Advisor and is a co-founder of PaladinRegistry.com.See Authors Posts (87) | August 24, 2009 | Illegal Schemes & Scams, Ponzi Schemes

Gary Hutcheson pleaded guilty to operating a Ponzi scheme in Macon, Georgia. He and an accomplice defrauded 50 investors, including prominent doctors, attorneys and church members, of millions of dollars when he told them their assets would be invested in a hedge fund named Georgia Ionics Fund, LLC.
Some of the investors knew Hutcheson 30 years [...]

By: Jack WaymirecloseAuthor: Jack Waymire Name: Jack Waymire
Email: jack@paladinregistry.com
Site: http://paladinregistry.com
About: Jack writes for the InvestorWatchdog website and Worth magazine. He worked in the financial services industry from 1976 to 2004. For twenty of those years he was the president of a Registered Investment Advisory firm and a Broker/Dealer. Jack is the author of Who's Watching Your Money? The 17 Paladin Principles for Selecting a Financial Advisor and is a co-founder of PaladinRegistry.com.See Authors Posts (87) | August 21, 2009 | Illegal Schemes & Scams

Colin Nathanson, an Orange County, California resident was sentenced to 27 years in federal prison for swindling 2,500 investors out of $28,000,000 and perhaps as much as $55,000,000.
He told investors their assets would be deposited in an Investment Trust he controlled and the money would be used to purchase an equity interest in a private Internet-based technology [...]

By: Jack WaymirecloseAuthor: Jack Waymire Name: Jack Waymire
Email: jack@paladinregistry.com
Site: http://paladinregistry.com
About: Jack writes for the InvestorWatchdog website and Worth magazine. He worked in the financial services industry from 1976 to 2004. For twenty of those years he was the president of a Registered Investment Advisory firm and a Broker/Dealer. Jack is the author of Who's Watching Your Money? The 17 Paladin Principles for Selecting a Financial Advisor and is a co-founder of PaladinRegistry.com.See Authors Posts (87) | August 3, 2009 | Illegal Schemes & Scams

Another blog site asked the question, who were the most frequent victims of investment schemes and scams? The surprising answer came from the investor education professionals at FINRA, the financial service industry’s self regulatory agency.
The most frequent victims are male, age 55 to 65, college educated, financially literate, and active investors who have self-directed accounts. It is not [...]

By: Jack WaymirecloseAuthor: Jack Waymire Name: Jack Waymire
Email: jack@paladinregistry.com
Site: http://paladinregistry.com
About: Jack writes for the InvestorWatchdog website and Worth magazine. He worked in the financial services industry from 1976 to 2004. For twenty of those years he was the president of a Registered Investment Advisory firm and a Broker/Dealer. Jack is the author of Who's Watching Your Money? The 17 Paladin Principles for Selecting a Financial Advisor and is a co-founder of PaladinRegistry.com.See Authors Posts (87) | July 30, 2009 | Illegal Schemes & Scams, Investor Information

Ponzi schemes and other investment scams share four common characteristics. Know the characteristics and you can avoid most schemes and scams. You can also warn friends, family, and associates so they can avoid them.
The Sales Pitch
Every scam has a sales pitch that tells investors what they want to hear. For example, "We have a unique investment [...]

By: Evor VattuonecloseAuthor: Evor Vattuone Name: Evor Vattuone
Member: Member Paladin
Quality Rating:
Email: evor@aspire.biz
Site: http://paladinregistry.com/external/beaninformedinvestor/advisor_profile.php?advisor_id=2758
About: See Authors Posts (3) | July 29, 2009 | Illegal Schemes & Scams, Ponzi Schemes, Who Can I Trust?

The Affinity Group
Alarming numbers of new scams are being originated from what are called “affinity groups”.  These are groups of people with similar values, lifestyles and/or ethnic identities, such as churches and women’s or senior groups. Predators use the most respected members of affinity groups to gain access to their constituents – and their built-in [...]