Now my friend, it is not that way, I have my experience and no I am not the world's foremost expert, its just that at this point in my life I have handled a bit more diverse business than most of the people frequenting this forum, thats all, I'm a voice under many and readily available to learn something new (yes it is difficult to teach an old dog but I ask you to try anyway).
My assessment on Mr. Cohen and his similar breathren is that we invite people to take advantage of our mistakes and wrong points of view. They do confidence crime and yes it is wrong to let them go away with it but frankly it does not make sense to throw good money after bad money. People usually do that when money is not an issue, either they do have enough of it or they have been made so angry that they go to any length to get the culprit. The first ones who have the money and do not care are usually the ones who pay the higest price in money because they just change the party which takes advantage of them (first it is the scam artist, then the lawyer and then there is a judgement , a lot of fees and no recovery, sometimes someone goes to jail but it is usually a minor thing). The later, who goes after the criminal because he feels frustrated, offended, taken advantage off, his honor and standing down and all that beside the money, is the one who pays the price 3 times, less in money because thats usually gone but by exposure of his own gullibility and the bad experience he suffers with justice.
In my opinion the party which lost all is looked at badly because he or she has shown bad common sense and the judges look at this as a sort of invitation to the scam artist. Thats wrong from my understanding but nevertheless I have seen it often. People like Mr. Cohen (if he is a scam artist, which I do not know, but you can replace his name with others) are usually very intelligent, have the experience in their business and are very sharp in regards of how they attack their query. Since governments only pay so much to their prosecutors, they do not get the brightest in regards of commercial transactions, especially cross border (its gotten better but still not good, even with the amount of lawyers without jobs the difference in payment is large, a good international financial lawyer in my books makes above 500.000,00 USD a year after 2 to 3 years) and so the quarry you want to attack is difficult. In addition a lot of prosecutors have limited language ability and can not afford to put the time in, because frankly there are only so many hours a day.
I feel that to keep an eye out on the quarry, taking your time, and moving slowly and silently with friends you make on the way, gets the scam artist more effectively and revenge is food best eaten cold, so take your time.
I have helped a lot of people back up after they got scammed and I learned to rely on networking with reliable friends and partners and reaching out. The application of good common sense and carefull assessment of business oportunities helps. I'm known in my network as Dr. No because I more likely say no before I say yes, therefore I only see some of the transactions but I'm always called when things go downhill. It is not that I've never been scamed, probably a couple of times I did not get it till it was to late, some probably claim I never got it, but some I got. It is a way of live that you run into people who see an opportunity to take advantage.
The reason I'm around is that I had help and assitance, I kept my mind open and learned from my peers and every once and a while got a big bad kick in my derriere from my seniors (both over the phone and in reality) I've been on the principal side, the broker side, the broker broker side, the assitant side and so on and you learn. The today internet allows you to access a lot of different input much faster than in the old days but still you have to understand and sort and it is easier to do so when you have a good real life education.
So thats why I'm saying to the defrauded that he should first contentrate to learn the leasson from the fraud, then apply the lesson to avoid future exposure, then rebuild the business and then keep a longterm eye out for the culprit and built a case to expose him with a final agenda of bringing him down. I understand the hunt, do not misunderstand that, I sometimes relished hunting the 2 legged culprit with all resources I had at my disposal and some regreted to cross me, but thats a revenge side and adrenalin junky side, which is not good for business if the hunting is not the only business you do ( sadly I have to accept the charge that I had a time that was my 100% paid job and I was good at it).
Let me tell you, life goes on after the fraud and you better life it when shooting the trouble maker is at a lower number of your priorities list (never mind keep the gun ready just in case)
Now in regard s of investment opportunities, there are all kind available for the low amounts of money to the high amounts of money. I never said private transactions do not exist. That would be foolish because I have them on my table all day, I'm saying there are many misconceptions about their risk, structure and handling and mechanics and that most of them do not exist through private brokers. I have also the problem that most people who try to deal in them and are not institutional investors or regulated brokers have no idea about the associated legal structures.
I'm probably a bit far from the day to day business but I remember the need to succeed in the early days of my professional carreer (bills need to be paid) and so I also remember my mistakes, so the only thing I'm doing here is to hint from my perspective, which I openly say may not be yours and you can take it as you will.
Just as a finish, never mind what I say above, I have learned that having big guns on board minimizes the exposure to fraud (beside the most sophisticated and the most dumb) and enhances your chances to get a shot at the culprit. It also helps to talk through the vineyard of financial services, it gets things done faster than through the law and the effect is sometimes immediate.
Good luck!
