White Collar Crime Ponzi Scheme - R. Gregory Gibbs Pleads Guilty!

Facing 20 years in federal prison, R. Gregory Gibbs plead guilty to mail fraud in an investigation that uncovered a massive Ponzi scheme. Facts, as they appear in the US Attorney’s news release appear below:

Gibbs admitted that he engaged in a scheme to defraud numerous individuals who had invested in Golden Summit, a business he owned and operated, a Foreign Currency Market (“FOREX”) Ponzi scheme. The FOREX is an over-the-counter speculative market in which buyers and sellers trade one currency for another. As part of Gibbs’s scheme, he would enter into loan agreements with investors who would loan Golden Summit money for a period of 12 months and, in return, Golden Summit promised to pay a guaranteed rate of interest of between 3 to 5% per month. From August of 2004 until March of 2007, pursuant to his loan agreement program, Gibbs accepted approximately $21 million of investor funds from approximately 150 investors located in 24 states across the nation.

Named after Charles Ponzi, a ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation where high returns are promised to investors and usually paid out of other investors money rather than from profits generated from the investment promised.

Gibbs has acknowledged that although he initially believed that he could make good on his promises of paying investors a large return on their investments, by June of 2006, his sustained and rapidly growing FOREX trading losses made it apparent that he would not be able to do so. Despite this, Gibbs continued to accept new investor money and made false representations about his trading success and the safety of the client investments. Specific misrepresentations by Gibbs to many investors included his claim that the majority of the money that he traded in the FOREX was his personal funds. This statement led investors to believe that Gibbs had significant personal assets and that he could make good on his promised interest payments even if he experienced trading losses in the FOREX market. In truth, the vast majority of the money traded by Gibbs was investor funds. Gibbs made other misrepresentations to many investors to assuage their concerns regarding the safety of their investments, including his claim that he had enough personal assets on hand to pay all outstanding “loan” obligations – both principal and interest – if he became incapacitated or died. In truth, he had very limited personal assets – other than those purchased with investor funds – and his mounting trading losses made repayment of the outstanding loan obligations almost impossible given his sustained losses in the FOREX.

Of the approximately $21 million that Gibbs received from investors, he deposited approximately $7.2 million in a FOREX trading account and utilized these funds to make foreign currency market trades. He lost approximately $6.2 million of that money. Gibbs also paid other individuals approximately $1.4 million for referring investors to Golden Summit. In addition, he utilized approximately $1.75 million in investor funds for personal expenditures, including approximately $1.1 million spent building a luxurious home for himself and his family.

OBSERVATION: Most of the time in any white collar crime scheme, some portion of the money stolen seems to end up enriching the one (including the family) who committed the crime. As a white collar crime speaker, there is a general pattern of behavior that seems pleasant and pleasurable for a time. Yet, the final outcome - the consequences - are far more severe than any short term benefit received.

Consistent with typical “Ponzi” or pyramid scams, Gibbs made some payments of what he purported were returns on investments to certain investors. The payments were intended to convince the investors that the investments were sound and to conceal the significant FOREX trading losses. In fact, however, the payments were made from deposits from investors who had come into the scheme later.

COMMENTS are welcome. If anyone knew R. Gregory Gibbs or fell victim to his scheme, feel free to comment.

Fraud and Tax Evasion - Carol Irene Estep Sentenced to Prison! White Collar Crime in Virginia

Seven plus years in federal prison is no fun! Yet, for her fraudulent activities that is exactly what Carol Estep, age 54, of Hurley, Virginia got. “This defendant made one false statement after another, all in the name of greed,” U.S. Attorney John Brownlee said today. “In order to line her own pockets, Ms. Estep stole money from disabled individuals who were truly in need of financial assistance.”

As a white collar crime speaker, I often state that Every choice has a consequence. In the case of Estep her choices have significant consequences not only to herself but others she was associated with. Not only was a fraud committed by Estep - her son, Timothy Carl Ling, age 30, and Herman Scott Ling, age 67, her ex-husband were involved in the several frauds committed. Herman Scott Ling was sentenced to five years probation.

The charges to which Timothy Carl Ling, Estep, and Herman Scott Ling pleaded guilty to centered around numerous fraudulent schemes. These schemes included a mail fraud scheme in which the family defrauded the Virginia Consumer Services Fund and received money to which they were not entitled by falsely claiming that Timothy Carl Ling was a quadriplegic. The Virginia Consumer Services Fund and Clinch Independent Living Services, Inc., which provides funding and services to disabled individuals so that they may live a more independent life, purchased a specially equipped van and built ramps at Estep’s home based upon the pair’s fraudulent representations that Timothy Carl Ling was a quadriplegic. According to testimony presented at the sentencing hearing, the agencies spent more than 50 staff hours and more than $14,000.00 assisting Timothy Carl Ling and Estep, money and time that could have been used to help the 2,000 other individuals with disabilities serviced in Buchanan, Dickenson, Russell, and Tazewell Counties by these agencies.

Timothy Carl Ling had previously pleaded guilty to Social Security fraud in which he admitted that he was fabricating his quadriplegia in order to avoid being sent to prison for probation violations pending in Buchanan County, Virginia. I must admit in writing about many white collar crime issues, I haven’t run across someone that creative. Faking a medical condition to avoid prison is gutsy and, no doubt, will result in significant prison time when sentencing arises.

Additionally, Timothy Carl Ling and Estep perpetrated a credit card fraud scheme between the summer of 2005 and October 2006 in which they defrauded five separate credit card companies and incurred a loss to these companies and merchants of $344,465.09. The money was used for shopping sprees, vacations, casino gambling, and to purchase property in both Pikeville, Kentucky, and Hurley, Virginia.

Estep and Timothy Carl Ling were in the process of building two houses in Pikeville, Kentucky. In the course of that scheme, Timothy Carl Ling and Estep used the social security number and date of birth of another family member in order to attempt to hide their criminal conduct and falsely implicate this individual.

What a massive fraud with far reaching tentacles. But, it doesn’t start with what written above - using some of the proceeds of the credit card fraud, Timothy Carl Ling and Estep, both recipients of Social Security disability benefits, established a recycling business in Hurley, Virginia, known as “The Yard,” which posted gross profits of $210,641.93, during 2005 and 2006. The profits from “The Yard” were divided between Timothy Carl Ling, Estep, and others. None of these individuals reported their income to the Internal Revenue Service or the Social Security Administration Office and Timothy Carl Ling, Estep, and Herman Ling actively tried to hide this income from the Internal Revenue Service by engaging in money laundering transactions.

Wow…social security fraud, tax fraud, wire fraud, - this would be a good movie if it weren’t so sad. From personal experience, I speak to group about the Truth about Consequences. In most cases, one can trace back white collar crime to three key components: NEED - OPPORTUNITY - AND RATIONALIZATION.

If anyone is familiar with Estep and the others, and have some insight into the fraud and crimes…feel free to comment. It would be interesting to understand how and why something like this was done.