Towers Financial Corporation

Towers Financial Corporation was a Manhattan, New York, debt collection agency.[1][2] Between 1988 and 1993, Towers Financial ran a Ponzi scheme that was the largest financial fraud in American history prior to Bernie Madoff's being uncovered.

Towers Financial Corporation
debt collection agency
FateFiled for bankruptcy protection (March 1993)
FoundedEarly 1970s in Delaware
FounderSteven Hoffenberg
Headquarters
New York City
,
United States
Key people
Steven Hoffenberg, Jeffrey Epstein, Mitchell Brater, and Michael Rosoff

History

The company, founded in the early 1970s in downtown Manhattan and incorporated in Delaware, was a debt collection agency that paid a penny on the dollar for loans that sellers viewed as worthless, focusing on debts that people owed to hospitals, banks, and phone companies.[3][4][5][2] Steven Hoffenberg was its founder, CEO, President, and Chairman.[6][7][8][9][10][11]

Jeffrey Epstein

Hoffenberg hired Jeffrey Epstein in 1987 to help with the Towers Financial Corporation.[8][1] Hoffenberg set Epstein up in offices in the Villard Houses in Manhattan, and paid him $25,000 ($56,000 in current dollar terms) per month for his consulting work.[8] They unsuccessfully tried to take over Pan Am in a corporate raid with Towers Financial as their raiding vessel. Their bid failed, in part because of the 1988 terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, which ultimately contributed to the airline's bankruptcy. A similar unsuccessful bid in 1988 was made to take over Emery Air Freight Corp.[8]

Between 1988 and 1993, Towers Financial raised over $400 million by selling bonds and promissory notes to investors, luring them in using false financial statements.[12][13][1] Hoffenberg and his associates then used the money they had raised to pay operating costs, repay earlier investors, and to pay themselves.[1] Hoffenberg began using Towers Financial funds to pay for a lavish lifestyle that included a Locust Valley, Long Island mansion, homes on Sutton Place in Manhattan and in Florida, and a number of cars and planes.[8][14] The Ponzi scheme was the largest financial fraud in American history prior to Bernie Madoff's being uncovered.[1]

In February 1993, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged that the company, while fraudulently reporting a profit of $13 million ($24,000,000 in current dollar terms) for the four years ended June 30, 1991, actually lost $137 million ($257,000,000 in current dollar terms).[12][15][2] In March 1993, Towers Financial filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code.[16][12]

Hoffenberg pleaded guilty in April 1995 to five criminal charges, cheating thousands of investors out of $462 million, surrendered to the FBI in Manhattan, and was arraigned and released on bail.[17][18][19][20][21][22][1] He was sentenced in 1997 by federal judge Robert W. Sweet to 20 years in prison, and was released in 2013, after serving 18 years.[23][1][16] He was also sentenced to pay restitution of $462 million ($736,000,000 in current dollar terms) and a $1 million fine.[19]

Towers Financial executives Mitchell Brater (Vice Chairman) and Michael Rosoff (chief legal officer) were handed prison sentences of seven to nine years, and Rosoff was disbarred.[24][15][1] Epstein was not charged.[1][12] In July 2019, Hoffenberg claimed that Epstein was his “uncharged co-conspirator” in the Ponzi scheme.[25]

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References
  1. Brian Pascus and Mola Lenghi (August 13, 2019). "Jeffrey Epstein worked at financial firm that engaged in massive Ponzi scheme in 1980s and 1990s". CBS News.
  2. Allan Sloan (February 16, 1993). "THE SEC VS. STEVEN HOFFENBERG: A CASE OF LEANING FORTUNES AT TOWERS FINANCIAL?," The Washington Post.
  3. George Garneau (May 4, 2011). "Averting a Crisis". Editor & Publisher Magazine. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  4. "Towers Financial Corp SEC Registration". sec.report.
  5. Salpukas, Agis (November 9, 1987). "Business People; Suitor Undaunted By Pan Am Doubts". The New York Times.
  6. Steven Jude Hoffenberg. "GUARANTEED COLLECTION CORPORATION'S JOINT VENTURE WITH SOME THREE HUNDRED (300) SMALL COLLECTION AGENCIES; INTRODUCTION INTO THE MR. HOFFENBERG PAST OWNERSHIP OF TOWERS FINANCIAL CORPORATION HEREINAFTER, TFC, WHICH WAS DEPOSITING lk BILLION DOLLARS PER YEAR IN 1992-1993"
  7. "Hoffenberg v. Hoffman & Pollok, 248 F. Supp. 2d 303 (S.D.N.Y. 2003)". Justia Law.
  8. Ward, Vicky (June 27, 2011). "The Talented Mr. