Pedaling Against Ponzi
ZANESVILLE, Ohio – Financial fraud is a widespread problem and a Texas couple made a stop in Zanesville to spread help awareness.
Aaron Novinger and his wife Rebecca are accountants from the Dallas Fort Worth area who are bicycling to Washington D.C. to meet with federal lawmakers on behalf of Ponzi Scheme victims. Discussions will center around ways to compensate those who have been swindled out of their life savings as well as implementing larger, more stringent penalties for the scammers.
“We’ve got a meeting with two or three individuals from the Senate Finance Committee. And we’re going to be meeting with them and I think we’re also going to be meeting with people from the Ways and Means Committee. Ways and Means Committee actually has to do with the IRS themselves but the Senate Finance Committee kind of decides where the money goes. And so yeah, we’re going to be meeting with actual individual senators from the committee and we’ll see what happens,” Aaron said.
IRS Form 4684 Section C is a form that was created to help fraud victims write off their losses. It is set to expire at the end of the year and Novinger hopes for, at the very least, that he can convince congress to extend the life of that form indefinitely.
“You know, you hear about somebody giving thousands of dollars to this prince overseas; I’ll send you money, you keep some money,” Aaron said. “Something as simple as that all the way to what you would see with, like a Madoff type of Ponzi that happened in 08, where it’s an actual investment that’s sold to broker-dealers. Broker-dealers have relationships with advisors, and the advisors have relationships with the investors.”
Novinger suggests victims report their experiences to their local authorities so that official investigations can begin and paper trails can be documented and tracked.
“Because Honestly, usually a victim feels like they’re an island by themselves. So we want them to feel like at least you’re not on this island by yourself, you’ve got some other people here who are with you,” Aaron said.
Individuals are not the only victims, financial advisors can fall prey too. Novinger said that many of the scams come from operators who have an untarnished history of operating legitimately but lenient laws and insufficient oversight incentivize risky and unethical behaviors.
For more information about the Novingers and their advocacy, you can visit ponzirelief.org or visit their Facebook page.
