International Law

Horse Racing Fixes, Faxes and Frauds

Madoff, Stanford, and the AIG implosion have all brought fraud to the public's attention.

We do well to understand the current outbreak by reviewing our past.

The Yellow Kid was reputed to be one of the master con criminals between 1900-1950, who allegedly masterminded criminal confidence games which raked in millions of dollars.

As told by W.T. Brannon, Yellow Kid's exploits demonstrate a shrewd understanding of the streak of larceny that runs in a man's heart.

Fixed horse races seemed to have captivated the general public, who were often looking to capture a piece of the action - something for nothing.

Many of the Kid's short cons involved purporting to sell inside information, "sell" after a fashion.

In one fraud, the Kid and his accomplice stole money in the following manner. The Kid's accomplice had a fake newspaper which showed the Kid as a big time successful horse race gambler.

The accomplice's job was to introduce the mark to the Kid. Graciously, for a big time gambler, the Kid would engage the mark in superficial talk but gradually confirm the mark's thought that "why, horse races are fixed, after all".

But since the Kid could not betray his sources and give the mark a sure fire tip, he could however "allow" the mark to place a bet with him for the fifth or sixth race, say of a mere $5,000. Strangely, the mark never won the bet placed in the figurative fifth.

Are such shorts cons a part of our distant past?

No, not at all. Replace "horse race" with "stock market" and "fixed" with "insider trading".

Some of the public believes that only through insider trading can one make money in the stock market.

There was a neat a dramatic demonstration of this, according to the SEC.

In 2005, The SEC alleged that "two stock promoters in a scam designed to mislead investors into believing they had inadvertently received a confidential stock tip faxed from a stockbroker to his client.

The handwritten fax had the appearance of an urgent message from a financial planner intended only for his client, "Dr. Mitchel," urging the purchase of a stock that was about to triple in price.

In fact, neither the financial planner nor "Dr. Mitchel" exists. The fax was sent to more than one million recipients across the country by stock promoters who made over half a million dollars unloading their shares on duped investors". (my emphasis)

And in May, 2006, the SEC alleged that the same stock promoter assisted the CEO "Seattle-based video game developer Infinium Labs, Inc., for his role in a fraudulent "junk fax" scheme to promote the company's stock."

As the Kid said, the marks were always looking for something for nothing, and I gave them nothing for something.

Full post as published by Misleading Advertising Law on March 18, 2009 (boomark / email).