Nytimes_logo_1.gif (1794 bytes) @wehaitians.com  arrow.gif (824 bytes) No one writes to the tyrants  arrow.gif (824 bytes) HistoryHeads/Not Just Fade Away
News & Analysis This Month ... Only our journal brings you hours of fine reporting and research.
Correspond with us, including our executive editor, professor Yves A. Isidor, via electronic mail:
letters@wehaitians.com; by way of a telephone: 617-852-7672.
Want to send this page or a link to a friend? Click on mail at the top of this window.

news_ana_1_logo.gif (12092 bytes)

 journal.gif (11201 bytes)
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (O.E.C.D.)

bluebullet.gif (326 bytes)Must learnedly read, too; in part, of intellectual rigor

bluebullet.gif (326 bytes)Wehaitians.com, waiting for your invaluable financial assistance blue_sign_1.gif (84 bytes)Reference Search

Posted Wednesday, December 31, 2008                                                                          

A Haitian Bernard L. Madoff Is Accused of Orchestrating a Ponzi Scheme That Lost Fellow Compatriots Millions

By The Baltimre Business Journal

The Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday it has filed an emergency action to halt an alleged Ponzi scheme conducted by Creative Capital Consortium, LLC and A Creative Capital Concept$, LLC in Lake Worth, Fla., both led by George L. Theodule.

According to the commission's complaint, the defendants raised at least $23.4 million from thousands of investors in the Haitian-American community nationwide through a network of investment clubs Theodule directed investors to form.

On Monday, Miami federal court Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks issued an order placing Creative Capital under the control of a receiver to safeguard assets and froze Theodule's assets.

"This alleged Ponzi scheme preyed upon unsuspecting members of a close-knit community, attempting to take advantage of the trust they had in each other," Linda Chatman Thomsen, director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement, said in a press release.

David Nelson, director of the SEC's Miami Regional Office, added, "This case demonstrates that individuals will often rely on a shared affinity to gain investors' trust. In this case,

Theodule allegedly abused that trust to con thousands of investors in the Haitian-American community." Theodule allegedly solicited investors by guaranteeing a 100 percent return on their investment within 90 days based on his claimed successful trading of stocks and options.

The defendants also solicited investors by claiming that Creative Capital's trading profits were used to fund new business ventures, some of which benefited the Haitian community in South Florida and Haiti. In reality, Theodule lost at least $18 million trading stocks and options in the last year alone, according to the SEC.

In typical Ponzi scheme fashion, Creative Capital merely repaid earlier investors with monies collected from new investors, the press release noted.

Finally, the complaint alleges, Theodule has commingled investor funds with his personal funds and misappropriated at least $3.8 million for himself and his family.

Calls to Theodule’s attorney were not immediately returned. Print Email Yahoo! Buzz Reader Comments (0) Comments You must be logged in to add a comment.

© 2008 American City Business Journals, Inc. and its licensors. Reprinted from The Baltimore Business Journal of Tuesday, December 30, 2008.

RELATED TEXT: SEC halts $23 million Ponzi scheme and affinity targeting Haitian-American investors
Wehaitians.com, the scholarly journal of democracy and human rights
More from wehaitians.com
Main / Columns / Books And Arts / Miscellaneous