Ex-State GOP Chair Charged With Facebook Fraud

Federal authorities have arrested Florida financier—and former Oregon Republican chairman—Craig Berkman for allegedly bilking investors out of millions in a scheme to sell fake Facebook shares. Ahead of Facebook's IPO, Berkman allegedly told investors that he had access to shares of the company, a complete fabrication that netted him $8 million, the Wall Street Journal reports. Nor was this a one-time scam—the SEC separately charged Berkman with running much the same scheme for LinkedIn and other social media companies, and said he'd used some of the money to pay "court-ordered claims to victims of his past misdeeds." (More Facebook stories.)