Broker Hit With Charges Over $40M Ponzi Scam

Broker Hit With Charges Over $40M Ponzi Scam - 3/24/2009

Home

Index of Filings

News and Press Releases

Filings

Decisions

Settlements

Litigation Activity Indices

Top Ten List

Annual/Quarterly Updates

Clearinghouse Research

Articles & Papers

Search

Related Sites

About Us

Local Rules

Sponsors

Register

_______________
Copyright © 2001
Stanford Law School

2009 News and Press Releases

SEARCH

News	News 2009
HEADLINES \| SETTLEMENTS AND DISMISSALS \| COURT FILINGS LINKS TO OTHER NEWS \| NEWS ARCHIVE	HEADLINES ARCHIVED SETTLEMENTS AND DISMISSALS ARCHIVED

HEADLINE NEWS:

Broker Hit With Charges Over $40M Ponzi Scam
Melissa Lipman

Securities Law 360. March 24, 2009
_________________________________________________________________________

EXCERPT: The federal government has charged a Folsom, Calif., man with conspiracy, fraud and securities law violations for allegedly leading a $40 million Ponzi scheme involving 150 investors just a week after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission slapped the defendant and his partner with a civil suit over the same allegations. The charges, filed March 18 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, include counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and securities violations against Anthony Vassallo, 29, who runs Equity Investment Management and Trading Inc. along with Kenneth Kenitzer. On the same day, the U.S. attorney also charged Michael David Sanders, 41, with conspiracy, impersonating a federal law enforcement agent and attempting to extort money in order to recover funds for Equity Investment. Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California Lawrence G. Brown said his office remained committed to holding offenders such as Vassallo accountable and to trying to recover some of the money victims have lost in such Ponzi schemes. "It brings no great satisfaction to once again announce charges in another multimillion-dollar investment fraud Ponzi scheme perpetrated in our region," Brown said in a statement. In its March 11 suit, the SEC accused Vassallo and Kenitzer of using more than $40 million raised from about 150 investors from May 2004 through late 2008 to fund "a variety of other schemes never disclosed to investors." Federal prosecutors accused Vassallo of asking investors to participate in a hedge fund program. Vassallo told investors, many of whom he met through his church, that he had a proprietary computer software program that allowed him to buy and sell stock options and generate returns of 3.5 percent per month with little risk of loss, the regulator said.

Back to News page | Back to Archived News 2009 page | Back to Top

