Crimes of Persuasion

Schemes, scams, frauds.



William L. Haynes


Pre-Prepare to Lose

A South Florida broker-dealer and its alleged fund manager have settled charges that they defrauded about 300 investors out of nearly $8 million.

William Haynes was the director and fund manager of Global Asset Ltd. and chief executive officer of Global Services Group LLC and Global Internet Fund Group Inc.

For two years Global and Haynes persuaded investors through unsolicited phone calls to buy securities in companies like AT&T Corp or to buy "pre-initial-public-offering" stock, the regulator alleged.

It was said that sales agents often told investors that the issuers of the private securities would engage in a IPO in the next one to six months, at the offering price of two to three times the price Global was offering the stock.

The complaint also alleged that the agents misappropriated funds after telling people they would use it to buy major exchange-traded stocks like AT&T.

09/28/01  - Bahamas-registered Global Asset Partners Ltd., which described itself as a private asset management company located in The Bahamas, has had its assets frozen in the United States after a lawsuit was filed by the SEC.

Defendants are Global Asset Partners Ltd., Global Services Group LLC, of Wyoming; Global Internet Fund Group Inc., of Florida; and William L. Haynes, 35, of Florida. A relief defendant is Centurion International LLC, which is registered in Nevada. Without admitting or denying the allegations, they consented to all of the requested relief.

Receiver Info:

From at least May 1999 and continuing into 2001, the defendants raised approximately $7-8 million from investors located throughout the world making material misrepresentations and omissions to investors concerning, among other things, the imminence of the public offerings for the pre-IPO stock, the anticipated price the pre-IPO stock would trade at upon becoming public, registration of stocks in private accounts in the investor's name, rights of the investors upon closing their accounts, and Global's purported expertise in research and analysis.

Jane W. Moscowitz, Esq., the Receiver for Global, has taken a series of actions designed to protect the interests of shareholders and creditors.

The Receiver has approximately $200,000 in various bank and brokerage accounts controlled by Robert Anzivino, who was affiliated with Global. Litigation over those accounts is continuing.

The Receiver's investigation has revealed the following: On paper, Global was an offshore fund selling its shares offshore to non-United States investors. In fact, although the fund was incorporated in Nassau and had a mail drop there, its offices and sales force were located in Boca Raton, Florida.

Contrary to its formal description of itself as a "fund," it held itself out to its customers as a broker-dealer, which was selling shares of publicity-traded "Blue Chips" and shares of private companies about to go public and which, when they would begin trading, would do so at multiples of the prices per share at which they were buying.

In fact, the customers never "owned," even on paper, the shares in the public stocks or private placements which they believed they were buying. Moreover, it is unclear whether all of the stock in the "Blue Chips" was really purchased even for the companies' account.

What is known, is that most of the private companies never went public and the two which did are trading at a small fraction of the price paid by customers. What also appears to be settled, is that investors funds were never segregated or escrowed, but were spent on salaries, overhead and "profit," or simply diverted.

Unfortunately, other than the assets described above, virtually nothing of the monies raised from investors is left. The Receiver anticipates that shareholder and creditor claims will exceed $5 million.

As a result, the Receiver believes that any recovery for investors will be realized only through recoveries against responsible third parties. The receiver is currently investigating potential lawsuits and will, if she deems it appropriate, seek Court approval to file suit.

Obviously, there are no guarantees as to whether and to what extent assets and property will be recovered for the Receivership Estates such that a distribution of money can be made to its shareholders and creditors.

Similarly, if the receiver is successful in recovering sufficient assets to make a distribution, there is no certainty as to when such a distribution will be made.


Overseas Boiler Room Scam Operations