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for a pair of international criminals the effort to pocket millions in laundered British pounds started years before coven 19. still the global Health crisis gave them new opportunities to pull off their daring series of scams Russian native artem tergen and Davis grochyatzkage of Lithuania were on the radar of UK investigators as far back as 2017 and a continuing criminal probe revealed the extent of a scheme that netted them roughly 70 million pounds in total the investigation spanned four years and involved officials from the Metro Police and National Crime agency it all started when officers spotted a man dropping off a large sum of money in a car parked outside a house they were watching police believe the house was a front for a london-based money counting operation the suspect was later identified as Oriel zilfi and he was in the sites of authorities again just one month later at that time police say he received a payment of 40 000 pounds from tursian both men were arrested convicted and sentenced to a year Behind Bars after the investigation upon searching zelfi's residence police reportedly found evidence of a scheme to launder roughly 7 million pounds over four months more evidence surfaced that implicated zilfi turgeon and others in a massive criminal scheme after uncovering evidence of a much larger illegal Enterprise police soon began zeroing in on groko yatskage who lived in the same building as turjan an Audi the same color in which zilfi left a bag of cash was a central component of the case against the scammers authorities determined that it had been used to deliver a staggering sum of money to different entities throughout a seven month period in which detergent and grocery adskitch were neighbors that money was reportedly funneled through shell companies set up by the pair and was laundered through numerous International transactions deposits regularly traveled through Germany Hong Kong the United Arab Emirates the Czech Republic in Singapore before finally ending up in the criminal's pockets both men were arrested in 2018 and police began sorting through the mountain of evidence they'd collected after combing through the contents of a computer an encrypted cell phone handwritten receipts and Bank transactions authorities estimated that the group was responsible for laundering the equivalent 50 million dollars almost half of that was transferred via cash deposits Persian and grokiatskids were released from prison on bail as they awaited trial in the case the Court's supposed restraints didn't stop them from returning to their old ways though the pair hatched another plan while facing charges related to the massive money laundering scheme they decided to Target Britain's bounce back program which was established to provide loans to companies struggling to make it through the pandemic and widespread lockdowns authorities say the two men raked in over a 13 million dollars in payouts for falsified loan applications through this plan investigators quickly caught on to their scheme and arrested them in late 2020 after reviewing the latest evidence in the continuing case against them authorities determined that turgeon and grokia laundered roughly 45 million dollars starting in mid-2018 as for the bounce back loans police say the payer submitted a series of claims for 50 000 pound loans and received 10 million pounds altogether reports indicate a single Bank was responsible for providing more than 3 million pounds of that sum much like in the United States and elsewhere around the world the UK established its bounce back program and the coronavirus business Interruption loan to provide cash assistance to struggling businesses throughout the pandemic related shutdowns the British government served as an underwriter for eighty percent of the cbil program and 100 of the bounce back loans also like similar initiatives in other countries scammers saw these British Assistance programs as easy Targets in fact the government spent 100 million pounds and assigned about 1 000 investigators to a specialized task force designed to uncover and expose the amount of fraud involving these programs as it turned out the scams perpetrated by tursian and grochatskitch represented just the tip of the iceberg investigators determined that billions of pounds were misappropriated or otherwise stolen through similar types of fraud an extensive audit found that there weren't enough safeguards against misuse of the funding and that the government dragged its feet when conducting reviews of suspicious applications officials must have known that fraud was a real concern especially when hundreds of millions in free money was involved many of them determined that a certain level of theft was a price they'd have to pay for delivering money to struggling people during the pandemic Peak the review confirmed that loans were being granted for at least a month before authorities devised a method for determining whether single companies were applying for multiple loans by the time they developed a system more than 60 percent of all the loans funded by these programs were gone in late 2020 the government started to get a bit more serious about preventing fraud but plenty of damage had already been done one early estimate indicated that seven and a half percent of all loans approved might have been fraudulent that number grew dramatically when the task force released its investigative report finding that as much as 11 percent of the cash paid out through these government loans went to scammers in real terms that makes this a widespread scheme that cost taxpayers in nearly 5 billion pounds with the economy forced to remain closed for weeks the United Kingdom's government prioritized quick action over fiscal accountability for some the money didn't come through as quickly as some small business owners might have preferred meanwhile plenty of people received loans they didn't deserve the bounce back Loan program was introduced after the cbils to streamline the process and get money to struggling business owners as quickly as possible the relief programs handed out a combined 80 billion pounds in loans between March 2020 and June 2021 bounce back accounted for the largest number of those loans with 47 billion pounds sent out to about 1.6 million individuals sometimes within a day of filing the application most financial institutions perform extensive reviews to determine the likelihood that an applicant can repay a loan however when the government rolled out the bounce back initiative officials mandated that Banks forego such efforts One banking executive recalled that the banks were prohibited from performing credit checks in the program's early days most experts agreed that getting money out to businesses as quickly as possible via the British banking system however in the aftermath taxpayers were on the hook for billions of pounds sent out in fraudulent loans applicants were given a list of requirements for receiving a guaranteed loan specifically they had to affirm that the pandemic negatively impacted their businesses of course many frauds are simply lied on the forums with no intention of repaying the loan Banks were expected to do their best to reclaim the money but most of those efforts fell flat that means the government passed off its losses too the British citizenry One banking Insider explained why many in the industry felt that they've done what they were asked to do and decided to just drop the pursuit of many fraudulent claims it's not surprising that Banks aren't eager to exert money and other resources to track down borrowers who are likely perpetrating a fraudulent scheme after all the government will reimburse these institutions whether or not the loan is paid Regulators require that Banks Show that they've made some effort to collect on the loans though it's clear that many of them are content to do the bare minimum while taking comfort in the knowledge that they won't lose any money many banking Executives attempted to warn the government of the inherent vulnerabilities in each of these programs two days