And yet "Social Security" is legal... go figure :-) By PAUL ELIAS, Associated Press Writer Friday, May 14, 2010 (05-14) 16:55 PDT San Francisco, CA (AP) -- As more than 100 distraught and angry victims looked on, a federal judge on Friday sentenced a seemingly small-time neighborhood accountant to 20 years in prison for operating a $50 million Ponzi scheme for three decades. Roberto Heckscher, 56, pleaded guilty in October to a single fraud count. His massive fraud was uncovered in June when he ran out of money, was unable to recruit any new investors and could no longer hold off his creditors. Heckscher turned himself in after attempting suicide by overdosing on pills. His sentencing hearing lasted for more than three hours while U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston listened to several of his victims tell her about lost nest eggs, college funds and homes. "My days are bleak," said Evelyn Fahnbulleh, who lost $187,000. "I'm destitute. Penniless. I just feel hopeless." Former Los Angeles Rams football player Bob Fields angrily denounced Heckscher as a thief for the $1.7 million he lost. Heckscher read a prepared statement apologizing to his victims. Heckscher said he started the scheme in 1979 after suffering big stock market losses and was never able to pull himself out of the hole he created. Heckscher claims that he never benefited personally from the scam and lived modestly. "I have lived an exemplary, violence-free life," Heckscher said to catcalls and sobbing from the gallery.
I didn't make our local Tea Party , but it pulled hundreds of people as well... Tea, anyone? from Father Hollywood by Father Hollywood Like hundreds of thousands of other Americans, the Hollywoods enjoyed a tea party this past Wednesday. "Tea party" (wink wink). Nothing subversive about sipping a little Darjeeling, eh wot? Nothing to see here, Miss Napolitano. Anyway, our local festivities were held at Veterans Memorial Boulevard in Metairie. There were literally thousands of people crammed into the neutral ground (though on that day, the ground was anything but...), as cars and trucks poured by the busy boulevard laing on their horns in support. Here are pictures. And like every such gathering in our environs, there was even a brass band and an improptu "second line" parade. It was a "party" after all. But it was a party with a serious reason. The crowds were so overwhelming that it was hard to hear the speakers, and unfortunately, we did have a fe...
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