Fraudes forex no paquistão doente

Caro leitor, os anúncios online nos permitem entregar o jornalismo que você valoriza. Por favor, ajudem-nos tomando um momento para desligar o Adblock on Dawn. Caro leitor, os anúncios online nos permitem entregar o jornalismo que você valoriza. Por favor, ajudem-nos tomando um momento para desligar o Adblock on Dawn. Caro leitor, por favor atualize para a versão mais recente do IE para ter uma melhor experiência de leitura Home Latest Populares Hoje Todays Paper Opinion World Sport Revista de Negócios Cultura Blogs Multimídia Arquivo Profundidade ISLAMABAD: Como protestos gêmeos em Islamabad entraram no quinto dia de terça-feira, O Exército do Paquistão colocou suas tropas em Islamabad em alerta máximo, com a Brigada 111 posicionada na Zona Vermelha. A Brigada 111 tem sido freqüentemente usada para proteger Islamabad - assim como usada em aquisições militares. Temendo que qualquer incidente desagradável ocorresse se o PTI ou PAT entrasse na Zona Vermelha, o Tenente General Qamar Bajwa, Comandante 10 Corps, contatou altos funcionários da Polícia de Islamabad para coordenação para garantir a segurança das principais instalações do governo localizadas na Constitution Avenue. As tropas foram implantadas na capital federal nos termos do artigo 245 da Constituição. O governo tomou essa medida controversa para garantir Islamabad em meio ao espectro de um confronto político. No entanto, o exército não está obrigado a agir em auxílio da polícia de Islamabad na execução desta seção, a menos que o Chefe da Comissária Islamabad ordene que o faça. Em um relatório anterior. Uma fonte militar colocou o número de tropas estacionadas na capital para tarefas de segurança em cerca de 350 pessoas. Mas a administração da cidade disse aos repórteres que mais de 500 soldados haviam sido enviados. Imran disse na segunda-feira que levaria manifestantes à zona vermelha da capital, uma área que abriga embaixadas ocidentais e importantes ministérios do governo. A polícia estimou o número de pessoas nos protestos em cerca de 55.000, incluindo muitas mulheres e crianças. O governo já havia dito que os manifestantes não podem entrar na área. Ele é inundado por policiais e forças paramilitares e cercado por contêineres e arame farpado. O governo não disse se Khan seria capaz de prosseguir para a Zona Vermelha ou não. O chefe da PAT, Tahirul Qadri, disse que vai se encontrar com seus partidários mais tarde para considerar se vai marchar ao lado de Imran. Seus protestos até agora permaneceram separados porque os dois têm diferentes defensores e planos para o que deve acontecer se Sharif deixar o cargo. Na frente política, o Líder da Oposição na Assembléia Nacional, Syed Khursheed Shah, também convocou uma reunião do Partido do Povo Paquistanês (PPP) e partidos aliados no parlamento para definir estratégias para impedir que o Paquistão Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) entrando zona vermelha e para acabar com a crise política pacificamente. A Zona Vermelha do voto policial não será violada Os policiais de Islamabad, Punjab e Caxemira Azad, colocados em serviço na capital federal, afirmaram que ninguém será autorizado a entrar na Zona Vermelha. A polícia tem sido principalmente equipada com escudos, capacetes e bastões. Eles disseram que não receberam nenhuma instrução específica e ao mesmo tempo expressaram temores de que os manifestantes invadissem as barreiras e roubassem seus equipamentos. A polícia expressou sua esperança de que o assunto pudesse ser resolvido sem a necessidade de manifestantes transgredirem a Zona Vermelha, mas acrescentou: tomará medidas se for ordenado, uma vez que recebemos nossos salários do governo. DAWNVIDEO - / 1029551 / DAWN-RM-1x1 Comentários (56) Fechado, eu amei o PTI uma vez 19 de agosto de 2014 13:30 MR KHAN, por favor, não coloque nossos filhos e filhas em perigo apenas para proteger seu ego, isso não é um jogo de críquete , o governo tem a obrigação e o dever de proteger os edifícios vitais. Pode sentir que prevalece no Sr. Khan e que Allah dê sabedoria e força ao governo para proteger esta nação desta turba sem derramamento de sangue. AMEEN. amei PTI uma vez 19 de agosto de 2014 01:32 pm o primeiro-ministro de uma energia nuclear não pode ser essa semana a demitir-se com alguns milhares de pessoas na rua. ele deve ser forte e se a Índia colocar 50000 tropas em nossa fronteira, o primeiro-ministro renunciará. seja forte Primeiro ministro estamos todos com você. nisar Ago 19, 2014 01:36 pm Acredito que o tempo chegou para que o exército intervenha quando os irmãos Sharif provarem que estão mais interessados ​​em seu próprio bem-estar do que nas massas. Se decidir pelas armas, matar inocentes, pilhar o recurso paquistanês, etc, é democracia, acho que o Paquistão ficará melhor sem ele. Nisar Ahmad 19 de agosto de 2014 01:42 pm usman que comentário estúpido. Duas pessoas desesperadas e doentes mentais estão fora para prejudicar o país, tentando fazer o estado de banana e trabalhar na agenda não clara para si. Sob tais circunstâncias, todos os passos devem ser tomados para evitar confronto e depreciação do Paquistão internacionalmente. Tal arrogância é rara em pessoas equilibradas, como está sendo mostrado IK. Acredite que ele está perdendo rapidamente sua base de apoio. Omair 19 de agosto de 2014 05:29 pm 55.000 - Há muito mais pessoas do que apenas 55.000. Qualquer um que se recuse a aceitar isso é cego. Quantas pessoas estão dispostas a sentar-se como coelhos esperando que algo bom finalmente aconteça Quantas vezes você vai passar o Paquistão para as fraudes, gângsteres ou a máfia antes que você perceba que eles só tiram dinheiro de você IK está oferecendo a única solução esquerda, pegue ou você é parte do problema. Nawaz é um ladrão imundo. Sua empresa não paga impostos há anos nem ele. Somente as pessoas que têm família na PMLN ou recebem seu dinheiro da PMLN se oporão a essa marcha. Todos os outros paquistaneses sensatos, seja no Paquistão ou no exterior, apóiam Imran Khan. Asadullah Kalhoro 19 de agosto de 2014 05:49 pm PTI amp PAT partes devem voltar para casa. Paquistão 19 de agosto de 2014 06:34 pm Syed Sim, se eles estão sentados em suas casas e escritórios na frente de alguns dispositivos de computação Ahmed USA 19 de agosto de 2014 08:05 pm Allah nos ajude a todos. ore para que a sanidade prevaleça. todos os interessados ​​devem garantir que ninguém se machuque. Imran Khan e Qadri afinal são cidadãos paquistaneses e representantes de centenas de milhares de pessoas. o governo deve iniciar um diálogo significativo com eles. O ego nunca ajudou ninguém nem aqui nem depois. noname 19 de agosto de 2014 08:38 pm No jogo do xadrez político, pmln parece estar em uma posição mais forte, talvez não completamente seu próprio fazer. Ik que talvez tenha sido timidamente atraído para a armadilha de acreditar que o estabelecimento e a oposição podem ficar do lado dele ficou pendurado no meio para ser abatido pela mídia. A mudança de mentalidade no estabelecimento talvez esteja associada ao comprometimento com os antigos acordos sobre musharraf e domínio de poder. A mídia geralmente segue os conselhos dos estabelecimentos, especialmente após a localização geográfica. Ik está em baixo, mas ainda não está fora. Desenvolvimentos de hoje podem levar a um conflito que talvez tenha sido o pensamento original por trás de pmlns invocando 245. Em qualquer caso, o papel Ik terminou, embora ele tenha perdido uma grande correspondência. Enfraquecido. Embora ele ainda esteja no torneio. KPK é onde ele deveria estar se concentrando. O jogo entre o pmln e o estabelecimento não acabou. Principal questão que ainda permanece: como os ganhos serão divididos Os principais candidatos são obviamente pmln e establishment, com ppp espreitando ao fundo como um gato faminto. Eu gostaria de ver tanto Imran Khan quanto Dr. Tahir serem sensatos o suficiente para se absterem de atividades perigosas, violentas, imprudentes e não planejadas, seguirem a lei, a ordem e a constituição do Paquistão. O Paquistão não precisa de todo esse absurdo. Queridos leitores, os anúncios online nos permitem entregar o jornalismo que você valoriza. Por favor, ajudem-nos tomando um momento para desligar o Adblock on Dawn. Caro leitor, os anúncios online nos permitem entregar o jornalismo que você valoriza. Por favor, ajudem-nos tomando um momento para desligar o Adblock on Dawn. Caro leitor, por favor atualize para a última versão do IE para ter uma melhor experiência de leitura Home Latest Popular Paquistão Hoje Paper Opinion World Sport Revista de Negócios Cultura Blogs Tecnologia Multimídia Arquivo em profundidade Nadeem F. Paracha mdash Atualizado 11 de fevereiro de 2016 01:22 pm O Paquistão Super League (PSL) tem sido um sucesso esmagador com os telespectadores. As classificações dos três canais de TV esportivos, que têm transmitido os jogos do PSL, experimentaram um aumento múltiplo. Os telespectadores foram unânimes em expressar sua alegria e apreço pelos esforços feitos pelo Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) na organização do evento, que também atraiu a participação de estrelas internacionais do críquete. No entanto, nem todo mundo parece tão feliz com o PSL. Liderando o pacote, a este respeito, são alguns apresentadores de talk show de vários canais de TV de notícias locais. As classificações de seus respectivos shows despencaram desde que o PSL começou, com uma colorida cerimônia de abertura há uma semana. Embora a maioria dos apresentadores de talk show tenha, de certa forma, resmungado sobre o desafio que estão enfrentando nos jogos da PSL exibidos na TV, o Dr. Daantist, apresentador veterano do canal de notícias paquistanês Agitated Reactionary Yahoos. recentemente conduziu um programa que expôs convincentemente a conspiração diabólica desencadeada para afastar os apresentadores de talk shows televisivos honestos, patrióticos e revolucionários das telas (através de eventos como o PSL). Em seu popular show, Root Canaling com o Dr. Daantist. ele convidou dois membros proeminentes de um think-tank intelectual e acadêmico recém-formado que o ajudou a trazer à luz alguns fatos surpreendentes sobre o PSL. Os convidados eram o Sr. Hamid-bin-Saladin-Peshawari e a Sra. Beena-bint-e-Meena-Muneeb. Ambos são os membros fundadores do think-tank do ampamp. O think tank surgiu no final do ano passado quando publicou um livro que era uma antítese acadêmica do livro de Malala Yousafzais, I Am Malala. O livro publicado pelo think-tank tornou-se um best-seller instantâneo na parte norte do Waziristão do Sul e na cantina do prédio da assembléia provincial de Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Intitulado, eu não sou Malala eu sou Coca-Cola. o livro não só apresenta ensaios que expõem Malalas a muitas fraudes, mas também faz um considerável esforço intelectual para detalhar os efeitos geopolíticos e o impacto (no Paquistão) das contínuas Guerras de Cola entre a Coca-Cola e a Pepsi. No programa, a Sra. Beena e o Sr. Hamid, endossaram Dr. Daantists afirmam que o PSL estava sendo financiado pela CIA, FBI e o Papa através de uma organização formada pelo pai Malalas que se tornou um multi-zilionionário Dr. Daantist disse que 3 anos atrás, já havia sido provado (em um relatório exclusivo da Dawn) que Malala era uma mulher polonesa disfarçada de colegial paquistanesa que havia encenado uma tentativa de assassinato em Swat para desacreditar os piedosos combatentes da liberdade e as famosas saídas do Chapli Kebab de Peshawars. O Dr. Daantist compartilhou esta foto rara de Najam Sethi, de 41 anos, quando ele era um militante curdo iraquiano. Mas ele acrescentou que evidências recentes descobertas pelo grupo sugerem que o principal mentor por trás do PSL, Najam Sethi, é um ex-militante curdo iraquiano disfarçado de jornalista no Paquistão, para difamar a imagem do país que está sendo passional e patrioticamente construída. Âncoras de TV como