Securities Frauds
NatWest Markets Manipulation of Treasury Futures Markets by Spoofing Class Action
This class action accuses three companies of “unlawful and intentional manipulation of U.S. Treasury Futures contracts” and options on those contracts, as traded on US exchanges, including the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). The companies accused are NatWest Markets Securities, Inc., NatWest Markets, Plc, and NatWest Group, Plc (formerly RBS Securities, Inc., the Royal Bank Read more
EquiAlt $170 Million Ponzi Scheme California Class Action
“This case arises from $170 million Ponzi scheme operated by EquiAlt, LLC[,]”the complaint for this class action says in its opening line. According to the complaint, EquiAlt claims to use investor funds to buy distressed real estate and promised eight to ten percent profit with very little risk. However, the complaint claims that the promises Read more
EquiAlt Real Estate Securities Ponzi Scheme Class Action
The sales agents were unlicensed, the securities were unregistered, the investors were not accredited, and the investors’ money did not go where they thought it would go: This was EquiAlt and its Ponzi scheme, says the complaint for this class action. The first defendant is Paul Wassgren, who was a partner, at different times, at Read more
Insurance Office of America Inflated Securities RICO Class Action
This class action brings suit against Insurance Office of America, Inc. (IOA) and IOA Group, LLC, alleging that the company ran a Ponzi scheme that inflated stock prices. It also claims that the company defrauded its employees, customers, and independent sales agents and overbilled customers with fraudulent fees added to premiums. Read more
Secondary Responsibility for Losses in Aequitas Securities Class Action
How is it that a company touted as a stable, secure investment “collapsed in spectacular fashion and was shut down by the Securities and Exchange Commission” (SEC)? Aequitas did so, losing its investors hundreds of millions of dollars. The complaint for this class action alleges that secondary responsibility for the losses belongs to other companies Read more
Zions Bancorporation Fails to Spot Ponzi Scheme Class Action
When investors put money into an enterprise, how do they know that it’s being used as claimed? The complaint for this class action claims that the Silver Pool supposedly run by Gaylen Rust was a Ponzi scheme with no reality to it. However, the defendant in the case is not Rust but Zions Bancorporation, which Read more
UDF III Fake Distributions and Investment Fraud Class Action
This class action concerns investment offerings known as United Development Funding (UDF), and specifically UDF III. The complaint alleges that the defendants made false statements about UDF III’s success to induce people to invest or to invest more. It backed up the false statements by distributions—which, according to the complaint, were not in fact earnings Read more
People’s United Jay Peak Ski Resort Ponzi Scheme Class Action
Investors bring this class action against companies they believed would build a Jay Peak Ski Resort in Vermont—People’s United Financial, Inc. and People’s United Bank. But according to the complaint, the money they put up went to an alleged Ponzi scheme, finally uncovered in a two-year investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Read more
Tower Financial Corp. and Jeffrey Epstein Ponzi Scheme Class Action
The complaint for this class action alleges that a Ponzi scheme built around Towers Financial Corporation (TFC) took millions of dollars from over 200,000 investors between the late 1980s and the mid-1990s. One of the parties to this scheme, Steven Hoffenberg, was convicted and sentenced to twenty years in prison, plus fined and required to Read more
Julian Spence DRIP Cryptocurrency Fraud Securities Class Action
How do people know which cryptocurrencies are worth their offering prices and which are simply scams? The complaint for this class action says that Julian (or Juvane) Spence, the seller of the Dark Ripple or DRIP token, implied that his tokens were related to a more established currency called Ripple. This and other false or Read more