The United States of America filed a criminal complaint against James Harvey Mason on April 5, 2013 in the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina (Charlotte), charging Mason with Securities and Commodities Fraud, in violation of 18 USC 1348. A copy of the Criminal Complaint and Affidavit In Support Of Application For Arrest Warrant, signed by Timothy Stutheit, Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is attached. Mr. Mason was arrested on April 5, had his initial appearance in front of a Magistrate Judge, remains in custody, and is scheduled for a detention hearing and a Preliminary Hearing on April 10, 2013 at 10:40 a.m.
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Mason Receivership 
As he changed things and ask for more and more control over funds you could see it coming, but by then he had stopped all withdraws. Lets hope the house is sold as well as the offices and something is gotten back for those that invested beyond their comfort zone. Let this be a lesson to them also to never put in to any investment what they cannot afford to lose. Bernie taught everyone if its too good to be true it probably is
his crimes will live longer than his scam with people thinking they can somehow make work a system he lost a million dollars on. Desperation. lets hope they do not grant him bail and he pays dearly for this. an old mans last grasp at riches destroys lives in the process. Sad ending
He obviously did not do this alone. Leo, Brandon Sexton, and Brandon York all involved. Are the authorities also going after them, as he hid a lot of our money and spent it on his family.
Chris Justus
lets not forget him…and there are the people that referred members that also got a cut from bringing them into it….Shawn Ambrose is the one who sent me
Goddie Ude referred me and has recommened numerous programs that turned into scams (or were scams from the beginning)
Yes, all those brokers or investors who got commissions from Mason should pay back all that money. Also, if Mason had used other investors’ money to pay for some investors’ withdrawal, then those investors who withdrew should return their money too.
Don’t leave out Sun Trust Bank in Graham, North Carolina. Did they have a responsibility to know they were setting up an investing account for a known fraud. The bank is a part of this scam!
Yes, definitely Suntrust bank’s Ron Blevins. Paragraph 11 of the criminal complaint: Mason admitted that he kept the MAJORITY of investor money in the … bank accounts until Mason either paid “Ponzi” distributions to investors, or spent the money on personal expenses. And why haven’t they picked up Leo Cabazes who appeared in the fake daily video every day? And Brandon York Mason and Brandon Sexton? And everyone else in the office? Who knows what they have been doing with our funds the last few weeks!!!
Does anyone know what happened to Mason today in court?
anyone know what happen at the hearing today?
Let’s not forget that Mason also used IRA Services to funnel money into alledgedly IRA approved accounts in the poll.
no he didnt, he put a million in an account and lost that and spent the rest on family and friends…it was all one big lie
he should have been an actor. he lies with the best of them.
I hate this guy I was working for him during the start of this you guys prob got emails from me in the beginning. He bought me a house and a car computers and more then took it all and left me homeless
so there was a 3rd Brandon? we knew of York & Sexton. Join the crowd of JHM haters!!!!
I’d like more info on Chris Justus and what his role with James is and has been-apparently for a very long time. The JHM Pool website was registered to a company called Thunder Knight International and Chris Justus is one of the members listed on official filings with the state.
My greatest concern is with Sun Trust Bank who opened an investment account for a felon
My greatest complaint is with the Sun Trust Bank who opened an account for a felon. I believe we should be in touch with the FDIiC, Does anyone know how to file a complaint?
they didnt know it was an investment account nor that he was a felon most likely, you are assuming everything as he stated to us when it was not. suntrust is not at fault here, James is and his family members and associates…dont deflect the blame elsewhere.
and BTW I know quite a few people that are felons who have bank accounts
Now we wait until 5/22.
Mad,what is May 22nd
I found online that is Mason’s next hearing date.
Start looking into consumer protection agencies. The fact that James Mason was a convicted felon for financial crimes says that someone should have been looking out for us. Sun Trust Bank is only the begining. Sun Trust Bank is not a FDIC bank it is regulated by he Gab\by the Ga. Banking and Finace Dept.
its not against the law to have a bank account as a felon….
