Financier Danny Pang, 42, has died: family (another Ponzi schemer)

[UpInArms]

Source: Reuters

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Financier Danny Pang, who was accused by U.S. securities regulators of perpetrating a massive Ponzi scheme on mainly Taiwanese investors, has died, a family spokesman said on Saturday.

Pang, 42, was taken to a California hospital near his home on Friday and later died, spokesman Charles Sipkins said. The cause of death was related to a heart ailment, he said.

Pang was the founder and ex-chief executive of Private Equity Management Group Inc and Private Equity Management LLC, or the PEMGroup.

At the time of his death, federal civil and criminal charges were pending against Pang. He was also the subject of an ongoing federal investigation into the alleged Ponzi scheme.

In July, Pang pleaded not guilty in a Southern California federal court to two criminal counts of structuring cash transactions to avoid reporting them to the government. His trial date was recently pushed back until August 2010.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSTRE58B26820090913?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

[jeffbr]

1. Suicided?

[tridim]

2. What ever happened to that Ponzi scheme guy in Texas? Sanford?

[UpInArms]

5. as of July 1 - in a Texas jail without bail (flight risk)

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/judge_denies_stanford_bail_N5BkAgkbvb8WnTY9ykTm3L

That other accused Ponzi swindler, R. Allen Stanford, will be locked up in a Texas jail without bail for as long as a year as he awaits his day in court.

A federal judge yesterday shot down the 59-year-old financier's plea to go free on bail, saying Stanford might try to skip town using one of his two passports. One passport is from the tiny Caribbean nation of Antigua, where Stanford allegedly bribed officials to help carry out his $7 billion, worldwide swindle.

Calling Stanford a "serious flight risk," Judge David Hittner revoked the $500,000 bail a federal magistrate had granted to Stanford just last week.

Stanford's attorney, Dick DeGuerin, said he's going to appeal the bail decision because the trial isn't expected to start for a year.

Stanford has lived for the past 15 years in Antigua, which knighted him, and has jetted around the world in his fleet of private planes.

He's been behind bars in a federal lockup since last Thursday following his indictment on 21 charges in a Ponzi swindle.

...more...

[tridim]

6. Good news. Thanks. nt

[sam sarrha]

3. Ken Lay's island is getting crowded...

[Ysabela]

4. As soon as I saw the story I immediately thought "he was Ken Lay'ed"

It's an old trick. Fake your death, and all investigations are closed - no need to prosecute someone who's dead after all. Ken Lay was well connected with the Bush crime family, it'd be easy to fake a heart attack and get transported to a local hospital, and make the swap on the way there.

[Jackpine Radical]

7. You are terminally cynical and probably paranoid as well.

Welcome to DU. You are among friends and in good company here.

[sam sarrha]

10. adds a new dimension to " Lay'd to Rest".. on all the drugs and whores you want., i wonder what.

the ReThuglicans charge for that king of protection...???

[aquart]

18. Oh, you think so, too?

I would have to see Lay fileted on the autopsy table to believe he was dead.

[angrychair]

8. My thoughts as well

Why is it that all these super-rich scam artists all of a sudden have "heart attacks" or "die in their sleep" or whatever. Its almost to the point of being absurdly obvious at this point. Ken Lay...now Madoff (with your money) is "very sick" and the guy in Texas, Sanford, was rushed to the hospital a couple of weeks ago after "becoming very ill" and now this guy. They screw us for billions of NEVER RECOVERED money and then several months later they die a sad and lonely death...hmmm...right....sure....I believe you. Even if they really are dying it sure does make for a great tin foil hat club newsletter and just a little convenient and final on their part.:tinfoilhat:

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. The other arguement has been that they were killed

because their Ponzi scheme was really a huge money laundering process.
Stories have surfaced about Madoff in particular.

42 seems pretty young for a heart attack.

The uber rich who get caught, and the "key witnesses" against politicians seems to have a high death rate.

[eggplant]

11. My heart attack came when I was 37.

I'm not sugggesting that it isn't suspicious. You had me up to the "pretty young" part.