ele (Dr. Daantist). No programa, Bina leu uma parte de seu livro de ideias sobre o próximo livro, I Hate, Therefore I Am. em que há uma menção sobre como ela permanentemente machucou uma de suas unhas enquanto pesquisava sobre seu passado, mas não foi enviada ao exterior para tratamento. Ela disse ao Dr. Daantist: quebrei minha unha enquanto tentava desenterrar a verdade sobre um sujeito perigoso. Mas nenhum canal de televisão, ONG ou liberal estava disposto a falar sobre o meu sofrimento. Ninguém se ofereceu para me levar para a Inglaterra para tratamento. E ainda, uma estudante conivente que foi baleada no rosto por agentes estrangeiros, foi levada para o Reino Unido, tratada lá e então recebeu um Prêmio Nobel Pelo menos eles poderiam ter me dado uma posição no PCB. A provação da Sra. Binas trouxe lágrimas aos olhos do Dr. Daantists e ele começou a praguejar no PSL, PCB, Najam Sethi, Malala, pai Malalas, Misbahul Haq e, por alguma razão estranha, Leonardo DiCaprio. Eu nunca ouvi uma história mais trágica do que isso, disse Daantist aos espectadores. Espero que Malala receba um soco no rosto, embora todos nós saibamos que ela encenou sua própria tentativa de assassinato com balas falsas e agentes estrangeiros que são realmente guerreiros piedosos, mas financiados por nossos inimigos, mas precisamos conversar com eles e também ter uma operação militar contra porque eles são agentes, mas piedosos, mas terroristas, mas nossos irmãos, mas nossos inimigos, mas você sabe do que estou falando. Nesse momento, um visitante telefonou para dizer: "Não, não sei o que você quer dizer". Isso trouxe lágrimas aos olhos do Sr. Hamid que começaram a atacar abertamente o interlocutor, PCB, PSL, Malala, Malalas pai, avô, bisavô, trisavô e tio paterno. Ele disse ao Dr. Daantist: Você conhece Hakeem Sahib. Eu estava comendo frango tikka outro dia quando ouvi uma jovem estudante de jeans dizendo a outra estudante vestida indecentemente que ela não tinha lido nosso livro porque estava ocupada assistindo aos jogos do PSL. Eu fiquei tão chocada que mordi muito o meu tikka e um pedaço de osso ficou dolorosamente alojado em um dos meus dentes. Eu uivei de dor e implorei que eu fosse levado a um dentista no Reino Unido. Mas ninguém ouviu. O governo ignorou meus pedidos, assim como os meios de comunicação ocidentais e locais, e aqui estou hoje, diante de você, com muita dor. Pelo menos eles poderiam ter me dado um contrato de jogo em uma equipe de PSL, não. A parte mais revigorante e animadora do show foi quando o Dr. Daantist realizou um intrincado trabalho de canal radicular no Sr. Hamids tragicamente infectado dente ali mesmo na televisão ao vivo. Isso trouxe lágrimas aos olhos de todos que começaram a amaldiçoar a calça jeans, seu amigo, PSL, PCB, Malala, pai Malalas, Najam Sethi, Misbahul Haq e, por alguma razão estranha, Tom (do Tom amp Jerry fama). Dr. Daantist deu os retoques finais ao trabalho de canal de raiz que ele executou em Hamid ao vivo na TV. Este episódio do show do Dr. Daantists foi um dos mais assistidos em todo o mundo. Ele também foi pego pela BBC, CNN, FOX News, Zee News e muitos outros canais de notícias internacionais. Isso trouxe lágrimas aos olhos de aproximadamente 77 bilhões de telespectadores em todo o mundo que começaram a amaldiçoar PCB, PSL e Malala e conclamaram Donald Trump a conseguir que Malala fosse enforcada pela Klu Klux Klan às margens do rio Mississippi. Mas desta vez, de verdade. Disclaimer: Este artigo é categorizado como sátira. Comentários (63) Fechado Hassan Parvez 11 de fevereiro de 2016 09:17 pm Eu tenho ocasionalmente visto o talk show realizado por D. Danish, desta vez eu assisti porque eu ouvi falar em um excelente talk show, Zara Hut Ke. Dez minutos depois de vê-lo com seus convidados, minha pressão subiu pelo telhado. Fiquei espantado com o quão estúpido e idiota, meus compatriotas educados podem ser. O dinamarquês e seu convidado principal Alguém chamado Kashif Mirza e chefe do grupo religioso do PTI chamado Chohan continuou o programa de entrevistas sobre o quão perigosa Malala e seu pai são para o islamismo, o Paquistão e o povo do Paquistão. Como uma empresa de TV que é supostamente uma empresa pode empregar uma âncora tão estúpida como apresentadora de programas de entrevistas, então lembrei-me de Amir Liaquat e seu programa de entrevistas mais idiota, projetado para espalhar o ódio na sociedade paquistanesa que foi empregada grande grupo de mídia. sana 11 de fevereiro de 2016 21:55 Tariq Amir 11 de fevereiro de 2016 22:35 Uma obra-prima da sátira. Maravilhoso. Apreciamos cada frase. Dawar Naqvi Feb 12, 2016 12:27 am Vidyut Bharadwaj 12 de fev de 2016 02:21 O que você pode dizer? Engraçado como o inferno. Cliquei na página e esqueci de conferir o nome dos escritores. Mas, quando comecei a ler, ficou evidente que isso é o mesmo. nunca falhando Nadeem. Quero dizer, quem mais tem isso nele. Sua foto de Najam Sethi (com as devidas desculpas senhor) é hilária para dizer o mínimo. Mantenha-nos entretidos assim. Que o Senhor Shiva abençoe sua tribo. Najam 12 de fevereiro de 2016 02:38 Good one. Você deu crédito a essas almas enfermas que são tenazes no Paquistão ou nos EUA. Infelizmente esta mentalidade está florescendo. A SPLC nos EUA publicou um artigo sobre teorias da conspiração há alguns meses, que vale a pena ler. Em suma, você tem que fazer um ensaio sobre conspiração comparativa. Isso vai ser engraçado. Eu posso ver isso. O Dr. Daanish é a antítese do que seu nome significa, sabedoria. Ele tem que voltar para daanishgah e ser um daanishjo para procurar daanish para se tornar um daanishmand. Uma ordem alta para um pigmeu. Mídia no Paquistão e na Índia, Bill Oreilly, onde os jogos de gritos passam para o jornalismo. Pardesi 12 de fevereiro de 2016 04:10 am Nadeem Bhai queria saber quanto tempo você leva para escrever estes artigos engraçados e quanto tempo você leva para caçar uma imagem apropriada Eu acho que o mais tarde leva mais tempo ou você tem alguém mais procurar eles e você aprova. Anonymous K 12 de fevereiro de 2016 09:42 am NFP tem um dom surpreendente para trazer questões centrais em nosso país de maneira cômica. Eu acho que é isso que a sátira é tudo. O que é ainda mais engraçado, talvez até assustador, é que as pessoas acreditem em artigos satíricos como verdadeiros eventos. Um membro sênior do meu local de trabalho, na verdade, justificou suas conspirações de Malala em uma sátira anterior da NFP, onde o escritor disse que Malala é uma agente do Ocidente baseada em algumas evidências Q-Tip. Naquela época, a Dawn não tinha o aviso de que o artigo é categorizado como sátira. análises 12/02/2016 10:29 am ANONYMOUS K: Sim, isso é realmente assustador. Nesse artigo anterior do NFP que você mencionou, você pode ver os comentários abaixo e ver tantos compatriotas realmente acreditando no que o NFP escreveu em sátira completa. Esse é o triste estado da nossa sociedade. Quando as pessoas não conseguem sequer compreender tão óbvia sátira explícita, imagine como é fácil para elas acreditar em qualquer teoria ridícula da conspiração. Março de 2003 ndash A ambulância corria pelo tráfego. Passou pelas montanhas de San Gabriel, que cercavam o subúrbio de Los Angeles, e emoldurava o deserto de Mojave ao norte. O motorista saiu habilmente da auto-estrada para os becos sem saída, enquanto o rádio entrava em vigor. Ele esperou. Ele podia ouvir a mulher soluçando, sufocando as palavras enquanto vomitava, então gemeu. Ele se virou e arriscou um olhar, viu a chinesa quase comatosa que ele achava que seu colega estava obscurecendo sua visão enquanto checava a pressão arterial dela. hellip fêmea hellip meio envelhecido hellip parente mais próximo a identifica como Susan. Susan Kheng-Lok repetiu o paramédico. hellip Suspeita de overdose. Ele estava tentando acalmá-la o melhor que podia. O motorista digitou os detalhes em seu AMPD (Advanced Medical Priority Dispatch System), em seguida, virou-se para o Hospital Presbiteriano Foothills. Ele olhou para as nuvens acima: o clima do início da primavera ainda tinha que se romper. O tempo estava apertado. Ele não tinha certeza se eles iriam conseguir. Cinco minutos antes, eles haviam sido recebidos por uma casa bastante comum, Susan Lok e seu pai cambojano mantinham uma casa limpa, confortável, mas não excessivamente ostensiva. A família vivera o sonho americano e, aparentemente, conseguira. Eles eram vizinhos tranquilos e perfeitos. Não é o tipo de ter uma operação de lavagem de dinheiro em massa correndo dos jardins limpos de Glendora, Califórnia. Uma virada para pior Art Ferdig como ele apareceu aos investidores April 2003 ndash Ele sentiu um leve orvalho de suor. James Lee olhou para o relógio, talvez pela sexta ou sétima vez. Ele conhecia vários dos outros pelo nome, se não pela visão. Isso não o deixou mais confortável. Ele ajustou seu terno mais uma vez e pensou no boletim de notícias de Art Ferdigs. A ldquoTradex foi defraudada de 129 milhões, e todo o dinheiro desapareceu. "Lee viajara da Califórnia para descobrir o que havia acontecido com a economia de sua vida. Um consultor de tecnologia com clientes em todo o país, ele era, até algumas semanas atrás, confortavelmente aposentado. Todo mês, ligado e desligado há vários anos, ele recebia suas declarações. A Hersquod investiu milhares no Tradex, um esquema de investimento Forex (câmbio de moedas estrangeiras), que apostava nas flutuações dos mercados monetários. Hersquod fez lucros aparentemente fantásticos, com uma média de 2,5% ao mês. Não tinha ele No papel, sim hellip Ele arranhou seu colarinho. Sua vida estava sendo virada de cabeça para baixo. Talvez tenha sido uma piada. Ele segurou a carta amassada em seu punho. Quothellip, eu estarei fazendo tudo que estiver ao meu alcance para descobrir o que aconteceu. ”Um dos mais vocais de seus colegas investidores lhe disse que o chefe da Tradexrsquos, Art Ferdig, estava afirmando que seu principal negociante tinha fugido com todo o seu dinheiro que ele era tanto uma vítima quanto o resto deles. Lee não tinha certeza se ele e um pequeno grupo haviam pressionado muito para essa reunião. Ele olhou por um momento para o centro de Montreal, 28 andares abaixo, e pensou nas estranhas reviravoltas em seus 61 anos que o trouxeram para este lugar. Perdido em pensamentos, à primeira vista ele quase sentia falta dele. Uma figura em um terno barato, fora da prateleira. O californiano piscou surpreso. Não havia uma presença imponente, nem correntes de ouro ou arrogância. Art Ferdig se parecia um pouco com um pastor local, pensou Lee, que até agora nunca havia conhecido o chefe de investimentos. Foi esse desarmamento, a abordagem discreta e a evangelização de investidores externos que levaram tantos a afundar dezenas de milhares de dólares com a Tradex em primeiro lugar. Isso e os enormes retornos que o esquema prometia. Depois de algum preâmbulo, Ferdig explicou para a dúzia de figuras reunidas que parecia que seu principal corretor de valores monetário realmente havia recebido todo o seu dinheiro, confirmando os piores medos de Leersco. Susan Lok, sediada fora do sofisticado centro de operações da Tradexs em Cingapura (ou assim ele alegou), era uma figura de confiança, mas havia traído todos eles mesmos, inclusive ele próprio. Ele ainda não sabia como, mas escreveu para ele em uma nota que ele segurou e leu a partir de agora, alegando que ela estava citando para fazê-lo funcionar o tempo todo, mas tinha enganado-los. "Talvez eu seja punido por Deus", rabiscou rabugento em inglês pobre. Ferdig então apresentou-os a uma mulher alta e pálida à sua direita, à qual ele se dirigia como Ritardquo ndash Rita Laframboise, (lsquothe Raspberryrsquo), um investigador particular de Montreal, de grande reputação. Ela estava vestida de preto: o tipo de mulher que você pode ver em um filme de terror, pensou Lee. Entreguei à senhora Laframboise 300 mil do meu próprio dinheiro para iniciar uma investigação imediatamente, disse