Jan 19, 2024 | The husband of ex-Tory peer Michelle Mone, Doug Barrowman, is connected to a company that tax experts say should be investigated for fraud,
BBC Newsnight has found. Doug Barrowman has previously denied involvement in Vanquish Options, a firm that falsely claimed customers could write off money owed to the government.
But BBC News has identified Vanquish bosses with links to Mr Barrowman and seen emails sent by Vanquish from the same IP address as his Isle of Man HQ.
Nov 24, 2023 | Interest-based investment portals on the Internet are one of the biggest scams of our time. People sign up, hoping to invest. Instead, they are cheated out of billions. In Germany alone, thousands of victims have fallen victim to their own gullibility.
Filmmakers Niklas Resch and Caroline Uhl meet with victims and investigators, then track down some of the perpetrators behind the scams. They discover that trying to put a stop to this kind of fraud is like tilting at windmills. Moreover: Victims and perpetrators may have more in common than they think.
Ulrike Schneider was cheated out of a lot of money. Ironically, she lost over 10,000 euros because she tried to do a good job investing her savings. She invested money with an online financial portal called TradeInvest90 because it promised good profits in a short time. What Schneider did not suspect: The portal was run by an international gang of fraudsters.
In the film, we also meet Adrian. In his late 20s, he was living in Kosovo with hardly any money. So when he received an offer for a well-paid call center job, he jumped at it. But he quickly realized that his job was illegal. His job was to pretend to be a financial market expert for portals such as TradeInvest90 - and thus to take money from German-speaking investors such as Ulrike Schneider over the phone.
Adrian and his colleagues bilked their victims out of millions - and earned enormous sums themselves. The head of this gang of fraudsters has become a multi-millionaire. He shamelessly squanders the savings of his victims.
The fraud continued for several years until investigators from the State Criminal Police Office in Saarbrücken put a stop to the gang - following a complex investigation. But others continue to steal vast sums of money using the same scam to this day.
The filmmakers have succeeded in providing a deep insight into the innermost workings of a highly organized gang of fraudsters. For the first time, the film shows original material from inside the call center. The documentary contrasts the views and motives of victims, perpetrators and investigators - and shows the psychological mechanisms at work in both the deceived and the deceivers.
Nov 6, 2023 | It took exactly one year for Sam Bankman-Fried to transform from beloved billionaire entrepreneur to convicted felon. On Nov. 2, a New York jury found Bankman-Fried guilty on all seven counts he was charged with by the Department of Justice. TIME Tech Correspondent Andrew Chow watched the trial unfold from the courtroom and breaks down the case.
THE NEW YORK TIMES: The case against the founder of the failed FTX exchange had come to symbolize the excesses of the volatile cryptocurrency industry.
The FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, shown in February, was convicted on Thursday after a federal jury in Manhattan deliberated for more than four hours. | Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times
Sam Bankman-Fried, the tousle-haired mogul who founded the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, was convicted on Thursday of seven charges of fraud and conspiracy after a monthlong trial that laid bare the rampant hubris and risk-taking across the crypto industry.
Mr. Bankman-Fried became a symbol of crypto’s excesses last year when FTX collapsed and he was charged with stealing as much as $10 billion from customers to finance political contributions, venture capital investments and other extravagant spending. A jury of nine women and three men took just over four hours of deliberation on Thursday to reach a verdict, convicting Mr. Bankman-Fried of wire fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.
Together the counts carry a maximum sentence of 110 years. Mr. Bankman-Fried, 31, is expected to appeal. He’s scheduled to be sentenced on March 28.
Before the verdict was announced, Mr. Bankman-Fried, wearing a gray suit and purple tie, stood to face the jury, with his hands clasped in front of him. He showed little visible emotion as a juror repeated the word “guilty” seven times. He then took his seat, with his head angled down. » | David Yaffe-Bellany, Matthew Goldstein and J. Edward Moreno | Reporting from the Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse in Manhattan | Thursday, November 2, 2023
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Sam Bankman-Fried, whose FTX cryptocurrency exchange collapsed last year, was accused of using the firm as his personal piggy bank. Prosecutors said he orchestrated a scheme to steal as much as $10 billion from his users.
Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire was valued at $32 billion before is suddenly collapsed last year. | Brittainy Newman for The New York Times
Sam Bankman-Fried, the tousle-haired mogul who founded the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, was convicted on Thursday of all seven charges of fraud and conspiracy after a monthlong trial that laid bare the hubris and risk-taking across the crypto industry. These charges carry a maximum sentence of 110 years.
Mr. Bankman-Fried became a symbol of crypto’s excesses last year, when FTX collapsed and he was charged with stealing as much as $10 billion from customers to finance political contributions, venture capital investments and other extravagant spending.
