$100 Million Real Estate Ponzi Scheme
First it was Madoff, then it was Stanford, followed by Dreier. Now it's Wayne Puff. Today, the founder of NJ Affordable Homes Corp., received a 18-year prison sentence for his $100 million real estate Ponzi scheme.
His victims? Among them are Washington Mutual (now JP Morgan Chase) and Credit Suisse Group, AG. It's astonishing to think how companies are able to dupe these international financial institutions.
According to the Bloomberg report, he and his conspirators used phony mortgage loan documents and leases to lure in their victims, which reminds me of how Madoff created his clients' fake financial reports on his company's dot-matrix printer. Or how Dreier printed his financial statements on counterfeit letterhead. Like all of these hucksters, Puff promised massive returns, up to 22 percent, for his investors.
What did he do with the money? He went on vacation in the Cayman Islands, covered his credit card expenses, purchased his meals, and paid for lawsuit settlements. Just think, he used his investors' money to pay for the lawsuits that came from other investors.
His company, NJ Affordable Homes, filed for bankruptcy in 2005 after the Securities and Exchanged filed a lawsuit against it.
With so many Ponzi schemes falling apart, it's hard not to get numb to hearing about another. The past two years we've heard some big numbers. $85 billion bailout for AIG, $65 billion for Madoff's heist, and of course the economic stimulus package that cost $700 billion.
Compared to these numbers, $100 million just doesn't seem like such a big sum anymore. ♦Digg it ♦del.icio.us ♦Add to Technorati Faves
His victims? Among them are Washington Mutual (now JP Morgan Chase) and Credit Suisse Group, AG. It's astonishing to think how companies are able to dupe these international financial institutions.
According to the Bloomberg report, he and his conspirators used phony mortgage loan documents and leases to lure in their victims, which reminds me of how Madoff created his clients' fake financial reports on his company's dot-matrix printer. Or how Dreier printed his financial statements on counterfeit letterhead. Like all of these hucksters, Puff promised massive returns, up to 22 percent, for his investors.
What did he do with the money? He went on vacation in the Cayman Islands, covered his credit card expenses, purchased his meals, and paid for lawsuit settlements. Just think, he used his investors' money to pay for the lawsuits that came from other investors.
His company, NJ Affordable Homes, filed for bankruptcy in 2005 after the Securities and Exchanged filed a lawsuit against it.
With so many Ponzi schemes falling apart, it's hard not to get numb to hearing about another. The past two years we've heard some big numbers. $85 billion bailout for AIG, $65 billion for Madoff's heist, and of course the economic stimulus package that cost $700 billion.
Compared to these numbers, $100 million just doesn't seem like such a big sum anymore. ♦Digg it ♦del.icio.us ♦Add to Technorati Faves
posted by Myra Nourmand at
6:02 PM
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