S.E.C. Sues Jehovah's Witnesses For Investment Frauds (page 3)

DannyHaszard

Rich seniors of US become ideal victims for fraudsters
MSNBC - 13 minutes ago
... filing two lawsuits. Two California men are accused of soliciting funds from elderly congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses . For Mr ...

DannyHaszard

High rank on the news wire

SEC Halts $16M Scam Aimed at Elderly Jehovah’s Witnesses
CCH Wall Street, NY - 8 hours ago
... In what the regulator called a classic Ponzi scheme, Nadel (a JW) and Malone solicited aged investors through Jehovah’s Witnesses congregations and used the ...
SEC alleges Ponzi scheme in faded Dacono mall plan Denver Post
Up and Down 17th Street: Seniors with money ripe fruit for ... Rocky Mountain News
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bendover

Ron Nadel, Kelly Konzelman started Renaissance Asset Fund in the late '90's. At it's zenith it employed dozens of witnesses from local congregations and dozens more of financial advisors who fairly systematically recruited investors from the congregations and others. Like all Ponzi schemes it did great as long as the money poured in. However, as the SEC filing states Nadel used the company as his own personal piggy bank. He later brought on Joe Malone, Steve Swanson (presiding overseer in Santa Monica congregation) Greg Gentile (presiding overseer Dana Point congregation) Tom Ingle and Phil Ingle (elders in San Juan Capistrano West congregation and Capistrano Beach congregation) Alan Long (secretary, Capistrano Beach congregation) and many many other elders. The problem was that Nadel preyed on the congregation using the basic tenants of Affinity Fraud, he and his fellow elders at R.A.F. would exploit their position as elders and the trust placed in them as elders to reassure potential investors that their money was safe. When R.A.F. folded everyone ran for cover and have since then pretended that they never worked at R.A.F. Nadel has practiced this sort of business strategy for years, build up a business that is all hype, exploit brothers who are taken in by his charisma, charm and b.s. and then when the reality of economics sets in he folds the business, rope-a-dopes brothers who try to hold him accountable for his actions and then moves to another area in Southern California and in a few years starts another company. Nadel is by definition a con-man. He uses the inherent trust of the flock in their shepards to gain the confidence of potential investors. He also uses the network of congregations and exploits as his own personal contact list for new investors. And of course financial crimes are very, very difficult to pursue within the framework of the congregation judicial arrangement and so he has never been held accountable for his actions within the congregation. It will take the resouces of the Government, including supoena powers, to get a handle on Nadel and those other elders who misused their position to assist Nadel in his scheme as they profited as well.

garybuss

Please show a connection to the SDO and please show some of the $ proceeds of this series of crimes made it's way to the SDO at some level.

tough time

Welcome Bendover,

Thanks for filling in the blanks. I totally agree with your description of how those Elder's used the inherent trust that the congregation members have in them for their own use. More than likely, this will just blow over with out any penalties to those brother's.

Do you know if Bill Parodi was involved with RAF? Are any of the congregation members aware of what's going on yet?

Steve

DannyHaszard

The Watchtower cult is a ripoff racket from the get-go SEC Pursues Real Estate Scheme Aimed at Seniors
CCH Wall Street, NY - 1 6 minutes ago ... million . Many of the investors were senior citizens solicited through Jehovah’s Witnesses congregations, said the regulator. The ...

JeffT

Unfortunately religious organizations are good targets for this kind of thing. People want to believe that fellow believers will not cheat them. I've seen it happen in churches too. The real point of this story is, that inspite of all protestations to the contrary, Jehovah's Witnesses are pretty much like everybody else.

serendipity

Hi To Tell The Truth & welcome!

The problem with being a whistleblower in the JW org is not only the loss of a job or position, but the threat of df'ing. People would lose all their JW friends and JW family. The price is too steep for some.

candidlynuts

wow to tell the truth! you sound like your close to the situation.

the jw's in the area i come from are too poor for this kind of stuff.

thanks for the inside look and your opinion of it all. welcome to the board.

badboy

IT GOOD TO SEE AN OFFICIAL BODY STAND UP FOR INVESTORS!

S.E.C. Sues Jehovah's Witnesses For Investment Frauds

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