It is if you are a convicted felon setting up a new crime. Check with consumer protection at the Office of the Attorney General in Nortth Carolina!
I’m quite sure he didnt walk into the bank and say, hey I want to open a new account to scam people. Justice will be done here but the real criminal is James not the banks.
But when banks or its personnel knowingly assisted or negligently allowed a scam to be continued by its client, harming other people, the banks will be liable. Did Suntrust bank have proper procedures? Did Ron Blevins follow those procedures or did he give the Masons more leeway or turn a blind eye to Masons’ suspicious activities? Many, many big banks (e.g. HSBC 1.9 billion and Barclays 298m) have been fined recently for money laundering. JP Morgan was fined 20m for mishandling Lehman brothers fund.
Ponzi fraudster ordered to pay $5 mil; gets 3 years in federal pen
By John Diedrich of the Journal Sentinel
April 23, 2013
A Cedarburg man who admitted to stealing millions from investors including family in a Ponzi scheme has been ordered to pay $5 million in restitution and a fine, according the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Eric N. Schmickle was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay $3.6 million in restitution last month by U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa earlier this year.
Schmickle, 37, and his and his company, Q Wealth Management, solicited $5.3 million from at least 10 customers, making misrepresentations as to his trading performance. Schmickle’s victims included his father, brothers and attorneys who worked with his brother, according to court documents.
Schmickle traded commodity futures contracts through the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. He traded using a computer at a home in Cedarburg.
Schmickle lost $3 million in trading and took about $1.7 million of customers’ funds for his own business and personal purposes and to pay purported returns to at least one customer with funds of other customers, according to documents. Schmickle used some of the money for “personal expenses,” but the plea agreement didn’t provide other details.
To avoid having investors find out how much he was losing, Schmickle let them withdraw money that he said was from profits, when it was really other investors’ money.
How many people are planning on attending the hearing on May 22? I think we all should go.
It finally hit the news:
http://www.myfox8.com/2013/04/30/graham-man-charged-in-4-7-million-ponzi-scheme/
Mason on TV
Please tell this forex trading at home course that i purchase is rubbish then? All based on lies? the 20 pair hedge that i paid 7000 dollars is does not work? Oh my god what have done…..
yes its rubbish Paul. we were all lied to so dont feel bad
I don’t get it Is Leo Cabazes involved in all this? What about the course they where providing was it a just a big scam? Please tell me
hate to tell you Paul but it was all BS..check out the link above to see the latest
a forum where former Mason investors can chat and get info. http://lintdodgerfx.proboards.com/
The real culprit in all of this besides the Mason Clan is..
Ralph Falls Jr….. His criminal lawyer that was in the trust. Don’t let him out of it! Dis-bared lawyer that is!!!
Also and maybe foremost is..
FXCM [Gregory McLeod].
I had exposed Mr. Mason very early on and confronted the broker. He lied and covered up for him.
Gregory McLeod
Forex Capital Markets LLC
2701 Dallas Parkway
Suite 600
Plano, TX 75093
Tel: +1.972.535.9090
Fax: +1.212.897.7669
Email: gmcleod@fxcm.com
I exposed everything about James Mason to him. His past criminal convictions. The non-compliance with the NFA /CFTA . The missing annual reports that were supposed to be audited by independent public accountants. The non-compliance of having the books available for inspection for Pool Operators. And ….many more rules and regulations that were broken way back in early 2012. [He was NOT eligible for an exemption to begin with!]
And … maybe someone should be contacting the people involved with Fx Explorers Association. They are the ones that benefited from the early deposits into the pool!!!
I confronted everyone with the DD I did on this guy. Everyone thought I was crazy. I went to most of the big promoters and they all asked me to shut up. At least my personal friends were saved as they saw the 15 page research and all of the legal documents I had.
