The Ponzi Book
A Legal Resource for Unraveling Ponzi Schemes
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By
Kathy Bazoian Phelps
and
Hon. Steven Rhodes (Ret.)


Published by
LexisNexis®

Ponzi-Proof
Your Investments
The Ponzi
Scheme Blog

"The Ponzi Book is one-stop shopping for the facts needed to understand the complex fall-out from a collapsed Ponzi scheme as well as the legal strategies that exist and are required to unravel it."

Irving H. Picard,
Trustee of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, LLC

For a review of The Ponzi Book that appeared in the Bankruptcy e-Bulletin published by the Insolvency Law Committee of the Business Law Section, State Bar of California, click here.

Chapters
The Ponzi Book

Chapter 1
Introduction

Chapter 2
Actual Fraudulent Transfer Claims

Chapter 3
Constructive Fraudulent Transfer Claims

Chapter 4
Defenses to Fraudulent Transfer
and Preference Claims

Chapter 5
Claims to Avoid Preferential Transfers

Chapter 6
Property Interests and Express,
Resulting and Constructive Trust Claims

Chapter 7
Tort and Equitable Claims
Against Insiders and Third Parties

Chapter 8
Deepening Insolvency

Chapter 9
Disgorgement Claims
Against Relief Defendants

Chapter 10
Statutory Claims:
Securities and RICO Violations

Chapter 11
Equitable Subordination

Chapter 12
The Economic Loss Defense

Chapter 13
Standing

Chapter 14
The In Pari Delicto Defense

Chapter 15
Gathering Evidence: Privilege Issues and
Exchanging Evidence with the Government

Chapter 16
Forfeiture Proceedings and Victim
Compensation Through the Criminal Process

Chapter 17
Use of Contempt Proceedings to Recover Assets

Chapter 18
Non-Resident and Foreign Defendants:
Personal Jurisdiction and Service of Process

Chapter 19
Foreign Proceedings and Discovery Abroad

Chapter 20
Allowance of Claims and Distribution Schemes

Chapter 21
Prejudgment Remedies

Chapter 22
Tax Issues Arising in Ponzi Schemes


About
The Ponzi Book

The Ponzi Book is the only comprehensive resource on the complex legal issues that arise in unwinding Ponzi schemes. No other resource focuses on identifying and analyzing the legal issues arising in Ponzi scheme cases.

The thorough legal analysis presented in The Ponzi Book provides a complete understanding of the competing rights, claims and defenses of all of the parties impacted by a Ponzi scheme. It also covers the administrative procedures that courts and professionals use in Ponzi cases.

Who Can Use The Ponzi Book

The Ponzi Book benefits both practitioners and parties impacted by a Ponzi scheme:

  • Attorneys
  • Accountants
  • Auditors
  • Trustees
  • Receivers
  • Victims
  • Banks
  • Brokers
  • Fraud Examiners
  • Government Regulators

Attorneys for trustees and receivers in Ponzi insolvency proceedings will use The Ponzi Book to administer Ponzi estates, to pursue litigation claims and to distribute funds to claimants.

Attorneys for investors or other defrauded parties will use The Ponzi Book both to pursue all of their clients' claims to recover damages as well as to assert their clients' property interests in insolvency or criminal proceedings.

Attorneys defending brokers, financial institutions, professionals and investors will use The Ponzi Book to assert all possible defenses to the claims against their clients.

The Ponzi Book is also an essential resource for accountants, receivers, bankruptcy trustees, SIPC trustees, financial advisors, brokers, financial institutions, insurance companies, officers, directors, and tax advisors. Government agencies involved in related criminal or forfeiture proceedings will also find exceptional value in The Ponzi Book.

Why The Ponzi Book is Unique

The Ponzi Book is necessary and timely in understanding the high-stakes Ponzi schemes that are increasingly in the news. As the number of defrauded victims continues to grow, substantial litigation seeks to find assets and to make investors whole.

Thousands have been affected by high-profile Ponzi cases such as Bernard Madoff, Allen Stanford, Thomas Petters, Scott Rothstein, Reed Slatkin, Marc Dreier, Patrick Bennett and John Bennet. These cases have involved billions of dollars, tens of thousands of individual defrauded victims, and hundreds or thousands of lawsuits.

But those are just the high-profile cases. In 2009 alone, it is estimated that 150 Ponzi schemes collapsed, causing losses of $16.5 billion. With Ponzi schemes on the rise, claims asserted in the ensuing insolvency proceedings and litigation that follows is also on the rise.

The Ponzi Book is your exclusive resource to find all of the case law to date relating to Ponzi schemes.

What You Will Find in The Ponzi Book

Several chapters of The Ponzi Book are dedicated to the increasingly common fraudulent transfer lawsuits (clawbacks) and preference lawsuits that are filed in Ponzi cases. The Ponzi Book also extensively covers the full range of defenses that investors, brokers and others can assert to those claims.

Additional chapters present detailed discussions of the broad array of litigation claims that can be pursued against any type of defendant with culpability or liability for its involvement in a Ponzi scheme.

Separate chapters are dedicated to the complex legal issues of deepening insolvency, standing, and in pari delicto as they arise in Ponzi litigation. These chapters present these complex issues in understandable language and review the most current decisions on these continually evolving issues.

Because Ponzi schemes usually involve related criminal proceedings, The Ponzi Book also covers Fifth Amendment privilege issues as well as attorney-client privilege issues. It also presents a detailed analysis of what happens to competing claims for assets in parallel insolvency and criminal proceedings.

For those seeking to recover assets, several chapters discuss prejudgment remedies available to freeze assets, contempt proceedings, and service of process issues, both domestically and internationally. Mareva, Anton Piller, and Norwich Pharmacal orders issued in common law jurisdicitions are also covered.

The ultimate end game for claimants and those administering the unwinding of a Ponzi scheme is the claims allowance and distribution process. The Ponzi Book provides a sophisticated and unique review of differing approaches and methodologies available in the claims distribution process.

Finally, The Ponzi Book highlights the recent tax law changes that Ponzi victims and their tax advisors need to know about.

How You Can Use The Ponzi Book

The extensive material in The Ponzi Book is designed to be as accessible as possible:

  • Each chapter is organized by issue with multiple levels of sub-issues where necessary.
  • The frequent and descriptive headings make it readily searchable.
  • Each chapter is written in a style that provides legal support for each proposition.
  • The index contains all of the most common legal search terms.
  • The non-lawyer will find it quite readable and accessible.

Where You Can Find The Ponzi Book

LexisNexis, a division of Matthew Bender, is publishing The Ponzi Book in a soft bound volume and in an e-format for handy access. The Ponzi Book will also be available at the LexisNexis on-line store.



© 2022 Kathy Bazoian Phelps and Steven Rhodes