Troubled Times Bring Mini-Madoffs to Light

Troubled Times Bring Mini-Madoffs to Light

www.nytimes.com

the number of other people who have been caught running Ponzi schemes in recent weeks is adding up quickly, so much so that they have earned themselves a nickname: mini-Madoffs.

Some of these schemes have been operating for years, and others are of more recent vintage. But what is causing them to surface now appears to be a combination of a deteriorating economy and heightened skepticism about outsize returns after the revelations about Mr. Madoff.

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It seems that there have been lots of Ponzi schemes out there, and all kinds of people, not just the very rich, who have lost out.

Many very hard working people had given investment firms all the money they had, with promises of huge returns.

I know my neighbor said, a friend of hers has lost everything, from an investment firm in Nashville, Tn.

And in Florida, not far from the Palm Beach clubs where Mr. Madoff wooed some of his investors, George L. Theodule, a Haitian immigrant and professed “man of God,” promised churchgoers in a Haitian-American community that he could double their money within 90 days.

He accepted only cash, and despite the too-good-to-be-true sales pitch, he found plenty of investors willing to turn over tens of thousands of dollars.

“The offices were beautiful, and I was told it was a limited liability corporation,” said Reggie Roseme, a deliveryman in Wellington, Fla., who lost his entire savings of $35,000 and now faces foreclosure on his home.
According to federal regulators who have accused him of operating a Ponzi scheme, Mr. Theodule bilked thousands of investors of modest means, like Mr. Roseme, out of $23 million in all, and put $4 million in his own pocket. This money helped pay for two luxury vehicles for Mr. Theodule, a wedding, a lavish house in Georgia and a recent trip to Zurich that federal authorities are now investigating. The fate of the other $19 million is still unknown.

It is very sad, it also makes me wonder - if there are any "real" investment firms out there.

If anyone has money with an investment firm, I would advise - asking for it back.

My next door neighbor - sold his company last year for millions - he said he put it with many different "Investment Advisors" so he had felt comfortable... well needless to say - he has been taking huge hits and has been losing all his money.

The real fact is... unless you have yourself, invested your money - you don't know where it is.

The truth of the matter right now, is the ONLY good and REAL investment out there right now, to protect what you have and the value of your money as it is right now is........... Gold and Silver.




www.nytimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

here is a good one:

Russian tycoon 'had RBS loan of £2.5bn written off'
A £2.5 billion loan said to have been given to a Russian oligarch by a British bank and then written off is an example of the alleged practices perpetrated by this country's major lenders which have prompted a surge of political anger

www.telegraph.co.uk...