Posts Tagged ‘investors’
Evangelical preacher goes on trial for theft and fraud
Evangelist and revival leader Ernest Cadick passionately preached God’s word, according to pastors in Indiana and Kentucky. But salvation wasn’t the only thing he was selling.
Approaching potential investors in churches, the ordained minister solicited $719,150 over 15 years for oil and gas ventures, then spent the money on himself, according to a federal indictment.
Cadick also used the apocalyptic prophecies in the Book of Revelation to fleece additional churchgoers at Louisville’s Evangel World Prayer Center, according to another indictment returned in state court, allegedly telling them that when President Barack Obama was elected, the dollar’s value would plummet to 3 cents as it was replaced with a new currency.
If they gave him their saving, the indictment alleges, he would fly it to Switzerland, where it would earn double their investment back each month.
Now the 60-year-old traveling evangelist is facing two separate trials — one in state court and another in federal — on those allegations.
He will be tried July 11 in Jefferson Circuit Court on three counts of theft for allegedly taking $29,500 from elderly victims in the Swiss investment scheme.
And he is scheduled to be tried today in Louisville federal court on 16 counts of fraud for allegedly taking money for oil and gas ventures and foreign currency investments and spending the money on himself, according to his indictment…
Long detailed article. Another Christian hustler who would kneel down and pray with his victims to convince them to fork over their savings in return for God’s guarantee of salvation – and more profits.
Investors sometimes make dumb decisions. Investors who make decisions based on “revealed word” and scripture written by a King’s committee in the 17th Century are beyond dumb.
China introduces first property tax for home buyers
Zhongkai Sheshan Villas, Shanghai
China has introduced its first property tax for home buyers to try to curb record house prices and tame inflation. The measure, which came into effect on Friday, will apply to those buying second homes in Shanghai and Chongqing.
The tax, paid annually, is between 0.4% and 1.2% of the purchase price, depending on how the price compares with market averages.
Property prices are one of the main drivers of Chinese inflation, which Beijing is keen to keep under control.
China’s economy is growing far faster than that of any other major country. Its GDP grew by 10.3% last year – the fastest annual pace since the financial crisis…
In Shanghai, buyers will pay between 0.4% and 0.6% tax on their new second homes.
In the south western city of Chongqing, the tax is more staggered, ranging from 0.5% to 1.2%.
The city’s mayor, Huang Qifan, said that while it was “impossible for housing prices to fall overnight because of the property tax”, it would “help to curb speculation in the housing market”.
Of course, this is a chuckle-and-a-half for American homeowners. If they only knew about it.
It’s not unusual for homeowners in the U.S. to pay 3 and 4-figure annual tax bills – on their primary residence. Local and state governments use property taxes to provide an essential part of their annual budget.
Madoff whistleblower says SEC still too timid
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission
Financial regulators have not fully learned their lessons despite missing the massive fraud engineered by Bernard Madoff, said the man who tried for years to raise the alarm about Madoff’s scheme.
The warning from Harry Markopolos carries the weight of the fame he gained a year ago, including an appearance before Congress to blast the Securities and Exchange Commission for ignoring his tips that something was amiss with Madoff’s investment management business and its years of amazingly consistent profits…
Even now, “The SEC is nowhere near aggressive enough,” Markopolos, 53, told Reuters. “It still has the mind-set where it will only enforce securities law instead of enforcing ethics…”
His book calls for sweeping changes at the SEC such as firing half the agency’s staff and doubling the pay of many positions to attract the best talent. Markopolos would also move the agency out of Washington.
Madoff came onto his radar when Markopolos worked at a Boston money manager and was asked to design a math program to replicate Madoff’s eerie string of returns…
Unable to do so, Markopolos concluded that Madoff was up to no good and debated with colleagues over whether Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme — one where early investors are paid with money from new clients — or was illegally “front-running” orders from clients.
Markopolos reported Madoff to the SEC several times over a number of years. But the agency famously passed up the tips, leading to a public flogging before Congress and a devastating follow-up report by the agency’s inspector general…
Much of the SEC’s staff is too inexperienced to catch sophisticated financial wrongdoing, and too often the agency settles cases without getting defendants to admit guilt, he writes.
I like this guy’s style. Of Madoff he says, “The Death Penalty was too good for him.”
His book comes out this week. I’d love to see him sit down with Charlie Rose on Bloomberg TV and elaborate on the bureaucrats who couldn’t be bothered to act on behalf of the citizens of this land.
Tracking down the Billion$ withdrawn before Madoff was arrested
Daylife/Getty Images used by permission
About $12 billion was pulled out of accounts at Bernard L. Madoff’s firm in 2008, according to several people briefed on an analysis of Mr. Madoff’s business records. About $6 billion, or half, was taken out in just the three months before the financier was arrested in December and charged with operating an extensive Ponzi scheme.
Those figures offer a bit of hope for Mr. Madoff’s thousands of defrauded customers. Under federal law, the trustee overseeing the Madoff bankruptcy can sue to retrieve that money from the investors who withdrew it.
Indeed, the trustee, Irving H. Picard of Baker & Hostetler, filed two lawsuits on Tuesday seeking the return of a total of $6.1 billion, which he estimated had been withdrawn over the last decade.
One case seeks the return of $5.1 billion from various trust funds and partnerships run by Jeffry M. Picower, a prominent Palm Beach, Fla., investor whose charitable foundation was considered one of the notable victims of Mr. Madoff’s fraud.
Mr. Picard also sued to recover $1 billion withdrawn last year by Harley International, a hedge fund based in the Cayman Islands and administered by a unit of the Dutch bank Fortis.
Massive Ponzi scheme run from University of Miami
A Florida man used facilities at the University of Miami to run a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme and recruited school employees for the operation.
Andres Pimstein, a UM business school graduate, has confessed to operating the scheme in which some investors were promised returns of 18 percent, Miami-Dade County police said. People across the country lost an estimated $30 million in the scheme, which collapsed this year, said Wayne Black, a Miami private investigator hired by one investor.
“Pimstein was able to convince a couple people there to use their computers to control the bank accounts that he laundered the money through,” Black said…
Pimstein had a joint bank account with the university’s director of contract administration, Alan Weber, according to bank records. Black said investor meetings were held in a UM conference room used by Weber, and as many as three dozen current and former UM employees — including two former senior university officials besides Weber — bought into Pimstein’s operation.
“It was about making money, and then it turned into [Pimstein] being the center of attention,” Black said. “Him being important to these people that were friends. He played baseball with them. He knows their kids, in some cases.”
I’m certain his next door neighbors say he’s kind to the cat, as well. Hasn’t everyone realized by now you can’t tell a book by its cover, eh?
