SEC Fraud

The SEC charged Maria Sladich, a 50 year old ticket taker and usher at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in New Jersey (home of the New York Jets and New York Giants), with conducting a Ponzo scheme. It’s alleged that Maria Sladich and Kay Services, a purported real estate investment company, duped at least a thousand people to the tune of $10 million! Kay Services was wholly owned by the 50 year old scam artist and she targeted members of her own church, the Family Federation for World Peace (also known as the Unification Church or Moonies), for marks.

Allegedly investors were investing in domestic and international real estate and could expect 100% returns over the course of a year, with a minimum investment of $3000. With a $3000 investment, you could expect to see $500 monthly payments for 12 months.

Ticket-Taker Faces SEC Fraud Charges [Wolters Kluwer Financial Services]

In a separate indictment released on Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged the same two ex-Bear Stearns fund managers with defrauding investors as the subprime mortgage market began to collapse. The civil indictment comes at the same time as the U.S. Justice Department’s criminal indictment.

I’m surprised it took this long to get an indictment considering the funds failed in the summer of 2007. The two men are charged with defrauding investors and costing them at least $1 billion through their actions. The main charge is that they covered up the problems with their investments and then tried to get their own money out before recovering investors money.

Sifting Through the SEC Charges of Two Former Bear Stearns Managers [Fox Business]