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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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'Mini-Madoff' Scammed Churchgoers, Blames Banks

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(Newser) – For some, 2009 may be remembered as the year of the Ponzi scheme: Last year, federal regulators prosecuted 13 such scams, but in just the first few months of this year, they’ve already filed 22 cases, reports ABC News. One recent bust is Long Island's Peter Dawson, who stiffed fellow churchgoers, including a man bedridden with lupus and behind on his mortgage payments.

Dawson, who faces 5 years in jail, says banks could have stopped his scheme, but they “didn’t care if people could pay these loans because as soon as they got the loans they made their fees and they sold the loans to others on Wall Street.”

In this March 10, 2009 file photo, Bernard Madoff exits Manhattan federal court in New York.
In this March 10, 2009 file photo, Bernard Madoff exits Manhattan federal court in New York.   (AP Photo/Louis Lanzano, File)
In 2008, the CFTC prosecuted 13 such scams, but in just the first few months of 2009 the agency has already filed 22 cases.
In 2008, the CFTC prosecuted 13 such scams, but in just the first few months of 2009 the agency has already filed 22 cases.   (Shutter Stock)
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We are living in constant fear that someone's going to knock on the door from the sheriff's office and kick me and my wife and the four children out on the street, put a lock on the door and say seized. - Mark Arocho, Dawson's Ponzi victim

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2 comments
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Derni
May 10, 09 4:05 PM CDT
another reason not to belong to organized cults-relgion. Reply
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wwwonderer
May 11, 09 1:54 PM CDT
What let me get this straight. There is someone in an organized religion that scammed others within the religion. I willing to bet he used the "I'm God and u can trust me" religious disposition to gain confidence. This is one thing I have a problem with: the scammers. See, if I pretend to be a neurosurgeon/accountant/welder/short stop, I'm eventually going to have to prove myself. With religion, there is no way to prove or disprove one. And so many are willing to trust untrustworthy individuals once they hear the name of the common god/religion, they are so enchanted with them. How many people with meager incomes are sending their check to their multi-millionaire TV preacher? The real tragedy is the people being 'scammed' legitimately. Reply
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