Fraud

No evidence Madoff traded a single share for clients, says regulator

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  • Watchdog has examined books since 1960
  • Statements showing trades now look fictitious

The mystery surrounding Bernard Madoff’s $50bn Ponzi scheme deepened further last night as it emerged there was no evidence the alleged fraudster traded a single share on behalf of his clients.

America’s financial industry regulatory authority, told the Guardian that in more than 40 years examining the books of Madoff’s brokerage, investigators never saw a share traded on behalf of his investment advisory business.

Madoff is said to have confessed that his investment business was a Ponzi scheme that siphoned $50bn from friends, charities and thousands of others. The brokerage, meanwhile, was a legitimate business trading shares wholesale on behalf of investment banks, mutual funds and other institutions.

“Our investigations of Bernard Madoff’s broker dealership showed no evidence that any shares were ever traded on behalf of his investment advisory business,” a spokesman for Finra said, adding that the regulator had been looking at his books since 1960.

Read moreNo evidence Madoff traded a single share for clients, says regulator

Fugitive money manager bails out of plane to fake death

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MIAMI (Reuters) – A pilot wanted on financial fraud charges parachuted out of his plane over Alabama and allowed the aircraft to crash in neighboring Florida in an apparent attempt to fake his death, sheriff’s investigators said on Monday.

Authorities launched a manhunt for the pilot, who survived and checked into an Alabama hotel, and then fled, the Santa Rosa County, Florida, sheriff’s office said.

Related article: Warrant issued for missing pilot (CNN)

The pilot, identified as Marcus Schrenker, 38, was the only person aboard the plane that took off for Florida on Sunday from Anderson, Indiana.

Over Alabama, the pilot made a bogus emergency call, saying the plane’s windshield had imploded and he was bleeding profusely. He then put the plane on autopilot and parachuted out, investigators said.

Military jets were scrambled to aid the plane, a Piper PA-46 Turbo Prop, and the military pilots noticed the Piper’s door was open. They followed the empty plane to northwest Florida, where it crashed on Sunday night near the city of Milton, in a swampy area within a few hundred yards of some houses, said Sgt. Scott Haines of Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s office.

Read moreFugitive money manager bails out of plane to fake death

Two more Ponzi schemes uncovered

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The US Government moved to clamp down on fraudulent Ponzi schemes in the wake of the $50 billion (£33 billion) Bernard Madoff scandal, by charging two men for allegedly operating two similar schemes.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged a fund manager based in the Philadelphia area with operating a $50 million Ponzi scheme, in which he paid off early investors with money from later investors.

In a joint filing, the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission allege that Joseph Forte, 53, reported consistently strong results to as many as 80 investors even though he routinely lost money, withdrew millions of dollars in personal fees and used recent investors’ contributions to repay earlier backers.

In a separate case, the SEC and the Department of Justice charged Richard Piccoli, an 82-year-old, with running a Ponzi scheme through his companies, Gen See Capital Corp and Gen Unlimited. Mr Piccoli, of Williamsville, New York, raised most of his money from clergy, Catholic parishioners, senior citizens and cemetery funds, many of them recruited through advertisements in Catholic newspapers.

Read moreTwo more Ponzi schemes uncovered

Madoff whistleblower wants to be left alone

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‘Madoff’ could have only happened because there are criminals all over the place.
See also: Madoff Scheme Was ‘Impossible’ to Do Alone, Says EIM’s Busson


Bernard Madoff (R) is escorted from Federal Court in New York January 5, 2009.

BOSTON (Reuters) – After a decade of trying to convince U.S. authorities that Bernard Madoff’s seemingly high-flying hedge fund was a scam, the man whose warnings could have saved a lot of money for a lot of people issued a terse message to the world: Leave me alone.

He will talk to Congressional investigators and that’s it.

Madoff stunned the world in December when he allegedly admitted to running a “giant ponzi scheme” that investigators have said cost investors $50 billion. In a ponzi scheme, money from new investors is used to pay back earlier investors.

Many people were fooled, but not Harry Markopolos, the 52-year-old former financial executive who had been onto Madoff since 1996.

Members of Congress have repeatedly invoked Markopolos name in questions to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission about how it missed the $50 billion fraud.

“Why in the world didn’t anyone respond to his allegations?” asked Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat, referring to a 19-page memo Markopolos wrote to the SEC in 2005 titled, “The World’s Largest Hedge Fund is a Fraud.” Maloney asked during a Congressional hearing: “What happened to his report?”

