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Harvard Business School grad targeted fellow alumni in Ponzi scheme, New York attorney general says
A Harvard Business School graduate is accused of targeting his own, deceiving fellow alumni into investing in a Ponzi scheme.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James, in a court order filed this week, accuses HBS alum, Vladimir Artamonov, of swindling investors out of $3 million. James urged any investors who lost funds to file a complaint.
James’ office alleges that Artamonov used his HBS network to court investors in a Ponzi scheme that defrauded at least 29 people, many of whom were connected to HBS, of at least $2.9 million in funds.
A Ponzi scheme is a type of investment fraud involving an organizer who promises risk-free, high returns and pays investors with new backers’ funds, not investment profits. These kinds of schemes don’t generate returns but depend on a constant stream of new money to survive.
The New York AG has secured a court order that effectively shuts down Artamonov’s alleged scheme. Her office said it became aware of the activity after being alerted of the death of an early investor who took his own life after discovering he had lost $100,000 in funds.
“Even after the tragedy, Artamonov continued to solicit new investors and lied to them regarding the fund’s strategy and performance,” James’ office said.
Anyone can be duped
The case highlights that even those with prestigious backgrounds in business or finance can be duped into making unsavory investment decisions, particularly when an opportunity is presented by a trusted contact.
“Even sophisticated investors can be conned by fraudsters, especially when personal relationships and networks are used to build a false sense of trust,” Attorney General James said in a statement Thursday. “Vladimir Artamonov used his alumnus status from Harvard Business School to prey on his classmates and others while seeming legitimate and dependable. Instead, he has been scamming people out of their investments, with horrific consequences. Today, we have put a stop to this scheme and encourage anyone who has been defrauded to come forward to my office.”
Artamonov graduated from HBS in 2003 with a master’s degree in business administration and later moved to New York where he worked as a securities professional. He called his investment fund “Project Information Arbitrage” or the “Artamonov Fund.”
In courting potential investors, he claimed to have advance knowledge of Berkshire Hathaway’s investment decisions by way of public state insurance filings. He likened his insights to “having a private time machine” or “getting tomorrow’s newspaper today,” projecting fund returns of 500% to 1,000%, according to the AG.
“In reality, Artamonov used his investors’ money to buy short-term options that expired within days of purchase and appeared to have no relation to Berkshire Hathaway or its investment activities,” the AG’s office said, adding that Artamonov funded a cushy lifestyle for himself using investors’ money.
James’ court order requires Artamonov to testify and produce books and records to guide an ongoing investigation.
Harvard Business school declined to comment on the matter when reached by CBS MoneyWatch.
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McDonald’s investing $100 million to lure customers back to the fast food giant after E. coli outbreak
McDonald’s is investing $100 million to bring customers back to stores after an outbreak of E. coli food poisoning tied to onions on the fast-food giant’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers.
The investments include $65 million that will go directly to the hardest-hit franchises, the company said.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that slivered onions on the Quarter Pounders were the likely source of the E. coli. Taylor Farms in California recalled onions potentially linked to the outbreak.
The E. coli outbreak has sickened 104 people in 14 states, federal health officials said in an update on Wednesday.
At least 34 people have been hospitalized, and four developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a serious condition that can cause kidney failure. An 88-year-old man who resided in Grand Junction, Colorado, died, as previously reported. The illnesses began at the end of September, and the most recent onset of illness occurred as of Oct. 21, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The Food and Drug Administration has said that “there does not appear to be a continued food safety concern related to this outbreak at McDonald’s restaurants.”
However, the outbreak hurt the company’s sales.
Quarter Pounders were removed from menus in several states in the early days of the outbreak.
In a statement Wednesday obtained by CBS News, McDonald’s said it had found an “alternate supplier” for the approximately 900 restaurants that had temporarily stopped serving Quarter Pounders with slivered onions.
“Over the past week, these restaurants resumed the sale of Quarter Pounder burgers with slivered onions,” McDonald’s said.
CBS News reached out to McDonald’s on Saturday for a statement regarding the reported investment.
Health officials said Saturday they have confirmed the first U.S. case of a new form of mpox that was first seen in eastern Congo.
The person had traveled to eastern Africa and was treated in Northern California upon return, according to the California Department of Public Health. Symptoms are improving and the risk to the public is low.
Mpox is a rare disease caused by infection with a virus that’s in the same family as the one that causes smallpox. It is endemic in parts of Africa, where people have been infected through bites from rodents or small animals.
Earlier this year, scientists reported the emergence of a new form of mpox in Africa that was spread through close contact including through sex.
More than 3,100 confirmed cases have been reported just since late September, according to the World Health Organization. The vast majority of them have been in three African countries – Burundi, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Since then, cases of travelers with the new mpox form have been reported in Germany, India, Kenya, Sweden, Thailand, Zimbabwe, and the United Kingdom.
Health officials earlier this month said the situation in Congo appears to be stabilizing. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated Congo needs at least 3 million mpox vaccines to stop the spread, and another 7 million vaccines for the rest of Africa.
The current outbreak is different from the 2022 global outbreak of mpox where gay and bisexual men made up the vast majority of cases.
