The second sentence of today's opinion reads:
"Over the span of a year, Yazdani made a series of investments totaling $5,079,000 in an international gold-trading scheme run by a loan broker, Lananh Phan, who promised him 'guaranteed' returns of 5 or 6 percent per month."
Oh boy. I don't know how many times we have to say it: If it sounds too good to be true, it is.
That's true even if (as here) the person you're investing with is "a Stanford-educated economist and licensed real estate broker" -- those guys (as here) can be fraudsters too. That's true even if (as here) they say they're buying gold wholesale in one country and selling it at a profit in another -- that can (as here) be a total lie. That's true even if (as here) the guys, at your request, purportedly give you "security" for your investment through liens on their property and the property of others -- those things (as here) can simply be forgeries and/or invalid. That's true even if (as here), at your request, you make sure to go through a title company -- that can (as here) give you no protection at al.
It's a Ponzi scheme, and you end up down over $5 million.
Because -- to reiterate -- the whole thing is too good to be true.
Too. Good. To. Be. True.
