Video captured a person dressed in a bear costume allegedly attempting to damage a luxury vehicle. (CA Department of Insurance via Vimeo)
Three Los Angeles-area residents were recently convicted in an unusual insurance fraud scheme using a person in a bear costume to fake attacks on high-end vehicles to collect insurance payouts.
As part of the California Department of Insurance’s Operation Bear Claw, Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, of Valley Village; Ruben Tamrazian, 26, of Glendale; and Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, of Glendale, pleaded no contest to felony insurance fraud and were sentenced to 180 days in jail and two years of supervised probation and were ordered to pay restitution.
A fourth suspect, Ararat Chirkinian, 39, of Glendale, is scheduled to return to court in September for a preliminary hearing.
The bear costume used in the alleged January insurance scam. (California Department…
THE BHI TRUST PONZI SCHEME (SOUTH AFRICA)
Date: Ongoing updates through February 2026 Perpetrator: Craig Warriner (Principal), with alleged co-conspirators
Case Description: The BHI Trust scandal remains one of South Africa’s most devastating financial crimes, involving the loss of between R1.9 billion and R3 billion. Craig Warriner, the “genius trader” behind the trust, turned himself in during late 2023, but the legal and recovery battles reached a fever pitch in 2025 and 2026. Warriner operated the trust as a textbook Ponzi scheme, utilizing “Old Boy” networks and high-profile brokers to lure in pensioners and high-net-worth individuals with promises of 20% annual returns.
In early 2025, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) faced heavy criticism for “provisionally withdrawing” charges against alleged co-conspirators Michael Haldane and Sona Pillay. However, civil recovery efforts by joint trustees have continued into 2026, aiming to claw back hundreds of millions in “fictitious profits” from early investors to redistribute to those who lost everything. The case is a masterclass in the failure of fiduciary duty; the FSCA eventually banned several advisors for up to 30 years for peddling the unlicensed scheme despite clear red flags, such as the lack of a website, the absence of regulated financial reports, and a fee structure that was triple the industry average.
Link to Original: Moneyweb – BHI Trust Scandal Deep Dive