Wells Fargo Accused of Sham Diversity Interviews, Crypto Scams, Advisor Impersonates Police, Killing Mom, and Grandpa for Money and Are You Susceptible to Financial Bullsh!t?
& Research Analyst,
Wealth Solutions Report
No doubt you recently noticed a “heat dome” over your verdant, temperate city. Welcome to my world: Mother nature successfully exported Phoenix from Arizona to the rest of America.
With all the heat, you might think you’re in hell. I went to hell once – in Singapore’s Haw Par Villa, it cost one extra Singapore dollar to enter it. The Villa’s visions of hell from a traditional Buddhist perspective terrified in a way that would make Dante sweat and Jonathan Edwards take notes.
If you knew a hell like that existed (outside of Phoenix), would you kill your family to inherit their wealth? Maybe that’s too far. How about scamming people out of their crypto assets? Or just deceiving them in general to sell financial products?
If you’re too virtuous for that, would you conduct fake interviews with persons of diverse backgrounds to show the world how much you “cared” about diversity?
No? Then could you at least impersonate a police officer and assault some random guy for his wallet?
1) Financial advisor charged with impersonating a police officer in robbery
“Anthony A. Naso was arrested on May 4 in Paramus, New Jersey, after investigators … identified him as one of three men who pretended to be police officers in an attempt to rob an East Rutherford resident outside of his home …”
“Naso, a 27-year-old resident of Seaside Heights, who prosecutors say is married and employed as a financial advisor, and [his co-conspirator] … didn’t manage to rob the victim of anything even though they had grabbed, shoved and restrained him during the ambush.”
At WSR, we routinely write about cutting-edge marketing techniques in our Wallet Share section. Soon, perhaps we’ll include the latest trends in the art of client persuasion – impersonating an officer of the law and committing assault.
While these techniques yield excellent results, do remember to actually rob your victim. Otherwise, you’re working for free.
To read the full article by Tobias Salinger of Financial Planning click here.
2) Man Accused of Killing Mother, Grandfather to Inherit Family Estate
“Nathan Carman, a 28-year-old Vermont man, is being accused of murdering his mother, Linda Carman, and grandfather John Chakalos to inherit the family fortune.”
“Nathan is said to have lured his mom on a fishing trip off the coast of New England in 2016. During that trip, the boat they were on sank … Linda’s body was never recovered.”
“Prosecutors claim that Nathan was responsible for the murder of his grandfather, John, a wealthy real estate developer, back in 2013. Nathan allegedly shot John in his sleep with a rifle Nathan owned, but Nathan was never charged in the case.”
“John deposited $550,000 into Nathan’s bank account … [A]t some point prior to his death … Nathan convinced his mother to designate him as a beneficiary of her inheritance, a $42 million estate that was bequeathed to Linda and her three sisters by John.”
Look, you only live once (YOLO!), and the chances of gaining millions by lottery, crypto or hard work are nil, so do what you have to do – ax mom and grandpa moneybags.
If it turns out that hell exists, you’ll just deal with that bridge when you cross it, even if that bridge crosses the river Styx.
To read the full article by Anna Sulkin of WealthManagement.com, click here.
3) Ex-Wells Fargo Exec Who Alleged Fake Job Interviews Plans to Sue Over His Firing
“Wells Fargo managers interviewed women and people of color for already-filled jobs to make it look like they were trying to boost diversity, Joe Bruno says.”
“Bruno says the wirehouse fired him for complaining about fake interviews; Wells Fargo says Bruno retaliated against another employee.”
Wells Fargo’s starting to look like Florida Man these days. This is the third Wells Fargo scandal we’ve covered this year – and these aren’t “normal” scandals like their old tactic of opening unrequested accounts.
Fake interviews to feign concern about diversity – who comes up with this? Of course, it’s just an allegation, and if proven false maybe we can watch the Joe Bruno versus Wells Fargo defamation case. After the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard nonsense, who wouldn’t want to see that?
To read the full article by Jeff Berman of Think Advisor, click here.
4) Crypto Scammers Pose As Journalists, NFT Projects On Twitter
“Internet scammers are using hijacked accounts on Twitter Inc. to promote dubious cryptocurrency platforms that, once installed, enable them to compromise victims’ sensitive data, according to new findings provided exclusively to Bloomberg News.”
every minute.
“Since March, fraudsters have impersonated journalists, crypto apps and a variety of nonfungible token (NFT) projects on Twitter in order to steal users’ virtual currency, usernames and password credentials, according to research from Satnam Narang, a staff research engineer at the cybersecurity firm Tenable Inc.”
Sorry, but people who spent thousands or tens of thousands on good and valuable NFTs comprised of an internet link to true artwork or unique clips of basketball stars slam-dunking would never fall for a scam.
Then again, would a species that spends voluminous resources to dig up an inert yellow metal from the ground, just to bury it again in vaults be susceptible to scams? Good thing we’re past that. Now, we print trillions out of thin air, which is very much not a scam at all.
To read the full article by Jeff Stone of Financial Advisor, click here.
5) Are you susceptible to ‘financial bullsh!t’?
“A certain group of individuals are particularly susceptible to impressive-sounding financial language, Swedish researchers found.”
“Mario Kienzler, Daniel Västfjällbc and Gustav Tinghögde [tested] susceptibility to ‘pseudo-profound bullsh!t.’”
“As the authors point out, ‘Finance is often portrayed as a complex and difficult area of decision making, where interactions commonly are characterized by jargon, acronyms, and slogans. This provides a hotbed for bullsh!tting to thrive and obscure the view of consumers.’”
Financial products offered with a deceptive complexity of verbiage? Shocking! It’s not like we experienced a financial crisis 14 years ago detonated by repackaged NINJA loans with AAA credit ratings.
The study shows that young men with high incomes believe complex, hollow phrases such as “Your money transforms universal actions.” Bernie Madoff could’ve told you that.
We’ll have to tell the SEC about this one – perhaps they will educate the meme stock moon shooters. Oh, wait …
To read the full article by Alex Rosenberg of Citywire USA click here.
6) SEC ‘Investomania’ Satire on Memes, Crypto Sparks Outrage Online
“A new public-service campaign custom made for investing during these meme-filled times is sparking outrage from some on social media who say it pokes fun at the very people it’s meant to educate.”
“Videos posted on the SEC’s YouTube account, which feature two contestants choosing where to put their money from options including ‘crypto to the moon,’ ‘meme stocks’ and ‘stocks on margin,’ mark a fresh attempt by Wall Street’s main regulator to encourage people to research before investing. For many, the new approach seems to be landing with a thud.”
Quick quiz – do meme stock investors and crypto aficionados spend all day on YouTube? The SEC went to the backyard of the very people that already lost their shirts with a mocking video warning them…not to lose their shirts.
One time, I fell on a broken sidewalk, and as I dusted myself off some stranger said, “Be careful.” That riled me. The SEC just did that to the entire crypto and meme stock world. Good job, tone-deaf regulator!
To read the full article by Paulina Cachero of Bloomberg, click here.
James Miller, Contributing Editor & Research Analyst at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at ContributingEd@wealthsolutionsreport.com
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