before the first loan out applications were accepted the X head of the British Business Bank sent a letter to the nation's business secretary to sound the alarms about abuse by individuals and by participants in organized crimes just Weeks Later three anti-corruption organizations joined forces to send their own warning they requested that those who receive funds through the program be made public that plea fell on deaf ears within the British government since the loans lacked the transparency that many experts said would be necessary to combat fraud many details remain cloaked in mystery subsequent reviews found that some of the money was gambled away or traded for foreign currency making it unlikely that the government would ever recover its losses much of the stolen cash went to pay for personal expenses and lavish purchases by the scammers behind various fraudulent schemes when investigators separated the loans based on the banks that issued them they found a troubling Trend some institutions appeared to do their due diligence and signaled potentially fraudulent loan applications however a handful of banks we're responsible for approving The Lion's Share of loans that ended up going to scammers one report determined that just three Banks were behind a whopping 87 percent of loans paid out to companies that had already gone out of business furthermore two Banks handled more than eight in ten loans for companies that didn't even exist before the outbreak of covet 19. it's not entirely clear what the British government plans to do in its effort to recover the Law's money though there are some signs that Regulators are working on methods to address fraud in the future for example authorities will now perform a review on any business that goes out of business to determine if any unpaid loans were taken out on its behalf the treasury Bureau approved 32 million pounds in additional funding for anti-fraud operations but some government officials are concerned that it won't be enough with such an enormous amount of money missing there's a common perception that authorities are offering too little too late a representative from the treasury Department attempted to quench concerns insisting that any amount of fraud is totally understand acceptable asserting that the agency is taking action on multiple fronts to crack down on anyone who has sought to exploit our schemes bring them to justice although they were clearly not alone in perpetrating fraud against the UK government Persian and grochach could be seen as the poster children for such Financial crimes their illegal Enterprise was responsible for laundering a staggering amount of cash for other criminals around the world police say 10 million pounds came from loans obtained through the pandemic relief program upon conviction they were both sentenced to what's believed to be the longest prison terms ever handed down in the United Kingdom for charges related to money laundering while they reached looking at 33 years behind bars their story only highlights a problem plaguing governments in kovid's Wake one representative from an anti-corruption Watchdog group accused the United Kingdom of failing to take fraud and other white-collar crimes seriously a decades-long prison sentence for churchian and grok yatsukig is a step in the right direction but critics say there's plenty more hard work to do her husband ran one of the biggest Ponzi scams ever and she helped him hide the money and this couple went on the run after they were discovered scamming over 30 million dollars from their customers let's get right to it number four bullion run Bernard Ross Hansen former president and CEO of Northwest Territorial Mint a now bankrupt company dealing in precious metals and his girlfriend Diane Renee Erdman scammed 3 000 customers of over 30 million dollars couples share time love and affection but this couple shares one extra sentiment scamming Bernard's company dealt in manufacturing medallions and other Awards as well as bullion business that involves selling buying exchanging storing and leasing Gold Silver and other precious metals Bernard and Diane defrauded their customers in different ways they lied about shipping times for Bullion they used their customers money to expand their business to different states and take care of their personal expenses like a Ponzi scheme their lies and customers kept building up and the company kept sinking under the weight of unfulfilled orders the couple used new customer money to pay off older customers and try to keep everyone happy while making sure their pockets were heavily lined with cash of the almost 3 000 customers they had 2500 of them paid for orders or made bullion sales or exchanges that were either never fulfilled or never refunded Bernard and Diane made over 25 million dollars from this Bernard and Diane also ran a storage business customers would pay the couple thousands of dollars to store their precious metal securely and they would siphon the assets for their personal use in 2016 investigators took inventory of the company's vaults and found nearly five million dollars worth of precious metals belonging to over 50 customers was missing rather than keep customers assets safe Bernard turned the Vault into a company piggy bank he used the storage as his own sometimes going as far as melting down customers property to make something else and ship it off to another client in 2016 the company declared bankruptcy the victims of this elaborate Ponzi scheme weren't wealthy multi-millionaires they were ordinary people with plans and dreams people who look forward to their retirement who set up college funds for their kids and who inherited a modest amount of wealth from their relatives the scam took everything from these people and left them with no option but to work harder longer and in deep stress get their lives back on track after two days of deliberation the jury convicted Bernard of 14 federal felony accounts of mail and wire fraud each charge carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison the panel also convicted Diane who doubled as Bernard's vault manager of 13 felony counts they were sentenced to 11 years and five years in prison respectively just before their sentencing date the couple attempted to flee they were on the run for 11 days before the FBI caught them in Port Hadlock Washington when police found them they had three loaded guns behind the car's driver's seat because they attempted to escape Justice the prosecutors increased the requested prison sentence for the couple they also had to pay over 60 million dollars in restitution number three sing-sing for over six years chander Singh and four Century 21 All-Stars 100 employees scammed their clients through Investments That promised double-digit returns interestingly these so-called employees also happen to be his parents brother and a close family friend who coincidentally Bears the same surname Singh chander Singh is a lawyer from Emerson who owns a distressed North Jersey real estate investment firm called SC Capital investors LLC he conspired with his parents suru Paul Singh and savitri joycing his brother subhas Brian Singh and their family friend shadikra basil Singh all of whom work as real estate agents jadikra was a licensed real estate agent and the director of the Eastern version board of realtors a panel that oversees ethical complaints related to real estate since at least 2014 the five of them used chander's company to gain access to people and convince them to invest in his Ponzi scheme by promising them astronomical returns their scheme went well until disgruntled investors started reporting them to the police borrowing them money from various related real estate deals after duping investors chander would attempt to cover his tracks by running the money through a network of banks he often made deposits of less than ten thousand dollars to avoid cash transaction reports on November 10 2020 the five of them were arrested and remanded at the Virgin County Jail pending their Court appearances in January 2020 chander left New Jersey and fled to his relatives in Trinidad and