Balder Ex-Libris

Author : FitzPatrick Robert Lawrence
Title : The Main Street bubble A Whistle Blower’s guide to business opportunity fraud How the FTC ignored and now protects it
Year : 2010

Link download : FitzPatrick_Robert_Lawrence_-_The_Main_Street_bubble.zip

We recently witnessed shocking revelations of how our Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) failed America in the regulation and prevention of financial Ponzi schemes on Wall Street. I urgently bring to your attention a parallel pattern that has prevailed for ten years at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a failure to protect Americans from Ponzis and pyramids on Main Street. These Ponzis are spread not as investment plans, loans or credit offerings but as “business opportunity” solicitations that promise extraordinary income potential. They are now the most common form of financial fraud that citizens fall victim to. During this recent period of regulatory immunity, the schemes have collectively and over time inflicted losses on Main Street consumers that dwarf those of Bernard Madoff’s Wall Street investors. The recent Recession has given the schemes additional predatory momentum as millions more people have become unemployed, face foreclosure and are in desperate need of income. ...