Read moreMadoff whistleblower wants to be left alone

SEC Examines More Ponzi Schemes After Madoff

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Jan. 2 (Bloomberg) — U.S. regulators working to untangle Bernard Madoff’s alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme are probing other money managers suspected of using similar tactics, two people with knowledge of the inquiries said.

Related article:
Whistleblower document warned SEC in Nov. 2005 about Madoff’s Ponzi scheme

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is pursuing at least one case in which investors may have been cheated out of as much as $1 billion, according to a person, who declined to name the manager and asked not to be identified because the probe isn’t public.

Read moreSEC Examines More Ponzi Schemes After Madoff

Whistleblower document warned SEC in Nov. 2005 about Madoff’s Ponzi scheme

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Pam Martens worked on Wall Street for 21 years; she has no security position, long or short, in any company mentioned in this article:

I seldom have the urge to give a comforting pat on the back to people profiled in the Wall Street Journal.  But that was my reaction when I read the 21-page whistleblower document about Madoff that was written by Harry Markopolos to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on November 7, 2005. The Journal still has the document on its web site and Markopolos provides a step by step plan for the SEC to follow to nail Madoff as a Ponzi fraudster. The letter followed a five-year effort by Markopolos, who supplied documentation and made repeated requests to the SEC to investigate Madoff.

Here’s how the SEC characterized the letter from Markopolos  in a January 4, 2006 memo: “The staff received a complaint alleging that Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, a registered broker-dealer in New York (“BLM”), operates an undisclosed multi-billion dollar investment advisory business, and that BLM operates this business as a Ponzi scheme.  The complaint did not contain specific facts about the alleged Ponzi scheme…”

Here’s a tiny sampling of what Markopolos told the SEC in his 21-page November 7, 2005 letter.  You decide if these are “specific facts.”

“I am a derivatives expert and have traded or assisted in the trading of several billion $US in options strategies for hedge funds and institutional clients…(Highly Likely) Madoff Securities is the world’s largest Ponzi Scheme…The [Madoff] family runs what is effectively the world’s largest hedge fund with estimated assets under management of at least $20 billion to perhaps $50 billion…The third parties organize the hedge funds and obtain investors but 100% of the money raised is actually managed by Madoff Investment Securities, LLC in a purported hedge fund strategy.  The investors that pony up the money don’t know that BM [Bernie Madoff] is managing their money…Some prominent US based hedge fund, fund of funds, that “invest” in BM in this manner include: A. Fairfield Sentry Limited (Arden Asset Management) which had $5.2 billion invested in BM as of May 2005…Access International Advisors…which had $450 million invested with BM as of mid-2002…Tremont Capital Management, Inc…Tremont oversees on an advisory and fully discretionary basis over $10.5 billion in assets.  Clients include institutional investors, public and private pension plans, ERISA plans, university endowments, foundations, and financial institutions, as well as high net worth individuals…Madoff does not allow outside performance audits.  One London based hedge fund, fund of funds, representing Arab money, asked to send in a team of Big 4 accountants to conduct a performance audit during their planned due diligence.  They were told ‘No, only Madoff’s brother-in-law who owns his own accounting firm is allowed to audit performance’…Only Madoff family members are privy to the investment strategy.  Name one other prominent multi-billion dollar hedge fund that doesn’t have outside, non-family professionals involved in the investment process.  You can’t because there aren’t any…There are too many red flags to ignore.  REFCO, Wood River, the Manhattan Fun, Princeton Economics, and other hedge fund blow ups all had a lot fewer red flags than Madoff and look what happened at those places…”

Here is what the SEC’s memo of November 21, 2007 said following its investigation:

“The staff found no evidence of fraud…All files have been prepared for closing…Termination letters have been sent to Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, Bernard L. Madoff, and Fairfield Greenwich Group.  The staff has no objection to the eventual destruction of the files and has no knowledge of any impediment to such a disposition.”

Let me run that by you again.  Mr. Markopolos, a private citizen, uses his personal time and energy over a seven year period to document a fraud occurring under the nose of the SEC that could impact the international reputation of the United States along with the financial well being of pensioners, university endowments, foundations and private investors.  After losing track of the case for five years, the SEC finally gets around to investigating using taxpayers’ monies.  They come up with nothing despite being given a perfect path to follow to the fraud.  And their final suggestion for dealing with the investigation is to destroy the files!  With regulators like these, who needs Ponzi artists?

Read moreWhistleblower document warned SEC in Nov. 2005 about Madoff’s Ponzi scheme

Families turning to insurance fraud to beat credit crunch

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Hard-up families are increasingly turning to insurance fraud to help see them through the credit crunch.

