Home -> Law Blog Directory -> International Law Blogs -> Misleading Advertising Law

International Law

: Misleading Advertising Law

Victim of Frank Castaldi Ponzi Speaks Out

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

To my fellow victims: Just want to give you an update and let you know what I am trying to do this next week.

It seems no one in the newspaper and/or television industry cares about our situation.

I have contacted so many people to no avail. I do have someone at the Chicago Tribune that would like to do a story on us though. If you are interested pls contact Steve Schmadeke at the Chicago Tribune.

In the meantime, I have contacted the Oprah show and my goal this week is to write to every congress person in the city of Chicago, Norridge and Prospect Heights.

They need to help us out here. I am not going to ask for any hand-outs but I believe they can and should help us out in other ways.

First of all, we all received our real estate tax bills and this is certainly not a good time for that.

I will ask them to put a hold on these bills for at least 6 months. I am also going to ask them to contact the mortgage companies of all the victims who are having a difficult time paying their mortgage and are risking losing their homes. We can give them proof of being a victim quite easily.

For so many people their homes are the only thing they have left. Their homes are only thing left that they can still feel proud of . Not to dismiss our financial responsibility but to put a hold on our accounts for at least 6 months. They can simply add those months to the end.

Those damn banks can sell just one house that that stole from someone to make up for our payments for just a little while. In the United States of America aren't people suppose to help people out? At least those bank executives will be able to tell the press that they are doing something good for people, rather than the awful things they have been doing for years with OUR money.

They should cherish the opportunity to do so. Funny thing though, I bet most people won't even take that opportunity because of pride. If not, please at least let them know that you care.

These politicians need to do something for us regular people too. I'm sick and tired of seeing them on the news fighting like a bunch of idiots and getting nothing done.

Give any one of us a week in their office and we can show them what to do. Most of us can figure out how to feed a family of 4 on 50.00 a week and these damn politicians can't figure out how to spend millions of dollars effectively. It's about time they did something to really help.

It's time for them to earn just a fraction of their outrageous salaries.

THEY are going to have to speak for us because no cares about or hears OUR voices.

Time to step up.

I'm sick and tired of these politicians who don't give a crap about anything but keeping their nonsense jobs and trying to get their family members who have no experience and/or work ethic a job also.

Why aren't just one of them holding news conferences or holding protests to help US out? I wonder why. There must be some politicians that care and would like to help.

I don't know who they are, probably because they are actually in their offices doing real work rather than carrying on like a bunch of whiny 6 year olds complaining about how unfair they are being treated. You have got to be kidding me!

You want to talk about unfair, read our stories. If the government caught Frank Castaldi doing something illegal (none of us even know today exactly what that is), why would it have taken them 30 years to figure it out?

Please just give us some answers.

Please at least help us keep our homes.

I'm sick of the banks just taking homes from people and they are just holding on to these homes until times get better and they can get the big bucks. Has there been anyone who actually got to purchase a foreclosed home? It is next to impossible.

They are getting so much money from the government and are still not offering any of it to people who need a loan. They are just holding on to it themselves.

I'm sick of all the good people suffering in these times when there are corporations throwing big parties and flying in million dollar jets, I'm sick of these victims not being able to sleep each night because they are scared to death someone is going to take their home away, the only thing they have left in life. This is not how things are suppose to work out for hard working people.

It's just not how it is suppose to work out. I don't think people who read about this ponzi scheme really understand how this has ruined our lives. I don't think they really know that we were not rich people, we did not live rich lives.

Frank Castaldi was our bank.

He was our savings account.

He assured us we had a future.

Now people have nothing and are talking of suicide. Some have even tried. Someone needs to assure them that they are not guilty by association. We can tell each other that all day long but the fact that we have to answer questions to the FBI is incomprehensible.

Why should we have to answer even one question? We simply gave our hard earned money to someone to invest and trusted that what he told us was right. I know so many people think we intentionally "ripped off" the government.

My God, if you only knew.

These poor old people are so scared.

They are so scared that someone is going to think they did something wrong because Frank Castaldi did something wrong. That is so not right. I'm sick of trying to explain ourselves and trying to tell others that we really, really are good honest people.

My whole life I have lived by the theory that if you are a good person, good things happen to you.

My whole life I have been obnoxiously honest.

There must be something good that has to come out of this. It is so hard not to change that way of thinking. I feel my heart is hardening and I don't want it to happen. It is becoming increasingly difficult.

I'm sorry to be rambling so much this time but as each of us know, we have some ok days and we have some really bad days.

For me, today is a really bad day. We wake up every morning and just pray that when we open our eyes we were just having a really bad nightmare. We wish we didn't even have to sleep at all so we don't have to realize over and over each morning what this man did this to us and and how our lives have changed. I will hopefully be ok because I am young enough to start over but for God's sake, please, someone do something for these older people who cannot do that.

They cannot only go back to work, they don't even have the spirit to live anymore. I already know several people who have tried to take their lives. They do not deserve this.

They do not deserve this at all. We need to help them. Please, someone help them.

Don't take their homes away from them because an evil little "man" took away not only their money but their pride, their soul, their confidence, their will to live.

You know what, I think I will just forward this exact letter to the politicians and community activists.

I would love for any of the other victims to forward this letter to their representatives from their towns also.

We need to help each other out.

Please fill out those papers we are receiving from the DA office.

I know you don't feel you should have to answer a single question, Frank does. I have been told that by a few people.

I give you so much credit for thinking that way but in reality, we need to tell them our side.

We need to tell them the truth. Please just fill out the letter and just be honest. Let them know what Frank told us.

Make sure you give a copy of every single check if you received any. They need the names of the banks and any other people who's names might be on them.

To Frank Castaldi: Why in the world were you ever born?  

Related articles by ZemantaIllinois Couple Swindles Best Buy Out Of $31 Million [Scams] (consumerist.com)Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich and His Chief of Staff John Harris Arrested on Federal Corruption Charges (breadnroses.ca)

Full post as published by Misleading Advertising Law on March 03, 2009 (boomark / email).