Exactly What would make a poker that is successful risk everything through getting tangled up in a massive, multimillion dollar bank fraud and Ponzi scheme plot? That’s the question many are now asking regarding Australian poker pro Bill Jordanou, whom is under investigation by Victoria authorities for his alleged role in a bank fraudulence that continued for years, according to reports.

While information on the reported Ponzi scheme are sparse, the $70 million bank fraud operation was reportedly carried out 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, often times in Zaia’s consumers’ names, which they then comingled with home and development loans additionally they received from the bank, for tasks that either never ever existed or had been never started.

Bank Holds Victims Hostage

But the caper gets even crazier from right here. The bank employed for all these transactions was Australia’s biggest: Commonwealth Bank. That slotsforfun-ca.com bank is now keeping Zaia’s allegedly scammed customers hostage within the loans secured within their names, without their authorization. Certainly one of these former consumers, Rita Klapanis, says Commonwealth served her with a $6 million demand note, despite the fact that she only heard about the loan’s existence when contacted by Commonwealth for payment, and immediately contacted the police.

Undeterred, apparently, by the logic right here, Commonwealth continues to be 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 actually is perhaps not responsible for a loan fraudulently obtained, without her authorization, inside her title. Her family that is wealthy had one of Zaia Arthur & Associates’ financial consumers.

Once more, there are no information on the reported Ponzi scheme, or how much any clients were supposedly defrauded or what had been promised; only that 20 such clients that are well-to-do involved.

Also known as in 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 referred to as a ‘conspiracy’ in the case. Other victims are expected to follow suit shortly with legal action.

Bank Didn’t Check Loan Forms

And the tentacles of this octopus that is financial on coming; a property developer who claims to own lost millions is now accusing Commonwealth of gross negligence.

‘The bank didn’t check the validity of tax returns 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 on the loan application without question,’ the attorney for the developer said.

If only we’re able to get those bankers working for the IRS.

Commonwealth, not surprisingly, isn’t saying an expressed word about any from it. But it’s perhaps not the time that is first ethics have actually come under scrutiny; earlier in the day this year, it was reported that the bank had covered up major misconduct from within its very own monetary planning division, which presumably put thousands of clients’ savings at risk.

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

And as if that weren’t enough water that is hot maintain, it now appears Commonwealth brought in a worldwide security firm, whose job it would be to conduct undercover surveillance on Michael Fraser, a prominent anti-banking lobbyist, also as several other politicians (although not, we are assured, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel. Hey, we have to amuse ourselves here sometimes). The secret spying included National Senator from New South Wales John Williams, whom is involved in a Senate inquiry into the ASIC’s 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 tournament cashes, including using 3rd for $300,000 in the 2010 Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge in Melbourne.

The two-year research is anticipated to be completed by the end of the year.

PONZI SCHEMES:

Named for early century that is 20th Charles Ponzi, these schemes actually first started long before he lent his notorious title to them. The aim of these financial scams is for the perpetrator to collect vast sums of cash centered on insanely ambitious promises of riches to the ‘investors,’ after that the instigator takes off, with everyone else’s money in tow.

Typically, Ponzi schemes include several elements that are predictable. The initial is a far-above-average promised rate of return on investments, accompanied by a apparently plausible description of just how these rates will be accomplished; often, the scammer will state they either have insider information, or are engaged in an elite investment opportunity maybe not available to the general public.

Next, the perp makes sure that a number of the initial investors do indeed get the promised returns, to create buzz and credibility, and obviously to bring in yet more investors, who are needed to really make the scheme profitable to its creator. But, subsequent investors will not be therefore happy, and are typically left completely cleaned out once they maybe not only receive no returns, but lose their investment that is initial as.

Bernie Madoff, needless to say, is probably the most Ponzi that is infamous schemer history. After defrauding everybody from elite institutions that are nonprofit a-listers to banks out of a lot more than $50 billion over the course of decades, he has become serving what’s tantamount to a life sentence. Their ripoffs left lots of his investors penniless, including countless citizens that are senior.

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