Hayibo.com - Ponzi fraud victims comforted by still having millions in the bank

Ponzi fraud victims comforted by still having millions in the bank

JOHANNESBURG. The dozens of South African millionaires who lost money to an alleged Ponzi scheme run by expatriate Barry "Royal" Tannenbaum say the fraud has hit them hard but that they will somehow muddle through with the hundreds of millions of Rands left in their bank accounts. Meanwhile auditors have confirmed that wealth is inversely proportional to intelligence.

Investors in Tannenbaum's scheme have reportedly lost around $1.9 billion, after being assured that they would receive up to 200 percent interest per year on their investments, and that the profits would be delivered annually on a flying sleigh pulled by magic reindeer.

According to investigating auditor Lucre Mazibuko the details of the fraud have confirmed new research that suggests wealth is inversely proportional to intelligence.

"My mother always taught me that you needed to be very intelligent to become very rich," said Mazibuko.

"Clearly she was wrong. Anyone who thinks you can get 200 percent per year on any investment is clearly barely able to fog a mirror."

He said there was a general belief that senior positions in the corporate world were allocated "according to golf handicaps", but that apparently it "has much more to do with mental handicaps".

He estimated that of the 25 millionaires he had interviewed as part of his investigation, just 3 could tie their own shoelaces.

"And only because they go on a refresher course every six months," added Mazibuko.

Meanwhile the millionaires hit by the fraud say their loss had been a setback, but that they will "muddle through somehow" with the hundreds of millions of Rands left in their bank accounts.

Heinrich Himmler, heir to the Himmler publishing empire which was built on supplying blank textbooks for Bantu Education in the 1960s and 70s, said the fraud had set his family back "easily two years".

"It's going to be a long two years, sitting in the bush lodge, watching the interest stack up again," said Himmler. "Two years is like 80 months. That's so long I can't even imagine it."

BEE tycoon Typhoid Ngema, who amassed a fortune of R400-million largely by helping ANC officials mop the lard off their shirtfronts after banquets, said he had lost R20-million but that the remaining R380-million would "keep the wolf from the door".

"Yes, there will be sacrifices," he said. "But that's what being rich is all about: making sacrifices. On small granite altars. With flint knives. At full moon."