I know what you are thinking about this post before you even read it: Ho, hum. Another day, another Ponzi scheme.
The Securities and Exchange Commission today filed a complaint against Kenneth Wayne McLeod, and his consulting firm Federal Employee Benefits Group of Jacksonville, Fla., for allegedly running a $34 million Ponzi scheme.
That’s of little concern to McLeod. He’s dead at 48. He died suddenly on June 22, the SEC said. He had a great life, too, taking 40 of his friends to the Super Bowl every year, according to the SEC.
Extravagance is hardly unusual for an alleged Ponzi artist. What makes McLeod noteable to me was that many of his victims were law enforcement officers.
They thought they were entrusting their retirement accounts to a guy who was steering them into safe goverment bonds. Now that’s some real moxie for ya, kid. But hey, if you’re going to steal, why not steal from law enforcement officers?
McLeod also had no qualms about using the old “I-am-not-a-Ponzi” routine.
“With all of the Ponzi Scams going on around the world I wanted to insure you that this account is 100% secured by US Gov’t Securities,” McLeod once wrote in a newsletter to investors. “The principal is never touched until liquidated.”
Didn’t Richard Nixon teach us long ago that whenever someone is forced to say “I am not a crook,” they probably are? You’d think the police, of all people, would know that.
Click here to read the SEC’s complaint.
