On the contrary, it shows that they aren't going touch Ribotsky. The guy lived high on the hog for years on his investors' money, all the while telling them that their accounts were growing in value. Technically, it wasn't the same as Madoff because Ribotsky did make some investments. But, the investments didn't make money-not for anybody, including him. What enabled his lifestyle was the pyramiding- new money coming in. For all practical purposes, it was just a pyramid scheme, and making some investments was his cover. That's the only reason Madoff is in prison and Ribotsky is not. It was his Get Out Of Jail Free card.

Still, it is amazing that they haven't charged him with a crime because there was fraud involved and massive financial loss to people who were, in every sense of the word, his victims.

So, why haven't they charged Ribotsky and why won't they? I don't know, but if they were going to, it would have happened by now.

What are odds of criminal charges against CR?

Now that he relented in the civil trial and a judgment of $14.9 million against him was rendered, what are the odds that the Justice Department will follow-up with criminal charges against him?

Madoff investors to be made 3/4 whole

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2523463/Victims-Bernie-Madoff-ponzi-scheme-recoup-quarters-11bilion-losses.html

Is there any chance NIR investors will do as well?

Brokerage statement says I'm still half-millionare from AJW

Interesting that they keep brandishing a high dollar amount.

Why no criminal probe in Merrill Lynch case?

I believe the losses were in the billions. Is it because it involved the securitization of mortgages which the Fed was actively encouraging at the time? They wanted to keep the housing bubble going.

Don't forget about Ribotsky's other big scam

He was involved in bundling up mortgage-backed securities, and it involved one of the big commercial banks, and I think the losses were like a billion dollars.

Can anyone remember the name of the bank involved?

But remember that at the time, the government was encouraging the housing bubble. They wanted to "securitize" mortgages, to keep the whole Ponzi scheme going.

So, I am wondering if they are ever really going to go after him. It might expose a lot of fraud that they don't want exposed.

Just got my NIR brokerage statement: I'm rich!

It had dropped to zero in previous statements, but now they're saying my account is worth $563,000, which is a bump up of $563,000.

Specifically, it says that I own 563,000 share of AJW Qualified Partners II, which are valued at $1/share.

That was year-ago. SEC issued new, stiffer complaint.

I haven't read it, but a friend who did told me they really upped the ante and threw the book at him- as harshly as they could for a civil matter. Apparently, the Justice Department isn't going make a move until they see the outcome of this SEC civil trial.

There was an article in Growth Captialist recently about Ribotsky's response to the modified complaint.

Anyone have the Ribotsky fires back article?

It was on Growth Capitalist, I'm told. Apparently, Ribotsky's lawyers have filed a response to the SEC amended complaint.

I wonder where Ribotsky is getting the money to finance his defense. His lawyers can't be working on contingency like the lawyers we hope to get.

If all NIR investors put up a few thousand each, like perhaps $3000, there would likely be enough money to get the suit started. I got hurt badly. I lost my entire retirement savings to that scumbag. But, I'll scrounge up a few grand to fight back.

To Irainvestor and Ryan1: visit AJW forum

I started a thread there concerning the new investment company headed by Bobby Cohen at the same physical location as NIR. Let's generate some discussion about it on that board. I presume that, like me, you were sent login details to get in. Here is the link:

http://ajwinvestors.com/viewforum.php?f=2

Yikes, it's the exact same address as NIR: 1044 Northern Blvd, Roslyn NY 11576. I didn't realize that until you pointed it out.

What, did they take over the same office? Or did they just move a door or two down?

Besides Bobby Cohen, I notice the name of Yoel Goldfedder, who was also the in-house counsel for NIR.

The others involved in the new company are Howard Tanney, Marty Cunningham, Ted Moran, and Jules Staniewicz.

Are any or all of them also formerly with NIR?

NIR principals involved in new money management firm

http://www.revinv.com/revolution_investment_management_team.htm

JPMorgan now valuing my NIR account at $0

Maybe it's in response to Teri Buhl's article, but that's what the statement says: $0.00.

Seeking Mizel's lawyer: Jeffrey Something. Anyone know?

I want to contact him about suing Marcum and WTAS accounting firms for false valuations. I think we should get the ball rolling on that. They enabled Ribotsky, and it was fraudulent all along, not just after 08. It's been reported that even during the glory years, the liquidity of those penny stocks was so poor that it would have taken centuries to sell all the shares he was holding, which is to say, they were unsellable.

I want to contact Mizel's lawyer myself. Does anyone know his last name?

Attention all NIR Investors: ACT NOW!