Guyana and even made inquiries about becoming an attorney in the West Indies while leaving his New Jersey investors with no clue about where their money was he appeared to be on the road to starting a new life in South America the investors would later complain that Chandra was funneling money in and out of his attorney trust fund without paying his debts chander's lawyer claimed he didn't attempt to flee to escape justice but left the country because he needed to get away for his mental health upon investigation candor's family revealed that he returned home in October 2020 but planned to flee to Guyana in January 2021 one but before escaping police arrested him at his parents house Chandra was charged with money laundering theft by deception forgery and Records tampering while the entire group was also accused of conspiracy-related offenses if convicted on all charges he faces a maximum of 20 years in prison number two Madoff Juniors Scott Rothstein ran a Bernie Madoff style Ponzi scheme for years that earned him 1.2 billion dollars with this Fortune Cooling in his account he would live a lavish lifestyle featuring politics luxurious Yachts sports cars women and lots of gold Scott grew up in a blue-collar community in the Bronx despite his humble background he would build a successful career as a lawyer specializing in gender discrimination suits eventually setting up his Law Firm Rothstein Rosenfeld Alder in its prime The Firm had over 70 lawyers on his payroll today it no longer exists through his Law Firm Scott got access to potential victims who he tried to convince to part with their money by selling shares in lawsuit settlement he promised his investors they would reap the rewards when the cases were settled and further perpetrated the scam by creating false bank documents and phony settlement agreements Scott's wife Kim helped him keep their stolen money from his investors as the authorities cracked the whip on her husband's organization she tried to conceal and sell over a million dollars worth of jewelry that investigators wanted to seize as part of the investigation when the house of cards they had built Came Crashing Down Kim pleaded guilty to conspiracy and received a sentence of 18 months in prison she filed a divorce subsequently a typical Scott Rothstein scam started from a private elevator disguise as an ordinary door he would take the potential victim up to his office where he would then begin to lay out the plan he had secured a lucrative pre-litigation settlement from a client's former employer and the client needed money up front to foot the legal fees so the investor could purchase the settlement and reap the rewards when the case is settled to ensure secrecy Scott would warn the client not to disclose the details of the a deal because the settling company could get wind of it and go to court to stop the payments Scott sometimes went as far as scamming actual clients that hired his firm to file a lawsuit once when he lost the suit and his clients had to pay 500 000 in reparations he created fraudulent court papers that made his clients pay 57 million dollars to him Scott lived a life gilded with comfort of the flashy sword his wardrobe featured six thousand dollar suits and over 200 luxury timepieces he spent over one million dollars on his wedding at the Versace Mansion and another 3.2 million on a pair of Bugatti sports cars that sat beside other luxurious vehicles in his vast garage he had at least four houses and a fleet of boats we are over the top luxury was concerned Scott missed no tricks including his and hers golden toilets in his luxury Estates Scott also spent about fifty thousand to sixty thousand dollars monthly on female companionships paying their rent sending them to law school and financing their International trips he had an endless supply of women including his second wife Kim Scott was always thrilled to spend his illegal wealth in tilting political support towards his Direction it was a major figure in the south Florida social and political scene with the Hefty contributions he often made to political causes he donated ninety six thousand dollars to Republican Governor Charlie Christ's campaigning for the U.S Senate and dropped another 6 000 for Democrat Alex thinks gubernatorial campaign outside politics Scott donated to charitable organizations and hospitals as well eight hundred thousand dollars to Joe DiMaggio Children's and one million dollars the Holy Cross find out more about Scott rothstein's giant scam by clicking here number one grandfathered in in this 1.5 billion dollar Ponzi scheme Edwin fujinaga president and CEO of Las vegas-based MRI International built 10 000 Japanese investors of their life savings he used the money to fund his luxurious lifestyle hopping from yacht to yacht and buying luxury cars Edwin didn't run his Ponzi scheme alone he had help from janzo Suzuki mri's Executive Vice President for the asia-specific region and Paul Suzuki the general manager of its Japanese operations in the early years of Edwin scheme jenzo and Paul weren't aware of what was happening in the organization it wasn't until the scheme was on its last legs that they were brought up to speed Edwin targeted 10 000 Japanese investors in his large-scale fraud he claimed he could pay interest by buying U.S medical debt cheaply and then getting full reimbursement from insurance companies these people would part with their money but Edwin and his co-conspirators murdered the funds some of the clients lost their life savings to MRI International in typical Ponzi style they used some new Investments to pay back prior investors Edwin spent a chunk of it on luxury cars private jets credit card bills alimony child support a 2 2.3 million dollar Las Vegas Golf Course mansion and homes in Hawaii and Beverly Hills California Edwin's wife June had to give up the 2.4 million dollars she received from him while he ran the fraud the court decided she had no legitimate claim to the money whether or not she knew anything about Edwin's illegal business she had earlier tried to hide the money by buying two Condominiums at the MGM Grand Towers in Las Vegas and transferring them to the yunjo trust about three weeks after the SCC sued her husband she even produced W-2 forms to show that she had earned the money but she still had to refund after just three hours of deliberation the jury convicted Edwin on 20 counts of Fraud and money laundering the 50-year sentence he subsequently received will keep him behind bars for the rest of his life ing to chief U.S District Judge Gloria Navarro the heavy sentence was befitting of a criminal who ran the nation's largest ever fraud schemes jenzo and Paula Suzuki also faced wire fraud male fraud and money laundering charges after stealing people's life savings Edwin's excuse was that he had simply lost control of the situation at MRI International he also had to pay nearly 1.3 billion dollars in restitution Maryland prison officials caught a curious prison note while going about their rounds it was an intercepted note from Kevin Merrill dedicated to his wife it wasn't just any old love note instead it had instructed her to hide their valuable assets anything that was particularly high in value such as the good wine he wanted her to hide all that she could before the officials got their hands on it was a direct contempt of court and a clear indication that he was trying to hide all his ill-gotten assets from his massive 400 million dollar scam Kevin couldn't have pulled off all his scamming without the expert assistance of Jay Ledford a certified public accountant practicing in Texas Merrell met Ledford in Dallas in 1999. at this time Kevin was a Salesman for a company in Baltimore that dealt with hospital equipment and medical practices the friendship between the two professionals grew stronger as time progressed after years of outings and sporting events they found a common interest in defrauding Consumer Debt portfolio investors both Merrill and Ledford worked with lending and purchasing Consumer Debt which made them ideal candidates for carrying out a lucrative Ponzi scheme that promised