The financial news that actually matters
Covers financial scams, fraud cases, regulatory enforcement actions, and government crackdowns on illegal financial activity. It educates readers on financial safety and risk prevention.
A criminal case that federal prosecutors once called one of the largest cryptocurrency frauds they had ever charged now appears to be unraveling before it ever reaches a jury. The government is preparing to abandon its prosecution of the man it identified as the architect of the scheme, an outcome that is exceedingly rare once…
Online fraud drained a record amount from American wallets last year, and the single biggest culprit was not the stolen credit card or the phishing email but the fake investment. Federal figures show losses reaching levels that would have been hard to imagine a few years ago, driven by schemes that promise outsized returns and…
Federal agents have started doing something unusual in the fight against online investment fraud. Instead of waiting for a scheme to run its course and then chasing the money afterward, they are reaching victims while the crime is still unfolding. Through an initiative the bureau calls Operation Level Up, the FBI has identified thousands of…
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have charged a New York man with operating a Ponzi scheme and related investment fraud that took in more than $50 million from investors. The charges are allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty, but the case as described by the government follows the familiar arc…
Federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission have moved in tandem against a $160 million investment-fraud scheme that regulators say was aimed at ordinary retail investors. The parallel action — a criminal case from the Justice Department alongside a civil case from the SEC — is a structure the government reserves for large frauds,…
A California man has pleaded guilty to orchestrating a Ponzi-style scheme that drained roughly $39 million from financial institutions, according to prosecutors. The case is a reminder that the Ponzi mechanic is not limited to fleecing individual investors. Here the money came from banks and lenders, extracted through a cycle of loans in which fresh…
Federal authorities have pulled one of the most-wanted names in American health-care fraud off the run, arresting a fugitive in the Philippines who prosecutors say masterminded a telemedicine operation that billed roughly $1.2 billion to federal health programs. The capture closed a lengthy international manhunt for a defendant who had slipped overseas as investigators tightened…
The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a network of fraudulent crypto platforms and so-called “AI investment clubs” that regulators say defrauded retail investors of more than $14 million. The label was the whole point of the pitch: promoters wrapped an ordinary theft in the two buzzwords doing the most work in finance right now…
A coordinated law enforcement operation spanning several countries has struck one of the largest cryptocurrency fraud networks yet targeted, freezing hundreds of millions of dollars and putting hundreds of suspects in custody. The sweep pulled together investigators from multiple governments to move against the sprawling overseas scam centers that have fueled a global wave of…
Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia secured a guilty plea from the chief executive of Praetorian Group International, who admitted operating a bitcoin-based Ponzi scheme that pulled in roughly $200 million from thousands of investors before it collapsed. The case is one of the larger cryptocurrency fraud prosecutions to reach a plea this…