Wall Street Diary: mini-Madoffs

Sunday, September 20, 2009

CFTC: CapitalStreet Financial ran a $1.3M Ponzi scheme

Charged with misappropriating $875,000 of customer funds

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has charged CapitalStreet Financial LLC, a foreign exchange trading firm in Denver, N.C., with operating a Ponzi scheme in which at least 69 customers were allegedly bilked out of an estimated $1.3 million.

The company was charged along with Sean F. Mescall, also of Denver, with misappropriating approximately $875,000 of customer funds to pay purported profits to customers and for their personal use.
CapitalStreet and Mr. Mescall, who was identified as an “officer” of CapitalStreet in the CFTC complaint filed last week, provided customers with false monthly statements to conceal trading losses and misuse of customer funds, according to the CFTC. They also directed funds to “relief defendants” Gaincapital Inc. and Gerald Mescall, a relative of Sean Mescall, also of Denver, N.C.

more at http://www.investmentnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090914/REG/909149974

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Marcus Schrenker : Amateur Hour With Madoff Wannabe

An investment adviser who apparently staged an elaborate plot to escape allegations of financial fraud was in police custody Tuesday night in Florida. Marcus Schrenker, of McCordsville, Ind., may have sought to fake his own death to escape legal troubles, a plan that began with a solo flight from Indiana Sunday in a six-seater aircraft, investigators said.

"It looks like he wanted authorities to believe he died in a crash so that he could assume an alias and avoid the charges he faces in Indiana," said John Beeman, a deputy U.S. Marshal in the Southern District of Indiana, which had been spearheading the search.

Mr. Schrenker, 38 years old, placed a distress call to air-traffic controllers as he flew southwest of Birmingham, Ala., police said. He lost radio contact and two military jets were sent to intercept the aircraft, Pilots saw the aircraft flying unmanned, with the cockpit door ajar. The plane later crashed in the Florida Panhandle.

Mr. Schrenker showed up late Sunday at a house in Childersburg, Ala. He reportedly said he had been in a canoe accident. The resident gave him a ride into town, where he checked into a hotel. Local police had contact with Mr. Schrenker and confirmed his identity through his pilot's license. They were unaware he had gone missing.