massive results on Consumer Debt portfolios Kevin skills is a Salesman came in handy as he would reel investors in by making compelling false claims getting them to pay millions of dollars into their Ponzi scheme Ledford leveraged his craft as an accountant to create documents and ran a debt collection center that gave authority and credibility to Merrell's false promises due to this fraudulent framework the two scammers easily won the trust of many innocent and hard-working Americans in the beginning both alleged scammers would reach out to investors and invite them to receive a great return on an investment opportunity in the form of Consumer Debt portfolios thanks to ledford's fictitious tax return statements and false documents Merrill would win the trust of even the most meticulous investors mero's ability to induce investors led to him becoming the face of their fraudulent scheme on the other hand Ledford became responsible for falsifying operations and creating believable documents Kevin conned his way into the hard-earned money of many innocent victims by ruthlessly pledging them a life of Financial Security and massive returns they presented the concept of flipping which made investors believe that they would purchase Consumer Debt portfolios with their money and sell them at a profitable price to other debt buyers after taking the investors money Ledford unveiled that the conspirators used statements and documentation to falsely represent who they were doing business with how much they paid for Consumer Debt portfolios and how much they were selling it for in some instances the two con men wouldn't even spend a single penny on Consumer Debt profiles and most of their money would pour into their luxury Lifestyles and assets not to mention they went above and beyond to mask their unlawful activities Ledford created debt buying companies that were mere imposters and even open bank accounts in the name of those companies this allowed him to present legitimate documentation of money transfers to the clients they were scamming this wasn't all Ledford also used portfolios sales agreements forged signatures bank statements false reports and illegitimate Merchant accounts to conceal the truth the two main companies which Ledford put forth to carry out the scams were Riverwalk and DeVille both of the companies had collection centers they often invite prospective Target clients to visit the collection centers and Elevate their credibility further Merrill would state that the profits the investors made was through Consumer Debt portfolio flipping when it was simply the circulating money from other investors while the accused did partake in the buying and selling of debt majority of their revenue came from fraudulent activities in December 2017 Ledford added another member to optimize his Ponzi scheme Cameron jazerski was a former employee and defendant of Ledford Ledford appointed him the duty of managing debt collections from Deville and Riverwalk they also used jazzerski's analytical skills to forge documentation for their scam and disguise the actual markup price charge to investors when buying debt portfolios an FBI special agent at a joint news conference exposed details about uncovering the fraud explaining that the authorities caught up to them thanks to a tip many investors are now coming to terms with the fact that they have been scammed since 2013 the fraud has ruined the lives of investors as their savings were funding extravagant Lifestyles for the three scammers these luxuries include an array of cars and high-end jewelry real estate was definitely a place where the money went their ill-gotten gains also went to private clubs and s the Department of Justice came forward with their charges in the federal court of Maryland from Merrell Ledford and kazirski charges against the three men include a conspiracy wire fraud money laundering and identity theft their fraud became more apparent to the authorities after Consumer Debt became the year's securitized investment driver the concerns about their scams became even more alarming after the Riverwalk financial debt collection victims started to file complaints against the company victims have lodged about 330 complaints against the Riverwalk financial debt collection business most complaints against the company are related to wire fraud Forge documentation and statements the feds connected the dots after finding out about Ledford and Associates pllc ledford's private accounting firm meant that he could easily create documentation to deceive victims into trusting him with their money it took numerous complaints in deep digging from the feds to finally hold the fraudulent companies accountable in a court of law ing to the sec's complaint due to referrals innocent investors were accused of fraud on many occasions without involvement the security offerings of the con artist Trio rounded to one and a half million dollars which sparked suspicion among the authorities in court Murrell's eyes became watery after he stood in front of all the innocent people he had conned he admitted to misusing the trust of innocent people for his personal monetary gain and pledged to repay all the people he had exploited authorities found Merrill evacuating buckets worth of cash from his vacation home amounting to 11 million dollars at that time Federal investigators were sure to snatch their leisurely and extravagant lifestyle right from their fingertips this wealthy lifestyle became evident as Federal officers started scooping through all their assets belongings in real estate when making the arrest agents conducted a raid at the couple's residence in Towson among the many assets the federal agent seized during this raid some of the wealth included a pricey watch collection over 5 million dollars in cash a car collection and more Kevin also had to give up 30 million dollars due to the indictment along with this amount he also had to Forfeit 25 luxury cars a boat an insurance policy aircraft interest expensive jewelry and other assets when Kevin was serving jail time and awaiting sentence his wife Amanda redeemed her husband's American Express card upon Redeeming the card Frozen by the government 26 075 in the form of gift cards from retail businesses such as Home Depot Target Starbucks Sephora and Nordstrom the house raid also allowed the FBI agents to confiscate fifteen thousand three hundred and seventy eight dollars cash from Amanda's purse and closet drawer the government sold Merrell's Mansions exotic sports cars and Yachts to repay the investors the culprits raised around 345 million dollars by scamming individual investors feeder funds small business owners and professionals they use this money to live lavishly transferring money to private Banks and spending on some of the priciest items for instance some of their purchases included a Ferrari worth around 4 million dollars a seven carat diamond ring a diamond bracelet and millions of Merrell also purchased properties in Florida and had a handsome amount of Club memberships most of these purchases came from the money of investors that had fallen for the Ponzi scheme prosecutors also say he blew a figure of nearly 8 million dollars in five years on Louis Vuitton collection by defrauding investors across the country Ledford on the other hand burnt most of the scam cash on his toxic gambling addiction he used a whopping 42 million dollars to fulfill his gambling desires across the country when indulging in gambling activities at s Ledford would generally present a cashier's check which he would convert into the form of playable chips by the end of his gambling Ventures inside the if Ledford won the would give him his wings in the form of a check or cash after giving him the money the returned the cashier's check to Ledford when Ledford lost during his Roundup the would use the front money to cover all of his losses and pay him the difference it was estimated that Ledford returned about 18 million dollars in checks and wires reports on currency transaction also show evidence of medford's gambling addiction how we use the Ponzi scheme money for his habits records