hd

How do you know the green finance sector has arrived? Well, it got its first Ponzi scheme! Allegedly.

The SEC filed charges against four people and two companies in a Denver federal court on Monday. Mantria Corp. and its principals, Troy Wragg and Amanada Knorr, stand accused of running raising $122 million from more than 300 investors in what could be a dozen fraudulent offers of securities. Mantria engaged Speed of Wealth LLC, run by Wayde and Donna McKelvy, to dump the cash out of their retirement plans and tap their home equity to "invest" in Mantria, which they said was offering returns ranging from 17% to "hundreds of percent" every year.

Normal tech support phone call: "Press 1 for help with e-mail. Press 2 to have your password reset."

Madoff tech support phone call: "Hello, how can I help you dummy up some trading records today?"

The investigation of Bernie Madoff's fraudulent financial empire is leading to more arrests. Jerome O'Hara and George Perez, both computer programmers employed by the Ponzi schemer, were arrested by the FBI on Friday morning. The charges include conspiracy for falsifying books and records. They are accused of doing the deed for the boss and accepting hush money -- in the form of 25% raises and net bonuses of $60,000 -- to keep the scam afloat.

What do you get for the person who has everything? Well, maybe you buy him a piece of history. The U.S. Marshals Service has done all the hard work, and now you can take advantage of it... maybe even at discount prices! Possessions seized from Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff are set to go under the gavel in New York City on Saturday, so bring your checkbook and your appetite for luxury. The money will be used to compensate the victims of Madoff's crimes.

Finally, the federal government has accepted an offer from Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis. Earlier this year, the feds turned down his request for bailout money, but the filmmaker entrepreneur executive soft-core porn guru had better luck with the judiciary branch. His deal to get out of jail came through.

U.S. District Judge S. James Otero accepted a plea agreement that Francis reached with prosecutors. It will put him on probation for the next year for filing false income tax returns. He was also sentenced to time served -- 301 days, but that's all in the past. He also has to pay restitution of $250,000.

Another player in the Bernie Madoff saga has fallen. His longtime auditor, David Friehling, pleaded guilty in federal court on Tuesday to charges of securities fraud, investment adviser fraud, making false filings with the SEC, and obstructing or impeding the administration of the Internal Revenue laws (among others).

Despite the plea, Friehling still told U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, "At no time was I ever aware Bernard Madoff was engaged in a Ponzi scheme."

Investors are calling for an inquiry into mutual fund fees, but the Supreme Court is reminding them that it isn't beholden to public opinion. The mutual fund industry is being accused of charging "excessive" fees, which could be particularly harsh on individual investors who use these tools as their primary way to access the market. Currently, the mutual fund industry has more than $10 trillion in assets under management, some of it through retirement and 529 college savings plans.

The Court doesn't seem inclined to step into the fray, saying that regulatory agencies are better equipped to address the situation. Chief Justice John Roberts, for example, said during arguments that "It makes a lot more sense to have the SEC regulate rates than to have courts do it, doesn't it?"

Who needs venture capital money when you have litigation? Facebook was awarded $711 million in damages Thursday in an anti-spam case against Sanford Wallace, an internet marketer. The popular social networking platform went after Wallace for tapping its users' accounts without their permission and sending fake posts and messages.

Wallace has quite a reputation for spamming, having gained the nicknames "Spam King" and "Spamford" back in the 1990s, when he was good for up to 30 million spam e-mails a day.

A very interesting piece of news passed the wire late Friday, October 23. Smart Choices, which is a million-dollar food labeling program, was voluntarily halted on Friday thanks to a bit of mislabeling.

Earlier in the week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it was looking into Smart Choices' labeling practices. The FDA feels that Smart Choices (although the company wasn't named as a specific target by the government) may use misleading labels on some of the products it has deemed nutritionally sound.

Lock up your money.

The architect of the Long-Term Capital Management disaster, John Meriwether, is starting a new hedge fund, fresh off the collapse of his latest fund.

He closed JWM Partners three months ago after the fund lost 44% of its value during the financial crisis.

Bernie Madoff is getting used to his new neighbors. Gone are the days of Montauk and Manhattan, and he isn't sharing his space with topless dancers.

Now, he says goodnight to a drug pusher, chills with a former mobster, and hangs with a convicted spy ... and these guys are probably saying, "I hang around with Bernie Madoff." The former financier Ponzi schemer spends his evenings walking laps around the prison track at the Butner Federal Correctional Complex, not far from Raleigh, N.C.

All it takes is a little patience. F. Scott Yeager, a former Enron executive, got some good news from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, which ruled that it wouldn't revisit his case. So, he no longer has criminal charges related to financial fraud hanging over him. Yeager has been acquitted on all counts. This follows a June ruling by the Supreme Court, which tossed a previous 5th Circuit Court ruling that could have resulted in a new trial.

The ruling said, "Today, ... it is clear under our initial ... analysis the jury made a finding in acquitting Yeager that precludes prosecution on insider trading and money laundering." Samuel Buffone, who was one of Yeager's attorneys, stated that his client shouldn't have been indicted to begin with and didn't do anything wrong. It has taken them seven years to get to this point.

Yeager landed in hot water because he sold stock in Enron for more than $54 million before it began the plunge that would ultimately end with its bankruptcy in 2001. He faced 125 counts, was acquitted of five (four for wire fraud and one for conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud) and wound up with a hung jury for the remaining 120, which included insider trading and money laundering. He was later indicted again on 13 counts of insider trading and money laundering.

On Wednesday, Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam told employees via letter that the company is going to wind down all of its hedge funds. In a Wall Street Journal article (subscription required), a person familiar with Galleon said that one of the alternatives the company is exploring is selling out to another firm.

These alternatives were approached by Rajaratnam in his letter, as he told employees that it is "in the best interest of our investors and employees to conduct an orderly wind down of Galleon's funds while we explore various alternatives for our business."