leveled civil investor fraud enforcement actions against Ariel Quiros, then Jay Peak’s owner, and Bill Stenger, the resort’s former CEO and president.
Quiros and Stenger, as well as Bill Kelly, a key adviser to Quiros, all later reached plea deals with federal prosecutors on criminal charges and served jail time in connection with one of the EB-5 projects, a more than $100 million biomedical research facility proposed for Newport, known as AnC Bio Vermont.
According to filings from the state and federal regulators, the developers misused hundreds of millions of investor dollars raised through the EB-5 visa program, which was designed to reward foreign investors with green cards or permanent U.S. residency in exchange for putting money into qualified projects in the country.
Burke Mountain Resort to Bear Den Partners LLC, a group of people with longtime ties to the ski area.
That…
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