# Congressman gets swindled out of $18 million

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-gets-swindled-out-of-18-million/675982>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [December 10, 2013, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-gets-swindled-out-of-18-million/675982 "2013-12-10T15:15:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2013, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-gets-swindled-out-of-18-million/675982/21 "2013-12-10T19:30:20Z")

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> [@Ravenman](#):
>
> See page three of the second link. That page starts off with a discussion of how Grayson used intermediaries in the Cook Islands (a location known by the IRS to be a probable location of US tax evasion schemes) and how Grayson felt he had to invest the money overseas because IRS wouldn’t let him invest the money how he wanted in the US; then it goes into a discussion of how the IRS believes that the Ponzi schemes were actually illegal tax shelters; and then it goes into the exposure limit thing.

I had failed to notice that the link had more than one tab, sorry. :o

But even there, it doesn’t claim what you state. The Cook Islands investments were apparently not the stocks that he gave to Derivium (& whose value was effectively guaranteed at 90%) but rather investments that he made with the 90% cash that Derivium returned to him.

Regardless, the point stands about how the 90% effective floor enabled higher risk & reward investments than would otherwise have been possible.

In addition, on page 4 of your link the defendent’s lawyers alleged that in addition to the 33 profitable loans on which Grayson’s profits/losses totaled $34M, there were 59 other less successful ones.

Bottom line is that he may not have been such a good stock picker after all.

> [@](#):
>
> Grayson’s $34 million was part of a $270 million judgment for him and several other victims, that’s on the lower part of the page of my second cite. Alisa J. Roberts of Grayson Law Center PC represented the plaintiffs in related matters. [Cite.](http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/Published/121518.p.pdf)

Yeah, that seems to be an unsuccessful attempt to go after Wachovia’s deep pockets, not the $34M case that he won.

In sum, the $34M was for losses, not legal fees, and he presumably did not collect on much of it, if anything.

OTOH, his actual losses (versus failure to profit) appear to have been relatively small.

> [@](#):
>
> Just a question, I get that you’re all for accuracy in this thread – nothing wrong with that – but are you implying that Alan Grayson was more of an innocent party than I’m making him out to be?

There is no broader theme to my comments here.

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**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-gets-swindled-out-of-18-million/675982/22 "2013-12-11T07:55:18Z")

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It couldn’t happen to a nicer psycho!

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**Author:** ![flak47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@flak47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flak47)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-gets-swindled-out-of-18-million/675982/23 "2013-12-11T11:38:41Z")

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punished

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