Ferdig, à maneira de um humilde empregado da prefeitura que se dirigia a uma reunião de planejamento local. Eu até vendi minha casa para ajudar a financiar isso. Rita era uma especialista em recuperação de ativos, ele então contou a eles, recuperando uma longa lista de suas conquistas. Ela lançou-lhes um pequeno sorriso reconfortante e subiu ao palco. Ela fez um longo passeio sobre seus sucessos anteriores, projetos na Hungria (onde ela disse ter recuperado 2 bilhões em fundos de pensão do governo desviados), Brasil, Nigéria e outros lugares. Lee a achou sem humor, um tanto frágil, quase militar em seu porte. Ela parecia ter extrema confiança em seus pronunciamentos, mas não tolerava quaisquer perguntas que ela recusasse veementemente a divulgar quaisquer detalhes, nem forneceria quaisquer referências para que Lee e seus colegas investidores pudessem confirmar suas alegações. Ferdig tossiu e levou a reunião à cabeça. Bem, chegue ao fundo disso. Não se preocupe, terminou o avô de cabelos prateados, quando Rita desceu. Um autoproclamado cantor de Godquot, a maioria encontrara Ferdig por meio de suas extensas redes cristãs, exatamente como os investidores judeus se encontrariam com o agora notório financista de Nova York, Bernie Madoff, que os arrebatou ao som de bilhões de dólares. O que Lee não sabia era que Ferdig esteve envolvido por muitos anos com o grupo evangélico californiano, a Igreja Mundial de Deus. Enquanto Ferdig era "assistente pessoal" do fundador da Igreja, Herbert W. Armstrong, durante a década de 1970, vários escândalos sexuais e financeiros surgiram. Sem o conhecimento de seu rebanho, Ferdig tivera sua cota de esposas e concubinas, e até mesmo um falso casamento com uma pobre senhora que ele enganou e brincou com jovens mulheres caribenhas enquanto passeava entre os Estados e várias pequenas ilhas, comandando seu império Tradex. Lee desconhecia os antigos guarda-costas Navy SEAL que agora seguiam Ferdig, à medida que crescia sua paranóia sobre o assassinato de gângsteres chineses ou investidores insatisfeitos ou que vários desses principais investidores (a maioria dos quais ainda apoiava o pregador) eram o que os pesquisadores mais tarde chamariam ldquobirddogsrdquo, financeiramente. recompensado por Ferdig para vendas. A vendedora de Ferdigs, Susan Lok, também nunca havia trabalhado em Cingapura: ela estava operando em uma casa suburbana em Glendale, Califórnia, e passando todo o dinheiro através da conta pessoal de seu pai. Mas as centenas de milhares registradas todos os meses eram apenas uma fração de toda a quantia destinada a Art Ferdig, o restante estava sendo reciclado como ldquofakerdquo para pagamento de juros aos investidores ou desviado por uma rede emaranhada de empresas offshore para a família Ferdig e associados. , como parte de um esquema maciço de ldquoPonzirdquo. Batizado em homenagem ao empresário Charles Ponzi, da década de 1920, os fraudadores de Ponzi roubariam dinheiro de investidores e devolveriam uma fração como juros / lucros falsos, para mantê-los viciados. Tudo o que precisavam era de uma proposta grandiosa, prometendo grandes retornos: mas, na realidade, sem nenhuma atividade econômica genuína. Foi uma das fraudes mais comumente usadas por trapaceiros sofisticados para roubar bilhões de dólares de investidores infelizes todos os anos. Não é preciso dizer que James Lee e seus colegas não tinham idéia de que os criminosos organizados estavam lavando seu dinheiro sujo com a Tradex (uma tática comum de Ponzi), ou que a dona Rita Laframboise diante deles agora, na verdade, era um ldquoreloaderrdquo, um falso investigador em conluio com o vigarista. Na verdade, Tradex tinha sido um exemplo clássico de um jogo de confiança à moda antiga, com seus operadores saindo do Hollywood'squos Central Casting. O evangelista da Gangue de Ferdig, Art e sua nora, operavam sob vários pseudônimos nos paraísos fiscais dos EUA e do Caribe. À medida que a regulamentação se tornava mais rígida em um território, eles simplesmente pularam para outro, descendo a cadeia insular das Índias Ocidentais. Usando o modelo Ponzi, a fraude da Tradex enganava leigos que não tinham conhecimento profundo do mundo dos investimentos, usando descrições deslumbrantes de construções financeiras e planos de manutenção de ativos, que pareciam impressionantes, mas eram essencialmente sem sentido. Mais de 600 investidores, a maioria dos residentes dos Estados Unidos, caiu para o esquema e seus impressionantes materiais de marketing. Em cartas e folhetos bem elaborados, a Gangu Ferdig fez uso do plural pronome possessivo ldquowerdquo quando se referiu à Tradex, como em: “Nós nos concentramos em alcançar um crescimento consistente e fidelização de clientes” Temos um registro exemplar e marcante de 84 meses consecutivos de negociações lucrativas. sem um único esforço perdedor, e nós trocamos moedas através de administradores em Cingapura. Seu capital normalmente estará sendo negociado dentro de 5 (cinco) dias após o recebimento dos fundos compensados. A Gangue Ferdig criou a ilusão de pagar esses juros astronomicamente altos aos seus investidores, mas tais pagamentos normalmente representavam apenas lucros em papel que consistiam em meras entradas de diário. em extratos de conta falsificados. No entanto, as falsas declarações mensais da conta pareciam tão recompensadoras que a maioria dos investidores da Tradex optou por reinvestir seu dinheiro, enquanto o tempo todo acreditando estar ganhando milhares, se não milhões, em lucros (o que obviamente nunca existiu). Os membros dessa gangue de Ferdig incluíam seu patriarca, Art Ferdig, e sua esposa, Elaine. A gangue de Ferdig também compreendia os acopladores de três filhas adultas - Alisa, Deborah e Rachel - bem como seus maridos filhos, Jeff Lockhart, Michael Elliot e David Riotte. Durante toda a vida de Tradex, a gangue voou em aviões particulares e comprou casas e propriedades na Califórnia, Bahamas, Dominica e, por último, na Jamaica, onde comprou centenas de acres de florestas tropicais com vistas deslumbrantes do mar azul. Mais tarde, após o término da festa da Tradex, eles compraram casas na Flórida, Louisiana e Texas, bem como carros, iates e barcos. De onde vinha o dinheiro para financiar um estilo de vida tão amplo, os infelizes investidores da Tradex tinham pouco conhecimento. Tudo estava ensolarado até poucas semanas antes da reunião dos investidores em Montreal. Certa manhã, em fevereiro de 2003, investigadores financeiros na ilha de Dominica, pobre em terra, invadiram um prédio no centro de Roseau e ordenaram a todos que se afastassem de suas mesas, trocando todas as fechaduras e chaves. O Banc Caribe era um banco de lavagem de dinheiro, dirigido por vigaristas, por vigaristas e havia sido fechado sob pressão das autoridades americanas. Esse mesmo banco lidou com a conta da Tradexs Ponzi, o dinheiro que estava sendo constantemente reciclado e enviado de volta aos investidores para mantê-los a bordo (enquanto o resto foi roubado). (De acordo com o relatório da Liquidatorrsquos de 18 de abril de 2007: 45% foram repassados ​​aos investidores 33,5% foram diretamente roubados, 11,2% foram usados ​​nas despesas operacionais e apenas 1,5% foram reservados para perdas com operações de câmbio.) Sem acesso a sua conta principal, nenhum pagamento era possível. As fraudes que se desenrolavam desde 1995 até o momento em que a primavera de 2003 estava em colapso. Susan Lok havia tomado uma overdose e apresentou a Ferdig a oportunidade perfeita para compensar a culpa. Ele estava fugindo, livre de scott. Para os investidores, no entanto, não havia arestas afiadas, nem arrogância, nem indício de esperteza desagradável sobre Ferdig, enquanto gentilmente explicava sua versão dos acontecimentos. Algo não estava certo. Lee sabia disso, mas não conseguiu provar. Os outros ainda estavam com o guru financeiro. Eles gritaram Lee para baixo. Ferdig dissera que não pararia em nada para conseguir o dinheiro de volta. E eles acreditaram nele. Nunca você acreditaria que ele tinha a imaginação ou inteligência para executar uma fraude internacional complexa, nem que ele era um mestre da má orientação, lembrou mais tarde Lee. Em retrospecto, é como se houvesse duas personalidades completamente diferentes em um só corpo. A tripulação da MKS hoje, Martin Kenney na frente da cópiaNeil Massey Verão de 2003 Os dois homens saíram do longo vôo de Dublin. O calor de Miami tomou conta deles em um segundo, mas eles não recuaram. Em sua linha de trabalho, eles estavam bem acostumados a entrar em climas hostis devastados pela guerra na Libéria, nas selvas de Papua Nova Guiné ou em um congelante ndash de inverno em Toronto, onde quer que a trilha do dinheiro os levasse. Os mais altos e de ombros largos dos dois já haviam guardado presidentes dos EUA e trabalharam na fronteira do Paquistão com o Afeganistão quando os EUA apoiaram os mujahideen. Seu companheiro, mais baixo e com terno e gravata cuidadosamente abotoados, era um advogado de mentalidade forense responsável por cruzar espadas com alguns dos mais tenazes vigaristas que o mundo já vira, sociopatas que não parariam com nada em sua avareza. Quando você ouviu falar de nomes como Bernie Madoff ou Sir Allen Stanford, é provável que ele estivesse em sua trilha. Ele se sentou em frente a esses criminosos enquanto eles lhe contavam como ficavam acordados à noite, sonhando com maneiras de matá-lo. Nos saguões de desembarque, uma figura atarracada e barbada balançou as mãos: Martin, James ficou tão feliz que você pudesse vir. A Burke Files era uma ex-insider no complexo mundo das finanças corporativas. Ele trocou seu chapéu de investimento pela sombria arena de investigações particulares, trabalhando disfarçado em casos complexos de fraude. De frente para os bandidos, muitas vezes se passando por uma marca ou companheiro, qualquer coisa para conseguir a queda. Hed recently taken a call to the small office he shared in Phoenix, Arizona, with fellow investigator, Richard Isaacs: a small group of investors in an obscure Forex scheme wanted their help. From their descriptions he was worried he was looking at a potentially-dangerous Chinese crime syndicate out of the Far East. The trouble was, there was only 5,000 on the table: the clients were broke. Hed put a call in to his old friend James McGunn over in Dublin. McGunn was a barrel-chested figure, silver-haired and still far more youthful-looking than his 66 years, his office surrounded by certificates and frames from his service days, even a picture of him as a beat cop taken in the late-1960s, before he became a US Secret Service agent. A huge blowup cover from TIME magazine showed him in a car behind Richard Nixon, during a 1974 state visit to Egypt. Wedged into an old diary were a couple of photos taken on the Afghan-Pakistan border in the early 1990s, with a younger version of himself hoisting an AK-47. An expert in complex financial investigations, there were no typical days for McGunn: he could be sweeping the office for electronic bugs, shadowing a criminal in a Panamanian dive or liaising with a worldwide network of investigators, often drawn from the ranks of former law enforcement and intelligence units. We fish, as he often put it, in troubled waters. Behind his desk lay a radiowave detector overhead, in the sophisticated alarm system, were motion sensors he kept a carved human legbone as a memento from an undercover operation in Papua New Guinea, where hed followed a con-man who was friends with the Prime Minister and had had hired killers at his disposal. He sometimes chuckled when thinking back on his long career, comparing it to his literary hero, the fictional private eye Travis McGee, who had lived on a houseboat nicknamed ldquoThe Busted Flushrdquo. McGunn had worked with Martin Kenney, one of the worlds top fraud lawyers ndash a specialist in asset freezing and recovery ndash for several years now, and as a team they had brought