Ivan Burgos and the Viatical
Ponzi
Another of the crooks involved in the viatical Ponzi known as American
Benefits Services/Financial Federated was sentenced on October 4, 2001 in
federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Ivan Burgos, who pled guilty to criminal money-laundering was sentenced to 37
months in federal prison. Additionally, Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley ordered Burgos
to pay a fine of $10,000 and $1.8 million in restitution.
The Ponzi scam collected $117 million from more than 4,000 investors in the
U.S. and Europe. A small portion of the funds were used to pay interest to early
investors, but most of the money was spent on luxuries for the perpetrators --
cars, jewelry, mansions, etc.
Dated 10/5/01
