What would make a poker that is successful risk everything by getting tangled up in a massive, multimillion dollar bank fraud and Ponzi scheme plot? That’s the question many are now asking regarding poker that is australian Bill Jordanou, who is under research by Victoria authorities for his so-called role in a bank fraud that continued for years, in accordance with reports.

While information on the reported Ponzi scheme are sparse, the $70 million bank fraud operation was reportedly carried away with Jordanou’s business partner, Robert Zaia, 45. The two allegedly ensnared Zaia’s wealthy clients, via his accountancy company Zaia Arthur & Associates, into an undetailed Ponzi scheme, while simultaneously bank that is forging to secure loans, oftentimes in Zaia’s clients’ names, that they then comingled with property and development loans additionally they received from the bank, for projects that either never existed or were never ever started.

Bank Holds Victims Hostage

But the caper gets even crazier from right here. The bank employed for all these transactions was Australia’s largest: Commonwealth Bank. That bank is now holding Zaia’s allegedly scammed customers hostage within the loans secured inside their names, without their authorization. Certainly one of these former customers, Rita Klapanis, says Commonwealth served her having a $6 million demand note, even though she only heard about the loan’s existence whenever contacted by Commonwealth for payment, and quickly contacted the police.

Undeterred, apparently, by the logic here, Commonwealth is still going after Ms. Klapanis’ Toorak home, and also charging her interest that is ongoing on loan during the reported rate of $1,135 per day. Ms. Klapanis has now filed an affidavit with the Supreme Court, saying she’s perhaps not responsible for a loan fraudulently obtained, without her authorization, inside her title. Her family that is wealthy had certainly one of Zaia Arthur & Associates’ financial clients.

Again, there are not any information on the reported Ponzi scheme, or how much any consumers were supposedly defrauded or what ended up being promised; only that 20 such clients that are well-to-do involved.

Also named into the Supreme Court affidavit are an additional eight alleged victims of the accounting firm, which Ms. Klapanis is now suing for damages in what is called a ‘conspiracy’ in case. Other victims are likely to follow suit shortly with legal action.

Bank Didn’t Check Loan Forms

And the tentacles of the financial octopus keep on coming; a house developer who claims to have lost millions is now accusing Commonwealth of gross negligence.

‘The bank did not always check the validity of taxation statements or they did not check employment representations that were made, they did not undertake valuations on the properties to be secured whether they had been filed. They accepted anything completed in the loan application without question,’ the lawyer for the developer said.

Only if we could get those bankers working for the IRS.

Commonwealth, not surprisingly, isn’t saying word about any of it. But it is not the time that is first ethics have come under scrutiny; earlier in the day this year, it was reported that the financial institution had covered up major misconduct from within its very own financial preparation division, which allegedly put thousands of clients’ savings at risk.

The Securities that is australian and Commission (ASIC) subsequently banned seven of this bank’s monetary planners, and forced Commonwealth to shell out tens of millions in damages to your victims.

And also as if which weren’t enough water that is hot be in, it now appears Commonwealth brought in a global security firm, whose job it would be to conduct undercover surveillance on Michael Fraser, a prominent anti-banking lobbyist, aswell as several other politicians (but not, we are assured, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel. Hey, we need to amuse ourselves here sometimes). The secret spying included National Senator from brand New South Wales John Williams, who is involved in a Senate inquiry into the ASIC’s very own conduct after bringing the Commonwealth scandal to light.

Good lord, all we need are Anthony and Cleopatra to produce this any more dramatic.

Jordanou has made 15 career poker competition cashes, including using 3rd for $300,000 in the 2010 Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge in Melbourne.

The investigation that is two-year expected to be completed by the end of the year.

PONZI SCHEMES:

Called for early 20th century scammer Charles Ponzi, these schemes actually first started long before he lent his notorious title to them. The aim of these scams that are financial for the perpetrator to collect vast amounts of money according to insanely ambitious promises of riches to the ‘investors,’ after which the instigator takes off, with everybody huuuge log in else’s money in tow.

Typically, Ponzi schemes involve several predictable elements. The very first is a far-above-average promised rate of return on investments, with a seemingly plausible description of how these prices will be accomplished; often, the scammer will state they either have insider information, or are involved in an elite investment opportunity perhaps not ready to accept people.

Next, the perp makes certain that a number of the initial investors do indeed have the promised returns, to create buzz and credibility, and clearly to bring in yet more investors, who are needed to make the scheme profitable to its creator. Nevertheless, subsequent investors will never be therefore happy, and are typically left completely wiped out if they perhaps not only receive no returns, but lose their initial investment as well.

Bernie Madoff, needless to say, is essentially the most Ponzi that is infamous schemer history. After defrauding every person from elite nonprofit institutions to superstars to banking institutions away from a lot more than $50 billion over the course of decades, he has become serving what exactly is tantamount to a life sentence. His ripoffs left lots of his investors penniless, including countless seniors.

Whether an actual ponzi scheme ended up being presumably committed by Jordanou and Zaia is maybe not entirely clear from the reports released therefore far; but if a scheme was indeed perpetrated on Zaia’s rich accounting clients, it most likely left an economic Cat 5 hurricane in its wake.