• Ponzi Scheme Red Flags

    How do you know if you’re considering investing in a Ponzi scheme? The promoters will never come out and tell you they are running a pyramid scheme, so the investors have to be smart enough to recognize them on their […]

  • One Minute Primer on Ponzi Schemes

    In this one minute video, Tracy explains how Ponzi schemes work. They are also called pyramid schemes because the constant recruitment of new “investors” creates the shape of a pyramid, with many new investors required at the bottom of the […]

  • Hollywood Ponzi Scheme Guilty Plea

    The big news in Hollywod is a D-List actor named Zach Avery (legal name Zachary Horowitz) who is set to plead guilty to a Ponzi scheme in which he collected $650 million from about 250 investors. That’s a lot of […]

  • Don’t Get Swindled by Your Financial Advisor

    Yesterday I read a horrifying local story about Edward Matthes, a former financial advisor for Mutual of Omaha who stole at least $2.6 million from his clients. According to the Information in the federal case, Matthes carried on his fraud […]

  • It’s Not an Investment Club, It’s a Pyramid Scheme

    Have you seen these invitations to “join an investment club” on social media? They’re frauds. They’re scams. They’re not investment clubs. This is a typical pyramid scheme (also called Ponzi scheme). Below is the scam being promoted by an attorney […]

  • Typical Red Flags of Ponzi Schemes

    Last week the FBI posted an article on its site, A Pyramid of Lies, that told the story of the Gentry Ponzi scheme in rural Tennessee. Ponzi schemes are pretty easy to spot if you know the red flags. Even […]

  • TelexFree: MLMs are Pyramid Schemes

    This week we heard news of $20 million (hidden in a box spring) being seized by the federal agents in its ongoing investigation of TelexFree, a multi-level marketing company that the government says was a massive Ponzi scheme. You can […]

  • Google Your Financial Advisor BEFORE Investing

    Investors are nearly $2.4 million poorer and Janamjot Singh Sodhi has earned himself an almost 5 year stay at Club Fed, thanks to a Ponzi scheme carried out through a company called Elite Financial Inc.  The fraudster also used the […]

  • The Mormon Madoff: How Shawn Merriman Scammed Millions

    Jenna Martino, CNBC Associate Producer Shawn Merriman was head of an investment firm and lay bishop in the Mormon church who persuaded friends, family, and church members to invest with him. It turned out to be a big scam, taking […]

  • Bank Liability for Ponzi Schemes

    An article in a recent edition of the Bloomberg BNS Banking Report on Ponzi Schemes and bank liability referred to an article I wrote on recognizing red flags of Ponzi schemes: Under each, a plaintiff must account for both the […]