show that Ledford suffered a net loss of over 14 million dollars in six years he would use the investors money to go on gambling trips and lost an incredible amount in one particular gambling trip Ledford lost about 1.5 million dollars Kevin Merrill and other heartless scammers stole from honest and hard-working people some even invested their lifelong earnings into the fraudulent companies in hopes of a better future for their loved ones one such example is John Paradise who drove all the way from New Jersey to attend the court proceedings he told the court that all of his life savings were gone scammed out of 250 Grand he had saved to send his daughters to college he explained how his current circumstances were negatively affecting his mental and physical health John Paradise addressed his feelings to Kevin Merrill in court saying that he'll have a completely clear conscience when he steps out of court today he goes on to say that Meryl's memory will be flushed away and he'll continue to find goodness in people despite the price he had to pay this statement in the court trial was incredibly impactful the judge compared Merrell with Bernie Madoff during the trials deeming Madoff the better con artists of the two despite scamming a much higher amount Bernie Madoff had the Integrity to come out and confess his actions on the other hand Kevin Merrill kept drawing innocent investors towards his Ponzi scheme until he was caught the sixth year long Ponzi scheme which raised about 396 million dollars and funded luxurious Lifestyles was fortunately halted for 400 victims worldwide Kevin B Merrell faced a sentence of 22 years in prison Kevin's wife also faced house arrest for trying to hide assets and recover damages the trio used the expertise of fraud Associates and leverage forgery and documentation to easily convince investors this fraud was enormous and took a long time for the government to Crunch the numbers wire fraud and conspiracy were too outstanding and dominant charges against Kevin Merrill a part of his plea deal involved admitting to his fraud in Maryland Virginia and Washington D.C investors looking for a 20 return were left Stranded the scheme was sophisticated ruthless and cold-hearted it was recorded that Merrell along with his two Associates orchestrated meticulous schemes which accounted for nearly 400 million dollars Scientologist David Gentile and his Partners had raised an incredible 1.8 billion from 17 000 investors and from this money they went ahead and took a whopping 216 Million worth of hidden fees fees that went right into lining genteel and his partner's pocket the money from investors funded a completely decadent lifestyle that included exotic cars private jets and lavish parties for example Gentile had a thirty thousand dollar 50th birthday dinner that was paid for by investors in a much worse example genteel bought a brand new 2015 Ferrari FF that cost 355 thousand dollars and yet yes he put that on the books for investors to pay Jeffrey Schneider was the second in command the two con men built their lifestyle full of mansions luxury cars and private jets on the backs of innocent hard earners and honest businesses seventeen thousand investors put in their money in their phony Equity Firm in hopes of an eight percent return on investment instead they ended up blowing investors money it wasn't just a two-person job the involvement of Jeffrey lash also filled a key role in making the scam a success each individual had a part to play even though one may have a more predominant role than the other David Gentile was charged with the most sentences a resident in Manhasset New York and the CEO of GPB Capital he made all the important decisions for the company to keep the scam funds rolling before forming this Ponzi gentia was a licensed public accountant at an accounting firm he leveraged his skills and experience to grow the Ponzi scheme into a billion dollar Venture Jeffrey Schneider from Austin Texas held four licenses from the financial industry regulatory Authority he facilitated the scam by masking it behind legitimate documentation and licenses he was also CEO of ascendant a company that partnered with GPB Capital the phony private Equity Fund company he knew his way around working a business the GPB Capital firm promised its investors 8 return on investment by securing their money into car dealerships Jeffrey lash a GPB Capital managing partner and a Naples Florida resident was supervising their investments in car dealerships all three of these Ponzi scam defendants along with other perpetrators were involved in defrauding investors through omissions and material misrepresentations ing to the Scientology money project the private equities formation started in 2007 when Jeffrey Schneider and David Gentile met for the first time and things began to escalate around the period of 2002 and 2012. d.o.r biopharma a major Pharma company saw a future in CPP Holdings this set the stage for David Gentile Jeffrey Schneider and Jeffrey lash to come together and start one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in the country Gentile used Jeffrey lash's firm to contact Brokers and create a false narrative behind the GPB funds convincing Brokers to tell their clients to invest in the private Equity Firm they promised eight percent in returns as they were putting the money in cash flowing investments in mostly car dealerships and real estate of course that was far from the truth they held due diligence meetings and private dinners with investors telling them how they use funds to invest in lucrative portfolio companies that generate consistent cash flow the profits accumulated from these Investments were to be distributed among the many investors sending the funds or at least they were led to believe but there simply weren't any profits they were also told that their payments wouldn't undermine the invested Capital the dream set in front of misleading investors was that they could liquidate their invested capital for an incredible return or choose to receive monthly distributions as a source of passive income initially the GBP funds raised Capital with the help of a sentence Jeffrey lash's Company the company employed workers whose only job was calling Brokers and investment advisors telling them to sell GPB funds to their clients and how their clients could benefit from the investment ascendant was also responsible for organizing events and seminars which glorified the fraudulent GPB funds this collaboration between GPB funds in a sentence was the fuel that powered a meticulously devised scam one that raised over a billion dollars David Gentile and Jeffrey Schneider worked together to make the operations and marketing of GPB funds more developed and legitimate in contrast Jeffrey lash made sure to only push GPB funds to Ria and Brokers by the marketers working at a senate even though they did invest some of the funds in automotive portfolios and holdings they misrepresented the amount of money these companies were making they simply were cooking the books and the companies weren't creating the cash flow that was shown to invest just like any other Ponzi scheme they gave old investors with promised returns from new investors money and of course they siphoned off the rest of the money with hidden costs for their own personal luxuries the GPB fund started to show its true colors when massive shortfalls began happening as more and more people started withdrawing their Investments employees at GPB regularly sent emails to the owners which depicted the huge margins between how much they received and how much they were paying out in distributions it was only a matter of time before everything hit the fan internal conversations between the three shareholders discussed the massive shortfalls in the GPB funds this made it obvious that the holding companies were losing money and investor funds were being seriously misappropriate in an article by Reuters intelligence a leaked FBI intelligence report showed concerns about money laundering risks involving private Equity firms in further reports by the Scientology money project David Gentile