PalmBeachDailyNews.com just reported a new $23 million Ponzi scheme. I’m almost surprised this one made the news. These days $23 million sounds like a rounding error. It’s .04 percent—that’s .0004—of Bernie Madoff’s $65 billion effort. It’s .29 percent of the alleged, $8 billion fraud orchestrated by Allen Stanford.
I love to run the numbers.
Geography, not dollar size, is the headline here. And it’s mind-numbing. The home of the the $23 million, alleged fraudster is less than one minute’s walk from the Florida estate of Bernie Madoff. For your convenience and as verification, I have pasted the link to Google directions. Try the “satellite” view.
Talk about proximity. Talk about neighbors from hell. Remember Wilson and Home Improvement? I have this vision of a series remake. One neighbor leans over the hedge. The other, his back facing the camera, offers tips: how to get rid of crab grass; how to sear steaks Pittsburgh style—black on the outside, pink inside; and how to elude the law after separating friends and neighbors from their savings.
“Can I get your recipe for clawback casserole?”
Ponzi schemes are no laughing matter. I wonder if the swindler in the $23 million scam can invoke the Florida Homestead laws and protect his house from creditors. If so, we won’t see “for sale” signs in the neighborhood any time soon. The Madoffs are already employing this tactic.
Do you think Florida’s Homestead laws invite bad behavior?
The New York Times describes my novels as “money porn,” “a red-hot franchise,” and “glittery thrillers about fiscal malfeasance.” Through fiction I explore the dark side of money and the motivations of those who have it, want more, and will steamroll anybody who gets in their way.
Only one? I’m amazed. There should and will be a slew of others w/ continued bank failures shortly.
Oh yes and then there are the commercial real estate foreclosures which are starting to pickup and will continue for the next two years.
I look forward to reading your book when it comes out.
Best,
SRW
Thanks, Rowan.
That’s “only one” for now. J.K. Galbraith has written that frauds surface during market downturns. Who knows how many more Ponzi schemes we will see?
You make a good point about commercial real estate foreclosures. We’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg of that problem.
Ah… I’m more of a Henry Hazlitt, Ludwig Von Mises, Peter Schiff and Milton Friedman gal myself. Reading ‘The Daily Reckoning’ is also entertaining and a free subscription.
Knew a few of Galbraith’s relatives from the bay area however.
If you’re in the mood for following the real estate bust, go to the mortgage lender implode-o’-meter at: http://ml-implode.com/
http://www.mortgagedaily.com/
http://www.crefx.com/
and
http://mortgage.freedomblogging.com/ along with the usual fuckedcompany.com which i never thought would be a holdover from my dotcom days but what relevance now!
Look forward to your next article.
SRW 😉