North Beach’s Version of Bernie Madoff?

By: DFree | June 19, 2010 | Ponzi Schemes

Here’s another sad but true story of investors who were taken to the cleaners by a ponzi operator. Giuseppe Viola is accused of running a ponzi in North Beach, a well known San Francisco neighborhood.

Like so many other ponzi operators, he promised investors returns of 20-25% on their investments, was a very good name dropper, and was very personable. What makes this case so tragic is that Viola had a criminal record (fraud) in Arizona and he also served time in jail for another fraud in the 80s’.

Had any of these investors requested documentation from Mr. Viola about his background, credentials, experience and business ethics, this could have been prevented. What would have been even better was if the investors has requested a background check on Mr. Viola. They would have learned much about him and hopefully would have made better decisions about their money.

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Investor Watch Dog is a weblog designed to inform investors about hidden risks when they invest assets based on the recommendations of financial planners, financial advisors, money managers, insurance agents, and investment sales representatives. Some of Wall Street's biggest investment risks result from Ponzi Schemes, investment bubbles, conflicts of interest, bad advice in bear markets, lobbyist activities that promote industry interests, bad investment products, and anti-investor business practices. While some of these risks are worthy of front page headlines, millions of investors assets are much more frequently exposed to less newsworthy but exponentially more harmful investment scams, financial fraud, illegal investment products, bad financial advice, bad investment recommendations, misrepresentation, omission, abuse of trust, deceptive sales practices, and breach of fiduciary duties. The role of Investor Watch Dog is to shine a spotlight on legal and illegal business practices that undermine the financial interests of investors, retirees, business owners, professionals, executives, and other types of consumers who rely on Wall Street and its financial professionals for the advice and services they need to achieve their financial goals.