back to article SEC: Magical stock brokering software was a fraud

US trade regulators are accusing two California men of orchestrating a multi-million dollar ponzi scheme by convincing clients they owned a special stock option trading computer program with a near-flawless record for choosing winners. The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday said it has charged Anthony Vassallo …

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  1. chris
    Flame

    I'm not a wise master of the universe type

    ...so I can't see how this is different from anything else related to the stock market, ever-rising house prices or investments.

    "returns of about 3.5 per cent per month with little risk of loss.

    Regulators allege that no such magical program actually exists"

    And most of us poor fuckers have been duped / pushed / forced into pension arrangements based on that.

  2. CTG
    Happy

    I just hate banks

    Obviously none of the people they conned had ever seen the film "The Bank", which incidentally has The Best Final Line of a Film. Ever. (see title)

  3. John PM Chappell

    Heavy Metal Trader?

    "He allegedly mislead his clients to invest their money in EIMT by claiming he had proprietary trade brokerage software which generated returns of about 3.5 per cent per month with little risk of loss." should be 'misled' with no ay, unless you're suggesting the involvement of heavy metals.

  4. Michael Xion
    Joke

    Just goes to show...

    "Vasallo fooled about about 150 investors — many of whom he met through his church"

    This is why people who believe in 'magic' (religion) shouldn't be allowed control over their finances, they'll obviously believe in anything

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Time for a little chinese justice

    Guilty of fraud (or tax evasion) valued at over £50k ? - here's your bullet, we'll send the bill to your family, if there's anything left after we seize your ill-gotten assets.

    Too much has gone on in the banking sector for anything other than a severe (if not permanent) punishment to be meted out. The same goes for the auditors who signed off their accounts.

    If that didn't restore faith and transparency in the system within a couple of years, i'd eat my hat :-p

    Paris, because lets face it, we've all seen what we'd get !

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    It must be true

    Because the computer says so.

    This line used to work with a lot of people in the 80's. History teaches us that we don't learn from history.

    Paris, because people still take her at face value.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    church.

    The best place to find suckers. they have been pre screened for gullibility.

  8. JimC
    Flame

    DAMN Flash Ads

    The stupid Microsft VOIP ome is obscuringthe text and I do't seem to be able to get rid of it...

  9. amanfromMars Silver badge

    Re Heavy Metal Trader?

    By John PM Chappell Posted Thursday 12th March 2009 00:24 GMT

    John PM Chappell,

    Such areas of Perceptions Management and dodgy Digital Manipulation are for the Heavy MetAI Trader with XXXXPerTEase? And an Alien Landscape with All Manner of Unknown Known Surprises. ....

    "“I don’t know what the facts are but somebody’s certainly going to sit down with him and find out what he knows that they may not know, and make sure he knows what they know that he may not know.”

    “Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”" ..... from a Past Master of the Spoken Word ..... Donald Rumsfeld..... http://nbfs.wordpress.com/2006/11/10/rumsfeldisms/

  10. Paul
    Thumb Up

    Re: Heavy Metal Trader

    I dunno about you, but I _always_ suggest the involvement of Heavy Metals \m/ ^_^ \m/

  11. John Smith Gold badge
    Thumb Up

    So like that guy who took took Wall St for $40bn

    Only they seem to have been rumbled rather faster. Maybe the weren't big enough?

    One UK broker who avoided the $40bn guy said "We looked at the consistancy of the returns and could not figure out how they could always be around that level." No more, no less, no losses. He reckoned it looked too good to be true. It was.

    BTW Its only called a Ponzy scheme by the septics. Elsewhere its generally known as a "Rollover" fraud. Take money from early entrants to pay

  12. David Cherry
    Coat

    pendant speaks

    Verb

    Infinitive to mislead

    Third person singular misleads

    Simple past misled

    Past participle misled

    Present participle misleading

    to mislead (third-person singular simple present misleads, present participle misleading, simple past and past participle misled)

    1. To deceive by telling something that is not true.

    2. To say something for purpose of causing the receiver to think or act in a certain way.

    3. To lead astray.

  13. kissingthecarpet
    Pirate

    Pyramid Selling?

    Pyramid selling is far cleverer than a Ponzi scheme(which is just like paying off one credit card with another). Of course, pyramid selling is illegal, which is why its called Multi-level marketing now(tho' that might be illegal now as well), & involves getting people to recruit others - in a pyramid(duh!) (like a chain letter) - the product being pretty much irrelevant.

    Lose money now - Ask me how

  14. John Smith Gold badge
    Joke

    Although their is a Government backed roll-over scheme

    Its called the UK Old Age Pension.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    @David Cherry

    Wow a speaking pendant where can I invest in that.

    Call me pedantic but haven't you invested in a speak and spell?

    Paris - she wants a magic speaking pendant for her dog

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