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Three men charged in Islamic-based Ponzi scheme
 Three owners of a Chicago-based real estate development firm have been charged with fraud for allegedly cheating investors out of $43 million while claiming to be compliant with Islamic law.Make sure to pick up their new book, Insh'allah Investing for Dummies... A federal grand jury returned a 14-count indictment against the owners of Sunrise Equities on Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said in a Wednesday statement. Federal officials said Salman Ibrahim, the majority owner and president of the now-bankrupt firm, and Mohammad Akbar Zahid, senior vice president of investor relations and a 10-percent owner, told clients that their investments would comply with Shariah law. Islamic law prohibits interest, so Ibrahim and Zahid told investors they would receive monthly pay-outs of profits from real estate development. According to Fitzgerald's office, the men promised annual returns of between 15 and 30 percent. Allah himself could not get you a better deal... Federal officials said the three owners actually operated a Ponzi scheme between January 2003 and September 2008, selling promissory notes and using the proceeds to make fake profit payments to earlier investors. The men are accused of cheating hundreds of individual investors as well as making false statements to get loans from Mutual Bank, Cole Taylor Bank and Devon Bank. They allegedly misused investors' funds, operating projects unrelated to real estate that were not disclosed to clients, and spending money on themselves. How much did they pass on to the Widows Ammunition Fund ...
Posted by: Fred 2010-11-18 |
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| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=309918 |