Other charges brought this month by the SEC included a Ponzi scheme targeting Chinese-Americans--mainly in the Dallas area--by a Canadian-based hedge fund controlled by Weizhen Tang, a self-styled "Chinese Warren Buffett."
On April 1, the agency got the month rolling when it announced it halted a Ponzi scheme operated by Long Island investment advisor, Edward Stein. The SEC alleged that Stein duped friends and acquaintances to move more than $55 million through the accounts of his investment funds--Gemini Fund I L.P. and DISP LLC--and ultimately stole client money to continue the scam, pay off selected investors, and to buy a million-dollar Manhattan condo.
The SEC won't speculate on whether the recent publicity blitz surrounding Ponzi schemes is the result of the agency being more vocal about its regulatory actions in the wake of Congressional criticism that it was asleep at the wheel regarding the Madoff case, along with financial regulation in general during the market meltdown.
"We brought a lot of Ponzi scheme cases through the years," says the SEC spokesman. "But maybe they didn't get as much attention because now people know what they are."