Several weeks ago we reported the amazing case of one Owen Li, a former portfolio manager of disgraced and incarcerated insider trader Raj Rajaratnam, whose Canarsie Capital had somehow managed to blow through 99.8% of its AUM in 9 months, starting with $100 million in March and finishing, literally, with $200,000, after suffering massive losses during the failed December “Santa Rally.” According to a letter he sent to investors, he “truly sorry,” for “acting overzealously.” Of course, the apology wouldn’t get any of the lost money back, giving his investors a lot of time to contemplate just how stupid they were to hand over a hundred million to an incompetent hack whose only virtue was the reputation of being a professional when it comes to investing. A reputation that was clearly false.
Meet the ironically named Roger Bliss: an absolute amateur when it comes to investing, but the very definition of professionalism when it comes to lying, cheating, misrepresenting and stealing the money of gullible investors.
Roger Bliss runs Roger Bliss and Associates Equities, LLC, which is supposedly an “investment club” and has had tremendous success day-trading Apple (AAPL) stock, achieving annual returns for his investors of between 100 to 300%. Bliss tells investors he has never had a trading day in which he has lost money in the past six years. Bliss claims to be managing in excess of $300 million of which approximately $260 million is his own equity in the fund. Bliss also claims there is no risk for investors as he indemnifies them against the loss of their principal.
Bliss operates his purported business out of a large, nice home. He claims to own a vacation property in a resort area in Utah, an airplane, and expensive toys, such as a sailboat and all-terrain vehicles. He tells investors that he enjoys vacations sailing in the Caribbean. Bliss also tells investors and potential investors that he established the investment club with the assistance of attorneys. Bliss claims that due to the size of his accounts, he is regularly audited by the Commission and has twice-yearly telephone conversations with staff at the Commission, thereby creating the appearance of compliance with laws and regulations.
There is only one problem: it is all nothing but one non-stop, epic lie.
As the SEC disclosed three days ago when it charged Roger Bliss and his various fabricated and made up corporate entities, any time investors hope to get rich quick and hand over their money to those who promise untold upside, riskless profits, and boast with a flawless trading history, they will end up even faster dazed, confused and broke with all their money gone, and again, asking themselves just what on earth happened.
In the case of Roger Bliss’ investors, here is the true story of how they lost everything just because they believed a sly con man:
- Contrary to Bliss’ representations, Bliss’ trading has not been profitable. Bliss’ brokerage account shows that from January 1, 2012 through January 12, 2015, Bliss incurred losses totaling approximately $3,299,689. That same trading account also showed an ending balance on December 31, 2014 of only $32,362.84. Bliss advanced his scheme by generating falsified trading records and account statements showing successful trading. Bliss also failed to use investor funds for his stated purpose of day-trading.
But before we get into the detail of what Bliss was doing, here is a summary of what he said he was doing.
