Meyer Wilson Werning principal attorney Courtney Werning recently appeared on the Easy Prey podcast with host Chris Parker, breaking down 13 years of investor protection work into a conversation every American with savings needs to hear. From Ponzi schemes to pig butchering scams, the interview covered how fraud works, why so many investors never pursue valid claims, and what the law can actually do about it.
The insights Courtney shared on the Easy Prey Podcast make clear just how widespread and underreported investment fraud has become. If you have lost money to cryptocurrency fraud or investment misconduct and a licensed financial professional, broker, or advisor was involved, the experienced crypto fraud attorneys at Meyer Wilson Werning can help evaluate whether your losses are the result of actionable misconduct. Contact us today for a free and confidential consultation, and you pay nothing unless we recover for you.
Why Most Investment Fraud Goes Unaddressed
Courtney opened by drawing a distinction that matters: losing money in the market is not the same as being defrauded. What determines whether a claim exists is why the money was lost and who bears responsibility.
The most common forms of actionable misconduct she encounters include misrepresentation or omission of material facts, unsuitable investment recommendations, Ponzi schemes, and outright financial advisor theft. That last one surprises people. “You think brokers typically don’t steal from their customers,” she said, “but it turns out sometimes they do.”
The deeper problem is that many investors with valid claims never pursue them at all. Unlike a car accident, investment misconduct rarely announces itself. “There are people who go through their whole lives with valid claims for investment recovery and they don’t pursue anything because they just don’t know any better.”
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Ponzi Schemes Never Went Away
The Bernie Madoff exposure did not end Ponzi schemes. Courtney has represented victims of large and small schemes throughout her career, citing GPB Capital Holdings as an example that began with legitimate operations before devolving into fraud. Securities regulators continue shutting down new schemes regularly.
The clearest warning sign is a guaranteed or unrealistically high return. But what looks suspicious to an outsider can feel like a sure thing to someone being worked by a skilled confidence artist.
The Scale of Crypto Fraud
The 2025 FBI IC3 report recorded $11.4 billion in reported cryptocurrency fraud losses, a 25% increase over 2024. Courtney believes the true number is significantly higher, since most fraud goes unreported.
Older investors bear the steepest losses. While younger people are scammed more often, the dollar amounts are far greater when retirees are targeted, because that is where accumulated wealth sits. “The scammers are going to go where the money is, and the money is in the hands of retirees in America.”
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How Pig Butchering Scams Work
These operations unfold over weeks or months. Scammers build a genuine-seeming relationship, allow early withdrawals to establish trust, and progressively encourage larger deposits until they vanish. AI-generated voices, fabricated portfolio platforms, and coached scripts create an illusion that is nearly impossible to see through from the inside.
Courtney noted she receives nearly identical calls from unrelated victims across the country, confirming these are distributed criminal playbooks. One recurring script involves a woman who befriends the investor and mentions her mother works at Goldman Sachs with insight into crypto markets. “That particular scam has worked very, very well.”
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A Case That Illustrates Everything at Stake
A 68-year-old man in Modesto, California, a hospital board member and community pillar, lost $3.2 million in a pig butchering scheme, believing he was investing through a Kraken account guided by a trusted crypto advisor. Scammers then impersonated the SEC, threatening to indict him for insider trading unless he paid approximately $200,000 by a set deadline. Two days before that date, he took his own life.
His wife was already listed as a trusted contact on his brokerage account. A single phone call could have intervened. It was never made. MWW pursued a case against the brokerage firm for ignoring that obligation.
The Trusted Contact Rule and Red Flags to Know
Implemented in 2018, the FINRA trusted contact rule allows investors to designate someone a brokerage can reach if unusual activity is detected. That person has no account access and cannot make trades or withdrawals. Brokers are required to make reasonable efforts to collect this information from every retail investor. A separate protection allowing temporary disbursement holds applies specifically to accounts belonging to investors 65 and older.
Additional red flags Courtney identified:
- Unsolicited direct messages on social media, where the overwhelming majority of these scams originate
- Guaranteed or unusually high investment returns
- Secrecy requirements around an investment
- Being coached to mislead your financial advisor
- Recovery services asking for upfront fees to retrieve lost funds
Unsolicited recovery offers are “quite literally the second part of the scam.” MWW has itself been impersonated on WhatsApp by fraudsters using the name of founding partner David Meyer. No legitimate attorney contacts potential clients that way. To verify any attorney, use your state’s free bar association search. To verify a financial professional, brokercheck.finra.org provides licensing history and any prior complaints at no cost.
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The man in Modesto did everything his scammers told him to do, and the institution that should have protected him never made the call. His story is not an outlier. It is a pattern, one that plays out in living rooms and retirement accounts across the country every single day, and it is exactly the kind of case Meyer Wilson Werning was built to fight.
With more than $350 million recovered for investors nationwide, Meyer Wilson Werning has spent over 25 years holding financial institutions accountable for exactly this kind of misconduct. If you or someone you know has suffered significant losses and a licensed financial professional or institution may bear responsibility, contact us today for a free and confidential consultation. You pay nothing unless we recover for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a pig butchering scam?
A long-con cryptocurrency fraud where scammers build trust over weeks or months, permit small early withdrawals to appear legitimate, then encourage increasingly large investments before disappearing with the funds.
What should I do if I suspect investment fraud?
Contact law enforcement immediately, especially if a wire transfer is involved. The sooner it is reported, the better the chance of stopping it. Then consult a licensed investor protection attorney.
What is the FINRA trusted contact rule?
A rule implemented in 2018 requiring brokerages to make reasonable efforts to collect an emergency contact for every retail investor account. That contact cannot access or control the account but can be notified if something looks wrong.
How do I verify a financial advisor?
Search brokercheck.finra.org for free. You can confirm their license, employment history, and any prior complaints or regulatory actions.
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