Insurers have seen an 80 per cent increase since last year in the number of bogus household and vehicle claims, many of which are being made by middle-class families struggling to pay their bills.

Typical scams include householders hiding their valuables and staging a burglary in an attempt to claim thousands of pounds in cash, or dropping their old television down the stairs so they can claim for a new flatscreen model.

In 2007 the insurance industry detected 91,000 frauds, which is set to rise to more than 160,000, in 2008.

Fraud costs the insurance industry an estimated £1.6 billion every year, adding £40 to the average annual household premium.

Read moreFamilies turning to insurance fraud to beat credit crunch

SEC ignored Madoff warnings for 10 years

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The world’s biggest fraud could have been averted if the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had acted on numerous warnings about Bernard Madoff’s financial impropriety years ago, the regulator’s chairman admitted last night.

Christopher Cox, the chairman of the SEC, effectively admitted mea culpa over the scandal after conceding that tip-offs were repeatedly made to the investors’ watchdog but never resulted in any investigation.

Related article: SEC Official Married into Madoff Family

Mr Cox said that in less than a week of checks made into the regulator’s oversight of investment businesses run by Bernard Madoff, he had found that “credible and specific allegations” had been “repeatedly” brought to the attention of the SEC but that no recommendations had ever been made to investigate the accusations.

The admission comes a week after Bernard Madoff, a 70 year old financier, admitted to his two sons that he was “finished” and that his investment firm was nothing more than a giant Ponzi scheme.

Related article: ‘PONZI SCHEME’ AT CITIGROUP

He also admitted to his sons, who worked for him, that he believed that losses arising from his financial wrong-doing amounted to around $50 billion, representing the biggest fraud in history.

Related article: Madoff put under house arrest – in $7m apartment (That is called justice.)

His investment firm, which has since been forced into liquidation, has triggered billions of dollars worth of losses among the world’s biggest financial institutions, charities, state pension schemes, and personal savings.

Read moreSEC ignored Madoff warnings for 10 years

Madoff Scheme Was ‘Impossible’ to Do Alone, Says EIM’s Busson

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Yes, it is impossible to do this alone. Especially because…
Unlike most hedge funds, Madoff’s business was regulated by the SEC, giving investors an added layer of protection, Busson said.

“I knew the SEC was all over this shop. As a broker-dealer, you file quarterly statements,” he said. “The main reason we got comfort is that it was SEC-regulated, and it was doing 10 percent of the volume on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.”

But here comes the next biggie: SEC failed to inspect Bernard Madoff fund (The Telegraph):
Last night Bloomberg reported that The Securities and Exchange Commission hasn’t examined the hedge fund since he registered the unit with the agency in September 2006.

So he had help. 🙂
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Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) — Bernard Madoff’s alleged Ponzi scheme, which might have cost investors $50 billion, couldn’t have been carried out alone, said Arpad ‘Arki’ Busson, chairman and founder of Swiss investment firm EIM SA.

“For the amount of money and number of accounts, it’s practically impossible that he was doing this alone,” said Busson, whose $11.5 billion fund of hedge funds had about $230 million invested with Madoff. “What’s mind-boggling is the amount of assets and the amount of time he was doing it.”

Read moreMadoff Scheme Was ‘Impossible’ to Do Alone, Says EIM’s Busson

Top Court Lets Smokers Sue for Fraud

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Marketers of “light” cigarettes may be sued, the court ruled.
Ashley Gilbertson for The New York Time

WASHINGTON – Tobacco companies that marketed “light” cigarettes may be sued for fraud, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday in a 5-to-4 decision that will bolster dozens of lawsuits claiming billions of dollars in damages.

The case was brought by three smokers from Maine as a proposed class action. They sued Altria and its Philip Morris USA unit, alleging fraud under Maine’s Unfair Trade Practices Act and saying they had been injured by what they called the false statements of the companies.

They sought compensation for economic rather than medical harm. They claimed, in other words, that they had overpaid for cigarettes based on deceptive advertisements suggesting that “light” cigarettes were safer than regular ones; they did not seek money for injuries caused by smoking itself.

Read moreTop Court Lets Smokers Sue for Fraud

LA Hospital CEO Pleads Guilty to Health Care Fraud

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LA hospital CEO pleads guilty to billing government for unnecessary care given to the homeless

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former hospital executive admitted Friday he paid a man to recruit homeless people for unnecessary medical treatment in a scheme to bilk government health programs out of millions of dollars.

Dr. Rudra Sabaratnam, who ran City of Angels Medical Center, faces up to 10 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to paying a recruiter nearly $500,000 to find Skid Row homeless people with Medi-Cal or Medicare cards and transport them to the hospital.

In his plea agreement, which remains under seal, Sabaratnam also agreed to pay more than $4.1 million in restitution to Medicare and Medi-Cal.

Read moreLA Hospital CEO Pleads Guilty to Health Care Fraud

Hyperinflation and then The Second Great Depression

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A future out of control, bankrupt financial institutions trying to hold on, limitation on credit severely limits ability of the economy to start up again, debt totally embraces our lives, handouts a state secret, soon cash infusions wont work for banks anymore, banks hold too much toxic garbage to even know if they are solvent. We are now 17 months into a credit crisis that continues to expose the corruption and incompetence of government, banking, Wall Street and transnational corporations. The situation has not stabilized and it won’t anytime soon. All we see are sweetheart deals for elitist corporations for which American taxpayers will pay for years to come. The future of our nation is totally out of control. For the last eight years our economy has been running on something for nothing, lies and deceit. The result will be hyperinflation and then the Second Great Depression.

Read moreHyperinflation and then The Second Great Depression

Former Nasdaq Chairman Madoff Confessed $50 Billion Fraud Before FBI Arrest

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Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) — Bernard Madoff confessed to employees this week that his investment advisory business was “a giant Ponzi scheme” that cost clients $50 billion before two FBI agents showed up yesterday morning at his Manhattan apartment.

“We’re here to find out if there’s an innocent explanation,” Agent Theodore Cacioppi told Madoff (The FBI ‘should’ be there to find out the truth, not an ‘innocent explanation’.), who founded Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC and was once chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market.

“There is no innocent explanation,” Madoff, 70, told the agents, saying he traded and lost money for institutional clients. He said he “paid investors with money that wasn’t there” and expected to go to jail. With that, agents arrested Madoff, according to an FBI complaint.

Read moreFormer Nasdaq Chairman Madoff Confessed $50 Billion Fraud Before FBI Arrest

Tyson Foods Injects Chickens with Antibiotics Before They Hatch to Claim “Raised without Antibiotics”

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(NaturalNews) Tyson Foods, the world’s largest meat processor and the second largest chicken producer in the United States, has admitted that it injects its chickens with antibiotics before they hatch, but labels them as raised without antibiotics anyway. In response, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) told Tyson to stop using the antibiotic-free label. The company has sued over its right to keep using it.

The controversy over Tyson’s antibiotic-free label began in summer 2007, when the company began a massive advertising campaign to tout its chicken as “raised without antibiotics.” Already, Tyson has spent tens of millions of dollars this year to date in continuing this campaign.

Poultry farmers regularly treat chickens and other birds with antibiotics to prevent the development of intestinal infections that might reduce the weight (and profitability) of the birds. Yet scientists have become increasingly concerned that the routine use of antibiotics in animal agriculture may accelerate the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that could lead to a pandemic or other health crisis.

After Tyson began labeling its chicken antibiotic-free, the USDA warned the company that such labels were not truthful, because Tyson regularly treats its birds’ feed with bacteria-killing ionophores. Tyson argued that ionophores are antimicrobials rather than antibiotics, but the USDA reiterated its policy that “ionophores are antibiotics.”

Read moreTyson Foods Injects Chickens with Antibiotics Before They Hatch to Claim “Raised without Antibiotics”

America: Freedom To Fascism – Director’s Authorized Version

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And not surprisingly, the video has been removed.

Here is a replacement:

Source: Google Video

“Born in Brooklyn and raised on Long Island, Aaron Russo began promoting rock and roll shows at local theaters while still a high school student.

From there, he worked for his family’s business, opened a night club in Chicago where he helped create the careers of such legendary acts as Led Zeppelin, The Who, Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane.

No stranger to success, Aaron was the first Hollywood Producer to command $1 million for his services, with titles such as ‘Trading Places’ and ‘The Rose’ after a seven year partnership with Bette Midler, whom he managed to become the superstar she now is.

Aaron has now stepped out and produced a radical new movie called ‘America: From Freedom to Fascism’ and it has received standing ovations in theatres from all around the country in its test marketing. Destined to be one of this years great movies, he takes things way further than Michael Moore and proves that the there is nothing in the tax code that says you have to pay tax on your labor. Now it’s time for you to decide for yourself. Do we stand up for our constitutional rights or do we bury our heads in fear from political and social pressure.”

