There was significantly less chaos following Lawrence Mayor Brian DePena’s second arraignment — for which he didn’t show — on charges that he ripped off $1.5 million in government pandemic business assistance loans to pay off personal debts.
“There won’t be any running after anyone today,” DePena’s new defense attorney Neil Faigel told reporters outside Boston’s federal courthouse Thursday afternoon.
The comment was a reference to when DePena’s original attorney Carlos Apostle crashed his car while fleeing reporters after DePena had pleaded not guilty to single counts of wire fraud and money laundering issued by criminal complaint.
DePena, 61, now faces 11 total charges following a grand jury indictment. Those are four counts of wire fraud, aiding and abetting, and seven counts of money laundering, aiding and abetting.
DePena pleaded not guilty in his waiver of appearance filing and…
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