down some huge cases. The Financial Times had called Kenney a ldquotop international asset chaserrdquo. Miami-based Offshore Alert said that he was ldquoone of the worldrsquos leading authorities on the legal aspects of freezing and seizing assets in multiple jurisdictionsrdquo. Meanwhile, The Canadian Lawyer Magazine claimed that he ldquohellipjust may be ndash considering his Robin Hood reputation and his bulldog legal tactics ndash one of the most determined and trusted lawyers aroundrdquo. In one famous case they had taken on Canadas most infamous telemarketing fraudster in a massive worldwide investigation Kenney had made legal history when hed had to sue a class action law firm working for his victims, but which double-crossed him (and them) to cut a secret deal with the con-man. It led to what was reported at the time as the largest jury award (36 million) in US legal history, for a dishonest breach of a lawyerrsquos duty of loyalty to his client. The money hed made off that case had not only paid off the elderly victims, but also investors into his firm. From the confines of a County Wicklow (Ireland) office, Kenney and his team of lawyers were waging a war against some of the most ruthless criminals and con men in the world today. Surrounded by the hum of computers, faces scrunched over handheld Blackberries, the staff hailed from across Britain, Ireland, Canada, and the Americas. Their targets were the charmers, the visionaries, those promising riches and dreams: sophisticated fraudsters fiddling merchant banks and insurers, as well as ordinary people, out of tens, or hundreds, of millions ndash even billions ndash of dollars. Their boss, the precisely-spoken Kenney, had become one of the worlds most pre-eminent quotmulti-jurisdictionalquot lawyers. A solicitor advocate, Kenney had powers similar to a barrister and was licensed to practise in several countries, including England amp Wales (where he once trained), Canada, New York State and much of the Caribbean. Hailing from an old-school Canadian family, his grandfather Mart had been a famous Big Band leader whilst his brother Jason was Canadas Minister of Immigration and Citizenship. His ferocious work ethic and passion for justice were inspired, he said, by the example set by his schoolmaster father. His team of covert investigators, attorneys, forensic accountants and IT specialists tracked down and recovered criminal wealth, returning it to victims. With traditional law enforcement increasingly ineffective against sophisticated money launderers, Kenney targeted felons where it hurt most ndash their pockets. Early on in his career the former champion ice-hockey player had investigated Nick Leeson, who brought down Barings Bank. Two of his British team had taken on controversial property millionaire Nicholas van Hoogstraten, once convicted (later overturned) of the manslaughter of a business colleague. Since then his law firm ndash Martin Kenney amp Co. Solicitors (MKS) ndash had tackled American telemarketing fraudsters, dodgy Brazilian banks, corrupt insurers, Russian organised criminals and even crossed swords with the Chinese government in its battles on behalf of victims of economic crime. One moment they could be tracking a case involving a Wall Street legend the next they might be in the depths of Liberia, hunting stolen assets. He knew, however, that his foes would often stop at nothing to hide their deeds. Mr Fraudster is nomadic, boundariless, he moves around the world, prowling for victims and knows how to hide the money. Most of these characters are very charismatic, stated the impeccably-dressed Kenney when he was called to lecture on the subject. But Ive seen people brought to ruin, even died as a result of their actions Ive been in some horrendous cases. Ive had a client suffer a heart-attack, due to the stress of a case. This was a war being fought in the shadows of an increasingly globalised world. Yet its ramifications were massive. According to international security firm Kroll last year, in the past three years four out of five firms have suffered from some form of corporate fraud and about one in 10 have been losing more than 100 million a year. Those costs are often passed along the chain to us, the public. And with the financial crisis currently unfolding, more cases are being revealed every day. Once stolen, Kenney knew that money could be laundered through any number of offshore jurisdictions, ldquowashedrdquo through shell companies with ldquostraw menrdquo directors ndash names on pieces of paper locked in a faraway lawyerrsquos office ndash in massively complex constructs. Sometimes armed guards would escort bullion trucks from one side of the street to the other, as the fraudster physically moved his cash in order to break the paper trail. The most sophisticated would often create half a dozen or more of these constructs in which to hide the money (very often the individuals in these networks knew little about each other) before spending the proceeds on ldquothe other siderdquo, buying yachts, property, racehorses or whatever else indulged their fancy. The lsquoLanguage of Hiding, rsquo as Kenney called it, included terms used by professional laundrymen such as a lsquoStarburst, rsquo the lsquoRicochet, rsquo the lsquoHop Skotch, rsquo or the lsquoSausage Machinersquo ndash where money gets moved in different ways to conceal its origin. But it was not just corporations that fell victim: rich individuals and poor alike had been targeted. Few in this hidden war ever reclaimed their money, especially in an electronic age when funds could be moved in a matter of seconds. Once the FBI or Britainrsquos Serious Fraud Office went after a fraudster, restitution to victims was not high on the list of priorities, either. With trillions travelling through this highly secretive world every year, including the proceeds of organised crime and drug money (which was then ldquowashedrdquo back into everyday use) the problem had clearly been getting worse. Therersquos a huge portion of the worldrsquos legitimate economy owned by nefarious criminals. And itrsquos very hard to distinguish between the legitimate economy and that which is not, because they have blended. How do you distinguish between the two Kenney would utter a short, puffy laugh as he spoke. You know, in most normal communities, if a bank robbery takes place and someone has taken a gun and shot a teller, stolen money and run off down the street ndash people will help These were not victimless crimes either. People had taken their lives after financial ruin been forced to sell all or left unable to afford lifesaving medicines or operations. In his filing cabinets were stacks of letters from desperate pensioners ndash victims of different con men ndash attesting to the cruel power of these crimes. Kenney loathed the confidence tricksters and often spoke as though he was on a crusade. What he did in response was innovative in the extreme. Making extensive use of ldquosealed and gaggedrdquo (secret) court-appointed powers, such as the curiously-named Norwich Pharmacal-Bankers Trust Order (a ldquodiscovery orderrdquo, which forced an organisation to turn over records) and Anton Pillar Orders (a ldquoraid orderrdquo, allowing them to enter premises), Kenney had pioneered and masterminded innovative uses of old and forgotten pieces of English law in tackling complex, money laundering cases. He was a legal trailblazer. With secrecy on their side, in the form of these ldquogaggedrdquo orders, the organisations they targeted were legally forbidden from telling their clients they were being investigated. In fact, Kenneyrsquos teams could act just like a law enforcement agency: to obtain bank or phone records, raid a corrupt lawyer helping create fake companies or seizing luxury yachts, registered via a complex set of offshore trusts to the wives of con men. Kenneyrsquos operations involved a variety of undercover surveillance and sting operations forensic accountancy skills, to trace document trails or build a model of how a crime was committed together with the use of experts such as handwriting analysts, criminal psychologists and IT specialists as well as legal teams who could ldquodeposerdquo (interview under oath and threat of contempt of court) any witnesses. His men then located and froze criminal assets via civil courts, right across the globe. A Mareva Injunction (ldquofreeze orderrdquo), or sometimes a ldquolis pendensrdquo (a quotnotice of claimquot) prevented the villain selling on any of those assets, before they were then liquidated and proceeds shared back with the victims. The criminal could even be bankrupted by the process. Kenney was doubly unusual in that he would work for the poorest, as well as richest victims, sourcing private financial backing (investors) on certain cases and deferring his costs until a case was successful. The model had been so successful, in fact, that officers at law enforcement agencies such as the FBI had referred some of the worldrsquos most complex fraud cases to the company. These could still take years, however, with the con men free to spend victims money to fight their corner. Theyre heavy hitters, for sure, interjected James McGunn, who would stand with arms folded, watching his old friend. The general public doesnt realise how powerful these characters are, because they have so much money. They can be very challenging adversaries. Very difficult. You just cant underestimate them. Thats a serious mistake. As they started discussing the case, Kenney pointed straight at the name and photo: Ferdig. Theres our man. Secrecy amp Surprise James McGunn, chief investigator copyNick Ryan November 2003 ndash Amid the old world charm of the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida, as the last wisps of the hurricane season faded, Martin Kenney and James McGunn nursed their cocktails. The annual 2003 Offshore Alert conference was a meeting of the worlds finest fraud attorneys and investigators, soon-to-be-united by a global network called ICC FraudNet, drawn together by the International Chambers of Commerce. Burke Files was there too he grabbed Kenneys arm and pulled him to one side. Martin, theres someone I think you should meet. Kenney allowed himself to be led over to a table in the bar, where a suited figure was sat with Files partner, Richard Isaacs. By now Kenney and Files had been working together on a case which had already seen over 150,000 of Kenneys time invested, so far unpaid. Phase One of the investigation plan had been launched, and the team had split into its investigative and legal components, starting on the long and tortuous process of identifying and following the convoluted audit and evidentiary trails left by the Ferdig Gang. A small number of the Tradex victims had now come over to their side, too, led by James Lee, but theyd had to do so in secret: the majority of the investors still believed Ferdigs honeyed promises. In fact, as Kenney knew too well, there were many fraudsters who would even pose as defrauded victims themselves ndash and would fight tooth and nail to stop an asset retrieval specialist like himself from ever getting a whiff of the money trail. That summer theyd sat around the conference table back in Ireland, together with John Bagalini, their forensic accountant and chief negotiator. An extreme sports enthusiast from Arizona, Bagalini was a passionate amateur chef, hailing from proud Italian stock. Together theyd pondered the likely twists and turns to come. McGunn would lead the initial investigative movements: seeking witnesses, surveilling locations, drawing up complex affidavits in support of court orders. Kenney and his lawyers would execute the complex discovery and raid orders ndash always sealed and gagged, so the other side remained ignorant of their true intent ndash and clash with the legal heavyweights the con-man and associates