MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – A federal grand jury has returned a five?count indictment charging former employees of the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and multiple counts of bank fraud stemming from an alleged long?running scheme to steal taxpayer funds and misappropriate conservator account assets, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew L. Harvey.
The indictment names Barbara Gail Gooden, age 60, and Lisa Lee French, age 48, both of Martinsburg. According to the indictment, from 2007 to 2024, Gooden and French conspired to defraud by embezzling cash payments collected by the Sheriff’s Office and manipulating conservatorship and estate bank accounts under the office’s administration. In carrying out their scheme, defendants issued fraudulent checks, forged signatures, misused a signature stamp, and diverted funds for personal use.
“This office will…
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