You must write to Lisa Foster at Victim Witness Unit - EDNY, <Victim.Witness.Unit-EDNY@usdoj.gov> and send her your last statement of value from Corey Ribotsky as of Dec 31, 2010, and with it send the latest statement from PW showing a 97% loss in value.

Lisa told me that she would forward the documents on to the federal prosecutors in the case.

Her email is: Victim.Witness.Unit-EDNY@usdoj.gov

What Corey Ribotsky did is just as bad as what Bernie Madoff did, and it is much worse than what Dennis Kozlowaki did at Tyco. Kozlowski may have pilfered some corporate money for his personal use and indulgence, but his investors still made out. He may have stolen a little but nothing on the scale of Ribotsky. Yet, Kozlowki has been in prison for a long time, while Ribotsky walks around a free man. COREY RIBOTSKY BELONGS IN JAIL, and it is beholden on us to make sure he goes there. And it will only bolster our case against Marcum if Corey gets convicted as the criminal that he is. So write to Lisa Foster right away and send her those documents: the last from Ribotsky and the first from PW.

NIR Funds practically worthless says PWC

It's unbelievable! They're saying it is practically all gone, wiped out.

How can this man remain out of jail? He lived high on the hog for years lying to his investors while destroying their life savings.

What is stopping the feds from charging him with financial fraud? As recently as December 2010, he issued financial statements to us saying that most of the money was still there. How can they let him get away with this?

It's like he's insane, like he's lost touch with the reality of what he has done.

People have been sent to jail for much less than this. How is it that he getting away with this?

Just received statement of $1 a share

That is, my brokerage company which holds my AJW account has it listed with a value of $1/share. And that gives me a total value of hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is nice to see, at least on paper. But something tells me that it's bogus.

Why'd Corey leave $50 million in the funds?

I'm guessing it wasn't because he thought it was the best place on earth to invest his money. I'm thinking that he left the money in because he couldn't get it out. After 2008, there was no new money coming in. I suspect that from the beginning and all along, Corey paid the exorbitant fees to himself mainly from new cash coming in. Was he ever executing the "conversion' strategy all that well? Wasn't new cash coming in from the limited partners the main source of cash for NIR? And once that dried up, there was no way he could liquidate assets to raise money. So far, the liquidators have been unable to liquidate any assets. Corey referred them to a couple of potential buyers of NIR paper, but they were dead-ends.

If this analysis is true, it means there wasn't much difference between Corey and Madoff, not really. Unlike Madoff, Corey was making investments, that is, he was handing over huge amounts of money to the various fly-by-night penny stock scasmmers. But how many deals did he actually finish, whereby through converting to stock and selling on the open market he was able to recoup all the principal and interest from the loan and close out the investment? Did it ever happen? Even once?

Wow, thank you Jurisper

I think that was the mnost succinct and illuminating post I've read. So thanks again.

What has been the fate of the other PIPE funds you mentioned? Have they all collapsed? Are the other managers in legal trouble as Corey is?

The most illuminating thing you said is that the fund was structured around creating the kind of liquidity that would facilitate extracting the high management and incentive fees. So, as you said, it was mainly his own investors that he raped.

But, what do you think was going through Corey's mind at the time? Did he know that he was making unsound investments? How could he not know? Did he know how unethical it was what he was doing? And is that why he dressed it up with all that charity work? There are people who quietly go about doing charity work, without trying to draw attention to themselves, but I never saw anybody try so hard to wring out attention and recognition from their charity work as Corey did.

That is unbelievable. Consider the facts.

According to the liquidators, the vast majority of the 100+ companies that Corey lent money to are totally worthless. They are not functioning as companies on any level. They don't even file paperwork with the SEC. 16 more aren't trading, have no value, but they have kept up with the SEC filings. Only 9 are still trading, but they didn't say for how much. Some of those 9 may be trading for a thousandth of a cent- or some such thing.

In other words, the totality of the NIR funds are practically worthless.

At this point in time, they can't sell enough securities to pay the incidental expenses for a lawsuit against the accountants and other service providers who helped Corey- even though the lawyers would presumably defer payment and work on a contingency basis. That's how little value there is in NIR paper.

But, as recently as January 2011, Corey issued account values for year-end 2010, and they were mighty high- within 10% of the all-time high.

How could that have been? Things had already collapsed. How could they get away with that?

And even after that, I would call NIR and talk to Bobby Cohen and others and get- not glowing reports- but definitely the impression that things were improving.

But now there is the realization that the whole thing is practically worthless, $700 million gone like the wind. He handed hundreds of millions to scammers and criminals but kept a lot for himself. How does anybody get away with that?

