The Madoff-wannabe directed client funds to companies he owned and to pay off other clients. more ›

His wife was oblivious that he was forging her signature to mortgages. He duped Mike North and fired him from their Chicago Sports Webio project when Pappy started asking why checks were bouncing. He went on the run when it was discovered he was running a Ponzi scheme to fund the failed web radio project. Later he pleaded guilty to that Ponzi scheme. Today, David Hernandez was sentenced to sixteen years and eight months in prison for that Ponzi scheme. Hernandez swindled $6.4 million from investors in the Ponzi scheme, which he used for personal use, including starting Chicago Sports Webio. more ›

Frank Castaldi of northwest suburban Prospect Heights entered a guilty plea this afternoon to federal charges stemming from the accusation that he had bilked investors out of tens of millions of dollars in a lengthy Ponzi scheme. According to court documents, Castaldi managed to convince over 450 people to give him $77 million dollars to purchase 6 month promissory notes, which Castaldi guaranteed would net a 10% - 15% return on their investment. more ›

The hammer of justice has come down on Webio co-founder David Hernandez, 48, of Downers Grove. Hernandez stands charged of four counts of mail fraud for running a Ponzi scheme that bilked people out of around $12 million. According to the Sun-Times, the feds are also trying, "to seize $3.5 million and two luxury automobiles from Hernandez, including a 2009 Audi and a 2007 Mercedes Benz ML350." more ›

Earlier today, Ponzi scheme extraordinaire Bernie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison for his crimes. CBS 2 talked to Stuart Borg of Northbrook, one of the Chicago-area Madoff victims. Said Borg, "Life in jail is too good for him. This man has devastated not only people like myself, and richer people than me, but what I've said before - what he's done to these charities. It's unconscionable, and he has no conscience." [CBS 2]
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She married ChicagoSportsWebio founder David Hernandez in 2001, but she is just now finding out who he really was. Last week, the SEC accused Hernandez of running an $11 million ponzi scheme that funded the ChicagoSportsWebio venture, and he promptly left town. Gina Hernandez reported her husband missing on June 16, and police found him at a hotel downstate on June 22. more ›

There's not a whole heckuva lot of information, but the Trib is reporting that David Hernandez, former ChicagoSportsWebio co-founder and alleged Ponzi scheme runner, is in custody after a failed suicide attempt. We'll have more as the story develops. more ›

It's been a strange couple of days for ChicagoSportsWebio and it all culminated with the site shutting down yesterday, according to the Trib's Phil Rosenthal. While the site still looks like it's fully operational, indeed, there is no audio. The drama started when Mike North's complaints about bounced checks got him fired from the site by co-founder David Hernandez. Hernandez was then alleged to have been running a Ponzi scheme and subsequently disappeared, his wife yesterday filing a missing person's report. more ›