February 24th, 2010 
Before You Invest A recent arbitration panel has awarded three holding companies over $1 million for losses sustained by investments in various Morgan Keegan & Co. bond funds. The funds in question were heavily backed by mortgage-related securities, experiencing a near total loss in the subprime mortgage crisis of two years past.
This is the second time in a week that an arbitration panel has ruled in favor of investors against Morgan Keegan & Co.’s bond funds.
Posted in Finance Fraud 
Tags: 1 Million, 5 Million, Amp, Arbitration Awards, Arbitration Panel, Bond Funds, Co Bond, Conservative Investments, Degree Of Risk, Investment Funds, Investor, Investors, Losses, Morgan Keegan, Second Time, Subprime Mortgage Crisis, Volatility 
Comments Off January 29th, 2010 Before You Invest
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has announced the award of $1 million in grants split among four law schools. Each $250,000 award will go towards launching legal clinics to provide aid to disadvantaged investors involved in securities disputes. Currently, many investors who file small claims find law firms unwilling or unable to represent them. However, even those that do find counsel sometimes hit with prohibitive hourly costs. The four new law clinics will work with such investors to fill this gap in legal services. Pepperdine University School of Law, a Los Angeles area school, is one such recipient of FINRA funds. The four schools were chosen in part because of their willingness to not only launch this program, but to maintain the clinics past the three year grant period. Further, they have demonstrated a commitment to investor education and outreach in their respective communities. This is the third iteration of FINRA’s clinic grant program, the first recipient being Northwestern University School of Law in 2004 and the second recipient being an established clinic at Pace Law School in 2006. To view the official press release, please click here.
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: 1 Million, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Finra, Gap, Grant Program, Investor Education, Law Clinics, Law Firms, Law Schools, Legal Clinics, Northwestern University School, Northwestern University School Of Law, Outreach, Pace Law School, Pepperdine University School, Pepperdine University School Of Law, Recipient, Small Claims, Third Iteration, Willingness Comments Off January 27th, 2010 Before You Invest Investment bank Goldman Sachs is to cap pay levels for its 100 London-based partners at £1 million.
The decision is part of a move to deflate public anger over banker bonuses and the role of financial institutions in the global economic crisis, the BBC reported.
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: 1 Million, 1m, Banking Industry, Bbc, David Viniar, Economic Turmoil, Finance Officer, Global Economic Crisis, Goldman Sach, Goldman Sachs, Hundred Million, Investment Bank, Packet Sizes, Pain And Suffering, Pay Packet, Previous Year, Profit Figures, Public Anger, Role Of Financial Institutions, Salaries Comments Off January 15th, 2010 Before You Invest Bradley Ruderman, the founder and manager of Ruderman Capital located in Beverly Hills, California, has been sentenced to 121 months in federal prison following his guilty plea in a fraud case against him. Ruderman was charged with running a Ponzi scheme that targeted family members and close friends.
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: 1 Million, Amount Of Money, Beverly Hills California, Capital Partners, Client Statements, Close Friends, Credit Card Charges, Family Members, Federal Prison, Fraud Case, Guilty Plea, Hedge Fund Manager, Hedge Funds, Malibu, Personal Expenses, Ponzi Scheme, Prison Sentence, Restitution, Sporting Events, Summer House No Comments » December 23rd, 2009 Before You Invest NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures extended their gains Wednesday after the Energy Information Administration data showed a bigger-than-expected drop in U.S. crude inventories as imports fell. Crude inventories fell 4.9 million barrels, the EIA said. Analysts polled by Platts had expected a drop of 2 million barrels.
November 1st, 2009 Before You Invest DBSI which went bankrupt last fall, was “doomed to fail,” said Joshua R. Hochberg, an examiner appointed by a bankruptcy court to examine DBSI’s business affairs.
But the company’s troubles did not stop founder and president Douglas Swenson and other officers, directors, owners and top employees from giving “significant amounts of money to themselves,” according to the report.
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: 1 Million, 6 Million, Bankruptcy Court, Business Affairs, Commercial Property Investments, Dbsi, Distributions, Filing For Bankruptcy, Fraud Allegations, Joshua, Lawsuits, Office Buildings, Ownership Interests, Real Estate Values, Redemption, Regulators, Salaries, Shopping Centers, Swenson, Treasure Valley No Comments » August 10th, 2009 Before You Invest 
Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman thinks August is the trough month for the U.S. economy. And yes, he is reading a lot into the improved unemployment numbers from July.
Of course, it took trillions in direct spending, guarantees and loans to do it, but he believes we’ve got actual growth coming.
Posted in Finance Fraud, Market Bottom Tags: 1 Million, Amp, Cse, Economist Paul Krugman, Economy, Guarantees, Jobs, Loans, Lot, Nobel Prize, Nytimes, Paul Krugman, Stimulus, Trillions, Trough, Unemployment Numbers No Comments » July 29th, 2009 Before You Invest The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said it halted a $50 million Ponzi scheme near Detroit that raised money for a real-estate investment fund and targeted the elderly.
A federal judge in Michigan agreed to freeze assets after the SEC sued John Bravata, 41, and Richard Trabulsy, 26, claiming they lured more than 400 investors by promising 8 percent to 12 percent annual returns, the agency said today in a statement.
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: 1 Million, 50 Million, Assets, Bravata, Exotic Vacations, Federal Judge, Ferrari, Gambling Debts, Gillette, Jewelry, Luxury Homes, Maserati, Merri, Mortgage, Prospective Investors, Real Estate Investment, Real Estate Investment Fund, Regional Office, Securities And Exchange, Securities And Exchange Commission No Comments » July 14th, 2009 Before You Invest A Seattle-based securities lawyer has been charged with carrying out a fraud scheme worth $1 million.
David Otto, along with several others, has been accused of running a ‘pump-and-dump’ scam, whereby a promotional campaign for nutritional supplement producer MitoPharm was ran suggesting that the company produced products with anti-aging capabilities.
The Securities and Exchange Commission alleges that the share price of the company rose to above $2.30 following the promotion, despite the fact that the products were not actually available from MitoPharm.
Mr Otto was said to have sold his shares in the company for more than $1 million, while stock promoter Charles Bingham secured $300,000.
The SEC’s Marc Fagel stated that Mr Otto used “phony documents to corner the market in a start-up company’s stock”, enabling him to profit at the expense of “unsuspecting” investors.
After the pair sold their shares, the company’s stock is alleged to have fallen substantially.
The SEC has also charged six former executives of Sky Capita, accusing them of organizing a boiler room fraud worth $140 million.
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: 1 Million, Boiler Room, Capabilities, Capita, David Otto, Faces, Fraud Charges, Fraud Lawyer, Fraud Scheme, Nutritional Supplement, Running, Seattle Lawyer, Securities And Exchange, Securities And Exchange Commission, Securities Lawyer, Share Price, Sky, Start Up Company, Stock Promoter, Unsuspecting Investors No Comments » May 2nd, 2009 Before You Invest The Securities and Exchange Commission today obtained a court order halting a fraudulent scheme in Beverly Hills, Calif., in which investors were coaxed into investing in two hedge funds that purportedly held more than $800 million in assets when in fact the funds lost money and have less than $1 million in assets.
The SEC alleges that Bradley L.
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: 1 Million, Account Statements, Apple Microsoft, Assets, Beverly Hills, Capital Partners, Fraudulent Scheme, Hedge Fund, Hedge Funds, Investing, Investor, Investors, Microsoft, Microsoft Corp, Qualcomm, Sec, Securities And Exchange, Securities And Exchange Commission, Wal Mart, Wal Mart Stores No Comments »
