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Ponzi scheme posing as bridge loan outfit - shades of Norman Hsu...

Bridge financing would be an ideal vehicle for Ponzi Schemes. If all goes well there would be plenty of churn, enough to disguise the Ponzi nature of the scheme. And well-run, most of it could even be “legit”.

Why is this even news? A measly $400 million — that's over an order of magnitude less than Madoff’s $50 billion. It barely registers on the scale, compared to the multi-trillion dollar bailout and stimulus packages. Strictly amateur hour — maybe good for an episode of Cops; but, that's about it. /s

Arthur Nadel of Florida-based Scoop Management, was reported missing early January. He left behind a suicide note expressing guilt for losing his clients' money and said someone might try to kill him. The SEC charged him with fraud saying the six hedge funds Nadel oversaw, valued at more than $300M, actually contain less than $1Mmillion.

NADEL'S SECOND STRIKE; FAKE CPA DISCOVERED
By KAJA WHITEHOUSE, NY POST, 1/12/09

The accountant for missing Sarasota, Fla., hedge manager Arthur Nadel was slapped with a cease-and-desist order in 1999 for unlawfully practicing as a certified public accountant...... Michael Zucker, 71, was officially touted as the accountant and CPA of Nadel's hedge-fund firm, Scoop Management, according to documents obtained by The Post.

But Zucker, who's wife Caroline chairs the Sarasota County School Board, hasn't been licensed to work as a Florida CPA since 1989, according to state documents. Ten years after his Florida license expired, Zucker was slapped with a cease-and-desist order for practicing with a null-and-void license, an official with the Florida Board of Accountancy confirmed.

While it's legal to operate as an unlicensed accountant in Florida, promoting oneself as a CPA without an official license is against the law, the official said. Also, Florida requires CPAs to be licensed in the state in order to call themselves CPAs, the official said. Authorities are entering their eighth day in the search for Nadel, who is suspected of swindling Scoop Management investors out of as much as $350 million. Nadel has been on the lam since he left for work early last Wednesday, attracting the attention of the FBI and the SEC.

SNIP---Nadel's partner Neil Moody confirmed that Zucker was the firm's official accountant and CPA. Moody said he thought Zucker was a CPA registered in New York, but public records show Zucker also let his New York CPA license expire, although it's not clear when. Scoop Management fund documents list Zucker's lakeside Sarasota home as his business address, but some neighbors said they had no idea Zucker was running a business out of his home or that he was an accountant. One neighbor said she thought Zucker was retired.

SOURCE http://www.nypost.com/seven/01212009/business/nadels_second_strike_151069.htm