by Brian Mahany Three days ago I was in Bandera, Texas participating in my first “Cowboy Mardi Gras.” As a new Texas landowner and soon to be resident, it was fitting to begin spending time in my new hometown. (It was also 80 degrees while Milwaukee was a frigid 8!) Football is king in Texas […]
Two Law Firms Accused Of Assisting Ponzi Scheme (Legal Malpractice Post)
[Updated August 2019] As an attorney, I am required to take an oath to support the Constitution and to never counsel or support any action that appears unjust. It is unfortunate that much of society views lawyers as nothing more than “hired guns.” Sometimes we are even called “whores.” Despite how we may be labeled […]
Victims in Stanford Ponzi Scheme To Receive Less Than 1 Penny On The Dollar
by Brian Mahany Talk about depressing story titles. Sir Allen Stanford was convicted of the second largest Ponzi scheme in American history. In 2012 he was sentenced to 110 years in federal prison, a life sentence. His crime? A Ponzi scheme that caused $7 billion in losses, mostly to American investors. Suing Stanford to recover […]
Choices In A Modern Day World – Fraud Recovery Blog
by Brian Mahany Some say that prostitution is the world’s oldest profession. Leaving aside whether the sex trade even qualifies as a “profession,” we believe that prostitution certainly wasn’t a crime until relatively recently. There were no “ladies of the night” roaming around during the stone age but fraud was around back then and can […]
Audit Firm Named In Class Action Suit For Failure To Detect Fraud
The audit system in the United States is largely broken. Most auditors are financially dependent on the very people they are required to audit. If you perform a rigorous audit and get a reputation for not giving clients high markets on their financials you will soon find yourself with no clients. Fail to report something, […]
A Rolling Stone May Gather No Moss But A Rolling Stones Concert Promoter Gathers 9 Year Sentence
by Brian Mahany Day after day and the fraud stories keep rolling in. This one comes to us from Arizona where promoter Miko Dion Wady received a 9 year prison sentence for running a Ponzi scheme. Prosecutors say Wady lured investors into his scheme with promises of high returns and the chance to be involved […]
Accounting Firm Sued In Ponzi Scheme Case
[Updated through 2021] Here is a new twist. A hedge fund sues an accounting firm for its failure to uncover a Ponzi scheme operated by one of the hedge fund’s traders. That might sound farfetched, but it’s not. New York accounting firm Rothstein Kass was sued by two hedge fund managers in San Francisco Superior […]
Ed May: A Sentence That Ends a Dour Chapter
[Ed. Note: This story was written by Bruce Kelly and appeared on October 7th in Investment News. It is reprinted with permission. As readers of our blog already know, we love Investment News for breaking fraud stories that mainstream media often doesn’t. We especially enjoy Bruce Kelly for his unique ability to share the “story […]
FBI, SEC Lose Focus on Recovering Assets for Fraud Victims
by Brian Mahany “With the FBI focusing its efforts on gathering intelligence and information, and the Securities and Exchange Commission dogged by accusations of failing to go after the pocketbooks of the largest Wall Street offenders, it may be time for the private sector to pick up the sword in the fight to recover assets […]
Feds Bust Longest Running Ponzi Scheme
by Brian Mahany The biggest Ponzi scheme title belongs to Bernie Madoff. The most brazen? Several could legitimately claim that dishonor. Now comes the longest running. According to the SEC, that “honor” belong to Philip Barry. Barry was convicted in November of last year of securities and mail fraud. Last week he was sentenced in […]