Litigation

Buffalo Ponzi Scheme in Latest Chapter of "F$%^ing Your Own"

By John Darer

The Jews have Bernard Madoff and now the Catholics have Richard S. Piccoli in the latest despicable chapter of "f%^&ing your own".

Piccoli, 82, of Amherst, New York, a poor man's version of Bernard Madoff who even bears an odd resemblance, was charged on January 8, 2009 with running a multi-million dollar Ponzi Scheme that allegedly defrauded hundreds of Buffalo area investors, many of whom were Catholic priest, parishes and parish members.

According reports in the Buffalo News and the Wall Street Journal, Piccoli claimed he could provide high returns by investing in discounted real estate portfolios consisting of safe "seasoned" mortgages. According to the SEC complaint  SEC v. Gen-See Capital Corp. and Richard S. Piccoli, 09 CV 0014 S (W.D.N.Y.), the Defendants relied heavily on advertisements in newsletters published by churches and dioceses. The Catholic News Agency reports that one of Gen-See's Ads used the tag line Earn More Worry Less, Your Money Deserves the Best" (a tag line more deserving of a pizza box, in the opinion of this author).

It is not known whether any tort victims or plaintiff attorney money was entrusted to Piccoli's Gen-See Capital Corporation, however the story clearly is just another example of "if it appears too good to be true", it may very well not be true. Our thoughts go to all of the victims of this horrible tragedy.

Click right for the SEC Release  SEC Brings Emergency Action to Halt Ponzi Scheme and Affinity Fraud Targeting Clergy, Catholics And Senior Citizens

Click right for the Buffalo News Story on Richard S. Piccoli

Click right for Catholic News Agency's "Alleged Multi-Million dollar Ponzi scheme targeted Catholics"  January 9, 2009

Full post as published by Structured Settlements 4Real on January 10, 2009 (boomark / email).