How did he pay himself?

Reportedly, Corey and NIR took tens of millions of dollars from NIR funds in fees and incentives, as they continued assigning higher valuations to the illiquid notes they were holding. But, how did they generate the cash to pay themselves? Were they able to actually liquidate enough of that paper- presumably by converting notes to shares and selling them on the open market- to pay themselves the vast sums that were taken out? Or, did they just pay themselves out of new cash that was constantly entering the funds back in the glory days? However, even since 2008, Corey took a vast amount of money from the funds, and presumably there was no new money coming in then. So, how did he go about it?

Look how much he took- since 2008

This is from Long Island Business News, Feb 2012


PwC’s initial cash flow reports show Ribotsky’s firm charged at least $52 million in fees and expenses for running the funds since the fall of 2008, although the investments did not provide a meaningful return during that time. PwC wrote that since the cash-out freeze, NIR charged $24.5 million in management fees and another $1.5 million in general administrative expenses. Most hedge funds take expenses, like rent and staff salaries, out of the 2 percent management fees charged to investors, but it appears Ribotsky billed extra for that.

Ribotsky also owns a collateral management firm called First Street that billed investors another $25.83 million in management fees and listed those fees as a creditor’s claim. There is also a creditor’s claim on the funds of $1.77 million listed as an “introducing fee” to Crawford Ventures Inc., a Manhattan-based investment partnership.

NIR spokesman Brad Gerstman said he couldn’t verify the liquidator’s numbers.

“We do not confirm nor deny them as we have not independently verified same,” he said. PwC’s letter states the liquidators got the numbers from NIR’s books after NIR provided access to them. Some of the numbers, such as the $14 million of investor funds spent on legal fees, were self-reported by NIR to the liquidators.

Not a pure Ponzi scheme

Because that would have meant no investing at all, just shuffling money around from entering investors to departing investors and keeping a whole lot of it for himself.

Ribotsky was definitely making investments, but were those investments generating revenue? If he was paying off departing investors not with money generated by the investments but only by new money that was coming in, then it was a de-facto Ponzi scheme. And the investments he was making were like window dressing.

It's like network marketing. Is it a Ponzi scheme? Not technically because they are selling products. But, you could say that the marketing is a cover for the pyramiding.

I guess it's all a matter of degree. But, if it can be shown that Ribotsky was closing few deals- and I mean recouping very little of the money he lent out and showing a profit- if there was very little of that going on, then it was, in effect, a Ponzi scheme.

But why no criminal charges?

I believe the liquidators are urging us to have very low expectations. They have made it clear that much the paper in the NIR portfolio is completely worthless. My hunch is that if we investors get anything at all, it's going to be a pittance.

But, it's less than a year and a half ago that Corey issued account valuations (for year-end 2010), and they were high numbers. Not as high as the peak, but not that much lower than the peak. The difference was less than 10%.

But, if the portfolio is practically worthless today, could it really have been worth what he reported at year-end 2010? So, why haven't there been criminal fraud charges?

Why would anyone lend money as Corey did?

I mean lend hundreds of millions of dollars to extremely risky operators with no established means or record of generating any income- or even any sales. Often, it was just people with dreams, ideas, and little else. So, why hand over huge gobs of money to them? What was he thinking?

They named no companies.

They had 3 categories. Only 9 companies out of over 100 actually have operating businesses. 16 have no business but they do file SEC paperwork and maintain websites. And the rest have nada, zip, zilch, nunca.

It's amazing! How could that idiot turn over millions of dollars to these people? To say that their operations were "flimsy" would be a gross exaggeration. In many cases, there were no operations at all; it was more like a guy working out of his garage with a computer and calling it a company.

I've still got all Corey's quarterly letters with the glowing reports. You know, the funny thing is that he didn't name the companies either. He never did.

This recent update from the liquidators was emailed to all NIR investors, and that's how I got it.

It's truly a lost cause, and the the only thing that gives any faint hope is the prospect of suing the accounting firm or firms that backed his valuations. The problem is that even that takes money.

We just heard from the AJW Liquidators

They're saying that it's looking dismal. Of all the 100+ companies in the NIR portfolio, only 9 show signs of life. There are 16 more which at least are still making SEC filings and are maintaining websites. (although, it doesn't take much to maintain a website; just about anybody can do it) But the rest of the companies all have no activity, no filings, no trading, no ongoing business, no websites, no nothing.

My question is: how is it that Corey is not behind bars?

What kind of money manager makes it a practice to hand over millions of dollars to fly-by-night, fraudulent companies run by criminals?