[Joe Chi Minh]

12. Seriously. A study of suicides of persons and/or "suicided" persons since WWII, in or

significantly associated with the government, either positively or negatively, during the different administrations, might be very interesting.

[dixiegrrrrl]

14. There are quite a few lists out already.

Try google.

[Joe Chi Minh]

16. Thanks. I've just looked and wasn't able to find any specifically relating to

suicides, still less of people in public office. They may be on other pages, but I was specific enough for any such site to be on the first page.

[dixiegrrrrl]

21. Try these links

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4691493

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3250686#3261292

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Check-out-all-these-unexpe-by-Pokey-Anderson-081221-175.html

[Joe Chi Minh]

25. Thanks. Started looking at the first and that was enough. Very disturbing. I was referring though

to tables of statistics concerning the incidences, the rates of occurrence of "problematic" deaths during different time-spans.

[dixiegrrrrl]

26. Never have seen such a table.

Maybe a project for the truly curious?

[Joe Chi Minh]

27. Yes. Our wretched rags in the UK are always full of street-level crime but

I marvel at the minimal coverage given to the crimes of the Great and the Good.

[JDPriestly]

13. Pre-sentence suicide. Does his family keep the money?

What happened to the estate of the D.C. Madam? to the money of Ken Lay?

[UpInArms]

15. in the case of Ken Lay, the judge "voided" his conviction because he was not sentenced

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C00E2D61E30F93BA25753C1A9609C8B63

A federal judge on Tuesday threw out the fraud and conspiracy conviction of Kenneth L. Lay, the former Enron executive, who died of heart failure in July while on vacation in Colorado.

Judge Simeon T. Lake III ruled that the conviction must be voided because Mr. Lay cannot pursue an appeal his guilty verdict.

The decision, which had been expected, prevents the government from trying to seize more than $43.5 million from Mr. Lay's estate that prosecutors claimed he stole from Enron before it collapsed in 2001.

Mr. Lay, who was 64, died about six weeks after he and another former chief executive, Jeffrey K. Skilling, were convicted of spearheading the fraud that led to Enron's collapse in December 2001.

''We're very pleased that the criminal case against Mr. Lay is now over,'' said Sam Buffone, the lawyer who successfully filed the motions to have both Mr. Lay's indictment and conviction dismissed. A jury found Mr. Lay guilty in May of six counts of conspiracy and fraud, and Judge Lake, in a separate trial, found him guilty of four counts of bank fraud.

Mr. Skilling, who was convicted of 19 counts of fraud, conspiracy and insider trading, is scheduled to be sentenced on Monday.

Prosecutors has initially sought $139.3 million from Mr. Skilling and $43.5 billion from Mr. Lay. But after Mr. Lay's death, the government moved to force Mr. Skilling to pay the entire $182.8 million.

<snip>

In his 13-page decision, Judge Lake cited established case law that required revocation of convictions if defendants die without opportunity to appeal. The Justice Department had asked the judge to delay ruling until Congress had time to pass legislation that would have retroactively allowed Mr. Lay's conviction to stand. But lawmakers recessed before considering the matter.

Tuesday's decision will make it harder for former Enron employees and shareholders to lay claim to the millions in Mr. Lay's estate because they cannot point to his criminal conviction as proof of wrongdoing.

...more...

[aquart]

19. That is utterly ridiculous.

Although I don't mind making Skilling miserable. But that the Lay family should keep a thin dime? No, that is completely wrong.

[UpInArms]

24. that's what made his "death" so miraculous

it "saved" all that money for his family.

:grr:

[JDPriestly]

22. Thanks.

[sam sarrha]

17. another questionable death,

http://www.wtop.com/?sid=1396668&nid=25

this is good..........StopPoliticalAssassinations.com

http://www.stoppoliticalassassinations.com/

[lovuian]

20. Yep

its repeated over and over and over again

[LeftishBrit]

23. Hope they investigate this...

He could really have had a heart attack from the stress; but he could also have been 'offed' (dead men tell no tales and all that).

[JVS]

28. I want the body put out for public display