Protecting Victims of Investment Fraud
Every week in America, new cases of investment fraud hit the headlines. Con-men perpetrate multimillion-dollar Ponzi schemes with ever increasing frequency. These swindles not only cause damage to our economy – they also leave ordinary citizens financially ruined. Americans who thought they were making a sound investment are cheated out of their money when the Ponzi scheme collapses. Good-faith investors will even withdraw funds from their retirement accounts and place this money into a venture that’s supposedly a “sure thing”. Unfortunately the only sure thing in a Ponzi scheme is its inevitable downfall. The human cost of these con-games is often terribly high – seized assets, empty pension funds, bankruptcy, career disaster and broken families.
In the wake of the infamous Bernie Madoff case and others, victims of Ponzi schemes face another challenge: “Clawback” lawsuits from court-appointed receivers. A receiver, responsible for disbursing whatever funds might be left from a fraud to victims, will seek to recover or “claw back” any monies paid to the investors. Some trustees will distinguish between “net winners” (those who received more than their principal back) and “net losers” (those who received less than their principal back).
Hackard Law represents clients in both categories who have had the additional misfortune of defending trustee generated lawsuits seeking to claw back any principal paid back to the investor. Good-faith investors who have been defrauded are then forced into adversary proceedings to defend their assets from the clawback litigation and to address the “good faith” issue.
If you’re the victim of a Ponzi scheme – you’ve already invested in good faith and now you’ve been left high and dry. Many Ponzi investors have fully cooperated with the court-appointed receiver in a good faith effort to assist in the recovery of funds that the Ponzi schemer acquired by fraud. These investors, knowing themselves to be innocent and non complicit in the scheme, cooperated as good citizens and also in the hope that they would get some money back.
You’ve been working with the trustee- you lost significant amounts of money in the scheme, and hopefully you can recover some of it. Yet to your surprise, he slaps you with a lawsuit demanding any remaining income you have. Now you’re trapped in adversary proceedings just to stop the receiver from seizing whatever business and personal assets you have left. How can you defend yourself and your family?
Don’t let yourself be victimized twice – you have a resource for protection against clawback lawsuits. One of California’s top lawyers, Michael Hackard fields decades of legal expertise and excellence to represent your adversary claim. At Hackard Law, we understand the tough circumstances so many Americans endure today and enjoy the challenge of fighting for our clients.