February 19, 2009
Minnesota Investors Burned Again?
It’s been a rough couple months for the Minnesota investor class. First, the tentacles of the Madoff ponzi scheme reached a significant number of Minnesotans. Second, Charles Hays of “Millionaire Trader” fame was running a local ponzi scheme. Now the SEC has sued John Lawton, manager of the hedge fund Paramount Partners, in Minnesota Federal Court for various misdeeds, including falsifying returns. Despite some pretty serious allegations, Lawton struck a hopeful note for the investors in an interview:
Lawton denied the government’s allegations in an interview and said he was in the process of returning funds to his limited-partner investors when the government stepped in.“We’ve had successful years. Last fall was really good,” Lawton said.