Ponzi Nation, Monday Edition

Another day another Ponzi scheme broken up by the SEC.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a Philadelphia-area investment adviser and its principal with misappropriating millions of dollars in client assets, and obtained an emergency court order freezing their assets.

The SEC alleges that through a commingled brokerage account, Donald Anthony Walker Young of Coatesville, Pa., and Acorn Capital Management, LLC misappropriated more than $23 million from investors buying limited partnership interests in Acorn II LP, which invested in publicly traded securities. Young used investor funds to pay other investors in the nature of a Ponzi scheme, and directly stole some of the money to purchase a vacation home in Palm Beach, Fla., and pay personal expenses related to horse ownership and racing, construction, boats, limousines, chartered aircraft and other luxuries.

Even with the two bank failures on Friday, Ponzi nation still appears to be leading Bank Failure nation this year (though I’m still working on guidelines for the definitive comparison). 

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4 replies
  1. earlofhuntingdon says:

    These serialized releases of financial wrongdoing suggest Mr. Bush’s enforcement agencies were sitting on a lot of leads. Perhaps we should rechristen his administration as, “Take the Money and Run.” Which would make his choice of a favorite painting not ironic at all. Mr. Bush invented a story about Methodist missionaries venturing out West on horseback. In fact, he had the original oil for a Saturday Evening Post story about a horse thief.

  2. jimhicks3 says:

    The whole financial structure in the US and elsewhere is a giant Ponzi scheme.
    That is the whole idea behind “growth”. Growing the economy by any means necessary. Pump money into it. If that isn’t Ponzi what is?
    jh3

  3. wavpeac says:

    drip, drip, and more drip. When will it finally dawn on us? We must nationalize at least for a brief period of time, simply to get a handle on the bottom line, to clean house and to get the books in order. Far too many at the top have been complicit in the criminal behavior.

    I have been very poor in my life at time. But I always felt relief, even if I only had a couple dollars in my account, or even when I found out I was in over draft. I felt better every time, I knew for certain the bottom line and what it would take to fix it. We are simply postponing the inevitable.

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