would draw up in their defense. (Kenney sometimes found himself having to lecture the judges he encountered in different jurisdictions: several remained unaware or ignorant of the razor-sharp forms of the law he could employ ndash one judge in Georgia even wanted to find him in contempt of court for using these methods.) Bagalini, meanwhile, would be responsible for sifting through the layers of evidence, looking for the one clue or pattern in the money trail that could lead them to a stolen asset. (If accountancy had a ldquospecial forcesrdquo division, then this would be it.) Hed then draw up ldquolink analysisrdquo charts, using specialist software and a linked database the company had been developing. It was a method pioneered during the FBIs Mafia investigations in the 1950s and 1960s, allowing them to pictorially plot and connect all the money flows, entities and people in a case. Already they had uncovered enough to suggest the crime had its roots not so much in Asia as the steamy ports of the Caribbean. Marcus Wide shook Kenneys hand. The two men knew each other by reputation Wide was a senior insolvency professional at Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) based out of Halifax, Nova Scotia ndash and was also the Liquidator of Banc Caribe down in Dominica. Im sitting right now on 2 or 3 million of Tradex monies, as you know, said Wide. Art Ferdig and that woman of his, Rita Laframboise, are raising hell night and day trying to get it unlocked. The thing is hellip I cant keep stalling them forever. Sooner or later Im going to have to hand it over. Kenney nodded. He looked thoughtful. You know that the FBI and FIU Financial Intelligence Unit of Dominica raided Tradexs office in Roseau last month The authorities had arrived at the one-storey residential building, perched on the edge of the ramshackle Caribbean town, just as Ferdig had fled. He was now squirreled away in a hotel in Montego Bay in Jamaica, where McGunns agents ndash former Scotland Yard and FBI men ndash were keeping tabs on him. What they only discovered later, in a hilarious scene that Kenney would delight retelling, was that Rita Laframboise was attempting to blackmail the con-man herself, to get her hands on more of the cash. She had him begging on his knees in his hotel room in Nassau ndash unbelievable roared the lawyer. Once they turned their sights on her, they would attack the remaining 115,000 of the victims money that remained unspent and neutralise her threat. Kenney knew that one of the key steps in the initial meeting with victims was to convince them to spend more of their money. Understandably theyrsquore reluctant, because theyrsquove already lost a lot: but just enough to start the investigation can lead us to some of the initial assets. Once those are located, frozen and then liquidated (sold), the funds released from that can then be used to fund the real (rest of the) investigation. If they could get their hands on the frozen Tradex monies in the Banc Caribe account, that would be enough to fund Phrase Two of the investigation: a full, comprehensive field investigation with a chance to locate targets for recovery. With his suspicions focused firmly on Art Ferdig, Kenney steepled his fingers and considered his options. Gentlemen, he said, with characteristic understatement. What we need is secrecy ndash secrecy and surprise As they ordered further drinks, he proposed they help Marcus Wide become not only Liquidator of Banc Caribe, but also Liquidator of Tradex: to leave Ferdig in control risked destruction of the remaining evidence and money. Not only that, but the majority of investors were still convinced of Ferdigs innocence and encouraged by slander from Rita Laframboise, were kicking up a storm about their involvement, as well as threatening legal action against them. They needed to wind up Tradex, fast. If they failed, Ferdig would surely get to keep the loot. Dan Wise, MKSs chief lawyer and former British army officer copyNeil Massey Summer 2004 ndash It was a legal firestorm. Well over 130 quotsealedquot (secretly obtained and executed) subpoenas were issued from the US Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles discovery and raid orders were served on banks, businesses and associates of Art Ferdig across the Caribbean from that summer of 2004 onwards. Sealed requests for judicial assistance abroad were sent to nine different territories on Marcus Wides behalf, allowing Kenney powers of asset discovery, arrest and recovery across the Bahamas, Jamaica, the USA, Antigua, the Cayman Islands, Canada, Singapore and further afield. In spring of that year Tradex had finally been wound up. Over 2.2m had come in as a result (from the frozen Banc Caribe accounts) to fund the investigation. As agents of the Liquidator, Kenneys teams now had supreme power over the company and its related entities. Via the requests he was sending out from Dominica on the Liquidators behalf, Martin Kenney was again breaking legal history, pushing the law as far as it could go. The team was also employing both ldquoforwardrdquo and ldquoreverserdquo tracing techniques, following the movement of funds as they were taken from victims and then also tracing back from where the Ferdig Gang was now spending that cash. Thousands of pages of bank and investment account statements, email messages, telephone records, mortgage files and other pieces of data were flowing into the Martin Kenney amp Co offices, pored over by handwriting, data recovery and other specialists the team had flown in. Meanwhile James McGunn was keeping tabs on the crook. By now Ferdig was on the run. McGunn was in daily contact with the FBI, which was also looking for the villain. The ex-Secret Service man had tracked the fraudster as he moved between south Florida to the Bahamas, then from different Caribbean islands and onwards to Germany, London, Montenegro and other European countries, before heading back to the Americas. Flying in to Los Angeles, McGunn met with Ron Lander, an investigator from the Dominican FIU. Records turned over from their raid on the Tradex base revealed the full extent of Ferdigs daughters involvement in the crime. The MKS investigation uncovered evidence that Ferdig, his three daughters, and his daughtersrsquo husbands had each spent hundreds of thousands of dollars from investor deposits to secretly buy homes and boats, and pay for country clubs and travel by private jets. They had no-name credit cards, identified by number only, for use at ATM machines in the U. S. to withdraw Tradex money they had diverted to secret, offshore bank accounts. Other records later seized from Singapore showed that Ferdigs currency trader, Susan Lok ndash who had taken the rap for the collapse of Tradex and who, in 2006, pled guilty to fraud and was sentenced to 10 years and ordered to pay US27 million in restitution ndash was really a bit player in the scheme, only ever receiving about 10 percent of the Tradex funds and providing a thin veneer of legitimacy with her currency trades. By now Richard Marston, a mild-mannered ex-Scotland Yard detective, was working the case with McGunn. With him was his old friend, Ross Gaffney, an ex-FBI agent based out of Florida. Both men had extensive knowledge of the Caribbean, having taken part in a joint task force to investigate and close hundreds of dodgy banks on the island of Montserrat. They were joined by John Boaden, a former homicide detective from Nottingham, England and Al Ristuccia, an ex-IRS (Internal Revenue Service) agent who had helped Kenney on several of his past cases. In The Bahamas, Ross Gaffney was soon photographing and making discrete enquiries about two residential properties that McGunn had discovered were purchased with Tradex funds. One was an ocean-front condo in Nassau and the other a canal-side home in Freeport. Title to both properties was held in a corporate name: Applewhite Properties Ltd. together they were worth over 1 million. McGunn learned that Ferdigrsquos daughter, Alisa Lockhart, was an officer of Applewhite and had signed all of the purchase documents. The intelligence developed by the former FBI man helped them establish that the Freeport residence had recently been sold, with most of the proceeds going to personal accounts controlled by Ferdig and another daughter, Rachel Riotte. It was a classic example of what fraud investigators like Kenney called quotlayeringquot: all money laundering operations involved three phrases ndash the placement, layering and then integration of illicit money into quotcleanquot assets. McGunn also tracked down a West Indian girl in Santa Domingo in the Dominican Republic, whom Ferdig had married in late 2001 when she was just 18 and he was 61. She was living in a condo that Ferdig held under a corporate name and had purchased with money stolen from Tradex. God told me to sire a son, so I needed a young woman, Ferdig claimed, after getting a Dominican divorce from Elaine Ferdig, his wife of 36 years. Between those two wives, Ferdig arranged to ldquomarryrdquo a middle-aged Texan woman, who discovered after about a year that her union with Ferdig was a sham because their Las Vegas wedding had been performed by a fake religious minister (one of Ferdigrsquos long-time associates). She later went on to train as a private detective and sent her own investigators to shadow the fraudster. Tragically, the MKS investigation learned that an investor in Bath, Maine had taken her own life after losing everything she owned to the Tradex fraud. She had been one of the earliest followers of Ferdig and subsequently brought others into the programme. After her suicide, her friends said she was not only ldquowiped outrdquo financially, but was burdened with guilt after watching so many others lose their life savings. By early March 2006, confidential Bahamian contacts developed by McGunn picked up ldquochatterrdquo between Ferdig, a Nassau realtor (estate agent), and Ferdigrsquos Nassau attorney. The talk was about Ferdigrsquos condo in Nassau. While the intelligence failed to confirm that the condo was being sold, it was clear to Kenney and McGunn that they had to act fast. They moved against a local branch of Barclays bank, gaining access to records of Ferdigrsquos accounts under a seal and gag order. Using a Discovery and then Anton Pillar (raid) order, they hit the private trust company administering the condo: his team appeared on its doorstep one morning, taking the owner completely by surprise. Kenney knew the trust specialised in forming Bahamian companies to help money launderers. Not only did they seize scores of documents, they also flew in a forensic IT specialist from Miami, who cracked its server and recovered deleted emails. McGunn then raced to gather all the available evidence to support a Mareva Injunction, which Kenney fashioned with the assistance of a Bahamian law firm, to freeze the condo. As it happened, they acted just in the nick of time. On March 16 Ferdig had signed an all-cash sales agreement with a couple from Wales, and the proceeds of the sale had already been deposited into an attorneyrsquos account, waiting to be disbursed to Ferdig in a matter of hours. The result of the MKS effort was that the 425,000 sale was allowed to go through, but the buyerrsquos money was paid to the Liquidator. Ferdig got not a dime. From the start of their chase this was the first time that the con artist had really been slapped in the face: that he knew they were after him, big time. Kenney understood that the important thing was to keep up the pressure ndash you went after the small things first, so you could take down the main prize later. McGunn joked in his trademark, laconic drawl that the legal firepower they were now unloading was tantamount to the bad guy living life in the tropics and suddenly opening the door to step into a snowstorm. A blizzard of litigation just smacked him