“As through this world you wander you’ll see lots of funny men, some will rob you with a six gun and some with a fountain pen” (Woody Guthrie, Pretty Boy Floyd, 1939).
“Free lunch” seminars are a favorite tactic used by today’s fountain pen robbers who target mostly elderly retirees with substantial assets. They know that audience members are unlikely to be vigilant investors looking for fraud or they would not be there in the first place. Unfortunately, many audience members come there looking for someone to trust. That is often their first and fatal mistake. One recent example of this can be found in an article entitled “Men Charged in $28 Million Investment Scheme.” (more…)
Former Raymond James Broker Indicted
The reality of the securities industry is nothing like the portrait firms paint in commercials that air during golf tournaments.
You can slice and dice the characters who commit investment crimes any number of ways; by modus operandi, by personality traits, by size of their cons. In The Vigilant Investor we divided them into five categories: the Professional Criminal, the Golden Boy, the Fibber, the Bungler, and the Thief. Prosecutors in Indiana have indicted a man who, if the allegations against him are true (he is presumed innocent), would fit solidly into the Thief category. According to journalgazette.net: (more…)