Accused of overseeing Ponzi scheme Toronto police have issued an arrest warrant for a man claiming to be the “Chinese Warren Buffett” for allegedly defrauding more than 100 people of a combined $30 million. Weizhen Tang, 51, is wanted on fraud charges for overseeing what police call a Ponzi scheme between January 2006 and March [...]

China, financial scandals, losses, ponzi, Scams Hide

I joined the Money section of The Straits Times in May 2000. Back then, the personal finance sector, made up of banks, insurers and broking houses, was like a sleepy giant. Each party operated in its own silo and cross-selling was uncommon. But my timing couldn’t have been better because, fortunately for me, the party [...]

dubious practices, financial products, financial scandals, insurance, investments, lesson, losses, Scams, Singapore Hide

SEOUL : North Korea’s new banknotes have plunged in value against China’s yuan since being introduced a month ago in a move that knocked two zeroes off the currency, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported Sunday. By late December traders on China’s border with the North were exchanging 1,000 North Korean won per Chinese yuan [...]

currency, losses Hide

By Tessa Wong MORE than 1,000 investors have been left high and dry after two investment companies, under investigation by the police, appear to have closed shop. Both companies were recently in the news for having riled their customers with allegedly suspicious practices, leading many of them to lodge complaints with the Consumers Association of [...]

boiler room, investments, losses, Scams, Singapore Hide

It Wasn’t Just Madoff — A Tough Economy Toppled Many Pyramid Schemes in 2009 By DREW SANDHOLM, ABC News It was right at the end of 2008 that Bernard Madoff admitted to his sons that his multibillion investment business was “one big lie.” As his scam unraveled in the courts and in the media throughout [...]

Allen Stanford, Bernard Madoff, losses, ponzi, scammers, Scams, Scott Rothstein, Tom Petters Hide

Here is a summary of 10 of 2009′s notorious financial scandals. -Reuters The year of the Ponzi scheme will be followed by heightened regulation and more aggressive prosecutions, experts say. Regulators and prosecutors are scrambling to uncover and pursue more fraudsters, while lawmakers seek to close regulatory gaps and give officials more resources. Here is [...]

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U.S. stock mutual funds with the biggest losses in the past 10 years, a list topped by Fidelity Growth Strategies and Vanguard U.S. Growth, were crushed by the market sell-off at the start of the decade and never recovered. The Fidelity fund fell 67 percent and Vanguard’s lost 50 percent, according to data from Morningstar [...]

investments, losses, mutual funds, S&P 500, underperform, US Hide

Citigroup Inc., Marshall & Ilsley Corp. and Huntington Bancshares Inc. ended 2009 with the biggest drops in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, weighed down by defaulting property loans that may add to their declines this year. Marshall & Ilsley tumbled 60 percent, the index’s biggest drop, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Huntington Bancsharesfell [...]

citi, housing loans, Huntington, losses, Marshall & Ilsley, S&P 500, shares, stock market, US Hide