GUARDIAN US: Founder of FTX platform, 31, painted by prosecution as scammer and liar who defrauded customers out of billions of dollars
Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto fraud trial neared its end with closing arguments on Wednesday in Manhattan federal court following weeks of testimony that lifted the veil of FTX’s stunning collapse – and a broader murkiness surrounding digital currency markets. The prosecution quickly painted Sam Bankman-Fried as an unabashed scammer rather than the image of the wayward math nerd proffered by the defense throughout the trial, saying he created a “pyramid of deceit” with his cryptocurrency exchange, FTX.
Assistant US attorney Nicholas Roos also used Bankman-Fried’s own testimony against him.
“FTX was bankrupt. Billions of dollars from thousands of people, gone,” Roos said. “He spent his customers’ money, and he lied about it.” » | Victoria Bekiempis in New York | Wednesday, November 1, 2023
President Donald Trump built his personal brand and presidential candidacy on the claim that he was a self-made billionaire whose only head start was a “small loan of a million dollars” from his father. But a New York Times exposé has revealed that Trump inherited much of his family’s wealth through tax dodging and outright fraud, receiving at least $413 million in inflation-adjusted dollars from his father’s real estate empire. We speak with David Barstow, three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter for the New York Times and the lead author on the new investigation, “Trump Engaged in Suspect Tax Schemes as He Reaped Riches From His Father.” Barstow shares a byline with Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner.
SEC Charges Goldman Sachs with Fraud in Subprime Mortgage Meltdown
LOS ANGELES TIMES: The civil charges relate to Goldman Sachs' creation of collateralized debt obligations -- a complex, mortgage-backed security. 'The product was new and complex but the deception and conflicts are old and simple,' a Securities and Exchange Commission official says in a statement.
Reporting from New York Goldman Sachs is being charged with fraud by federal regulators for its work in creating subprime mortgage bonds before the financial crisis.
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced on Friday morning that it was bringing civil charges against Goldman and one of the bank's vice presidents in Manhattan federal court. >>> Nathaniel Popper | Friday, April 16, 2010
British Banker Could Face Death Over Fraud Charges
THE TELEGRAPH: A multi-millionaire British citizen is facing a potential death sentence in Indonesia on charges of corruption and fraud relating to the controversial collapse of one of the country's leading banks.
Rafat Ali Rizvi, inset, has been accused of stealing assets from Bank Century. Photo: The Telegraph
Rafat Ali Rizvi, 49, who grew up and went to university in the UK, has been accused of stealing assets from Bank Century after it was rescued from collapse by the state in November 2008 with $670m (£430m) of taxpayers' money.
Interpol has issued an arrest warrant for Mr Rizvi at Indonesia's request but he remains at large, splitting his time between the UK, where he has a property on London's Park Lane, and Singapore. Neither country has an extradition agreement with Indonesia.
Mr Rivzi, believed to be worth around $600m, protests his innocence but friends say he fears standing trial in Indonesia because the Bank Century case has become highly political. Investigations have been launched into the original bail-out as well as alleged corruption surrounding the case.
According to Mr Rivzi's lawyers, he believes he will be made a scapegoat for the bank's failure. >>> Philip Aldrick | Saturday, February 06, 2010
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Silvio Berlusconi Faces Fight for Career as Top Italian Court Strips PM of Immunity
TIMES ONLINE: Silvio Berlusconi was fighting for his political survival last night after he was stripped of his immunity from prosecution. The dramatic ruling will reopen several criminal trials against the Italian Prime Minister and could lead to the collapse of his government.
After two days of tense anticipation, the 15 judges of the Constitutional Court finally emerged to deliver a damning decision that will thrust the billionaire into a series of trials for fraud, corruption, tax evasion and bribery. The court’s ruling on constitutional issues is final and there can be no appeal. >>> Lucy Bannerman in Rome | Thursday, October 08, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Third March Planned in Iran as Reformists Are Arrested
THE TELEGRAPH: Iran's opposition movement has called for a third major public rally in Tehran as pressure builds on the Islamic regime over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's fiercely-contested re-election.
Mobile phone footage of Iran protests
Grappling with the biggest wave of public anger since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Iran has lashed out at enemy "plots," hauling in foreign ambassadors, rounding up scores of reformists and clamping down on the media.
World governments voiced increasing alarm about the situation in Iran, but US President Barack Obama, while raising "deep concerns" over the election, said Washington would not interfere in the affairs of the country.
Supporters of defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who has accused the regime of vote-rigging, said they have called another rally in Tehran this afternoon, despite a ban on such gatherings.
Reformists also reported that another two prominent academics and journalists had been arrested by the authorities. Hamid Reza Jalaipour, a sociologist and Mousavi campaigner, and Saeed Laylaz, a political and economist analyst, were both arrested at home[d].