The promoters that blindly referred people to this ponzi should ave some responsibility as well. Most of them knew of my research. Shame on them!!!
Thanks for the updates networkfree. It is my understanding that Mason met Falls in Prison…IMAGINE THAT!!!!as far as this McLeod guy, my first thoughts when this all came out was what about Forex’s involvement, How could they not have researched Mason’s background. I heard he spent a week in Dallas working with the Forex people..something really stinks here and I would be willing to bet that someone knows where toothless Mason
buried our cash!!!
I am sure Ralph did not just go there to say hi to Mason. What did he want Mason to do or not to do, to say or not to say?
Ralph Falls was touted by Mason as his earliest and most successful investor, $ 5000 has grown to $ 150,000. Yet, in the CFTC complaint, one whistle-blower invested $ 5000 and was told by the Masons that his portfolio had become 150K. Wonder whether the informer has anything to do with Ralph.
Your exposure on FXCM is shocking news. Can you post that due diligence on line? I wish I had that before I invested.
And yes, I did sense that someone within the group were in the know, or at least, they suspected something. And, naturally, their first instinct was not to inform the late-comers or make a big fuss about it, at least not until they first got back their own funds or their irresistibly high commissions or benefits from the Masons.
I would not be worried though, as the receiver will try getting back these funds from them, if they came from our funds.
and how was anyone suppose to contact anyone else? please explain how?
“And, naturally, their first instinct was not to inform the late-comers or make a big fuss about it, at least not until they first got back their own funds or their irresistibly high commissions or benefits from the Masons.”
the time to be pissed is passed, it is what it is now and ALL anyone can do is wait for the pennies on the $ they send out. To continue to look for scapegoats or others to implicate is a waste of time…get on
with your life.
Ponzi Schemes: A Critical Analysis by Surendranath R. Jory, Ph.D., and Mark J. Perry, Ph.D.
What Are the Legal Consequences of Participating in a Ponzi Scheme?
The trustee will first target the hard assets of the Ponzi perpetrator.
Next, he or she will try to reclaim payments made to investors (irrespective of whether they had knowledge of the Ponzi scheme).
The trustee will also consider taking legal actions against other related financial institutions (including the Ponzi perpetrator’s bank) if there is evidence they were conspirators or failed to act on red flags of an ongoing fraud scheme.
As a result, it is rare that the legal consequences are limited to the perpetrator alone.
Any person/entity that funded the scheme (referred to as a “feeder fund”), even unknowingly, is at risk. This is especially true when the feeder fund collected money from others and failed to apply due diligence and/or failed to notice red flags suggesting fraud was taking place.
The bank the perpetrator uses to conduct transactions is at risk as well. The issue here is that the bank had access to the financial accounts of a perpetrator and may have been aware of anomalous activities tantamount to fraud.
The same charges can be levied against an investment bank that handled the activities of a Ponzi perpetrator; for example, if it acted as a broker, raised funds, had custody of assets, prepared investment accounts, or had access to marketing materials, it could be liable.
In cases where the perpetrator made charitable donations, the trustee may require that some or all of those donations be returned after the scheme is exposed, irrespective of the status of the recipient.
Employees who work at a hedge fund accused of fraud, who are suspected of either conspiring with the promoter, or who were aware of the fraud are also at risk. The SEC may seek permanent bans against them working in the securities industry again.
Finally, the family members of the promoter are at risk as well, and their assets can be frozen and legally prevented from being transferred or sold.
Thanks for that information, I have been saying that Sun Trust Bank had to be a partner because they did not react to red flags. Consumper Protection Agencies and the U.S Attorney Offfice in North Carolina should also be contacted. James Mason is a felon! Everybody keep up with these notices. I believe we will all become a class action lawsuit!
