Big trouble is brewing in a neighboring town. Cedartown, Georgia has a scandal of its very own: an affinity fraud in the form of a Ponzi scheme is allegedly being perpetrated by a building and loan organization. The target: conservative Christian Republicans. The alleged perp: a fellow conservative Christian Republican, tho there's nothing conservative about the amount of money bilked: $140,000,000.00 from approximately 300 victims. That's a stunning average of $466,667.00 per victim. Affinity fraud is nothing new. For a prime example, just search the name "Bernie Madoff" and you'll receive a Master's thesis of information. Like Madoff, the head of the building and loan targeted those who felt they could trust their fellow traveler. Also like Madoff, the alleged perp promised unusually high returns on investments in distressed businesses. The returns were rumored to be in the area of 8-18%. I'm no financial guru but if my business needs a loan with a 1...
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