Community Chat

[PickyPicky3]

I've been following the story of the Hometown Deli, which used to be in Paulsboro, NJ, for a few years.

The owner of this smalltown deli confided to a friend about six years ago that he would like to grow the business. The friend convinced the owner that he could create a parent company, sell its shares publicly, and raise money for new business ventures.

The friend and two crooked associates did just that. They then fraudulently manipulated stock prices until the little deli, which had never earned more than $40,000, was capitalized at $100 million. They tried to sell off their shares and run, but they got caught and charged with securities fraud. The deli owner was not charged.

The Hometown Deli was sold for $15,000 but has not reopened.

One of the thieves went to hide in Thailand but this week was extradited back to the USA to face charges.

A Cinderella story -- of sorts. How do these things happen?

[Franklinbell]

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing!

[Snowpuppy]

I followed this story off and on..

How does it happen? Same way Lehman, Bear Sterns, SVB, Signature bank, etc happen.  Greed. As long as people making $ nobody cares about ethics.

[Cats3000]

@PickyPicky3 Two things to remember:  If its too good to be true, it probably is.  As PT Barnum said:  There's a sucker born every minute.

[chrystaltree]

They obviously didn't know what they were doing so they caught in a dumb scheme but this type of thing is not uncommon.  Those who know what they are doing don't get caught, they become multimillionaires.

[scatcat]

Google PPP fraud. The gov't was handing out cash like Halloween candy. 
shocking - a lot of scams