Beware of Ponzi Schemes!

There presently is a trial going on in California involving a woman who was among hundreds of investors who claimed that a Metropolitan Life Insurance agent tricked them into buying unregistered securities as part of 200 million dollar Ponzi scheme. The victim in that case is a 75 year old widow.

A couple of years ago our office handled a very similar case here in Indiana involving a life insurance agent. In that case the agent convinced his clients to give him large sums of money to invest in a “retirement savings plan”. The fraudster then took the money and lived a lavish lifestyle and invested it in a number of failed real estate projects. The losses were in the tens of millions of dollars. The “retirement savings plan” qualified as a security under the Indiana Securities Act. Ultimately, we were successful in resolving the case for a large number of victims, almost all of whom were in their seventies and eighties.

Although fraudsters rarely have any money left at the time they are sued, if they work for a larger company, many times their company employer will be liable for their misdeeds. Starr Austen & Miller has represented hundreds of victims in Ponzi schemes over the course of the last 30 plus years. If you believe you or a loved one have been the victim of a Ponzi scheme, please contact us now for a free consultation.