International Law

The End of the Pigeon King

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The CTV's W5 had a good story on the end of the Pigeon King Ponzi.

The Pigeon King Ponzi is a story that I wrote about extensively, analyzing the compliance tricks played by the Pigeon King.

"On a hot August night in Shakespeare, Ont., a hundred farmers gathered, hoping to avert a financial tragedy. They were investors in a unique farming proposition -- to raise pigeons for profit. But their dreams of fortune had come crashing to Earth and they were now gathered at a meeting, seeking answers.

The company at the heart of it all, Pigeon King International, had spiralled into bankruptcy. And the trustee held out little hope.

"Let us begin," said the trustee, who set out the dire straights. There was little hope of salvaging the business. It was up to the farmers in the room to figure out if there was any market for the birds they'd raised.

They'd all bought into Pigeon King on a promise -- raise pigeons for profit.

At first the promise was that they'd be sold to rich Arabs in Saudi Arabia, to race.

Then the pitch became pigeons-for-food, a sure-fire market when Avian-flu would surely wipe out chicken flocks.

But in the end, the pigeons they'd staked their futures on were worth little more than the nuisance creatures that defile public monuments across Canada."

The story unfortunately makes a significant mistake when W5 claims: "What farmers like Clement didn't know is there was no market for their pigeons -- no food market and no racer market in the Middle East. In fact, Pigeon King International never sold a single bird to anyone other than new investors." This is nonsense - the information about the non-market for the birds was extensively documented by Dave Thornton of Crime Busters, here is the cached version of the forum Dave posted on.

Here is what I would like to know, if Dave can figure out that this scheme was a ponzi, why cannot our local regulators do so?

Full post as published by Misleading Advertising Law on November 25, 2008 (boomark / email).