Hackard Law is proud to note that Kevin O’Keefe over at LexBlog has shared some kind words about us in one of his recent roundups: If you’re looking for the best new blogger to join the LexBlog Network in the past year, Michael Hackard may be it as his first blog, Ponzi Clawbacks, has been outstanding… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Bankruptcy Clawback News
Subscribe to Bankruptcy Clawback News RSS FeedUsury Claims in Doubt in CA Ponzi Clawback Case
Posted in Bankruptcy Clawback News, Legal RepresentationIn July and August 2012, bankruptcy Trustee Michael Burkart brought over one hundred clawback lawsuits in the underlying bankruptcy case In Re Vincent Thakur Singh, et al., U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of California, Case No. 10-42050, against nearly 200 people who were defrauded in an elaborate Ponzi scheme orchestrated by Vincent Singh. The vast… Continue Reading
Swinger Political Operative Settles Rothstein Clawback Suit
Posted in Bankruptcy Clawback News, Ponzi ProfilesRoger Stone, the veteran Washington lobbyist sporting a Richard Nixon tattoo on his back, has reached a settlement with the trustee of convicted Ponzi mastermind Scott Rothstein’s bankruptcy. Sued for $400,000, the Republican strategist will end up paying just 4.5% of that amount at $18,000. Rothstein, a Fort Lauderdale attorney with a flair for easy… Continue Reading
SCI Bankruptcy Trustee Files Adversary Clawback Lawsuit Against 114 Defendants: The Complaint And Its Exhibits Are Over 1800 Pages
Posted in Bankruptcy Clawback News, Legal RepresentationHackard Law attorneys regularly represent plaintiffs and defendants in adversary cases, including clawbacks, in federal bankruptcy courts. The process of representation is often initiated by a preliminary review of our prospective client’s case. A part of this review is the use of the PACER online system (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) made available by… Continue Reading
Contingency Fees, Adversary Claims and Ponzi Cases
Posted in Bankruptcy Clawback News, Legal Representation, Ponzi AnalysisThe contingency fee system is a litigation reality unique to the United States. This system plays a significant role in the selection and prosecution of civil cases, including the prosecution of adversary claims against investors and/or victims of Ponzi schemes. While it is true that contingency fees can allow the poor and impoverished a “key… Continue Reading
Avoidance Actions against Investors in Ponzi Schemes: The Fundamentals Revisited
Posted in Bankruptcy Clawback News, Legal Representation, Ponzi AnalysisU.S. District Judge David Godbey’s 32-page Order allowing the Receiver in the R. Allen Stanford Receivership Estate to “clawback,” or recover, all back interest payments paid to Stanford investors is a worthy read as a remedial lesson in the character of Ponzi-based clawback actions. Court-appointed receivers often file lawsuits or clawback actions against investors who were… Continue Reading
After Ponzi Indictment Vincent Singh Detained Over Flight Risk and Death Threats
Posted in Bankruptcy Clawback News, Legal Representation, Ponzi ProfilesToday in Sacramento Vincent Singh, indicted for a $20 million Ponzi scheme that defrauded around 200 victims, was ordered by District Judge Edmund Brennan to remain in jail until pre-trial hearing in January. Singh’s loan business Perfect Financial went bankrupt in May 2010 after he gambled away $12 million in client funds and could no… Continue Reading
Accused Ponzi Schemer Vincent Singh Arraigned in Sacramento
Posted in Bankruptcy Clawback News, Legal Representation, Ponzi ProfilesVincent Thakur Singh, indicted for fraud in an alleged Ponzi scheme that defrauded nearly 200 victims of $20 million, has been arraigned in court in Sacramento. He had been arrested in Idaho in October upon his indictment and was transported back to California by US Marshals last week. Singh, once the head of Perfect Financial… Continue Reading
Allen Stanford, International Man of Mystery
Posted in Bankruptcy Clawback News, Ponzi ProfilesR. Allen Stanford, convicted earlier this year for running a $7 billion certificate of deposit scam through Antigua-based Stanford International Bank (SIB), used a private intelligence group to collect compromising materials against his enemies. Newly released emails show Stanford retained the services of Kroll, a high-profile investigative firm used by Fortune 500 companies. Stanford ordered… Continue Reading
“Financial Predator” Sentenced for $31 Million Ponzi Scheme
Posted in Bankruptcy Clawback News, Ponzi ProfilesJoseph Greenblatt, a veteran scammer who targeted fellow-members of the Orthodox Jewish community, was sentenced to a period of six-to-eighteen years last week for operating a Ponzi scheme. From 1995 to 2004 Greenblatt ran Maywood Capital, a company that purported to specialize in real-estate investment. The enterprise offered shares in the “flipping” of various Manhattan… Continue Reading
Happy Thanksgiving to Our Clients
Posted in Bankruptcy Clawback News, Legal RepresentationFirst and foremost – Happy Thanksgiving to all of our clients. At Hackard Law we represent a large number of clients who voluntarily or involuntarily are engaged in litigation. We value them and we are honored to represent them. Those clients who have been sued in Ponzi schemes deserve special attention. Adversary defendants are involuntary… Continue Reading
Ponzi Poster: Lou Pearlman, Boy-Band Ponzi Schemer
Posted in Bankruptcy Clawback News, Ponzi Posters, Ponzi ProfilesThis week’s Ponzi Poster features Lou Pearlman, boy-band kingpin and $300 million fraudster extraordinaire. Besides promoting pop-music acts, Pearlman pitched investors a savings program for Trans Continental Airlines, a company supposedly wielding a fleet of 400 aircraft. In reality Trans Con owned around three planes at any given time. Along with being convicted for a massive Ponzi… Continue Reading
