Man exploits Facebook IPO craze with Ponzi scheme

The long arm of the law caught up with a phony ‘fund manager’ who defrauded investors seeking to buy stocks of social media companies including pre-IPO shares of Facebook. An investigation conducted by the Securities and Exchange Commission found a financier living in Florida fleeced investors with claims of special access to coveted social media […]

By Staff | March 19, 2013 | Last updated on March 19, 2013

1 min read

The long arm of the law caught up with a phony ‘fund manager’ who defrauded investors seeking to buy stocks of social media companies including pre-IPO shares of Facebook.

An investigation conducted by the Securities and Exchange Commission found a financier living in Florida fleeced investors with claims of special access to coveted social media stocks, says an SEC release.

It was later found that he collected “at least $13.2 million from 120 investors” to pay another set of investors who fell prey to a similar trick pulled off by the accused.