Allen Stanford

After Complaining Of Delay, Allen Stanford Wants Two Year Hold On Trial

Ryan J. Reilly | January 5, 2011, 12:00PM

Allen Stanford, the man accused of stealing $7 billion from investors in a Ponzi scheme, wants a two year delay in his trial. But the Justice Department argued this week that's all his lawyers are trying to do with their request is to get him released from prison in the interim.

The feds said in a court filing that the two year postponement is excessive and that defense lawyers had already filed motions "covering most conceivable legal issues."

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Topics: Allen Stanford, Corruption, DEA, FBI, Ponzi Scheme, Ponzi Schemes, Texas, Wikileaks

Securities and Exchange Commission

Report Finds Catastrophic Failure By SEC In Stanford Ponzi Case

Justin Elliott | April 19, 2010, 10:19AM

In news buried by the Goldman fraud charges, the Inspector General for the SEC issued a blistering 159-page report Friday concluding that the agency's Fort Worth office knew that Texas businessman Allen Stanford was operating a Ponzi scheme in 1997 -- but didn't make a serious effort to pursue the matter for eight years, until 2005.

Stanford, a flamboyant Texas billionaire, is currently in jail facing charges of operating a $7 billion Ponzi scheme.

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Topics: Allen Stanford, Goldman Sachs, Ponzi Scheme, Ponzi Schemes, Securities and Exchange Commission, Texas

Bernard Madoff

WSJ: Madoff Was Beaten In Prison

Justin Elliott | March 18, 2010, 9:12AM

Master Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff was badly beaten in prison late last year, according to a new Wall Street Journal story citing jailhouse sources.

According to the Journal, Madoff, who is serving 150 years for his massive fraud, was assaulted by a man in a dispute over money. An inmate at the prison in Butner, NC, told the paper that Madoff was treated for a "broken nose, fractured ribs and cuts to his head and face."

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Topics: Bernard Madoff, Butner, North Carolina, Ponzi Scheme, Ponzi Schemes

Allen Stanford

Campaign Committees Not Rushing To Return Tainted Stanford Money

Zachary Roth | February 11, 2010, 11:59AM

Neither the Democratic nor the Republican campaign committees that raked in big bucks from accused Ponzi schemer Allen Stanford, according to the court-appointed receiver in the case, say they plan to return the cash.

The receiver, Dallas lawyer Ralph Janvey told the AP that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) had received $950,000 from Stanford, and that the National Republican Campaign Committee had gotten $238,500.

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Topics: Allen Stanford, Campaign Contributions, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, NRCC, Ponzi Schemes, Ralph Janvey

James Catledge

Investment Advice Guru Who Gave Big To GOP Accused Of Ponzi Scheme (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | February 2, 2010, 12:52PM

A Nevada motivational speaker-cum-investment guru who is also a major GOP donor is being accused in court documents of operating a Ponzi scheme in which investors were promised big returns for buying real estate in the Dominican Republic.

While the FBI is reportedly investigating the businessman, James Catledge, he has not been charged with a crime by the government. The accusations against Catledge are leveled in the lengthy report of a special master who was appointed by a federal judge in Florida as part of a civil suit brought by aggrieved investors.

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Topics: FBI, GOP donor, James Catledge, Ponzi Schemes, U.S. Attorneys

Unification Church

Victims Of Moon Church Ponzi Scheme Plead For Leniency For Scamster

Justin Elliott | January 12, 2010, 10:14AM

The victims of a New Jersey woman who was convicted of bilking investors of as much as $2.5 million pleaded for leniency at her sentencing hearing Monday, arguing that she was fooled by a mysterious business partner -- who authorities believe may not actually exist.

Marcia Sladich, 51, of Clifton was sentenced to 70 months in prison yesterday for the three-year scheme, in which she collected money from fellow members of the local branch of Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, promising guaranteed returns from international real estate investments. The scene at the sentencing hearing was reported by The Record newspaper.

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Topics: Antoinette K. Kay, Kay Services, Marcia Sladich, New Jerusalem Family Church, Ponzi Schemes, Rev. Sun Myung Moon, Unification Church

Scott Rothstein

Rothstein To Plead Guilty To Ponzi Scheme

Justin Elliott | January 6, 2010, 10:57AM

High-flying Fort Lauderdale attorney Scott Rothstein will plead guilty to charges arising from his alleged $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme in late January, the AP is reporting.

Rothstein, who had in early December plead not guilty, hasn't exactly been lying low since his alleged scheme fell apart last November. A local newspaper got footage of Rothstein enjoying a lunchtime martini at the Capital Grille in Fort Lauderdale in mid-November.

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Topics: Marc Nurik, Ponzi Schemes, Scott Rothstein

Fraud

AP: 2009 Was The Year Of The Collapsing Ponzi Scheme

Justin Elliott | December 28, 2009, 6:07PM

Over 150 Ponzi schemes collapsed this year, up from just 40 last year, according to a new and, for TPMmuckraker readers, totally unsurprising tally by the AP.

The wire service reports:

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Topics: Allen Stanford, Bernard Madoff, Fraud, Hassan Nemazee, Ponzi Schemes, Scott Rothstein