FTC Capital Markets offices searched
Reuters reports that the FTC Capital Markets offices in New York have been searched by U.S. postal inspectors. FTC Capital Markets is suspected of investment fraud, and the postal inspectors were looking for evidence.
An anonymous source, who wished to remain so because of the ongoing investigation, says the allegations involve hundreds of millions of dollars.
Details from Reuters:
Officers from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service were looking into whether two FTC Capital executives misled companies over purported investments.
One of the executives, Lina Lopez, was arrested in Miami, the source familiar with the case said.
No further details were immediately available about the search, which took place on Tuesday night.
Criminal charges have not been filed. The case stems from a civil lawsuit by Citgo Petroleum Corp and PDV Holding Inc in March that accused FTC, several related entities and two executives of fraud.
Lawsuit
Apparently investors with FTC Capital Markets would have been safer getting no fax payday loans with no credit check. FTC Capital Markets might end up needing installment loans for bad credit when this whole thing is over.
This investigation has been launched in response to a civil lawsuit that was filed March 9. From Reuters:
In a civil lawsuit … Citgo and PDVH alleged that FTC executives Lopez and Guillermo David Clamens “diverted and misused” the plaintiffs’ investment funds. … The lawsuit charges the two with creating a “slush fund to finance self-interested, unauthorized and speculative trading in unregistered, risky, illiquid investments in which they had financial interests, the full extent of which remain unknown.”
Clamens and Lopez made undisclosed and unauthorized purchases into the Citgo account of $10 million worth of bonds issued by Venezuela, the complaint said. It said they diverted $19.3 million of Citgo’s $100 million investment to “self-dealing, risky and unauthorized note and bond purchases.”
It said that in April 2008, FTC opened accounts at BNP Paribas bank in the name of Citgo and PDVH. The complaint said that instead of investing $200 million into 7-day BNP CD’s for Citgo, Clamens and Lopez deposited the money into a daily income money market fund.
Scam after scam
Strange that as soon as the public’s and officials’ attention became focused on the economy, and thus money, scams started to come to light. Big ones. Bernie Madoff bilked customers out of an estimated $65 billion in his Ponzi scheme. He was convicted of fraud this year and will get his sentence in June.
Wikipedia states that Madoff’s scheme “has been called the largest investor fraud ever committed by a single person.” Madoff doesn’t need to worry about losing his title to FTC Capital Markets, though. At least two people are accused of being involved in the alleged investment fraud. Also, sources say the case involves millions, not billions.
Small but dangerous
Also, take proper precautions to avoid identity theft. Don’t give out information online, including passwords and credit card numbers, unless you’re on a trusted web site. Shred your credit card offers and other mail that has personal information on it.
Scams after scams; they just keep coming our way. Who can you really trust in today’s society? A culprit lies within every block, business and operation. As the economy makes its turn for the worse, the more greed and wickedness we see in the world. Know that anything depraved hidden in the dark will eventually come out to the light.