Having trouble raising capital for your new hedge fund? Just list Warren Buffet as your ?Honorary Chairman.? That?s what California prison guard, Ottoniel Medrano, did. To help his marketing efforts, he also claimed that he had $4.8 billion in assets under management as well as massive real estate holdings in Asia.
With this scam, Medrano?s International Realty Holdings managed to raise $700,000 from individuals, which he promptly shipped to offshore bank accounts, before the Feds shut him down.
When you think you?ve heard everything, something like this pops up. Unbelievable. You would think that people have heard of ?due diligence? by now. It all brings back unpleasant memories of Bernie Madoff, now a permanent resident at the federal prison in Butner, North Carolina.