and Jeffrey Schneider had previous ties with Russian investors is due to their interest in dor biopharma this company had a chain of ownership linked to Russian Mobsters overall evidence suggests that the reports of a Russian investment of 100 million involved GPB Capital Holdings the FBI has shared details explaining why this particular Equity Firm would be involved in money laundering one pertains to the company's location in Delaware and Cayman Islands companies in these areas confide in Bank secrecy laws which allows them to hide their transactional practices it's important to note that dor biopharma's major stakeholder Michael cheneya was responsible for kick-starting GPB Capital providing David Gentile with its first portfolio asset Michael chernea's connection to foreign criminals Mafia and Russian Elites is well known and documented he also can't enter the U.S his two daughters reside in Florida enjoying millions of dollars from him with the siphon money of honest workers these three scammers enjoyed millions in scammings David Gentile wasn't shy using investors money remember the previously mentioned Ferrari at the beginning of the video in November 2014 at one of the dealerships that was supposed to be a company that generated lots of money for investors genteel bought that new 2015 Ferrari FF for 355 thousand dollars his Ferrari was never transferred into his name and this was intentional instead with genteel driving it the Ferrari stayed on the books of the company even in internal company emails employees occasionally discussed whether genteel would finally pay for the car he never did but finally in 2017 GPB sold the car to someone else for 172 thousand dollars needless to say investors in the fund took the loss if you're following along doing the math that was a 183 thousand dollar loss that the holding company officially took they also used investor money to make leisurely trips on private jets worldwide investigators also found an American Express Bill titled David's 50 birthday priced at around thirty thousand dollars as we mentioned at the beginning of the video thanks to this Ponzi the car David genteel purchased ranged over two million dollars to give you a scale of their spending power amongst all the other outrageous spending GPB also spent the fun money on private jet costs including flight attendant Services costing around ninety thousand dollars a year this wasn't all David genteel was taking boxes off the luxury checklist he didn't stop at the private jets he also bought super Yachts from John stallupi the same car dealer who got him the private jet genteel and his Partners weren't the only scientologists to scam a giant amount of money Reed slacken was another Scientologist scammer just like them his Ponzi scheme was actually the biggest scam ever at the time from 1986 to 2001 slacken raised approximately 593 million dollars from about 800 wealthy investors slacking created and operated and informal investment Club where investors simply gave him money to take care of most of slacken's early investors were his fellow scientologists and he soon had roughly seven million dollars under management slatkin did use the money to buy and sell stocks but in the quarterly statements he mailed out slack and misrepresented returns to his investors as being 25 percent this brought in more investors he simply was paying old investors with new investors money but in 1993 he made a seventy five thousand dollar investment in a tech startup called EarthLink which was founded and owned by fellow Scientologist Scott Dayton EarthLink was an incredible success and turned slayton's 75 000 investment into 100 million dollars this made slaking look like a genius investor and his fun got even more investor money from that point slatekin's downfall began from there as his later Investments and lifestyle slowly drained investor funds eventually the FBI uncovered slake in Ponzi scheme the Church of Scientology fought to try to keep the millions they got from slaking in donations but they eventually gave back three and a half million in ill-gotten gains this begs the question whether the feds will go after the church as well after dealing with Gentile and his Partners these were a couple of the biggest Ponzi schemes ever and both are associated with the Church of Scientology ing to the SEC complaint New York attorney general letidia James filed charges that require the scam artist to pay 700 million in restitution lash's lawyer told clients that he wouldn't plead guilty it's difficult to investigate Ponzi scams where a fraudulent motive Shadows an underlying layer of legitimacy genteel Schneider and lash are still waiting for their day in court in 2017 Inigo philbrick was on his way into Berlin on a private jet to meet a client he was there to meet Daniel Temple to discuss selling a 2.3 million dollar work of art called the mirror room by renowned Japanese artist yayoi kusama when he landed Inigo met up with temple in a limousine and partied all over the city when they finally did talk business anigo agreed to take the mirror room back to Miami and hang it in his gallery then he'd sell it and send the money back to Temple hey simple enough process however he strung along Temple for 10 months in reality he'd already sold the painting and pocketed the cash Temple grew suspicious Temple and his wife wanted to know the status of their other piece of art he had with them called Untitled 2010 which was worth just over 4.8 million dollars at the time the temples wanted to know if it was safe in an ego's hands he sent them a picture straight out of a hostage situation showing him the painting and a copy of the morning newspaper the only problem in ego photoshopped the painting in the picture in reality philbrick used Untitled 2010 along with four other paintings as collateral to apply for a 15 million dollar loan an eagle Rose to Fame by selling high-priced art for his clients art dealers are like real estate agents for expensive art the owner gets most of the money and the dealer takes a cut at the time anigo had a piece of art for sale called Untitled that came with a five and a half million dollar price tag this isn't the same artwork that had been owned by the temples to Pat his pockets and Eagles sold multiple percentages of the art to several different people it would be like selling a home but you sell the kitchen to buyer one the bedroom to buy or two the bathroom to buyer three and the rec room two buyer four sometimes he'd sell more than a hundred percent ownership of the painting in the end anigo received around 10 million dollars in total for the Untitled piece the owner of Untitled believed himself to be the sole owner of the painting so you can understand why he was confused when other people came forward looking for their cut of the auction money while the Untitled scam wasn't philbrick's first scam it marked the beginning of the end his investors knew they'd been duped so they filed lawsuit after lawsuit looking for the money they believed was rightfully theirs as more and more of an ego's scams came to light the pressure finally popped an ego broke down and confessed to two clients about what he'd done he even knew he was going to get caught in the end he made off with 86 million dollars worth of loans and investor cash money he spent living a lavish life of parties travel and deception anigo wasn't born a scammer he was a graduate of the same school his father attended Goldsmith University of London a well-respected school that focused on on Art education after graduation Inigo became pretty well respected he landed an internship with the owner of the esteemed white Cube art gallery and worked under the mentorship of Jay Joplin success came quickly for a young and ego by 2013 he opened his own contemporary art gallery and became a regular face at large art auctions across the U.S and UK many considered him a bona fide Art Expert and his Gallery grossed over 130 million dollars in 2017. that same year he opened another branch of his Gallery in Miami Florida however inigo's rise to fame didn't come without some strange habits every morning