Iran's most powerful military force has also warned online media of a crackdown over their coverage of the country's election crisis.
The Revolutionary Guards, an elite body answering to the supreme leader, says Iranian websites and bloggers must remove any materials that "create tension" or face legal action. >>> | Wednesday, June 17, 2009
TIMES ONLINE: Mousavi Issues Direct Challenge with Rally Call over 'Shameful Fraud' in Iran
Iran's defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi issued a direct challenge to the country’s clerical regime today, calling for a mass rally to protest against the "shameful fraud" that saw Mahmoud Ahmadinejad re-elected by a landslide.
Mr Mousavi's appeal to supporters, issued via his website, flew in the face of a declaration last night by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader, that the former prime minister should pursue his objectives through the electoral system and not on the streets.
It also came despite a demand from the powerful Revolutionary Guard that websites and bloggers should remove any materials that "create tension". >>> Phillipe Naughton | Wednesday, June 17, 2009
The gang targeted makes including Mercedes, BMW and Range Rover which had been left in long-stay car parks.
They wrote to the DVLA to change their address and re-register the vehicles and when new log books were sent out they obtained a new set of keys from dealerships.
The cars were then sold on to unwitting third parties or used as collateral for loans.
Abu Hamza's sons Hamza Kamel, 22, and Mohamed Mostafa, 27, helped run the two-year fraud with the hook handed cleric's stepson Mohssin Ghailam, 28.
Martyn Bowyer, prosecuting, called the operation a "sophisticated, well-planned and professionally executed enterprise" that involved 32 vehicles which together were valued at more than £1m.
The court heard that Kamel admitted five counts of handling stolen cars and of laundering more than £14,000 of criminal money in relation to the scam was sentenced to two and a half years..
Mostafa, who lives with his brother in Acton West London, pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud by using false French passport to secure a £12,000 loan and to obtain keys for a BMW and was sentenced to two years.
Ghailan, from Shepherd's Bush, West London, described as a "key player", admitted conspiracy to defraud and was jailed for four years. >>> By Duncan Gardham, Telegraph Security Correspondent | Thursday, May 28, 2009
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Fraud Investigators Raid BAE Agent's Austria Home
THE GUARDIAN: Serious Fraud Office investigating allegations of bribery and money laundering
British investigations into BAE, Britain's biggest arms company, appear to have revived today after it was disclosed that a key BAE agent has been raided.
Investigators from the Serious Fraud Office arranged for the agent, Count Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly, to be raided in Austria.
Austrian prosecutors said the raids were carried out at the request of the SFO investigating allegations of bribery and money laundering.
The Austrian police seized a quantity of documents from the home and office of Mensdorff-Pouilly, who has been accused of receiving millions of pounds from BAE for promoting deals. He is the Viennese laird of a Scottish castle.
The SFO's investigations into BAE have been controversial as the government stopped its inquiry into Saudi arms deals. Critics have alleged that the government is soft on BAE and has placed the company above the law and effectively made it immune from prosecution - an accusation denied by ministers. Fraud Investigators Raid BAE Agent's Austria Home >>> Rob Evans | September 30, 2008
BAE closely examined by US in the alleged bribery of Saudi officials case
FINANCIAL TIMES: Congress is stepping up its scrutiny of the UK government’s move to halt a bribery investigation into BAE as the British company increases its US profile with the $4.1bn purchase of Armor Holdings.
The deal – for the biggest maker of armour for Humvee transport vehicles – cements BAE’s status as the Pentagon’s largest foreign contractor.
Washington issued a formal protest in January after the UK Serious Fraud Office prematurely terminated an investigation into allegations that BAE might have bribed officials in Saudi Arabia to secure defence contracts. US steps up scrutiny of BAE case (Read on)
US Protests Britain’s Dropping of Fraud Investigation into Alleged Bribery of Saudi Officials by BAE
FINANCIAL TIMES: The US issued a formal diplomatic protest to the British government over its decision to drop a fraud investigation into alleged bribery of Saudi officials by arms manufacturer BAE Systems.
The verbal protest was delivered in January by a US embassy official in London to the UK Foreign Office within days of the contentious decision being taken in December. Several governments, including the US, had raised the issue at a meeting of the anti-bribery working group of the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development.
The demarche, though discreetly delivered, was nonetheless strikingly forceful for a key military and security ally.
Diplomatic insiders told the Financial Times that Washington said the British decision put the Blair government in breach of both the spirit and the letter of the OECD anti-corruption convention that requires member states to have a “level playing field” in which to conduct commercial relations.
It is also embarrassing for BAE, whose corporate responsibility report, published this month, plays down the controversy surrounding the ditching of the investigation. US protested at axing of BAE probe (Read on) by Jimmy Burns and James Boxell
