Five in Texas Are Accused of Reporting False Trades
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Five former traders were indicted yesterday in Houston on charges of reporting false trades to industry newsletters to manipulate natural gas prices.
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Five D.C. residents who say they were tricked into signing away their homes have reached out-of-court settlements that enabled them to regain ownership and a total of $455,000.
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(InfoWorld) - Three U.S. agencies have initiated more than 100 law enforcement actions against bogus business-opportunity peddlers and work-at-home scams, including several Internet-based schemes. The Project FAL$E HOPE$ crackdown, announced Tuesday but in operation for most of the year, targeted scammers in 11 states, including California, Texas, Florida and Maryland. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Department of Justice (DOJ) and Postal Inspection Service worked with law enforcement agencies in those states to take action against the alleged fraudsters. Project FAL$E HOPE$ includes new cases announced Tuesday, developments in existing cases, criminal convictions, and state actions. The project also announced new education material for advertising sales staff, aimed at helping screen ads for bogus business opportunities. Included in nine cases the FTC announced Tuesday: -- The Results Group: Working out of what the FTC called a boiler room in Phoenix, the operation charged between $99 and $599 to build and host Web sites "affiliated" with the sites of large retailers such as Amazon.comÂ and Overstock.com, the FTC said. Consumers could supposedly make money when those retailers paid commissions for sales made through the consumersâ Web sites. In fact, the large retailers were unaware of any such affiliation, and consumers made no money. The FTC accused the operation of falsely representing that purchasers would receive substantial income as well as substantial assistance from an expert staff, and using false and misleading statements to encourage consumers to buy the business opportunity. -- Money Making Secret: These defendants promised "Top 12 Programs to Make Big Money!" and charged consumers between $47 and $129 to access a "members only" Web site with "money-making secrets," the FTC said. The Internet-based programs that were offered varied, including online survey programs, free government grant money programs, mystery shopper programs, and online data-entry programs. However, these programs did not exist, or did not offer easy money with little time or effort, as promised, the FTC said. The FTC's complaint charges the defendants with making false and unsubstantiated earnings claims. The FTC also has new guidance for publishers, offering them help to screen out deceptive ads for business opportunities. The alert, "Ads for Business Opportunities: How to Detect Deception," suggests advertising sales staff to give an extra look at ads that make claims such as: "No risk! Guaranteed" "Quick and Easy!" "Earn $2,000 a month." The FTC alert warns that legitimate business ventures involve risks, and start-up businesses require a lot of work to get off the ground. The law requires earnings claims in ads be accompanied by the number and percentage of previous purchasers who achieved the income, the FTC said.
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Federal prosecutors today unsealed criminal charges against more than a dozen people -- including former executives at three of Wall Street's elite investment banks and traders at prominent hedge funds -- for engaging in thousands of improper trades in a pair of wide-ranging schemes.
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A Marlborough-based technology company is suing five former employees, including three senior managers, for allegedly conspiring against their employer while working on opening a competing business.
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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has filed charges against a payment processing company, accusing it of attempting to debit consumers&#39; bank accounts for up to $200 million on behalf of dishonest merchants.Those consumers either never received the goods or received worthless items, said the FTC, which filed the complaint with seven other U.S. states. The payment company allegedly violated both federal and state consumer fraud laws, telemarketing rules, and FTC regulations regarding the unfair processing of payments.The payment processing company went by several names, which are listed in a FTC news release. The FTC alleges the company processed payments for fraudulent telemarketers and Internet-based merchants that used deceptive sales scripts and methods.About $69 million of the $200 million in transactions were either rejected by consumers or returned because of lack of proper payment authorization, the FTC said.The FTC wants to refund consumers and force the company to forfeit money it still holds from the fraud in addition to other civil penalties. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.The states that have joined the suit are Illinois, Iowa, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, and Vermont.
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Watchdog still bugged by year 2000 deal The SEC is suing five former execs at Veritas over alleged securities fraud back in 2000.â¦
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The accused include a Morgan Stanley compliance official, a UBS research executive and traders for hedge funds and brokerage firms.
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Federal prosecutors on Monday said they  believe they now know how natural gas traders manipulated index  prices by reporting false trades.
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Company to pay out $5.5 million The discrimination claim was brought on behalf of Colorado employees. The chain denies misconduct.
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Ex-El Paso Corp. employees Donald Guilbault and William Ham have pleaded guilty to making false reports used to calculate the index price of natural gas, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday.
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The defendants include former and current employees at major Wall Street firms such as Morgan Stanley and Oppenheimer.
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U.S. officials on Tuesday announced the indictment of 21 people accused of bilking eBay bidders out of $5 million through an Internet fraud scheme that originated in Romania.
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Federal prosecutors charged six men yesterday with making $55 million in fraudulent profits via private stock sales.
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Four former El Paso Corp. natural gas traders have been charged with making false reports used to calculate the index price of natural gas, US Attorney Michael Shelby said Wednesday.
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Readers fire back in response to five outrageous market calls.
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Regulators alleged that misconduct at Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises resulted in misstatements of the companyâs earnings.