in the shower he'd shout his own name over and over again to pump himself up for the day he even had a sweatshirt with his name printed across it three times from an early state it was clear that Inigo saw himself in a different kind of light he had Big Dreams and bigger aspirations however as is often true of the over ambitious those aspirations led to his inevitable downfall while he started legit it wasn't long before an ego got a taste for the high-flying world of multi-million dollar art dealing his Rising success put him in Social Circles with other wealthy and high status individuals including his reality TV girlfriend Victoria Baker Harbor when the two met through mutual friends in 2016 anigo was actually dating someone else a fellow art dealer Francisca Mancini who had just given birth to inigo's daughter however the connection between him and Victoria was undeniable in fact Victoria even nicknamed him fruit after the Forbidden nature of their love his new love was quite wealthy herself she loved fashion and Yachts and her own career was nothing short of flashes Victoria starred on a reality TV show called Made in Chelsea that follows the lives of rich young people in the west London area she and anigo split most of their time between London and New York flying in private planes dining at fancy restaurants and partying until the sun came up ing to New York Magazine Inigo even kept a healthy stash of MDMA on hand a psychedelic substance though successful an eagle wasn't making enough to maintain his lavish lifestyle driven by greed and the need to keep up appearances Inigo turned to scamming he would resell the same piece of art over and over to multiple people promising them that they would make a profit once he sold it at auction sometimes he would split the worth of an artwork into percentages and sell more than a hundred percent worth of ownership to its buyers some clients would already own expensive art and come to an ego for his help enlisting and selling it instead aniga would apply for multi-million dollar loans with their art as the collateral now that he was swimming in cash an eagle could afford lavish luxuries like fifty thousand dollar watches five thousand dollar suits and custom-made shoes he proposed a Victoria in a private Villa on Ibiza a luxury Spanish island in the Mediterranean Inigo even kept a house account open at Cipriani a pricey and well-known Italian restaurant in London Kenny schachter is an American Artist writer and all-around academic however he wasn't wise enough to notice a scam when he saw one he and aniga were good friends close friends even still our art dealing con man scammed Kenny out of one and a half million dollars however Kenny was quite the character himself as learned in his tell-all write up about their relationship in New York Magazine the two met in 2012 when anigo was an up-and-coming 25 year old Justin Timberlake look-alike kid from London he was sharp fun and funny drawing Kenny in like a fish on a line they drank expensive wine ate expensive Sushi can travel the world together on private jets however the most important characteristic they shared was their Mutual Love of All Things art their relationship wasn't for nothing either like most scammers and ego help Kenny make a little bit of money before ripping him off he knew he had to gain his victims trust before he gouged them for all their worth he helped Kenny flip an eight hundred thousand dollar Christopher wool for a few hundred grand all the while Kenny had no idea what an ego was doing outside side of their relationship they even wrote a positive review about an ego for art Net News six months later Kenny finally opened his eyes all the red flags lined up he recalled rampant use of illegal narcotics in times when Inigo took Kenny's kids out to Ibiza for three day Benders Kenny remembered how an ego casually carried his illegal pills through airports without a care in the world the risk seemed impressive at the time but when you're scamming the art world for 86 million dollars a petty possession doesn't seem all that scary while in Ibiza anigo played one hundred thousand dollar hands of drunken backgammon keeping Kenny out until almost nine in the morning in fact Kenny would have to sneak in through his bedroom window since his wife locked him out of the house maybe if Kenny didn't let the facade Inigo called his life Cloud his judgment he'd have realized he'd been taken for thousands if not millions of dollars remember that 15 million dollar loan Philbrook took out he defaulted on 14 million dollars worth of that loan in 2019 which officially put a massive Target on anigo's back with 14 million dollars in loans hanging over his head and a mountain of lawsuits bearing his name anigo and a pregnant Victoria fled to the Pacific island of Vanuatu also known as a sunny place for shady people it's a tax Haven that criminals regularly use to hide illicit funds from the government Escape authorities they rented out a run-down boat house but did little to hide their identities remember Victoria was a well-known reality TV star and an ego was the high flying art dealer on the run from the FBI he even booked tennis lessons under his own name got coffee from the same shop every morning and started rescuing stray dogs still one of their neighbors in Vanuatu described him as considerate and kind Inigo and Victoria flew under the radar for six months before the feds finally caught up with them in June of 2020 while walking through the Street Markets on the island local police pulled up beside them and threw an ego in the back of a cop car Victoria begged officers to let her go with her Amigo so they tossed her in a separate car police drove the pair to the airport where a Gulfstream jet waited to take them back to the U.S us perhaps the last private jet he'd ever fly on an ego's trial began as soon as they landed back in the States the prosecution showed that his schemes also included inflating the value of artwork with falsified documents and one contract even listed a stolen identity as the seller these schemes paired with his technique of overselling ownership percentages were all meant to fund his lavish lifestyle when the judge asked him why he committed these crimes Nigo told the truth for the first time in a long time it was for the money your honor an eagle left the trail of betrayed friends business partners and investors in his wake many of them trusted an ego he stabbed them in the back for personal gain his friends turned victims don't feel sorry for him at all in fact they think he deserves what he gets while her husband awaited sentencing Victoria returned to filming her reality TV show this time she had a newborn daughter named Gaia Grace to show off on the first episode of the most current season she said she couldn't wait to get through this and have her little family back together she also wrote a statement to present to the court and said that the trauma and felt like death she wrote that she was desperately lonely and questioned if she would be able to carry on she tells the court that she can't function within an ego and beg them to treat him with leniency an ego ultimately pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and was ordered to serve seven years in prison and forfeit over 86 million dollars worth of stolen funds meanwhile everything was laughs and jokes unmaid and Chelsea as Victoria joked about visiting an ego in jail she said he looked good and khaki and that orange wasn't really his color meanwhile during the pandemic an ego contracted kovic twice while in prison and complained that the inmates were only fed peanut butter sandwiches and lunch meat for weeks due to the lockdowns Sharon Fletcher the executive director of the International Foundation for art research learned of an eagle's case and said that fortunately scams like this don't happen that often when they do they expose the soft underbelly of an art world where large sums of money are transferred with little transparency and nego's Story shows what happens when trust is misplaced in people of seemingly good backgrounds turn out to be dishonest