$13 Billion in Iraq Aid Wasted Or Stolen, Ex-Investigator Says

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Salam Adhoob, former investigator for Iraq’s Commission on Public Integrity, at the Democratic Policy Committee hearing on waste and fraud in Iraq. (By Susan Walsh — Associated Press)

A former Iraqi official estimated yesterday that more than $13 billion meant for reconstruction projects in Iraq was wasted or stolen through elaborate fraud schemes.

Salam Adhoob, a former chief investigator for Iraq’s Commission on Public Integrity, told the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, an arm of the Democratic caucus, that an Iraqi auditing bureau “could not properly account for” the money.

While many of the projects audited “were not needed — and many were never built,” he said, “this very real fact remains: Billions of American dollars that paid for these projects are now gone.”

He said a report that went to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other top Iraqi officials was never published because “nobody cares” about investigating such cases. Many investigators, he said, feared for their safety because 32 of his co-workers have been murdered.

Read more$13 Billion in Iraq Aid Wasted Or Stolen, Ex-Investigator Says

Israeli Police Recommend Indicting Olmert

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JERUSALEM – The Israeli police on Sunday recommended indicting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on charges including bribe-taking, fraud and breach of trust.

The recommendation, which followed a corruption investigation that unfolded over several months, has no legal weight of its own. The decision whether to charge the prime minister lies with the attorney general, Menachem Mazuz. It is likely to come in a few weeks, after Mr. Olmert has been granted a hearing. Mr. Olmert’s lawyers immediately issued a statement that the police recommendation had “no meaning.”

Read moreIsraeli Police Recommend Indicting Olmert

Why Al Gore is a Hypocrite and a Fraud: Energy Guzzled by Al Gore’s Home in Past Year Could Power 232 US Homes for a Month

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Gore’s personal electricity consumption up 10%, despite “energy-efficient” home renovations


Global warming is a scam and the world is cooling. – You’ll experience this very soon.

NASHVILLE – In the year since Al Gore took steps to make his home more energy-efficient, the former Vice President’s home energy use surged more than 10%, according to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research.

“A man’s commitment to his beliefs is best measured by what he does behind the closed doors of his own home,” said Drew Johnson, President of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research. “Al Gore is a hypocrite and a fraud when it comes to his commitment to the environment, judging by his home energy consumption.”

In the past year, Gore’s home burned through 213,210 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity, enough to power 232 average American households for a month.

In February 2007, An Inconvenient Truth, a film based on a climate change speech developed by Gore, won an Academy Award for best documentary feature. The next day, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research uncovered that Gore’s Nashville home guzzled 20 times more electricity than the average American household.

After the Tennessee Center for Policy Research exposed Gore’s massive home energy use, the former Vice President scurried to make his home more energy-efficient. Despite adding solar panels, installing a geothermal system, replacing existing light bulbs with more efficient models, and overhauling the home’s windows and ductwork, Gore now consumes more electricity than before the “green” overhaul.

Read moreWhy Al Gore is a Hypocrite and a Fraud: Energy Guzzled by Al Gore’s Home in Past Year Could Power 232 US Homes for a Month

Senator Byron Dorgan – Out of Control Fraud

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Read about this here: US gave $300m arms contract to 22-year-old with criminal record

The Bush Family Business

For four generations now, the Bush family has been involved in supporting the country’s enemies (most notably the Nazi Party in Germany) and robbing the country blind.

The family was directly involved and profited from the Savings and Loan scandal of the 1980s and has participated in security fraud as well.

With this understanding as a background, the Iraq War can be viewed as their “masterpiece.”

The Bush family and its associates have stolen countless billions of dollars in the course of the war. In fact, one of their motivations for pushing the war in the first place was the opportunity for theft.

Chances are the destruction of World Trade Tower Seven, the home of crucial and now lost forever SEC and other federal law enforcement evidence and case files was carried out to cover their tracks.

Source: brasschecktv

(If you have watched this video and then you have also seen what Halliburton does.
Halliburton does not even pay taxes: Top Iraq contractor skirts US taxes offshore

And then take a look what happens at the stock market with Halliburton:
Halliburton stocks have risen about 50% since the end of January this year, in almost no time.

If you have this stock and are happy about the gain then realize that you are paying money to a corporation to cheat the American People and steal from all taxpayers.

JP Morgan, RBC Capital Markets, Merrill Lynch etc., they all say that Halliburton will outperform and yes it does, but it is you who pay for it.

Do not support Halliburton and alike companies take them down.
Sell these stocks and investment funds that support them.

Take your power back, that you have given to them, NOW. – The Infinite Unknown PS: The stock market will crash.)