Matt Levine in Dealbreaker magazine: "a $25,000 fine is I guess a little harsh for a scam that didn’t actually hurt anyone, but at the same time it’s a little mild for an intentionally scammy effort to steal millions of dollars, failed or not."
Levine is right; the punishment was too mild. Abdelnour's intention was to scam. Probably his intended victims were retired people. They often fall for prime bank schemes, which are also known as HYIP schemes. It looks as if the SEC got lucky, and found out about what Abdelnour was planning before he got it off the ground. Since the action was largely preventive, the agency couldn't fine him all that much.
AZ is still President & CEO of Blackhawk and overseeing the business of "originating, structuring & acting as equity investor in management-led buyouts, strategic equity investments, consolidations, growth capital financings, & trading key physical commodities."
And why would someone so distinguished, involved in so much important and lucrative business, have been involved in a failed prime bank scam?
Don't give too much weight to what these people say about themselves.
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
