  |
A Florida man used facilities at the University of Miami to run a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme and recruited school employees for the operation.
Andres Pimstein, a UM business school graduate, has confessed to operating the scheme in which some investors were promised returns of 18 percent, Miami-Dade County police said. People across the country lost an estimated $30 million in the scheme, which collapsed this year, said Wayne Black, a Miami private investigator hired by one investor.
“Pimstein was able to convince a couple people there to use their computers to control the bank accounts that he laundered the money through,” Black said…
Pimstein had a joint bank account with the university’s director of contract administration, Alan Weber, according to bank records. Black said investor meetings were held in a UM conference room used by Weber, and as many as three dozen current and former UM employees — including two former senior university officials besides Weber — bought into Pimstein’s operation.
“It was about making money, and then it turned into [Pimstein] being the center of attention,” Black said. “Him being important to these people that were friends. He played baseball with them. He knows their kids, in some cases.”
I’m certain his next door neighbors say he’s kind to the cat, as well. Hasn’t everyone realized by now you can’t tell a book by its cover, eh?
I’m still waiting for the headline to come out that says “Ponzi scheme run from Federal Government in Washington, DC” followed by a description of Social Security.
yap==much of what our government does would be illegal if we did it. Its all VERY irresponsible.
Vote all incumbents out of office.
#1 – So, your Mom never explained how SSA is an agency run more productively and efficiently than most corporations.
Or you’re happy relying on politicians for your information.
Too bad Americans stupidly allowed the Republicans to loot middle class Americans retirement and give it away to billionaire conservative war profiteers who are transferring it offshore, as we speak.
#1 – Little ‘un
>>followed by a description of Social Security.
Yeah man! Let’s privatize! Let’s hand all our money over to a bunch of middle-man stockbroker barracudas, backed by the gummint and many of Dumya’s smarter (and more manipulative) pals, so they can thrash and churn our accounts, leaving us with a fraction of the money we should have. While they need pocket calculators to figure out how many houses they have.
We can turn Social Security into the Denial-of-Health-Care industry of the new millennium, where 45,000,000 lifelong workers end up at retirement age without a pot to piss in.
Brilliant idea!
>>moss said, “SSA is an agency run more productively and efficiently than most corporations.”
OMG, that is the funniest sentence ever input into Dvorak!! Even a crappy passbook bank account yields more than a retiree gets from SS.
>>Mister Mustard said, “Yeah man! Let’s privatize!…where 45,000,000 lifelong workers end up at retirement age without a pot to piss in.”
Just where is YOUR retirement fund money invested? Are you relying on SS totally for your retirement? Better buy that pot now because the government won’t give you enough to buy one.
Check out http://www.iousathemovie.com/ and look for IOUSA on YouTube for more information. If you are 50 or under you probably won’t be getting social security.
#6 – Little ‘un
No, I’m not relying on SS for my retirement. I have 401(k) funds, as well as my own stock portfolio (which I manage myself). For me, SS would be nice, but I could live without it.
Not all are so fortunate, however. And replacing SS (which, in spite of what the privatizes say, is pretty stable and would be viable until we’re all dead if the gummint would stop sticking its hand into the cookie jar) with some lame-ass “privatized” scamola program where people get dog-shit ROI, while the gummint-sponsored parasites get richer and richer.
At least SS is somewhat accountable. Wall Street barracudas do whatever the f&ck they want, until somebody puts them in jail. Then all the retirees are f&cked up the ass like Enron shareholders.
well at least they are learning about real life
rather than only theory and the view from the “Ivory Tower”
Economics in the end is all about supply and demand or as my late friend Kirk the moron used to point out finding “the biggest mark in the world” only to discover years later that the little mark was not so dumb as an insect in the first place
#7, Mr. Mustard,
You do realize that the money Americans put into SS is not in a special marked account, don’t you? Do you further realize that the “gummint” has SPENT all the money we’ve put into SS (and then some…)? It’s gone like the wind. And you think the “gummint” is accountable? They can’t be sued for wasting our money…repeat OUR money.
Even with bear markets included, the ROI from the stock market is light-years better than the ROI from SS. After all, SS money doesn’t get invested in anything, it gets wasted.
You seem to believe that individuals can’t be trusted with their own money. Yet “gummint” people can???? Try searching “government waste” in google sometime and see what results you get.
Silly me, I thought #6 might have at least a minimal understanding of corporate business. The SSA runs with less than 3% overhead required for administration.
Try that out at GM sometime.
No, I won’t explain pension plan funding for you, either. Or creeps who think their tax bracket exempts them from participating in taxes common to the whole working population.
Probably never figured out “off topic” either.
#9–Ivor==its a definitional thing. ROI is irrelevant because retirement security is not an investment in the way you want it to be.
What would you point to as evidence that American’s know how not to be cheated by wall street? Their savings rates? Their enjoyment of playing the Lotto? What exactly?
I can see the wallstreeters salivating now. Imagine the millions of retirement dollars with nothing but the stockmarket to invest in. Explain how there will not be an artificial bubble created in the stock market that the vested interests won’t suck right out? Thats right====social security funds sent to stock market which gains values which those selling long on take their profits out, stock market falls back to pre-Soc Sec levels. Net effect==more average joe’s retirements lost to the rich guys.