right in the chops, rsquo he chuckled. From now on, it would not be so easy. Ferdig would become more and more evasive and elusive, covering his tracks, not staying in any one place for more than a short period. He was feeling the hot breath of the hunter down his neck. Art Ferdig and suspected wife, on James McGunns desk copyNeil Massey August 2006 ndash Road Town was a polyglot of low rises, shacks, palm trees and oddly-shaped office buildings. It pressed tightly to a bay clustered with the swaying masts and conning towers of billionaire yachts. The sailing capital of the world sat against a stunning backdrop of verdant mountains. It was also home to thousands of offshore companies. And now Martin Kenney. The Canadian patted his faithful Afghan hound, Jackpot. The British Virgin Islands (BVI) was a perfect new base: nestled right in the heart of the offshore world. lsquoWersquore moving to be behind the enemyrsquos front line, rsquo Kenney had told his staff, only half-joking. Theyrsquod moved from Ireland exactly a year previously. The team ndash which had now expanded to nearly 20 individuals, and numerous freelance agents ndash gathered around the huge conference table. Spread before them were hundred-page plus affidavits surveillance images a screen lit with link analysis diagrams, showing the numerous parties in the fraud next to times, dates and bank account numbers. Phase Three of the investigation had begun. Can we do a Club Priveacutee Or a Maz Khan asked a figure dressed casually in shorts, sporting a goatee beard and Hawaiian shirt. John Bagalini was in his element, a spider pulling in the various strands of his web. As well as his forensic accountancy and IT skills, Bagalini was a handwriting expert, running his eye over cheques and account signatures, spotting the telltale signs that would link two different names to the same person. He was also an arch negotiator and as he spoke now, he referred to previous cases in which hed dealt directly with the fraudster, hammering out a deal to get back the majority of funds to the victims. They agreed to get McGunn to try and ldquorunrdquo Ferdigrsquos phones: subpoenaing his call data (from phone companies) and using that to determine his main contacts. Meanwhile, Bagalini had weeded out fake creditors (frequently fraudsters put in dummy companies and claims to get back monies for themselves) and his careful analysis of the records that McGunn and Kenney had seized revealed that new money was coming from one of Art Ferdigs associates in Jamaica. Near a Sandals resort the fraudster had bought himself nearly 500 acres of stunning real estate (forest), on which he intended to build a New Age retreat for the gullible Californian crowds he was now working. The website for his new venture, Up The Vibration, even bore a photo of the happy-looking man standing atop a hill, the Caribbean seas behind him, whilst words talked about the healing lsquocrystalsrsquo he was sure lay there beneath the earth. Former Army officer and solicitor advocate Dan Wise had now joined the firm as partner from London. Barely hours off the plane, he wasted no time and was soon discussing with McGunn the legalities of tapping the phone in a Jamaican hotel they knew Ferdig used and was intending to buy, having secretly intercepted his emails. Let me send someone down to talk to Norman Pushell the owner first, suggested the chief investigator. McGunn informed the assembled team how he and Bagalini had been tracing funds sent through another money launderer called Jay Patel, over 2.5 million of which they had so far traced from Tradex into various other accounts ndash including into the 400 acres near the Casablanca Hotel on the south coast of Jamiaca. McGunn would detail one of his men to go down and case the location, as Wise drew up the legal documents to support their discovery and freeze orders. (Eventually the resort lands would be frozen and liquidated.) lsquoIrsquove also been in touch with Special Agent Brian Coughlin of the FBI, as you know. We think theyrsquoll be some profitable synergy from that relationship, rsquo McGunn smiled, knowing that his law enforcement contacts and knowledge could prove most useful. By now the partnership between McGunn and Wise was becoming invaluable. Having worked out in conflict zones and often personally tracking down witnesses, Wise was unusual in the legal profession. With a penchant for fine sherry and dark humour, he rarely seemed fazed by what the bad guy had to throw at them: in one bitter case the lead barrister on the other side had complained about the volumes of material Wise would serve on him the night before a hearing. lsquoHe got so annoyed that he insisted the next time we sent materials we do so by serving them at his hotel room via two dancing girls, a bottle of Mount Gay Barbados Rum and some Cohiba Cigarsrsquo chuckled Wise. By that next time, however, Wise had converted the lawyer to their cause and had him working for Kenney on the Tradex case. Someone who understood the local courts, and most importantly the judges, could often tip the battle. Not surprisingly, their foes rarely thought highly of Kenney amp Co. Wise knew that Kenney had once been described by one fraudsterrsquos lawyer as lsquoan economic terrorist. rsquo That they would frequently be lambasted as zealots ndash essentially by the people they were suing of course. Sometimes their lawyers made very serious allegations and put the firm to a lot of expense to defend itself. Private investigators would often shadow them, as they shadowed the fraudster: it was extremely unpleasant at times. But it was all part of the game, designed to throw them off the scent. It rarely worked. Back in his office, James McGunn picked up the phone. A womanrsquos voice was on the other end. She was saying that she was a neighbour of the Elliots ndash Art Ferdigrsquos daughter and son-in-law ndash and that she had invested and lost money in Tradex. Then she confided how the Elliots had let slip that their family and relatives were planning to move to Florida. They knew Kenney and McGunn were on their trail and hoped to use Floridarsquos ldquohomesteadingrdquo laws, which afforded protection against seizure of property, to safeguard their ill-gotten millions. (What they didnrsquot know, but Kenney and Wise did, was that where criminal intent and money laundering could be proven, those state laws became ineffective as a shield.) The caller became one of several ldquoCIsrdquo, or confidential informants, that McGunn ran on the case. One of the others was the Texan woman Ferdig had duped into believing they were married, and in fact had dumped her ndash during a surprise holiday visit ndash for an 18-year-old Dominican girl. Hersquod even had the gall to ask her, as they flew in on their ldquoholidayrdquo, if shersquod meet and teach his ldquonewrdquo wife all the necessary skills to be his woman Undercover surveillance of Ferdig June 2007 ndash He swatted away a fly. Florida was humid at the best of times. Insects would eat you alive if you stayed outside too long. But their quarry had gone ldquoAWOLrdquo, to ground, and the former Secret Service agent was determined to find him. Thanks to his CIs, McGunn had managed to trace Jeff Lockhart, one of Art Ferdigrsquos main accomplices and his son-in-law, and freeze the house he was using in Louisiana. Ironically hersquod found Lockhart through his connections to a Bible college. Now McGunn was heading into Boca Rotan, or ldquofraudstervillerdquo as many in his profession called it. It held a remarkable number of money launderers, grifters, con men and swindlers. And, he thought, Art Ferdig. By the time evening was drawing down that night in 2007, four years after theyrsquod set out on the case, McGunn was confident hersquod found his quarry. A tortuous chase from the Ferdig Gangrsquos California homes, via a money laundering associate in a tiny Nevadan town, and now through a complex series of trust companies, had led him to a house occupied by Ferdigrsquos ldquoexrdquo wife, Elaine (he suspected that was a legal not physical split, to help the con man avoid detection). Ferdig had exercised considerable care in selecting the Boca Raton house. Designed for the tropics, the high-end single storey residence had white masonry walls and a tile roof the color of an aqua-marine lagoon. A large screened-in terrace opened through French doors to a rear yard that bordered a fresh water canal. McGunn was struck with the impression that the owner wanted extreme privacy. Awnings shaded the windows of almost every house in the private road, and the expertly-manicured laws, sunny gardens and tall, leaning palms offered no hint as to whether the owners were home or away, or how they earned their money. McGunn permitted himself a small smile. The various members of the Ferdig Gang had been under covert surveillance for some months now. A lucky break in tracing one of Ferdigrsquos cheques, via a Discovery Order on an insurance firm, had led him to an automobile repair shop and then to a post office box (he knew Ferdig favoured collecting his mail from numerous private mail boxes) and thence to the county records office, back to the Nevada connections eventually turning up the address where he now stood. It was detective work: long, hard, boring at times. But always yielding results. He knew that Wise, too, had just been able to freeze 90,000 in an account Jeff Lockhart held down in the Bahamas. Patience paid off. He jumped back in fear as a large shape ndash an alligator ndash lumbered out across the canal path, not yards from where he now crouched. Backing up fast, it seemed for once as if even the animals were scared of McGunn: it slipped quietly back into the dark waters as quickly as it arrived. McGunn let his breath out, slowly, then edged back to his car to call back to Road Town. These stake outs reminded him of his early beat cop and Secret Service days: hersquod recently had to carry out surveillance on a property from a car park used by young lovers, no doubt curious what this old man was doing in their midst. McGunn was to spend many days, and visits, in ldquofraudstervillerdquo. As he surveilled different properties, building lots, even a boat dock, Wise would prepare the necessary legal attack and Kenney would execute it in the courts. One by one, the properties were frozen. Theyrsquod even gone after the Banc Caribe estate, too, in the Caribbean courts and gained a substantial victory there (taking over 5.5 million of value ndash or two-thirds of its estate) as McGunnrsquos affidavits revealed just how much the Dominican bank directors had known about the crimes their clients, including Ferdig, were committing. Banc Caribe and Art Ferdig had been inseparable. As for ldquothe man of Godrdquo himself, Ferdig was running out of places to run. Bagalini, meanwhile, was updating the link analysis charts which plotted the Tradex con: he could pull up screens which would show that this was money laundering at its most brazen, a criminal offence that could sink the fraudster. The empire was well and truly crumbling. With the information they were now collecting, they felt able to ldquorunrdquo Ferdigrsquos phones. The principal cell phone number came from records obtained through subpoenas: sometimes these gave you a lead to public information, like the incorporation documents of a company, and sometimes there was personal information which could be gleaned from those records. Every time they did a subpoena they asked for account opening documents, which often had a phone number attached. In this case the number tallied with one mentioned on Ferdigrsquos emails, obtained from the FBI raids on Tradex back in 2004. All the while, Ferdig had no way of knowing how much information was being accumulated about him. lsquoOne of the numbers I called when he was in Jamaicahellipwe did this twice. I pretended