Jersey Schemer

It appears that we've got our own little version of Bernie Madoff here in New Jersey, not that that's something to be proud of. A woman named Antoinette Hodgson from Montclair was running a real estate investment fund that supposedly was buying up homes and lots around the country. All told, she bought around $16 million worth of residential real estate. The problem: She had actually taken in $45 million from around 20 investors.

Prosecutors have charged that Hodgson was running a classic Ponzi scheme, where the money she took in from new investors went to pay off the old ones. They've also alleged that she spent much of the money at casinos in Atlantic City, gave huge sums to family members, and bought a Dunkin Donuts freanchise in Arizona.

Much as with Madoff, there were pretty clear signs that something might be amiss here. People running aboveboard investment funds keep scrupulous accounts of where the money is going, and should be only too happy to let you see all the records. But more obviously, this scheme was in operation between between 2006 and 2009. Hardly anyone was making money by investing in residential real estate in that era; anyone who claims to be doing so needs to be treated with extreme skepticism.