Yea, good plan.
#9 – Little ‘un
Well, yeah, it IS in a special marked account. It’s just not immune from dickwads like Dumbya tapping into it to pay for his trophy war.
And sure the ROI from the stock market is better than that from SS. That’s why I invest in the stock market. Of course, I don’t use Dumbya’s barracuda stockbroker parasites for my trade. If they were just going to put the money in no-load index fund or something, I might have supported the idea. (Of course, we could do that ourselves). But no. It’s got to be some complicated PONZI SCHEME, where Dumbya’s shills skim and skim and skim, until there’s little-to-nothing left after the paper-shufflers take their cut.
The SS Admin is EXREMELY efficient. Low overhead, nobody getting $100,000,000 golden parachutes, etc.
>>You seem to believe that individuals can’t
>>be trusted with their own money.
We’re not talking about trusting people with their own money (although you’re right, I think a lot of people CAN NOT be trusted with their own money, and what are we going to do when they retire with no safety net…let them starve to death out in the snow?). We’re talking about trusting the money to gummint-appointed financial confidence men. Who are going to mis-manage the funds, take their $100,000,000 golden parachute, and then buy a tropical island and retire. While retirees are eating hamburger helper without the hamburger.
I’d trust Dumbya to plan my financial future about as far as I can throw all the brush he’s cleared from his Crawford “ranch” in the last 8 years.
You want Ponzi schemes, you’re going to have to look somewhere other than SS.
The SS system right now has a surplus of money. That money was loaned to the government. Predictions are that in 2017 or so SS will have to start tapping this surplus to pay its obligations.
Assuming that the IOUs are paid back, the surplus will be spent in a few years. Then SS can’t pay 100% of what it promised. So either it will need to get more money (higher taxes), or lower benefits.
The double whammy is that the IOUs are paid back from future tax revenue. So not only will there be no money for the Feds to borrow, but they will have to start paying back what they borrowed in the first place.
We’re not talking about trusting people with their own money (although you’re right, I think a lot of people CAN NOT be trusted with their own money, and what are we going to do when they retire with no safety net…let them starve to death out in the snow?).
Yes. Unless, of course, charitable individuals want to donate some of their 401k (which they aren’t paying any taxes on) to help them out.
Why make me a slave to those who aren’t smart enough to manage their own money?
#14 – Tommie
Why make you a slave to people who aren’t smart enough not to get cancer or heart disease or diabetes, when you don’t have it yourself? That’s what you’re doing with a pooled-risk insurance program.
In any case, one way or another, you’re going to pay. If 75,000,000 baby boomers are out on the street with no homes and no food, there’s going to be a bailout. Trust me. And that will cost you a f&ck of a lot more than putting money into SS and then getting it back after you retire.
This whole “privatization” scam is nothing more than a PONZI SCHEME by Bush’s neocon puppeteers to take money away from people who need it, and give it to those who don’t.
#14, Tom,
Why make me a slave to those who aren’t smart enough to manage their own money?
If you want to be a slave then shut the eff up !!! Slaves aren’t allowed to speak.
This ponzi scheme is just one example of where we need regulations in our society. Thieves are out there. Privately run schemes will never have the protections of the government. Even when they are protected to some degree, they are susceptible to the vagaries of the market place. Yes, there is the oft repeated example of Enron. Well, just take a look at Fannie May and Freddie Mac. Their stock has tanked too and might go belly up without capital infusion. How much has Ford stock dropped over the past 7 ½ years?
As a SOCIETY it is in the countries best interest to have a healthy and financially stable population. That is how taxes are paid and services rendered for ALL of us. That is how our military is supported. That is how the best brains get educated. That is how the roads get built. That is how police, fire, and infrastructure maintenance function. We do all of that and much much more as a society.
So no, not everyone is an expert at everything, including you. We still rely upon society to provide services in many areas because it is a function of society to co-operate and it is cost effective. No town, let alone a city, could operate without an effective sewer system and garbage collection. To operate an effective sewer system requires a steady tax base. That requires a steady, stable population with enough income to contribute to paying for not only this, but all services. SSA is just one part of the whole of society.
#16 – Little ‘un
>>And if someone fails to save for their own
>>retirement, they should starve to death
>>unless they can get their family or some
>>charitable organization to help them.
That’s a mighty heartwarming sentiment, Little.
However, much as you might like to see millions and millions of less-fortunate people starving to death under the interstate overpasses all around the country, that ain’t gonna happen.
When a small number of hobos and winos are starving to death, that can just be swept under the carpet as though it didn’t exist.
If published statistics on US savings are accurate, by the time the baby boom shit really hits the fan, there’s going to be a large percentage of the 80,000,000+ baby boomers without a pot to piss in. And letting THEM starve to death isn’t a viable option.
Hey, if Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae can’t manage their own business, let ’em crumble. Right? That didn’t happen.
And if we 86 SS, that’s going to lead to chaos that will take an infusion of capital to solve that is MUCH greater than what you’re paying into SS now.
