Bombast. In my experience they are all bombastic.
And stripper poles.
You would not believe the number of stripper poles that crooks collect.
Via Santangels Review:
This is a great article from Alpha magazine. They seem to have spotted a live “hedge fund” fraud. The article, written by Amanda Cantrell, does an excellent job laying out the various red flags that led them to believe this hedge fund was not real. From my studies of SEC and court filings of convicted hedge fund fraud cases (here, here and here), it seems like the same handful of due diligence checks would lead one to run away from any of these frauds before even meeting the manager or studying their strategy. They are (in no particular order):Some of the varlets who have graced our pages:
7.Something “odd” (For example, the fund in the Alpha article was supposedly managing $4.6 billion, but was accepting investments of a minimum of $30,000)...MORE
More Strip Clubs, Private Jets and Ponzis
...“Credit card and bank records show that Martin spent more than $1 million at a strip club and restaurants, nearly $1 million at elite hotels and another $1 million renting flight time on private jets,” prosecutors said. “He purchased a fleet of luxury vehicles, donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to celebrity charity events, and hired personal security guards to accompany him in public.”...The Dénouement: Perpetrator of $190 Million Foreign Exchange Ponzi Scheme Sentenced
...According to court documents made public, Cook purchased a Rolls Royce Silver Spur, a Maserati Quattroporte, a Hummer H2, a Jaguar S-Type, a Mercedes-Benz, a heavily customized Audi S8, a 60-foot houseboat (complete with a brass stripper pole), an island in Canada and a two-person submarine....The Stripper and the Ponzi Schemer
A Holly Golightly for the Stripper-Embezzlement Age
Finally, no strippers but pretty funny.
Planktos Highlights Real Ocean/Climate Crises & Responds to Recent Misinformation Campaigns
But first, one of my favorite examples of a stock scam (I told you, I have a morbid fascination with the underbelly of the markets, it's like watching the lions approach the wildebeest at the watering hole, you don't want to see it but you can't look away):
...Peter Uttley, Equisure's chairman and a former Lloyds of London executive, took control of the company this week, assuming the chief executive post....
...Uttley said in the press release that his chairman role had been a "passive" one, but he now plans an active reorganization of the company, whose reputation has been stained by allegations that it is a scam insurance operation....
...In an unusually emotional statement to the press, sent from an Equisure board meeting Friday in London, Uttley told his version of events over the summer, which eventually led to the delisting of Equisure shares on the American Stock Exchange.
"The simple truth was consumed in the belly of deception, but now has been vomited for the world to see," Uttley began.
Isn't that damn fine bloviating? It's hard to research but I think Uttley et. al. got away with $100 mil....He then proceeded to tell a story of three men, whom he described as "liars," "cheats," and "scallywags," who worked with law enforcement officials and the press to spread false rumors about the company with the intent of buying Equisure out at 50 cents a share, a tiny fraction of the stock's trading price of $15, before AMEX suspended trading Aug. 1.
