Class Action

Ponzi Schemes

Latest News

 

Latest News

How criminals steal $37 billion a year from America’s elderly

How criminals steal $37 billion a year from America's elderly

By Bloomberg News Marjorie Jones trusted the man who called to tell her she'd won a sweepstakes prize, saying she could collect the winnings once she paid the taxes and fees. After she wired the first payment, he and other callers kept adding conditions to convince her to send more money. As the scheme progressed, Ms. Jones, who was legally blind and lived alone in a two-story house in Moss Bluff, La., depleted her savings, took out a reverse mortgage and cashed in a life insurance policy. She didn't tell her family, not even the sister who lived next door. Scammers often push...

Continue reading

Beware of Annuity Exchanges!

Beware of Annuity Exchanges

by Scott Starr Annuities are some of the highest commission products available for an insurance agent or a stockbroker to sell.  Many times, annuities are more beneficial for the salesman than they are for the client.  That is because in addition to the hefty commissions the stockbroker or insurance agent earns for selling these investments, the annuities themselves frequently have very high expense ratios which come off the top before an owner receives any benefit.  Furthermore, annuities are typically extremely illiquid meaning that they are very difficult to get out of or cash in without paying a hefty penalty.  Because of...

Continue reading

Indiana woman indicted in ‘largest coordinated sweep’ of elder fraud cases in history

Indiana woman indicted in 'largest coordinated sweep' of elder fraud cases in history

By: Jordan Fischer of TheIndyChannel.com A Morgan County woman was charged in federal court Wednesday as part of what the Department of Justice is calling the “largest coordinated sweep of elder fraud cases in history.” U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions was joined Thursday by state and federal officials to announce charges against more than 250 people around the globe for their alleged roles in fraudulent schemes targeting the elderly. The DOJ said those schemes involved mass mailings, telemarketing and investment frauds to individual instances of identity theft and theft by guardians. The agency also said it had identified “transnational criminal organizations” involved in defrauding “hundreds of thousands...

Continue reading

Top Investor Threats Revealed

Top investor threats revealed

By The Herald-Tribune Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson has released the annual list of top investor threats and reminded Hoosiers to use caution when approached with any unsolicited investment opportunities. The top threats were determined by surveying members of the North American Securities Administrators Association, of which the Indiana Secretary of State’s office is a member, to identify the most frequently identified source of current investor complaints or investigations. The following were cited most often: Promissory notes– A promissory note is a written promise to pay (or repay) a specified sum of money at a stated time in the future...

Continue reading

Man behind $1M scam gets 7 1/2-year sentence

By Mitchell Kirk – Pharos Tribune (Logansport, Indiana) A former Logansport man received a 7 1/2-year sentence in federal court on Thursday and was ordered to pay back the $985,000 he's accused of fraudulently obtaining. Larry Westby, 65, Vanderbilt, Michigan, was indicted in August 2016 on charges of mail fraud, money laundering and fraud in the offer and sale of securities. The FBI, IRS and Indiana Secretary of State's office accused the former Logansport resident of fraudulently obtaining about $985,800 from investors and causing losses to investors of about $903,128. Westby started a company called LMW Inc. he based in Indianapolis with the reported...

Continue reading

Never Invest in a Company Started or Managed by Your Stockbroker, Insurance Agent, or Investment Advisor

The United States Securities & Exchange Commission recently sued a Colorado investment advisor for fraudulently convincing his clients to invest in a company he started and owned.  The SEC alleges that the investment advisor misrepresented his credentials, the purported safety of the investments he was selling, and his success in creating and operating such companies in the past.  These poor victims violated a cardinal rule of investing:   You should never invest in any company created or managed by your stockbroker, insurance agent, or investment advisor unless and until: You thoroughly check out the so-called “investment opportunity” by having your CPA...

Continue reading

Advisers must protect elderly from financial fraud

Advisers must protect elderly from financial fraud

The elderly are targeted by fraudsters because they often have a pile of savings and a steady stream of income. Older people are also more prone to cognitive decline, physical disability, isolation and loneliness — all of which leave them susceptible to exploitation. More often than not, that exploitation is perpetrated by a close family member....

Continue reading

U.S. Attorney announces that the Southern District of Indiana has collected 7.7 million dollars in criminal and civil actions in 2016

U.S. Attorney Josh J. Minkler recently announced that his federal office collected for the Southern District of Indiana (from Indianapolis to the Kentucky border) a total of $7,707,955 in criminal and civil actions in fiscal year 2016.  Securities fraud attorney, Scott Starr, had this to say about the announcement: “This demonstrates that even in good markets, securities fraud continues.  Bad stockbrokers and financial advisors will always be with us taking advantage of the elderly and victimizing their clients to satisfy their own greed.”  The law firm of Starr Austen & Miller has been representing the victims of securities fraud since 1982.  The...

Continue reading