Ruscoe – Financial Treason & Crime

China Bank Unit Faces Ponzi Scheme Suit Over $46.5M Loss

Emilie Ruscoe, 16 April 2021

A Canada-based investment firm has sued the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Financial Services LLC in New York state court, accusing ICBC of looking the other way while an alleged Ponzi schemer used her accounts there to orchestrate a $100 million investment scam.

In its complaint filed Thursday, SureFire Dividend Capture LP sought at least $46.6 million that it, and its predecessors, invested in liquid hedge fund Broad Reach Capital LP, which was run by former broker Brenda Smith. According to SureFire, ICBC, a U.S. subsidiary of the state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd., was the bank that was designated to serve as Broad Reach’s “clearing broker” for the unique “dividend capture” options trading strategy that Broad Reach used. Continue reading “Article: China Bank Unit Faces Ponzi Scheme Suit Over $46.5M Loss”

Debt Settlement Co. Agrees To Pay $1.4M To End CFPB Claims

Emilie Ruscoe, 14 April 2021

Online debt-settlement company SettleIt Inc. has agreed to pay $1.4 million to end U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau claims that the company charged its customers for negotiating settlements with two creditors it was secretly affiliated with and steering the consumers into expensive loans with those companies.

The terms of a proposed judgment and order, filed Tuesday in California federal court, would require SettleIt to set aside about $647,000 to pay back the performance fees the company collected from consumers and pay a proposed $750,000 civil monetary penalty. The company neither admits nor denies the CFPB’s allegations. Continue reading “Article: Debt Settlement Co. Agrees To Pay $1.4M To End CFPB Claims”