Of all the hedge fund fraud cases, Francesco Rusciano & the Ponta Negra funds, is probably the least interesting, except for one thing: the proximity to VP Joe Biden through Paradigm Global.
Based on the information that is freely available online I’ve put together the timeline leading up to Francesco Rusciano arrest.
- 1982: Born to Frank Louis Rusciano and Roberta Fiske-Rusciano
- 2003: Writes paper on Brazilian “C” bonds for Cornell
- 2003: Graduates from Cornell
- 2003: Starts working for UBS handling Brazilian bond transactions
- June 1, 2006. Rusciano resigns from UBS after the it was discovered that he had misreported his transactions.
- February, 2007: Sets up Ponta Negra Group, LLC & Ponta Negra Fund I
- August, 2008: Forged a statement which showed he had $43 million under management rather than $3 million.
- February, 2009: Starts Ponta Negra Offshore Fund I
- March 18, 2009: Bronte Capital breaks the story of Fraud at Ponta Negra Group
- April 27, 2009: SEC freezes the assets of Ponta Negra Group
- May 1st, 2009: Francesco Rusciano is arrested
- May 4th, 2009: Francesco Rusciano is released to parents on 500,000 bond
(PS: image from bronte capital blog)
That is right. This is dull.
It was however interesting to try and prove it was a fraud whilst it was still operating. I did that for fun and games – and to see where it would lead me.
Usually I do not bother reporting frauds. The SEC generally does nothing anyway.
J
Also – I take it that you are aware that Hedgeco – your organisation – previously sued Jared Toren and Jeff Schneider – the two distributors of Ponta Negra – for theft of your database.
You have a bet on this race – and you should probably be acting to protect your reputation.
I have put the lawsuit here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/13371734/Toren-and-Schneider-Complaint
Hi John!
Thanks for dropping by our site, we’re all big fans and appreciate the investigative work that you’ve been doing to uncover all the bits and pieces of this fraud. I wrote a more official article about your work at:
http://www.hedgeco.net/news/05/2009/bronte-capital-exposes-rogue-hedge-fund-marketers-who-link-the-biden-family-to-hedge-fund-fraud.html
This also mentions the legal action currently taking place between HedgeCo and Jared Toren and Jeff Schneider.