Greek Fraud Bailout

With all the news of the financial crisis Greece I think it's important to look at the investment fraud that created the crisis. Jochen Zeitz, the outgoing chief executive of Puma, claimed: "This is about systematic evasion and embezzlement." What was public money is now, mysteriously, become very private money.

The former manager of a well known and reliable insurance company in Rhodes, convinced Rhodian investrors with substantial financial standing, to redeem their mutual fund units and reinvest in virtual and non-existent securities funds, which he had invented. Greek "Madoffs" are springing up like mushrooms.

Money laundering in Greece is a problem for all of Europe. Even in the US, Chael Sonnen, the UFC middleweight currently serving a suspension for performance-enhancing drugs, has pleaded guilty to money laundering related to mortgage fraud.

"This office will continue to aggressively prosecute real estate professionals who committed the mortgage fraud that contributed to this country's economic downturn and wreaked havoc on our community's housing market," US Attorney Dwight Holton said in a statement. "We entrusted these professionals to honestly broker real estate transactions and instead, they defrauded lending institutions throughout the country and left financial ruin in their wake."

Bailouts are preceded with money laundering and investment fraud that pumps the market up then sucks it dry. Protecting against investment fraud is protecting our sovereignty.