Posted on 07/17/2011 6:51:11 AM PDT by Colofornian
Daren Palmer, the head of an Idaho firm known as the Trigon Group, has agreed to plead guilty to operating a $78 million Ponzi scheme that allegedly scammed fellow Mormons – including friends, neighbors and relatives – in a classic case of affinity fraud, The New York Times reported. According to government prosecutors, the Times said, Palmer raised more than $20 million by promising investors generous double-digit returns and then misappropriated their funds instead. He stands accused of swindling parents of children he coached in football, the newspaper said, and even his own father and brother-in-law along the way. He allegedly targeted members of his Mormon church, the Times explained, launching construction on a $3 million luxury home across the street from the temple (unfinished and now for sale) “so that people would see it and give him more money.” Trigon has since been placed into receivership, the Times said, with its disgraced leader now facing up to 30 years in prison as punishment for his crimes.
From another article (NY Times, May 26, 2011): When he decided to build his family’s dream house, a 16,000-square-foot structure with an elevator, a pool house, an enclosed basketball court and a heated travertine staircase, he did not seek a reclusive estate on the Snake River. He chose a subdivision lot directly across the street from where he spent Sunday mornings, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Work hard, take care of yourself, take care of your family, that’s one of the things the church says to do,” Ms. Peterson said. “Bernie Madoff, I’m sure he wasn’t out cleaning churches.” This week, Mr. Palmer, 42, agreed to plead guilty to federal criminal charges that he ran a $78 million Ponzi scheme, a rural Western version of the kind of fraud Bernard L. Madoff operated in New York. He faces up to 30 years in prison, though he is expected to receive far less...“A lot of people who invested are active members of the L.D.S. church,” said Wayne Klein, a court-appointed receiver working to settle claims. “They knew that Palmer was, and that gave them comfort.”
Feds arrest St. George business man, philanthropist for mail fraud
Source: Mormon-church owned KSL.com, June 11, 2011
Former LDS leader charged in fraud against Ute football coach, others
Source: Salt Lake Tribune, June 8, 2011
In recent years, it's been heavily concentrated, religious-wise, in a sect that is only 2% of the population: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormons.
If you only have time to click on one article link below...read this one: JOHN L. SMITH: Thieves in the temple: How 'affinity fraud' hurts LDS church members
Be sure to read the comments of FBI special agent Cameron Saxey (who is Lds)...the article mentions how the Utah jurisdictional Securities Fraud Task Force was working on 100+ cases...meaning that $1.4 billion total doesn't tell it all!
BTW...I went to absolutely no major effort or had to do any "days of pouring over" the internet to strain these to the surface. Just about all of them were delivered right into my e-mail lap...meaning I wonder what more I'd find if I really dug deeper!
* Tag archives @Utahsecuritiesfraud.com: LDS Church
* Feds arrest St. George business man, philanthropist for mail fraud
Source: Mormon-church owned KSL.com, June 11, 2011
* Former LDS leader charged in fraud against Ute football coach, others
Source: Salt Lake Tribune, June 8, 2011
* Mormon Madoff?
Source: Financial Fraud Law.com, May 27, 2011
* A Fraud Played Out on Family and Friends
Source: New York Times, May 26, 2011
* St. George investor ordered to jail [ex-Lds bishop]
Source: MidUtahRadio.com, April 15, 2011
* Using trust to steal (Utah affinity fraud)
Source: Ogden (UT) Standard Examiner, Feb. 3, 2011
* JOHN L. SMITH: Thieves in the temple: How 'affinity fraud' hurts LDS church members
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal, Sept. 12, 2010
* Local political gadfly arrested for exploiting elderly woman
Source: Provo Daily Herald, May 4, 2010
* Preying on the faithful: Though Mormons often victims, LDS church skips fraud-prevention event
Source: Salt Lake Tribune, May 2, 2010
* Kaneohe swindler is sentenced
Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin, April 6, 2010
* Investors with troubled firm have Mormon ties
Source: Austin American Statesman, Jan. 16, 2010
* Man Who Defrauded Fellow Church Goer Pleads Guilty
Source: www.connect2utah.com (KUTV) Jan. 7, 2010
* Lindon Man Accused of Trying to Kill Witnesses to Alleged Scam
Source: MidUtahRadio.com, Nov. 19, 2009
* KSL 5 News investigates affinity fraud
Source: KSL.com Nov. 9, 2009
* Mormon victims are caught up in $50M scam to sell gold bullion
Salt Lake Tribune, Sept. 18, 2009
* LDS Church returned $200K in Southwick Tithing
Source: AP, Sept. 14, 2009
* Merriman's church donations may be tained [Momon Ponzi schemer's tithe monies ill-gotten?]
Source: Denver Post, April 24, 2009
* Man Who Defrauded Fellow Church Goer Pleads Guilty
Source: Fox News, April 8, 2009
* Calif. Man Charged with $40 million Ponzi scheme
Source: AP, March 20, 2009
Single issue poster alert. :-)
...“A lot of people who invested are active members of the L.D.S. church,” said Wayne Klein, a court-appointed receiver working to settle claims. “They knew that Palmer was, and that gave them comfort.”
___________________________________________
“They knew that Palmer was, and that gave them comfort.”
Theres their first dumb mistake...
Holy Ghost is the the Comforter
If you want or need “comfort” youre suppose to look to the Holy Ghost...
And where the famous “discernment” ???
Again that comes from the Holy Ghost...
Looking for love and comfort in all the wrong places...
They knew that Palmer was...what ???
A conman like the first Mormon, Joey Smith ???
A scammer like the first Mormon, Joey Smith ???
A thief like the first Mormon, Joey Smith ???
A lover of filthy lucre like the first Mormon, Joey Smith ???
Likely to cheat and rob his friends like the first Mormon Joey Smith ???
What is it about Mormons that they dont ask questions and check the details and think...
oh yes thats right, theyre told not to think...
Then Tommy Monson and his cohort CEOs are partly responsible too..
Have they ever warned the “flock” that there are wolves in amongst them ???
Probably not...
“We’uns in this building are all perfect...nice neighbors...if youre in here youre “atoned” and therefore “sinless”..
How could this have happened ???
Well it wasnt the Christian leader, Jean Cauvin...
It was a Mormon, kiddies...
A piker compared to Madoff, who originally targeted mostly fellow Jews, he found that too limiting, so moved on to others.
So tell me, beside using this as a springboard to bash mormonism, what was the point of posting this six week old story in the news section?
I didn't put it in the news section. (It was moved there by a mod)
So tell me, beside using this as a springboard to bash me, what was the point of posting your post in this news section?
I don’t know WHAT happened, Mama!
After all; I prayed to GOD for a confirmation of the TRUTHFULLNESS of this sure fire deal; and got a YES back from the Holy Spirit.
Yeah; it looks like BOTH of us will have to go back to work now.
I sure wish our church had a fund to support us well meaning folks who have LOST IT ALL!
‘Cause we wuz gonna give 10% of our gains to them anyway...
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.