Not A Douche. Really.
The inevitable convergence of Madoff-esque financial fraud and Bailout Nation is complete with the bizarre mystery of missing wealth management executive and apparent fraudster Marcus Schrenker.
You see, by attempting to fake his own death in an aircrash, Master of the Universe Schrenker tried to bail himself out of financial distress --- literally:
Authorities searched for Marcus Schrenker Monday after he appeared to have made a phony distress call and secretly parachuted to safety near Birmingham, Ala. His single-engine plane continued flying on autopilot and eventually crashed late Sunday more than 200 miles away in a swampy area of the Florida Panhandle.
What kind of financial meltdown would prompt such a Hollywood plot?
1. As an agent, he allegedly stimluated his own economy stiffed his insurance company for $1.4 million:
Schrenker was an insurance agent for National Western from 2003 to 2006, according to court records. During that time, he collected more than $1.4 million in advance commissions on policies that ultimately went unsold or that lapsed in some way.
CMI claims Schrenker was legally obligated to repay the commissions to National Western, but never did. CMI is now suing Schrenker for breach of contract and unjust enrichment. Oh, and it wants the money back.
2. The G-Men were on his trail:
Authorities in Indiana have said little about the nature of the investigation into Schrenker's businesses --- Heritage Wealth Management Inc., Heritage Insurance Services Inc. and Icon Wealth Management --- wealth management companies that provide financial advice. Jim Gavin, a spokesman for Indiana's secretary of state, said investigators are looking at possible securities violations, and officers who searched Schrenker's home Dec. 31 were looking for laptops, computers, notes, photos and other documents related to those companies.
3. He lost a half-million dollar judgement to another insurance company:
On Friday, two days before the crash, a federal judge in Maryland issued a $533,500 judgment against Heritage Wealth Management Inc., and in favor of OM Financial Life Insurance Co. The OM lawsuit contended that Heritage Wealth Management should have returned more than $230,000 in commissions because there were problems with insurance or annuity plans Heritage had sold.
4. Oh and forget piddling multi-million dollar securities and insurance fraud, Schrenker was dealing with the worst thermonuclear financial nightmare any man ever faces:
Court records show his wife, Michelle, filed for divorce a day before the searches.
GERONIMO!
Behold My Trophies!
It's enough to make a feller radio in a fake May Day, force the military to scramble jets to respond to his phony air emergency, crash his own expensive private plane (possibly into an orphanage, environmentally protected wetland or a litigious bystander's house), do a shrieking nighttime paradrop into the swamps of Peckerwood, Alabama, and go underground with a new identity on a quest to find the One-Armed Insurance Broker Who Set Him Up.
And still face 1-4 above.
So, while we wait for Schrenker to get collared by Alabama police, here's some video. First is a local TV report from the plane crash site in Florida (video de-embedded because it was causing script errors --- see it here instead).
And here are Schrenker's aerial acrobatics on display in his one and only video posted to YouTube:
Oh yeah, the big honking logo sponsor on his sport plane? AmerUs, yet another insurance company. Uh oh.
UPDATE: Schrenker receives his emergency government investment ---- three hots and a cot in a Florida pokey.
It's an awesome video.
Posted by: pamela | January 14, 2009 at 11:29 AM
Would you put a link to closing velocity either in your blog roll or at the top of your blog? thanks
Posted by: infidel2 | January 14, 2009 at 01:31 PM
How come when one person fakes his own death it gets national attention? When the government fakes the death of over one hundred people (ValuJet 592) The media doesn’t see the obvious. Just as in this single incident, there was no body so the po0lice and investigators got suspicious. When no bodies were recovered at the site of ValuJet flight 592, no one got suspicious. For more information on ValuJet, go to my site @ http://www.angelfire.com/ut/2f/.
Posted by: Bruce Wachob | January 14, 2009 at 01:33 PM
What The Hell Is Going On. One is foolish to invest even in the best of companies if all it take is a CEO to take the money and walk away or worse ask for more. Bailout CEO's, knowingly, deceptively have used the position they hold to unjustly Enrich themselves and with out care causing total collapse
Do not believe me. Will you believe Columbia Encyclopedia:" Federal National Mortgage Association The price usually soars when interest rates fall and plummets when interest rates rise, since the mortgage business is so dependent on the direction of interest rates. Fannie Mae’s corporate credibility was damaged by revelations (2004) that it manipulated its earnings from 1998 to 2004, in part to maximize bonus payments to its corporate executives.
the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), an agency of the United States Department of the Treasury, is the primary regulator of the fiduciary activities of federal savings associations.
such as corporate directors, held to a fiduciary duty breach of fiduciary duty in order to prevent unjust enrichment.
The fiduciary functions of trusts and agencies AIG, Inc., Ameriprise Financial, American Express, Morgan Stanley, and Merrill Lynch.
each is liable, even though the injury would not have happened but for the negligence of the others.
Chief executive officer has been ordered by a judge to repay his former company more than $47.8 million in bonuses to allow Dishonorable CEOs to retain the benefit of these payments would be unconscionable.' " Enforce Unjust Enrichment recover over $200B but better than that this will stop the shameless greed from every happening again. $100 Trillion will not work if shameless greed can grab the money and walk away.
Posted by: Honor and Respect is key to Heaven | February 05, 2009 at 10:13 AM
crazy, Marcus Schrenker's life reads like a movie... it's kind of sad that he tried to kill himself tho
Posted by: Joe | March 21, 2009 at 11:13 PM
People like him deserve to rot in jail... that's why this economy is so bastardized!
Posted by: Wealth Management | July 15, 2009 at 06:08 PM