Natalie Cochran was recently convicted of first-degree murder for killing her husband in 2019 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Natalie was already serving a 135-month sentence for money laundering and wire fraud connected with a Ponzi scheme she perpetrated between 2017 and 2019. In 2017, Natalie Cochran, with no experience in weapons or government contracts quit her job as a pharmacist and, along with her husband Michael Cochran, formed Tactical Solutions Group (TSG) a company they said would bid on contracts to sell weapons and other goods to the federal government.
Natalie Cochran went to at least eleven friends and family and convinced them to invest approximately $2.5 million with promises of big profits based on government contracts she said they would obtain. Unfortunately, there were never any contracts, and no money was ever earned by the company which managed to appear successful for a time by, as typical with a Ponzi scheme, paying early investors with money obtained from later investors while she used the funds invested to pay for a lavish lifestyle including three homes, expensive vacations, jewelry and a 1965 Shelby Cobra automobile.
Over the years Ponzi schemes have been used by many scammers to steal billions of dollars from unwitting victims who made the mistake of investing their money with such criminals. Although Charles Ponzi was not the first to use the technique of paying off early investors with the investments of later investors in an effort to make a total sham look as if it is a profitable business, that dishonor should go to Sarah Howe who first used this scheme in the 1870s, it was Ponzi in 1920 who perfected the scam to steal millions of dollars from unwary investors in his scheme through which he told them that he was able to take advantage of fluctuating currency values to purchase international postal reply coupons at a discount and then sell them at face value in the United States. Ponzi promised, and delivered to early investors, a 50% profit on investments within 45 days and a 100% profit within 90 days. Of course, the entire scheme was a total fake, but eager investors blinded by their greed flocked to him to invest. Eventually, as ultimately always happens in a Ponzi scheme, the scam was exposed and Ponzi went to prison.
Now in an usual twist, Natalie Cochran was convicted of the 2019 murder of her husband Michael Cochran. Prosecutors argued successfully to the jury that Natalie Cochran had killed him in an effort to keep him from exposing her Ponzi scheme/ Prosecutors said that Michael Cochran was not a part of the Ponzi scheme, but had become suspicious.
TIPS
Before investing with anyone, you should investigate the person offering to sell you the investment with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Central Registration Depository. This will tell you if the broker is licensed and if there have been disciplinary procedures against him or her. You can also check with your own state’s securities regulation office for similar information. Many investment advisers will not be required to register with the SEC, but are required to register with your individual state’s securities regulators. You can find your state’s agency by going to the website of the North American Securities Administrators Association.
Generally, before stocks, bonds or other securities can be sold to the public, they must be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) although in limited instances, the SEC does allow exceptions to this rule. However, anyone considering investing in unregistered securities should be particularly thorough in their investigation into the investment because unregistered securities have often been the basis of many scams.
It is also important to remember that you should never invest in something that you do not completely understand. Commodities futures are a complicated investment and not one in which you should invest unless you totally understand the investment.
This scam is also a good example of what is called affinity fraud where people put undeserved trust in someone offering an investment opportunity because that person is “someone like me.” Affinity fraud works because people trust other people who may share a common bond, such as family, religion or, in this case, ethnicity. The list goes on and on. Scammers take advantage of every connection they can make with their victims to gain their trust and then steal their money.
You also may want to check out the SEC’s investor education website at www.investor.gov. Scammers can be very convincing and it may sound like there is a great opportunity for someone to make some money, but you must be careful that the person making money is not the scam artist taking yours.
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