Chicago commodities trader charged in $8M Ponzi scheme
By Gregory Karp
Tribune reporter
5:07 PM CDT, May 24, 2012
A Chicago commodities trader was charged Thursday with allegedly operating a Ponzi scheme, soliciting nearly $8 million from investors, lying to them about his investing success and using some of their money to support his own "lavish lifestyle," according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The commission on Thursday filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, charging Bradley Scott Schiller, 36, of Chicago with solicitation fraud, misappropriating investors' funds and issuing false statements in connection with soliciting $7.8 million from six investors to trade commodity futures contracts in managed accounts.
The CFTC complaint alleges that since at least January 2008 to February 2012, Schiller solicited investors by lying about his success as a trader and using altered account statements to bolster his claims. His actual trading in the accounts resulted in losses, the commission said. And when investors demanded their money back, Schiller put them off until he could solicit funds from new investors. Schiller then used much of that money to pay back old investors, a Ponzi scheme, according to the complaint.
According to the complaint, Schiller deposited in trading accounts only $3.7 million of the $7.8 million he received from investors. He lost about $1.6 million in trading and withdrew more than $2.1 million from the accounts, leaving near zero balances.
Schiller used investor money to purchase expensive automobiles and a pricey high-rise condominium and pay personal expenses, according to the complaint.
Schiller could not be reached for comment.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-chicago-commodities-trader-charged-in-8m-ponzi-scheme-20120524,0,2712354.story
Editor's note: We can hope that our new U.S. Attorney will prosecute the legal "Ponzi" scheme perpetrated in the Probate Court of Cook County. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, Probate Sharks.com
KawamotoDragon.com
Friday, May 25, 2012
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