Nicholas Cosmo, a convicted felon who somehow turned himself into an investment adviser who bilked people out of $370 million, allegedly has ties to organized crime, according to CNBC's Charlie Gasparino.Former Genovese family associate Michael Durso and another unidentified man met Cosmo during the 1990s and "put pressure on Cosmo to pay around $139,000 owed to loan sharks connected with the Genovese family," Gasparino reported.
Like the victims of the Madoff swindle, investors who had money with Cosmo's Agape World in Long Island are probably out of luck. Agape is in Hicksville, NY, far from the tony world of Manhattan and Palm Beach that Madoff called home for decades. He nonetheless was a bold liar.
"Cosmo handed a Bloomberg reporter a reprint of a page from Entrepreneur Magazine's May 2008 issue, which listed Agape World as number 73 in its HOT 100 fastest-growing businesses," Bloomberg News said. "Cosmo told the magazine he began the business with one employee in August 1999. Actually, he was imprisoned at Allenwood that summer."
I have said it before and I will say it again: Ponzi scheme reports are going to become increasingly common. Many people are in desperate financial straights. They are behind in their mortgages, credit card bills and car payments. Others break out in a cold sweat whenever they see their 401(k) statement.
This is an ideal climate for people to prey on the less fortunate or the financially illiterate. People are so stressed that they will believe that stock markets never decline or that one call to a debt counseling company can make all of their troubles go away. I wish life were that simple.
The sad fact is that times are tough and they are going to stay tough. That means it's vital for people to use their financial common sense and not to buy things they cannot afford. Of course, the alternative of magical thinking continues to appeal to people, which is too bad.
As my fellow blogger and corporate fraud expert Tracy L. Coenen noted: "It's probably easier to swindle people now."
More Ponzi schemes may be uncovered on a smaller scale because "it's a lot easier to get someone to part with $500 or $1,000 dollars," she said.
Indeed, fugitive money manager Arthur Nadel, whose $350 million fund is supposedly wiped out, was found today in Florida after fleeing authorities.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-28-2009 @ 9:06AM
richard said...
We need legislatures that will revamp the judicial system and make crimes of financial fraud punishable by doing hard labor in jail without the possibility of parole. We need to take stimulus money and create factories and farms on the prison grounds and make these bastards work their asses off for 18 hours a day. Forget cheap labor in China, Mexico and third world countries, we have inmates that can do the work and keep the money invested in our own pockets.
1-28-2009 @ 9:06AM
Yon said...
The Mob running a Ponzi scheme? Gasp!
1-28-2009 @ 9:06AM
rilles6961 said...
Richard makes a point put the criminals to work instead of shipping work overseas.
Anyhow, I'm pretty tired of watching white collar crime run wild in this country. When Madoff sits in his 7 million dollar flat and I can barely pay rent it make me furious. It'll take years to bring that guy to justice.
myspace.com/anotherblackseason
1-28-2009 @ 1:03AM
crksr said...
With judges going soft on swindlers, like in the Madoff case, we will see more of these cases. We have to start by throwing Madoff in jail along with the others. That includes Timothy Geitner, Thain, and all the execs at the failed companies that have costed billions in loses for the American people.
In China, they execute people found guilty of massive fraud. How about some chinese style justice for a chasnge.?
1-28-2009 @ 6:49AM
MyKisa said...
Government runs the greatest Ponzi of all time...and not a peep out of people.
1-28-2009 @ 7:46AM
Vinny Benfante said...
THIS GUY cosmo AND THE OTHER TWO low-lifes
ARE ALL CONNECTED TO THE ponzi SCHEME.
WHICH IS CONTROLLED BY THE mafia FAMILY.
WITHOUT A QUESTION. //// case closed /////////
1-28-2009 @ 8:28AM
iphonerulez said...
Well, this isn't China. This is the land of golden opportunities. Those opportunities include swindling. In a country ruled by capitalism, swindling is good, greed is good. No chopping off of hands, no capital punishment for massive frauds. It's really sort of a game to take other people's money without banging them over their heads or holding them up at gunpoint. If someone holds a knife at your throat and takes five buck from you it's punishable. If you hand over your life savings to a smiling crook and he then says you're money is lost, it's okay. More than OK. He's done it cleanly. No muss, no fuss. You as the loser are as much to blame as the loser for handing over your money. Guys like Madoff will never lose because they worked within the rules of the gentle con. You almost want to congratulate him for pulling off such a smooth con. He's a grandmaster of con.
1-28-2009 @ 8:34AM
TX CHL Instructor said...
MyKisa beat me to it.
1-28-2009 @ 11:01AM
Joe Meglio said...
In order to become a politician, you must first take the test of being a thief, if you know how to stand in front of a group of people and tell them how much you can look out for them and that america comes first, while you are making deals in some back room, then you may qualify to be a politician, everything the gov. does is a copy of what the mafia has already done. The credit card companies are allowed to charge loan shark rates says the gov. the states allow casinos and lotterys to be legal, thus taking over the gambling business, escort services and porn plus the book stores where homo's go to have sex are legal, so says the gov. and the mexican border is still open to drug smugglers, so that drugs can be brought into this country and sold to the people of the usa, those are what the politicians allow and those are what make someone qualify to be a politician
1-28-2009 @ 11:01AM
thor said...
The MOB also run the LABOR UNIONS..
1-28-2009 @ 11:20AM
Joe Meglio said...
Geitner is going to run the treasury dept. but he dosent know how to file his income taxes correctly, Paulson get $350 billion to help the people in trouble with their mortgages but gives the money away to the banks and auto industry, the republicans run and old man who picks an unknown for his running mate, Madoff steals billions and is not in jail, gov. Blago tries to sell the senate seat, the new york gov. is part of a prostituion ring, Barny Frank is a homo, along with others in congress and this country is borrowing money from china left and right, Obama is right, we need change but he can't change anything because he is part of the click in Washington and they all stick together. As soon as i can, I will buy a ticket to Italy, Russia, Mexico, or maybe even China where the money is. Things have to be better somewhere else in this world, this country is going to hell. BYE
1-29-2009 @ 2:19PM
Shawn Mosch said...
We have seen a lot of the victims of this scam at our site in the past few days. They are sharing information and resources.
Good luck to all that were hit by this,
Shawn Mosch
Co-Founder of ScamVictimsUnited.com