Investors Overseas Services / Robert Vesco
Fund looting, flight from justiceVesco took control of Bernie Cornfeld's Swiss-based mutual fund empire in 1971; the SEC accused him of looting it, and he fled the US in 1972.
Scale
$224 million alleged-
1971 to 1973
-
1973
Equity Funding Corporation of America
Insurance and accounting fraudA life insurer created bogus policies in its computer system and sold them to reinsurers; whistleblower Ronald Secrist and analyst Ray Dirks exposed it.
Scale
60,000+ fake policies; $500 million in claimed assets -
1973 to 1974
Home-Stake Production Company
Ponzi scheme (oil tax shelter)A Tulsa oil tax shelter paid early investors with new money; celebrity investors included Andy Williams, Liza Minnelli, and Jack Benny.
Scale
$100 million+ lost by 2,000+ investors -
1974
Franklin National Bank / Michele Sindona
Bank fraud, Mafia-linked financeSindona's controlling stake ended with the bank declared insolvent on 8 Oct 1974; he was convicted in the US in 1980 and later of ordering the murder of liquidator Giorgio Ambrosoli.
Scale
Largest US bank failure to that date -
1975 to 1977
Lockheed bribery scandals
Foreign briberySenate hearings led by Frank Church revealed payments to officials in Japan, the Netherlands, and Italy; the SEC then found hundreds of companies had made similar payments.
Scale
About $22 million disclosed; led to the FCPA (19 Dec 1977)
1970s
Bibliography
Books first, then official reports and court records, then key journalism, grouped by case.
Investors Overseas Services / VescoBack to case
- Robert A. Hutchison, Vesco (Praeger, 1974)
- Arthur Herzog, Vesco: From Wall Street to Castro's Cuba (Doubleday, 1987)
- Britannica: Robert Vesco
Equity FundingBack to case
- Raymond L. Dirks and Leonard Gross, The Great Wall Street Scandal (1974)
- Ronald L. Soble and Robert E. Dallos, The Impossible Dream: The Equity Funding Story; The Fraud of the Century (1975)
- Fortune archive, "Those daring young con men of Equity Funding"
- SEC News Digest, 2 Nov 1973
Home-StakeBack to case
- David McClintick, Stealing from the Rich: The Home-Stake Oil Swindle (M. Evans, 1977)
- The Wall Street Journal's exposé of 26 June 1974
Franklin National / SindonaBack to case
- Luigi DiFonzo, St. Peter's Banker (1983)
- Nick Tosches, Power on Earth (1986)
- United States v. Sindona, 636 F.2d 792 (2d Cir. 1980)
- Mother Jones, "Banking, God, the Mob and the CIA" (July 1983)
LockheedBack to case
- David Boulton, The Grease Machine: The Inside Story of Lockheed's Dollar Diplomacy (1978)
- Anthony Sampson, The Arms Bazaar: From Lebanon to Lockheed (1977)
- SEC, Report on Questionable and Illegal Corporate Payments and Practices, submitted to the Senate Banking Committee (May 1976); background at the SEC Historical Society