#15, Why make you a slave to people who aren’t smart enough not to get cancer or heart disease or diabetes, when you don’t have it yourself? That’s what you’re doing with a pooled-risk insurance program.
Not really. I can choose not to buy insurance. I can’t choose to not pay taxes without SWAT busting down my door. That is the definition of slavery — forced labor at the point of a gun.
In any case, one way or another, you’re going to pay. If 75,000,000 baby boomers are out on the street with no homes and no food, there’s going to be a bailout. Trust me. And that will cost you a f&ck of a lot more than putting money into SS and then getting it back after you retire.
Which is why I buy gold now instead of 401k. Let the dollar sink all it wants. My money is safe from the gov.
#16, Yep.
#17, If you want to be a slave then shut the eff up !!! Slaves aren’t allowed to speak.
You misunderstood. I am not a slave. You are the slave happy to take what the slave owners leave for you. “From each his capabilities, to each his needs.” Sound familiar?
As a SOCIETY it is in the countries best interest to have a healthy and financially stable population.
I agree. However, gov programs are not how you achieve that.
#18, However, much as you might like to see millions and millions of less-fortunate people starving to death under the interstate overpasses all around the country, that ain’t gonna happen.
You are going to see way more than that if you think printing more money is going to solve the problem.
Has it not occurred to people that the reason we have a larger percentage of poor people is not because of lack of social services but because of too many of them?
Why should these poor folk work when they have you to support them?
Why should they save when you are doing it for them?
Get a clue.
#19 – Tombee
>> Which is why I buy gold now instead of 401k.
Heh heh heh! Are you shitting me? I’ll bet you’ve got rifles and a year’s worth of canned tuna fish buried in your back yard! Where do you keep all that gold, in the WC of your toilet?
HAW!
>>Not really. I can choose not to
>>buy insurance.
Yeah, you can (in some states). Depends on how stupid you are. Or if you can afford $500,000 for a liver transplant or a heart-lung transplant, then go for it.
>>You are going to see way more than that if
>>you think printing more money is going to
>>solve the problem.
Talk about yer non sequitur. Where did “printing more money” come from?
#19, Tom,
Oh ??? So what “private” company has entered the Social Security field?
How many “private” companies have mismanaged their retirement funds?
And while the stock market can return higher returns, they also have higher risk. The risk is usually reflected in the return.
>> Which is why I buy gold now instead of 401k.
Heh heh heh! Are you shitting me?
Nope. You would be surprised how much you can buy when you don’t donate to the gov’s 401k.
I’ll bet you’ve got rifles
yep.
and a year’s worth of canned tuna fish
nope.
Where do you keep all that gold, in the WC of your toilet?
Right next to my rifles.
>>Not really. I can choose not to
>>buy insurance.
Yeah, you can (in some states). Depends on how stupid you are. Or if you can afford $500,000 for a liver transplant or a heart-lung transplant, then go for it.
But it would be MY choice.
>>You are going to see way more than that if
>>you think printing more money is going to
>>solve the problem.
Talk about yer non sequitur. Where did “printing more money” come from?
Where do you think they get the money for the bailouts? Now you know why I said, “Get a clue.”
#22–TomB==your position is too insular==as if you lived on an island by yourself. Try reading a few books. Might start with Mill “On Liberty” and the rest of his canon including “Utilitarianism.” Go find some hugs.
# 21 Mr. Fusion said, on August 22nd, 2008 at 11:30 am
#19, Tom,
As a SOCIETY it is in the countries best interest to have a healthy and financially stable population.
I agree. However, gov programs are not how you achieve that.
Oh ??? So what “private” company has entered the Social Security field?
How many “private” companies have mismanaged their retirement funds?
And while the stock market can return higher returns, they also have higher risk. The risk is usually reflected in the return.
I don’t invest in the Stock Market either. Personally, I find the idea of someone investing in a company they know nothing about to be insane (note I do know some people get rich in the stock market. They are rare). You want your money to grow, buy precious metals. No one ever went broke stockpiling gold.
There is a reason there is a 10% hicky on taking money out of your retirement fund early. The gov doesn’t like the fact you are using it for something other than their uses. Whenever the gov reduces interest rates, the dollar inflates. They would much prefer to have your money wrapped up in their fiat money system than in something that holds its value.
The FRN is the greatest scam ever perpetrated on the American people. They steal your money, out of your pocket, and all they have to do is sneeze during a Fed meeting.
Sure, you have to pay your taxes on the money you don’t put into a retirement fund, but you don’t have your money locked up for the next 30 years, deflating at 10% a year. You are paying a tax on it whether it sits there or not. Why not do something to hold its value a little better?
Take your money, buy gold (you can get it in fairly small trade bars), put it in a safe deposit box if you want, whatever, and in 10 more years see what it is worth next to that $500 you have in the 401k.
There always seems to be a scapegoat that gets fingered, while others around him pretend to be victims themselves. But I wonder if they didn’t stand to profit as well? And let Pimstein take the fall, when the sh*t hit the fan.
When people get greedy, promises of 18%, you get
burned. When it sounds too good to be true, it is
too good to be true.