Financial Serial Killers: Inside the World of Wall Street Money Hustlers, Swindlers, and Con Men
By using true tales of thieves, swindlers, and fraudsters at work, Financial Serial Killers illustrates how these perpetrators get their hooks into investors' wallets, savings accounts, and portfolios—and never let go. The worst financial crisis since the great depression revealed that thousands of mom and pop investors had lost millions to so-called Mini-Madoffs. They are the thieves and conmen who had used phony financial acumen to steal investors' money, wipe out savings, and damage...
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How to make sure you don’t fall victim to the next Bernie Madoff. Publishers Weekly Ajamie, a top securities lawyer, and Kelly, news editor for Investment News, team up to recount true tales of financial frauds throughout history, which make for addictive if depressing reading. Ajamie's expertise in commercial litigation gives the reader an inside look at the complex strategies financial advisers, insurance agents, and even family members employ to fleece hapless individuals, focusing on the false emotional bonds con artists create with their victims in order to take advantage of them. For those who can wade through occasionally disjointed prose with some very jarring changes in tone, there are valuable lessons for readers who want to protect themselves from being swindled. In the wake of the Madoff scandal and the financial excesses that led to the recession of the past two years, this book will appeal to many readers angered by the financial services industry, the failures of the regulatory authorities, and rogue advisers. (Aug.)
Contents CHAPTER ONE Financial Serial Killers....................3CHAPTER TWO The Little Old Lady Who Invested with Buffett and Was Fleeced by Insurance Agents....................11CHAPTER THREE The Financial Serial Killer: Charles Ponzi and the Criminal Pathology of White-Collar Thieves....................28CHAPTER FOUR Bre-X Minerals: How to Make, and Detect, Fool's Gold....................49INTERLUDE A The Investment Industry Speaks....................69CHAPTER FIVE Stockbrokers, Greed, and Laziness....................74CHAPTER SIX More Stockbrokers, Greed, and Laziness....................92CHAPTER SEVEN Hedge Funds and Private Placements: Cachet and Exclusivity Can Cost You....................116CHAPTER EIGHT Securities Regulators and Their Shortcomings: Are the Regulators Protecting You?....................143INTERLUDE B The Investment Industry Speaks....................158CHAPTER NINE What Is an Investment Adviser and Why Are So Many Running Ponzi Schemes?....................164CHAPTER TEN Mortgage Fraud: How the Mortgage Industry and Mortgage Brokers Can Rip You Off and How Promises of Investment Riches Undermine the Safety of Your Home....................178CHAPTER ELEVEN Affinity Fraud, or Holy Rolling, Religious Zeal, and the Art of the Steal....................189INTERLUDE C The Investment Industry Speaks....................199CHAPTER TWELVE Wall Street: It's a Game for Insiders-and Outsiders, Like You, Should Get Advice....................207CHAPTER THIRTEEN The Consequence of White-Collar Crime and How It Can Destroy Lives and Rip Families Apart....................226CHAPTER FOURTEEN Web Tools and Databases to Spot Trouble Before It Starts....................240CHAPTER FIFTEEN Four Outlandish Tales of the Securities Business....................244CHAPTER SIXTEEN Elder Abuse and Fraud....................254INTERLUDE D The Investment Industry Speaks....................262CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Tilting at Windmills: How One Investor Refused to Give Up His Fight to Track Down His Financial Serial Killer....................268CHAPTER EIGHTEEN The Psychology Behind Why We Fall for Scams....................277EPILOGUE....................289A LAUNDRY LIST OF THE CLASSIC WARNING SIGNS FOR INVESTORS....................293NOTES....................299ACKNOWLEDGMENTS....................306
\ Publishers WeeklyAjamie, a top securities lawyer, and Kelly, news editor for Investment News, team up to recount true tales of financial frauds throughout history, which make for addictive if depressing reading. Ajamie's expertise in commercial litigation gives the reader an inside look at the complex strategies financial advisers, insurance agents, and even family members employ to fleece hapless individuals, focusing on the false emotional bonds con artists create with their victims in order to take advantage of them. For those who can wade through occasionally disjointed prose with some very jarring changes in tone, there are valuable lessons for readers who want to protect themselves from being swindled. In the wake of the Madoff scandal and the financial excesses that led to the recession of the past two years, this book will appeal to many readers angered by the financial services industry, the failures of the regulatory authorities, and rogue advisers. (Aug.)\ \
