Charles Hays: Another Ponzi

Yet another Ponzi scheme has been uncovered: Charles E. Hays of Rosemount, Minneapolis USA is under investigation for the loss of at least US$25 million from 75 investors.

Hays portrayed himself as a level-headed master trader and was featured on the 2007 book Millionaire Traders: How everyday people are beating Wall Street at its own game in a chapter entitled "The Coolest Guy in the Room".

Together with his big house and $3 million 64-foot Viking cabin cruiser, his profile in the book helped to strengthen his reputation among other day traders.

He claimed to have gained $69,000 in a single trade but in reality he lost money 20 out of 24 months in the futures market. Hays worked as a product manager for car test products before he started to trade stocks in 1999.

Like Madoff and previous Ponzi scammers before him, Hays maintained a good personal relationship with his investors and sent them bogus statements regularly.

So far, investigators with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have uncovered six Ponzi schemes in the US this year.


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