Posted on 10/28/2009 6:02:28 PM PDT by Colofornian
PROVO — Freeze! Nobody move (that property).
That's the order 4th District Judge Fred Howard gave last week as prosecutors pursue charges in an alleged $59 million Ponzi scheme.
In an unusual pre-emptive strike, investigators moved to block suspects from selling or transferring real estate and vehicles valued at almost $2.3 million. It is a tactic normally employed when charges are filed in a white-collar criminal probe, which typically takes years to complete.
But by that time, the assets are often long gone.
Prosecutors want to do all they can to prevent that in what has become one of the largest scams Utah County has ever seen, said Jeff Robinson, chief investigator for the Utah County Attorney's Office...An affidavit filed by investigators Sept. 30 names five people being investigated for securities fraud: Larry O. Bosh, of St. George; D. Shawn Benson, of Ivins, Washington County; Michael Smith, of Mona, Juab County; David Q. Poulsen, of Salem, Utah County; and Gale Robinson, of San Jacinto, Calif.
SNIP
According to Clark and others, Bosh was elders quorum president of Poulsen's LDS ward in Mona and also enticed the ward's bishop into the alleged scam.
SNIP
"We just happen to be a very religious community here in Utah County, and so it's a prime target," Buhman said.
Robert Clark has advice for people confronted with an offer like the one that came his way.
"Stay as far away from it as you can," he said. "Don't trust church members, don't trust elders quorum presidents or whatever position they have in the church. Stick with something that's a bona fide investment where you know your money's going to be pretty safe."
(Excerpt) Read more at deseretnews.com ...
In THAT scam, according to the Trib, Koerber called himself a "Latter-day capitalist."
Trib: ...In May, a federal grand jury indicted him for operating an alleged Ponzi scheme, charging him with mail and wire fraud and tax evasion. More charges are expected.
Excerpt from Trib: Koerber's LDS religion would figure prominently in his life and Utah businesses. But some think he went too far. In at least one presentation in St. George, Koerber announced the presence of Hartman Rector Jr., a former LDS general authority. Gordon Hamm, a software engineer in attendance, thought Koerber's actions were inappropriate. "The church wouldn't have wanted that, and that was my beef," said Hamm, who wrote Koerber and Rector letters protesting the implied endorsement. Members of several LDS wards Koerber lived in also invested, influenced by his church membership, said David Doerr, a real estate broker who Koerber sued over comments on a blog.
Doesnt any one in Utah work at a rewgular job ???
Are the only ways to have a steady income through getting a cut of the lowly members tithes in the motrmon church...
or pyramid/Ponzi schemes like this one ???
Oh Well, There goes their “Temple Recommonded” designation!
The Arapahoe County investor, accused of bilking dozens of investors of up to $20 million, served as a Mormon bishop for five years, making tithing payments — composing 10 percent of his income — to the church, LDS officials acknowledged Thursday. So the Utah-based church could eventually find itself paying back Merriman's donations to his victims if the funds are ultimately deemed by a court to be "ill-gotten" or fraudulent gains, said church spokeswoman Kim Farah........There are other ways Merriman's scheme may have steered money toward the church. He used part of his proceeds to amass hundreds of works by Renaissance artists and works by Rembrandt, displaying them in churches or church-sponsored facilities. It's possible, some LDS members say, that his exhibits lured other donations to the church merely out of appreciation....
....Merriman was excommunicated by the church in March.
Nope. No salesmen, farmers, business owners, doctors, dentists, engineers, postal workers, home-makers, cosmetologists, construction workers, machinists, writers here.
Just a bunch of Mormons with their pyramid schemes.
THIS was printed in Deseret?
What IS the world coming to!!!???
Next thing ya know; we'll hear of 15 yo boys being FORCED to have sex!
WHAT!!??
I din't see no reference that they DIDN'T pay their required 10% tithe!
Yup; ya just gotta appreciate a spirit of that type.
Utah does have a long history of Ponzi schemes/frauds - typically scamsters using their connections with the LDS Church to fleece the faithful. I've heard Utah has a much higher incidence of this than other states - but yes, there are a lot of hard-working regular Joes like myself keeping our state's economy chugging along.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.