I had a bad phone connectionrsquo recalled McGunn. lsquoAnother time Burke Files called him, disguised, Burke said he was calling for someone else. Art said it was the wrong number and how hersquod just re-activated it in Montego Bay in Jamaica. It was one of the old numbers we were continuing to try. rsquo With the hotelierrsquos cooperation down in Jamaica, plans had been made to bug the room where Ferdig would be staying. Dan Wise knew that the team couldnrsquot cut corners: the techniques they used had to be able to stand up under local law or else the entire investigation could be ruined, when the legal battles ensued. In the event Ferdig never turned up. However, the fraud busters had another ace up their sleeve. Ferdig had reinvented himself as a sort of New Age Christian guru, and was giving seminars at local colleges and spiritual centres, under his new banner Spiritual Ekklesia. Not only did McGunn trace an address via a Discovery Order served on PayPal, which was being used to collect payments on Ferdigrsquos new website, but a team of undercover agents set about tailing the con artist as he went about his latest swindle. The team of ex-intelligence and law enforcement agents was assembled in an undisclosed location, where Ferdigrsquos calls, and Al Ristucciarsquos tracking, had now placed him. They prepared to use a GPS tracking system that transmitted information via an embedded satellite modem to a secure website. By using customised software, the team could receive real-time speed, direction and/or position that was displayed against an electronic map. There would only be a short time in which to place the device. The trick was to practise on a similar vehicle before finding a window of opportunity to gain access to Ferdigrsquos car. Magnetic trackers were easy and quick to install, but over rough roads could work loose and the magnets could interfere with the signals. So they decided on a clamp-based system, that bolted the transmitter beneath the vehicle. Eventually a window presented itself: the men worked hard, and fast, smearing grease on the device so that it didnrsquot look brand new ndash just in case he had a mechanic check over the vehicle. They had disguised themselves in mechanicsrsquo jumpsuits, placing a similarly-disguised work truck in a public lot next to Ferdigrsquos parked car. All went well, until the battery failed and they had to repeat the operation. When it stopped transmitting again, they had to repeat the clandestine manoeuvres once more, only to find it had gone, probably fallen off. But the six weeks of signals they did get was enough to pinpoint his location and routine. In that time they would physically follow the fraudster wherever he went. If he used a cash machine (ATM), they wanted to watch and see which bank he was using, then match it to their electronic and court-ordered documents and surveillance. If he visited friends or attorneys, they would note those down and make sure someone would record wherever he stopped and parked his car. Al Ristuccia, the ex-IRS agent, was part of the operation. McGunn had now managed to track down Ferdig to a seedy apartment building in Los Angeles. As Ristuccia and another private investigator approached, they spotted Ferdig inside a second floor apartment: when they knocked on the door, an accomplice bolted out of the back (a man they later thought was Ferdigrsquos Nevada-based money launderer). lsquoHow did you find me herersquo Ferdig snapped, through the closed chain. Ristuccia thought that a funny thing to say, unless you were hiding something. lsquoWell, when folks have nothing to hide theyrsquore usually pretty easy to find, rsquo replied his colleague, to which Ferdig could only reply lsquohmmphrsquo. Using a cover that they were investigating another legal matter ndash a different Ponzi situation, in which they implied Ferdig was merely an innocent spectator, on behalf of a different client ndash they tried to pump the fraudster for information. They learned that he was giving lectures on ldquoangelsrdquo at the Learning Light Foundation, a New Age centre. Suspicious and evasive, the men knew Ferdig would give little away. They noted the address in case they needed to serve him with judgement papers (on behalf of the Liquidator of Tradex) and reported back to McGunn. The old investigator nodded as he listened to their words, remembering the twists and turns of another of his cases how theyrsquod had to place a disguised ldquohobordquo outside a restaurant, videoing a conversation inside which was later broken down and reconstructed by a lip-reading expert. Chasing money could sure take you to some strange places. Surveillance on Art Ferdigs car McGunn hadnrsquot realised it at the time, but he already had a ldquogotchardquo moment. Back in 2006, the fraudster had been on the move. McGunn had gone back to the emails theyrsquod intercepted, searching for any clue he might have missed. Perhaps Ferdig would be prepared to deal. As he was about to give up, he spotted an alias Ferdig had used. There was little chance the address was still ldquoliverdquo but he sent him a letter attached to the email, anyway. Just in case. Three days later there was a Postik note marked ldquourgentrdquo stuck on his desk. ldquoPlease call Art Ferdigrdquo. It listed a number in Panama City. McGunn dialled. What followed was a verbal sparring session where Ferdig would make a serious mistake. lsquoWhat are you, what are you really afterrsquo asked the voice crackling at the other end of the line. McGunn silently clicked on his tape recorder. lsquoWhat wersquore after is bringing closure to the matter in such a way that the interest of the creditors are served. Thatrsquos, thatrsquos our responsibility, rdquo replied McGunn in his rumbling, measured tones. Ferdig sounded like a calm, reassuring preacher. Like he had mastered that persona, as an actor would do. Unlike James Lee, McGunn was not so easily taken in. lsquo. there may be, there may be certain avenues that we can take, rsquo he suggested, doing his best to box the con man in. lsquoCertain ways out of this problem that actually would be in your interest. That would, that would benefit you somehow. rsquo Ferdig was slippery, evasive though. He sold McGunn a sob story that he was a simple man, taken in by Susan Lok his currency trader later ldquodeposedrdquo by McGunn, a week before she started a 10-year jail sentence for her part in the crime that he was trying to find a place he could live in for a few hundred dollars a week. lsquoI have no cash, rsquo he said. lsquoIf youre looking for cash from me, I have no cash. rsquo It was easy to hide money in Panama and McGunn suspected that was his true reason for being there: to open accounts, perhaps start up an internet scam. It was pretty common, in his experience. A settlement offer was on the table McGunn in return wanted information about locations, assets. Ferdig knew that Kenneys men had already frozen property in Jamaica and in The Bahamas. But then he made an admission, as McGunn was speaking: lsquoThen, you were under the impression, as you explained to me, that a percentage of those profits you could retain as earned income. As your share, as your fees for operating this, rsquo McGunn had put to him. lsquoRight, rsquo said Ferdig. Admitting he had made about 20 million from lsquoforeign currency tradesrsquo, it was obvious he had paid no taxes on that ldquosalaryrdquo. McGunn of course knew the business was neither legitimate, nor that Ferdig had shared that cash. It had gone right into his private accounts. Now from his FBI contacts, McGunn learned that the IRS ndash the Internal Revenue Service of America ndash was looking into the case, too. McGunn suspected the fraudster had filed false tax returns. lsquoAharsquo thought McGunn to himself: lsquoGotcha. rsquo With the information coming in from Al Ristuccia and his teams in the USA, McGunn fed through Ferdigrsquos latest known whereabouts to the IRS agent in charge of the investigation. A tax evasion charge may not be the most glamorous of legal manoeuvres, but it was one of the most effective, famously catching Al Capone. Meanwhile, Ferdigrsquos attempted defence that he was earning all this money as a salary would be blown apart by Kenneyrsquos legal thrusts, which could clearly show Tradex had been a Ponzi scheme. lsquoThey lied their way to get the money, to retain the money, rsquo the Canadian lawyer said as they sat around their huge conference table. Spread before Kenney were affidavits about Ferdigs scheme, surveillance images and a screen lit with link-analysis diagrams showing the numerous parties in the fraud next to times, dates and bank account numbers. lsquoOnly 1.5 percent of the 80 million taken into the scam went into loss-making foreign currency trading. And if it was honestly earned and yoursquore an honest businessman, what do you need with these machinations with 59 different companies and money being pushed through multiple bank accountsrsquo lsquoRight, rsquo nodded Bagalini. lsquoYup. when you operate a fraud, you canrsquot take a salary eitherrsquo McGunn felt a smile spread across his face. Art Ferdig taken on Jamaica, above the quothealing crystalsquot he was sure lay beneath his feet 2009 ndash Today Martin Kenney amp Co. has frozen or liquidated nine Ferdig Gang-controlled assets and accounts ndash and effected a recovery against the corruptly-managed Banc Caribe ndash totaling over 10 million of value. A investigação continua. Meanwhile, there is a 35 million default judgement which has been awarded against Rachel Riotte, Jeff and Alisa Lockhart, on behalf of the Liquidator of Tradex, Marcus Wide, out of the court in Dominica where Tradex was once based. A 500,000 judgment stands against Elaine Ferdig and David Riotte, while the chief con man himself is facing a 20 million judgement from the same court. There have been heated negotiations, as members of the Ferdig Gang face financial ruin and attempt to cut deals with the Liquidator. One daughter, Deborah, and her husband Michael Elliot, escaped judgement by settling with him. Much of the money is gone, though. Spent, recycled back out as fake interest payments, or simply was never there, inflated by Art Ferdigrsquos lies and sales talk. Carmen Bryant, the woman once duped by Ferdig into fake marriage, suggested he was a sociopath: lsquoWhile spouting Bible verse he is breaking all the Commandments. He justifies this by using the Old Testament and quoting or interpreting just what fits his present crime. I truly believe that these people only get worse as time goes on. They see how much they can get away with and if successful they continue to go on to bigger and better victims. Just imagine, having a father like Art and working for him and breaking the law each day with sanctimonious necessity. rsquo So McGunn, Wise or one of Kenneyrsquos younger lawyers, such as Englishman Andrew Gilliland, still have to face stomach-churning descents into the volcano-studded airport in Dominica, before a tortuous hour-long drive through jungle and rain to the capital Roseau. Winding up Orders are still being placed on various Tradex-related entities, as McGunn races to the local Court Registrar on Road Townrsquos cramped, colonial Main Street, to swear his affidavits then rushes them off by Fedex to arrive the next day with MKSrsquos local attorneys in another offshore location, where the company is lsquochasing another million or tworsquo. McGunn is still keeping tabs on Ferdig too: the fraudster has become ever more desperate for cash, trying new schemes ndash his latest being a mineral-selling business that McGunn has already penetrated using one of his many holding companies kept for just such a purpose. Kenney, meanwhile, continues to fence, a brilliant international lawyer outwitting the local attorneys hired by the other side using his encyclopedic