The liquidators have been seeking help from experts to realize value from the portfolio, but some of these experts have informed them that the realizable value is too small to make it worthwhile.

But, the topper is that we've been advised not to expect reportable tax losses because losses, like gains, have to be realized in order to be taken. Well, surely at some point we should be allowed to take them. Right?

I think it's time to contact the SEC again about Corey, and I am going to do just that. I'll send them a copy of this latest report from the liquidators.

Corey is on the AJW Liquidation Committee

As an NIR investor, I received notice that, after the meeting in New York and the subsequent voting, Corey is among those who got instated on the liquidation committee.

Does that mean investors voted him in?

Corey just sent a letter to all investors

It's too long for me to post here, but he defended his past valuations, in fact, he claimed to use lower valuations than he legally and rightfully could have. He didn't deny that the funds are worth substantially less today, but he claims that the criminal investigations, the civil lawsuits, and the bad publicity have had a lot to do with bringing that about, along with the terrible economy. But, it doesn't mean he was lying at the time, says he.

And he went on to make the case that investors suing him is not the answer because even if they won, and he doesn't think they would, that the most they would get is two cents on the dollar. But, if they lost, then there would be their legal fees, plus his legal fees which he would sue for, plus the fact that the very existence of the suit would further damage the fund and make it more difficult to liquidate the assets.

He thinks that the liquidators, though well intentioned, are not trained in this PIPE investment space, and are unlikely to generate attractive offers. He says the only liquidation that has gone through so far was generated by him, not them. He thinks the most important thing now is to bring in a new investment manager with competence in this area to lead the process. I'm sure he meant someone like himself but it seems that he knows full well that it is not going to be him.

Anyway, I would like to hear the reaction of other investors to his letter. There is food for thought in it. We don't want to cut off our nose to spite our face.

Ryan1, put me on your list

Hey, I'd like to connect with you, Ryan. You sound like you mean business. So, you think suing Corey directly might bring results? And what about the accounting firms that enabled him to declare high valuations and rip us off for tens of millions in fees? Can we go after them? And who knows, maybe they are covered by insurance for this kind of thing, although I know insurance doesn't cover actions that are deemed criminal. But please write to me at paison60@yahoo.com so that we can connect.

What's the latest on Corey and the criminal probe?

Is the criminal probe continuing even though Corey is out? Any bets on whether he will ever be criminally charged? Where is he and what is he doing? Thank you.

PWC Open House?

They are having a pow-wow for NIR investors? I didn't know about that. Where? The Caymen Islands? Or would that be Long Island?

What is going on with Corey and NIR?

I just called NIR, and they aren't even answering the phone any more. There is just a recording. Did Corey really resign? Where is Bobby? What is the latest? If anyone can bring me up to speed, I would appreciate it.

Bobby Cohen is still there.

I'm waiting for a call back from him, actually.

Paul Schwartz is no longer with NIR

I just called, and that's what I was told.

Corey had my sympathy in that exchange.

That lawyer was browbeating him about whether he was aware that he was hurting Juniper by selling stock, but you could say that about any time a stock gets sold. Everyone who sells is acting to depress the stock that he's selling. Juniper issued stock to NIR in exchange for a loan, and, naturally, NIR was going to sell it according to their own timetable and priorities. That's how the world works. So, I'm glad you posted it, but it was not in any way disparaging against Corey. He handled himself well. I'm not defending him overall and certainly not for how he treated his own investors. But the timing of selling stock that he legally controlled was entirely his decision.

This sounds like someone Corey would have financed.

http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2011/06/15/Greatest-Vitamin-in-the-World-owner-Donald-Lapre-indicted/UPI-38751308177019/

I wonder if he is. But, they came down hard on him. Yet, Corey roams free while expanding his CDO operation. Go figure.

John Edwards just been indicted after 2+ years

So, I guess it takes time. Perhaps Corey, who also has been investigated for 2+ years, will face the same fate.

Was Corey looking for the worst possible companies?

What was his due diligence based on if so many criminal, fraudulent companies got picked to be funded? It couldn't have been an accident, and he couldn't have been that incompetent or unlucky. He must have been looking for them. Still, it's mindboggling because who seeks out criminals to give them money?

Then why hasn't he been charged?

They have arrested a lot of people for investment fraud over the years and sent quite a few away. Corey has been under investigation for over 2 years, and by multiple agencies, including the Justice Department, the FBI, and the SEC. Isn't the state of New York also going after him? But still no charges. If I had to bet, I'd bet that he is not going to be charged.