????????????Here is a roundup of alleged cons, frauds and schemes:
Discount appliances — Two people who advertised discount, high-end appliances on the Internet but failed to ship them after receiving payment have been convicted of fraud and money laundering. Darin Jerome French and Jennifer Lynn French were accused of stealing $1.5 million from customers of their business, Look What We Got, in 2003 and 2004. They advertised Sub Zero, Viking and Wolf kitchen appliances on EBay at greatly discounted prices but did not ship the products. They are scheduled to be sentenced May 23 at the federal courthouse in Reno.
Global warming — The Securities and Exchange Commission has sued seven people who allegedly promoted the stock of a sham company they said would sell products to fight global warming but provided no such services. The seven defendants allegedly made more than $7 million in profits when shares of C02 Tech increased in 2007. The lawsuit accused the defendants of falsely claiming they had relationships with business partners, including Boeing Co. The lawsuit accused the defendants of a operating a "pump-and-dump" scheme, in which false news is released to raise a stock's price so shares could be sold at a profit.