knowledge of international legal systems and anti-money laundering legislation to run rings around the opposition. It is not without danger, though. Kenney has recently had to hire private military contractors ndash former special forces soldiers ndash to protect him on his visits to Latin America, digging deep into corruption behind the collapse of several banks in Brazil. And he recalls one meeting where a fraudster forced to the point of bankruptcy lsquofrothed and used many unkind expletives, explaining that he had lain awake all the night previous, thinking of ways to kill mersquo lsquoIt becomes very personal when you get the guy by the pocket book, rsquo Kenney admits, looking up from a stack of documents. lsquo I have a fraud lawyer in Florida who had to get a specially-trained attack dog to live with his family, because of death threats. But it just washes over me: it doesnt stick. rsquo After five years on the case, James McGunn is tired. The all-nighters they often pull donrsquot get any easier when yoursquore 66. But he wonrsquot give up. One colleague had to tough it out with over half-a-dozen bodyguards in Liberia, part of a massive fraud case, and in the process caught malaria. lsquoHe still stuck it out, though, rsquo nods Martin Kenney, approvingly. John Bagalini puts it another way: lsquoEveryone is very driven, very tenacious. Once any of us gets on the path, it really takes a death blow to get us off. You have to beat us on the head with a crowbar. rsquo With news of the collapse of Wall Streets legendary investor and Nasdaq founder, Bernie Madoff, it seems no surprise that Kenney and his team are already on the case, investigating two of the major BVI feeder funds that fed around 10 billion of reported value into Madoffrsquos Fund from a large European bank (Kenneys client). As for Kenney he reveals that one day, perhaps when he retires from chasing economic crooks, he wants to work on behalf of Death Row inmates (lsquomen of insubstantial meansrsquo) who are denied justice. lsquoI believe very strongly that all accused persons are entitled to a robust defence ndash especially when charged by the State with capital murder that can lead to their execution. rsquo For today, though, there is still a strong urge to wipe the world of the con artists and charmers who steal millions each and every day. There is clear loathing in his voice when he talks of these characters. lsquoTheyrsquore as sophisticated and bright and as well organised and articulate as some of the best commercial business people in the world could ever be. And some of these fellows are really sick They get their lsquojolliesrsquo off of victimising and laughing at people. Why do they do this Well, therersquos a sickness there they have sick, psychological states of mind. rsquo lsquoThat might explain why some of the big boys who take 200 million at a roll, do it again, and again, and again. Therersquos no reason they can never consume all they steal. Itrsquos a sick psychological game, thatrsquos what it is. rsquo Epilogue ndash The Tradex case rumbles on. Art Ferdig has been arrested (June 2010) by US Marshalls in south Florida and has appeared in a court in California, where he pleads quotnot guiltyquot to multiple federal charges of tax evasion on the profits he generated via the Tradex empire. (A Grand Jury had prepared a sealed indictment against Ferdig in 2009). He remains in custody, awaiting trial. MKS continues to serve notices on the fraudster and associates it has uncovered four deaths of US citizens, connected to Ferdigs associates, down in the central American state of Belize. An edited version of this story appeared in WIRED (UK) magazine copy2009. A Fraudbuster Speaks ndash Dan Wise, senior partner, Martin Kenney amp Co: quotTo work here, quot he says, speaking over a rushed lunch at his desk, is quotvery interesting indeed ndash demanding. Its long hours, a lot of the work involves getting freezes orders for different types of injunctions, either in the court here or getting papers for other lawyers in other jursdictions. And a lot of the time thats time sensitive. You can end up working late nights and a lot of weekends. But its very, very interesting. quot quotMany law firms are not equipped to take on cases such as this. Because they have other aspects of their business to run. quot There are aspects which are similar to other law firms but in other organisations this type of work is not done by one company. quotMost litigation is a sensible commercial dispute. In most litigation, people will obey court orders. Thats not always the case here. quot The firm is very unusual in having the focus on fraud and the spread of expertise inside: forensic accounting, legal and investigations. Both Wise, and his colleague Andrew Blackburn, whom he recruited from London, say theyve invested a lot of time and effort in building up the firm. Dan, 43, joined the law after being an officer in the Army. Martin has a quothigh profile in terms of asset tracing and obtaining these Discovery Orders, getting information by way of court orders. He spends a lot of each month speaking at lectures and devotes a lot of effort to keeping the profile of the practise high. quot Wise thinks they are only tackling a tiny proportion of the fraud. quotThere is a lot of fraud out there. A lot. Its about taking financial advantage through deception, lies. I can only see more of it, sadly. Arising from the economic output of China, India, former Soviet Union. And structured finance products. Which increase the speed with which you can make or lose money. So its a massive, huge, problem. quot quotIn Paradise Beach, people lost their childs college fund with Bill Gagnon. The potential for damage in developing countries is huge, too, in terms of infrastructure, roads, schools, hospitals ndash all things that would help them improve their families lot. quot Is this a vocation quotI think theres a significant element of that. I dont want to sound too holy, but I do really enjoy the fact that we act for people who have been victims of bad conduct, as opposed to just acting in a commercial dispute. In all our cases theres some element of skullduggery. Were trying to help victims. And I like that. quot On Enemies ndash Dan Wise speaking quotMartin was once accused of being an economic terrorist, by the lawyers for one of the fraudsters we tackled, quot laughs Wise. quotWe sometimes get accused of being zealots, essentially by the people were suing of course. quot quotSometimes their lawyers make very serious allegations and put the firm to a lot of expense to defend itself ndash its part of their strategy to delay us, to try and frighten us off the pitch. It takes a lot of work and money to put them off. Its extremely unpleasant. quot REUTERS UK Psychology weds finance in Ponzi scheme frauds Tue Apr 28, 2009 11:30pm BST By Pascal Fletcher MIAMI (Reuters) - Take the malleable clay of human nature, add greed, deceit and manipulation, and you have the basic ingredients for a Ponzi scheme financial fraud. Throw in bird dogs, boiler room boys, socialite philanthropists, front companies, slick sales talk and glossy promotion. These are some of the accessories that can turn a simple scam into a persuasive fictional investment vehicle. As victims and regulators still digest the shock of the recent scandals involving disgraced financier Bernard Madoff or Texas billionaire Allen Stanford, experts are probing the psychological and financial components of Ponzi schemes. The Ponzi scheme is named after Italian immigrant Charles Ponzi whose 1919-1920 fraud was a cause celebre in Boston. It works on the simple principle of luring investors by promising attractively high returns, while in fact paying its early clients with the money provided by later investors. While basically insolvent from the start, it feeds, fraudulently, on the natural desire to obtain financial gain. quotIts human nature and psychology, its preying on individuals that are vulnerable, quot Maria Yip, a forensic accounting expert at Yip Associates, told Reuters. She and other fraud experts explained to an offshore finance conference in Miami on Tuesday some of the common attributes of Ponzi schemes, which have bilked investors in the United States and elsewhere out of billions of dollars. Successful Ponzi schemes prey on close-knit communities of victims, so-called quotaffinity groups, quot which the perpetrators of the frauds are either already linked to or can tap into. For example, Madoff, who has pleaded guilty to Wall Streets biggest ever investment swindle involving 65 billion in client funds, found many of his customers among the wealthy Jewish communities of Florida and New York. quotThey are going for groups of people where they can build the trust quickly, it could be synagogues or churches or retirement communities, quot Yip said. Stanford, who is accused by U. S. regulators of an 8 billion fraud, but who denies running a Ponzi scheme, was a quotred-blooded American marketing to Americans, quot said D. C. Page, a managing partner of Verasys, who sat on the experts panel. While some smaller Ponzi frauds may operate only by word of mouth, larger, more sophisticated schemes often cloak themselves in a facade of respectability, with plush offices, investment advisers, nominal auditors and glossy literature. Some also involve quotbird dogquot promoters, who work on recruiting investors, and quotboiler room staff, quot who work the telephones using lists of potential victims. These lists are sometimes sold on the black market among swindlers. quotRED FLAGSquot AND quotDRIPPING ROASTquot At the center of the Ponzi scheme is the mastermind, who experts say often poses as a gifted investment strategist, cultivating an air of mystery or cloaking his activities with donations to charity and acts of social philanthropy. quotIts the guru behind the curtain, quot said Michael A. Tessitore, a lawyer who has acted on behalf of victims of Ponzi schemes and frauds in the United States and Latin America. Investors are often told they are being made part of a privileged group, which maintains an air of cloistered secrecy around the frauds and discourages asking questions. But the experts say, often one blunt simple common-sense question, Is this too good to be true, would have been enough to puncture the deceit surrounding the promises of dazzling financial rewards. Promises of above-average returns defying market trends are among the biggest quotRed Flagsquot signaling a potential fraud. quotThe market place is pretty efficient. If theyre telling you youll be getting oddly high returns and that its guaranteed, theres something wrong, quot said Mitchell Herr, an attorney and partner at Holland and Knight. Other tell-tale signs are grandiose, but incomprehensible investment strategies and quotunbusinesslikequot use of money. Page said one scheme listed investment in quotsunken pirate treasure. quot Lack of clear and demonstrable financial oversight should also ring alarm bells, the experts said. For example, Herr said Madoffs vast investment empire was served by a quotthree-person audit shop, quot while Stanfords bank offering high-yield certificates of deposit was nominally audited by a quot72-year-old gentleman from Antigua, quot who in fact died at the beginning of this year. Discovery is only the first part of the dismantling of a Ponzi scheme. The second is the fight between receivers, liquidators and lawyers for what Martin Kenney, an attorney and economic crime expert based in the British Virgin Islands, calls quotthe dripping roastquot of the schemes assets and those of its organizers. quotThe investigation, the recovery becomes a feeding frenzy of professionals. It is not uncommon for there to be nothing at the end, but the fees to pay the professionals. that adds insult to injury, quot said attorney Tessitore. (Editing by Jim Loney and Andre Grenon)