TD Bank Settles Another Rothstein Investor Suit For $70 Million
June 8, 2013 at 10:00AM
The trustee in Scott Rothstein’s Ponzi scheme sued Platinum Partners, a feeder fund (akin to a broker in James Mason’s case) for a return of funds.
Platinum Partners in turn sued TD Bank (probably akin to Suntrust bank in our case), claiming the bank and its executives willingly aided Rothstein’s scheme.
TD Bank agreed to make settlement of 70 million.
With the settlement by TD Bank, the victims would be on track to receive close to a 100% recovery – an outcome only possible with the cash payment by TD Bank in exchange for a bar order.
June 5, 2013
CFTC Files Complaint against U.S. Bank Alleging Unlawful Use of Peregrine Financial Group, Inc.’s Customer Segregated Funds and Violation of Customer Segregation Laws
U.S. Bank is the fifth largest bank in the country
The Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations prohibit depository institutions, like U.S. Bank, from using or holding funds that belong to customers of a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) as though they belong to anyone other than the customers, and also prohibit the extension of credit based on such funds to anyone other than the customers.
The Complaint alleges that U.S. Bank was a depository institution serving Peregrine, and Wasendorf since 1992. From approximately September 2008 to July 2012, U.S. Bank unlawfully accepted Peregrine’s customers’ funds as security on loans it made to Wasendorf, his wife, and his construction company, Wasendorf Construction, L.L.C., to build an office complex for Peregrine in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
The Complaint further alleges that from approximately June 2008 to July 2012, U.S. Bank improperly held Peregrine’s customers’ funds in an account U.S. Bank treated as Peregrine’s commercial checking account and knowingly facilitated Wasendorf’s transfers of millions of dollars of customers’ funds out of this account to pay for Wasendorf’s private jet, his restaurant, and his divorce settlement, among other things.
U.S. Bank knew that these transfers were not for the benefit of Peregrine’s customers, according to the Complaint.
David Meister, the CFTC’s Director of Enforcement, said: “The Commodity Exchange Act and Commission rules protecting customer funds impose obligations on banks that hold those funds. As should be apparent from today’s action, we will seek to hold a bank to account if it falls short on complying with customer fund protection obligations. Wasendorf stole vast sums of customer money, but his crimes do not excuse U.S. Bank from its own independent responsibilities.”
According to the Complaint, Wasendorf defrauded more than 24,000 Peregrine clients and misappropriated more than $215 million over two decades using a customer segregated account at U.S. Bank.
In connection with that fraud, Wasendorf misrepresented to the National Futures Association and to Peregrine’s auditor that Peregrine’s customer segregated account at U.S. Bank contained $200 million or more, when in fact the average balance since May 2005 was only $15.7 million.
In this litigation, the CFTC seeks an injunction against U.S. Bank for further violations of the CEA and CFTC Regulations, restitution, disgorgement, and civil monetary penalties, among other appropriate relief.
Accounting firms can get sued too in a Ponzi scheme
A federal judge ruled that Moss Adams, the nation’s 12th-largest accounting firm, should pay $180,000 in legal fees resulting from multiple failures to respond to a subpoena issued by the trustee overseeing a massive Seattle Ponzi scheme by Darren Berg.
Moss Adams, which counted Berg as a client for ten years, had been found in contempt in April for failing to timely produce thousands of documents, emails, billing records, voicemails, and tax returns.
The trustee’s counsel sought sanctions against Moss Adams, arguing that their failure to fully comply with the subpoena had significantly hampered their efforts to gain a thorough understanding of Berg’s scheme, especially since crucial documents such as Berg’s tax records and other financial documents were not produced until much later after the deadline for compliance.
Additionally, due to restrictions in place with Moss Adams file retention systems, the failure to timely respond to the subpoena meant that some documents had been lost forever.
This was especially prejudicial, argued the trustee’s attorneys, since they believed that those records may have bolstered their claim that a Moss Adams employee had an inappropriate relationship with Berg that may have helped to further Berg’s scheme.