here are a few of the greediest scammers number three Australian tax fraud Anthony Dixon and Mike Alissa kitis learned that lesson the hard way these business partners secretly operated one of the largest tax fraud schemes in Australian history for six years by the time authorities caught up with them they'd avoided paying nearly 135 million dollars in taxes but how is it possible for these millionaire fraudsters to pull off such a large-scale heist and how do they go undetected by the government for so many years in The Secret World of corporate crime the answer is a complex web of bogus companies identities and offshore bank accounts on March 9th 2006 Dixon and issachidis created a company called new Medics health australasia using this company the two Sato inventors with ideas for new medical products and offered these inventors thousands of dollars in funding for clinical trials but there's a catch if they wanted the money the inventors had to give away their intellectual property rights to another company called Athena why because Athena an offshore company based in the Cayman Islands was also owned by Dixon and istikitus after an inventor signed the rights way to Athena the scammers then sold the rights to pneumatics AKA themselves for a price way over its true value then Dixon and isakitus fired the inventor whose idea they bought allowing the pair to claim they suffered millions of dollars in losses on medical ideas that hadn't worked out but what was the point of fabricating all those losses as it turned out new Medics was also used as a legitimate business by Dixon and isikitus the company earned hundreds of millions of dollars each year through various buying and leasing agreements normally all that income would be subject to taxation by using their losses from the failed medical ideas Dixon and issachidus claim they were making much less money than they actually were they kept 450 million dollars hidden from the government allowing them to dodge 135 million in taxes with all that extra money these two fraudsters lived in the kind of luxury most of us only dream about Dixon purchased a waterfront Mansion for 4.6 million dollars and lived there with his third wife 28 year old Slovakian woman named Dagmar maxionova meanwhile as a kid has bought a 3.8 million dollar waterfront property where he lived with his wife Don rekka both men also spent lavishly on cars yachts and other properties Dixon bought a 1.1 million dollar Rolls Royce Phantom and Rolls-Royce Ghost engraved with custom license plates a million dollar Riviera sport yacht and a 10 million dollar shopping center isakitis used his money to buy a Bentley a Rolls-Royce private jet rides and luxurious vacations with his wife greed always catches up with you eventually authorities notice the unusual nature of new medics's finances and eventually the Australian taxation office launched an official review after that the tax fraud scam went up in flames in May of 2012 the two men were arrested and charged with tax fraud and money laundering both men were found guilty isekitis was sentenced to 10 years in jail in 2018 while Dixon was sentenced to 14 in 2015. meanwhile as her husband waited out his time in jail Don Reka isakitis didn't want to move out of her 3.8 million dollar mansion despite the home being legally forfeited to the Australian government after issaquitis landed in jail in December of 2020 the government filed an action to evict the fraudster's wife from the house so that they could seize the property and auction it off Mrs isakidis tried to fight the government's effort but was eventually kicked out in July of 2021 number 2. the Bushfire the worst scammers steal from people in need especially during Australian bushfires and the coveted pandemic Tiffany Ann brislin Brown is that kind of scammer between 2019 and 2020 Australia experienced a period of severe bushfires that burnt an estimated 60 to 84 million acres of land while bushfires aren't uncommon in Australia this particular outbreak was terrible regarding its intensity and duration eventually leading to the destruction of over 5 900 buildings 34 casualties couple this situation with the kova 19 pandemic which broke out in early 2020 and things weren't great for many Australian families and businesses to help combat some of this economic insecurity the Aussie government established a program where struggling small businesses could apply for and receive money from the government similar to the PPP loans in the U.S while the program legitimately helped many needy Australians some saw the money as a means to enrich themselves and cheat the system system brislane Brown was then a 23 year old woman who lived in the City of Newcastle in New South Wales Australia for two months Grizzly and brown shamelessly used this Bushfire relief program to scam the government of sixty thousand dollars to get the money she falsely claims she owned several struggling small businesses and applied for 24 separate program grants using a variety of bank accounts and phone numbers to cover her tracks eventually the police caught up with Miss Brown but it wasn't her scam that made her go viral rather her mug shot when Newcastle Police issued a warrant for her arrest they also posted a notice on Facebook hoping that someone could locate brislane Brown in the post the police included a 2015 mugshot of brown with a confused look on her face messy hair and a tattoo on her collarbone that reads we don't remember days we remember moments clearly this wasn't brisling Brown's first run-in with the law in 2015 she got arrested for an unknown charge leading to the mug shot that five years later caused quite the stir the unflattering mugshot led to jokes about her messy appearance all over social media this eventually LED Brown to post her own comment while a warrant was out for her arrest which read quote loving the photo taken how many years ago let's calm down on the comments guys it's not every day I look like trailer trash let's just say it wasn't a good angle shall we the police then fired back with their own comment quote probably time you walk into a police station before we find you roslane brown also felt the need to post a more flattering picture of herself to her personal Facebook page capturing it here's an actual pic of me let's take the time to acknowledge this is not my current Newcastle Police page photo unflattering mugshots aside brislane Brown still had to pay the piper she eventually pled guilty to six counts of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage in September of 2020. she was sentenced to two years and nine months in jail becoming the first person in Australia to be jailed over Bushfire relief fraud she was also ordered to pay back the sixty thousand dollars she scammed from the program number one way of life on the surface Jade Killen was your average family devoted Suburban mother she was a 33 year old mother of three living in anandera a family-friendly suburb outside of the city of waligong however her home life wasn't completely normal as her husband was in jail for armed robbery still on social media and in real life Killen effortlessly played the part of your typical caring mother of three but underneath that bright cheery exterior was a darker side the truth was Killen made her living running a high-end identity theft operation all from the comfort of her home so how did she do it Killen ran a complex operation throughout her criminal career killing stole the identities of 786 people and used their information for her own enrichment she applied for loans and lines of credit in her victims names to buy and resell the latest Apple products police say she used her stolen identities to receive tens of thousands of dollars worth worth of loans loans she applied for with Dolan identities when police searched her home they found bank cards with different names like driver's licenses and 14 databases with the private information of countless Australians Killen was extremely devoted to her life of crime too on a mirror in her home she wrote an incriminating phrase in red lipstick saying quote fraud is not a crim