Rothstein: The Man with the Golden Toilet
Posted in Bankruptcy Clawback News, Ponzi ProfilesAlthough he now is serving out a 50-year sentence in federal prison, Ponzi wizard Scott Rothstein once led a charmed life. The Fort Lauderdale attorney not only headed Rothstein, Rosenfeldt and Adler (RRA), a successful law practice, he also treated himself to mansions, yachts, jets and regular lunch parties with expensive prostitutes. Thanks to a… Continue Reading
Ponzi Schemes Harm Local Ethnic Communities
Posted in Bankruptcy Clawback News, Legal Representation, Ponzi AnalysisAs investment frauds continue to make the news across American cities, a clear pattern emerges among a number of these scams. Ethnic communities are often the target of Ponzi schemers and form a key segment of affinity fraud victims. These groups can fall prey to scams due to the following factors: A smaller subsection of… Continue Reading
Where Are They Now? Boy-Band Kingpin Lou Pearlman’s Ponzi Scheme
Posted in Bankruptcy Clawback News, Ponzi ProfilesLou Pearlman was once the music industry’s major promoter of boy bands, a phenomenon that brought millions of 12-year-old girls to scream over acts with names like *NSYNC and The Backstreet Boys. Aspiring pop stars saw a relationship with “Big Poppa” as the route to fame and riches. While Pearlman was known as a kingpin… Continue Reading
Affinity Fraud and Clawbacks: Lydia Cladek’s Ponzi Scheme
Posted in Bankruptcy Clawback News, Ponzi Analysis, Ponzi ProfilesThe case of St. Augustine Ponzi schemer Lydia Cladek provides a clear example of how con-artists develop relationships with victims in order to steal their money. When the scheme eventually comes crashing down, friends, family and associates who had invested with the perpetrator can face nasty clawback lawsuits. After being found guilty of conspiracy and several… Continue Reading
Tim Durham Ran $207 Million Scam, Lived Out “American Dream” at Playboy Parties
Posted in Bankruptcy Clawback News, Ponzi ProfilesConvicted Ponzi schemer Tim Durham will face sentencing in November for the multiple counts of conspiracy and fraud he racked up after operating a scam that defrauded 5,200 Ohio seniors. Durham, CEO of Obsidian Enterprises, an Indianapolis firm supposedly specializing in leveraged buyouts, acquired the Ohio consumer loan shop Fair Finance in 2002. Since he… Continue Reading
Accused Ponzi Schemer Vincent Singh Was Provided a Federal Public Defender
Posted in Bankruptcy Clawback News, Legal Representation, Ponzi Analysis, Ponzi ProfilesOn October 17th, the day after his arrest in Idaho, accused Ponzi schemer Vincent Thakur Singh was provided a federal public defender during his detention hearing. Singh has been indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in Sacramento for numerous counts of fraud – the detention hearing documents indicate that he will seek court-appointed counsel when… Continue Reading
Ponzi Schemes and Political Campaigns
Posted in Bankruptcy Clawback News, Ponzi Analysis, Ponzi ProfilesSince America is in the grip of election-season fever, it’s worth taking a look at some connections between investment fraud and the national political scene. Many Ponzi schemers are by their nature gregarious, flashy individuals whose moral compass doesn’t seem to function very well. Their actions are calculated to increase profit, power and pleasure, and… Continue Reading
Hackard Law Defends Over Half of Singh Ponzi Scheme Victims from Clawback Lawsuits
Posted in Bankruptcy Clawback News, Legal Representation, Ponzi ProfilesThe following post is from our October 23rd PR Newsire press release. Vincent Thakur Singh filed bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Sacramento on August 19, 2010. At the time of Singh’s filing he listed unsecured obligations to creditors in excess of $22,000,000. By the end of August 2012 – the two-year anniversary of Singh’s bankruptcy filing… Continue Reading
Vincent Singh Ponzi Bankruptcy Tests Validity of Usury Claims in Clawback Litigation
Posted in Bankruptcy Clawback News, Legal Representation, Ponzi AnalysisToday at Forbes, attorney and top authority on investment fraud Jordan Maglich has delivered an excellent analysis on the use of lending laws in clawback suits. Maglich examines the recent employment of usury statutes by Court-Appointed Trustees to seize funds from investors in the wake of a Ponzi scheme’s bankruptcy. A trustee or receiver will… Continue Reading
Master Ponzi Schemer Thomas Petters’ Estate Items Auctioned Off
Posted in Bankruptcy Clawback News, Ponzi ProfilesMinnesota native Thomas Petters may be spending the rest of his life in Fort Leavenworth Prison, but this Monday participants in the auction of his estate in St. Paul were looking to pick up a piece of that Ponzi magic. Petters was the author of a massive $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme under the cover of… Continue Reading
Vincent Thakur Singh Ran $20 Million Ponzi Scheme, Defrauded Investors Through “Perfect Financial Group”, Says Federal Indictment
Posted in Bankruptcy Clawback News, Legal Representation, Ponzi ProfilesVincent Thakur Singh has been indicted on multiple counts of wire fraud, false statements and bribery. Arrested in Idaho on Monday, Singh is accused of operating a Ponzi scheme. Under the cover of his company Perfect Financial Group, he is said to have preyed on nearly 200 fellow members in California’s Indian-Fijian community to defraud… Continue Reading
Advice to a Weary Litigant: The Role of Special Settlement Counsel
Posted in Bankruptcy Clawback News, Legal RepresentationMichael Hackard’s thoughts and strategy on litigation and special settlement counsel were originally published by The Bella Institute in March 2012. See the original entry. You’re at loggerheads. You’ve spent countless time and money on a matter that you once naively expected to see quick and economic resolution. You’re emotionally drained. You’ve become skeptical of… Continue Reading