Ponzi / Pyramid

The warehouse in Wausau held 300 snowmobiles. None of them belonged to the investors.

Stanley Pophal told nearly 190 investors he was a licensed fiduciary blessed with good fortune. On June 13, he pleaded guilty to running a six-year Ponzi scheme out of a Wausau warehouse stacked with snowmobiles.

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Pump & Dump

The IT guy installed the cameras. He also installed a door for himself.

Billie Conley Jr. pleaded guilty to wire fraud on June 1, 2026, after federal prosecutors said the Ridgefield Tech owner hid unauthorized remote-access software inside a funeral home's surveillance system. The cameras were watching the parking lot. Something else was watching the cameras.

Ponzi / Pyramid

The advance fee that was never an advance fee, and the daughter who never knew

Chanise Coyne of New Boston, Michigan pleaded guilty on May 19 to wiring a family out of $4.6 million in fake modeling fees. Federal prosecutors say the money funded her gambling, not her client's daughter.

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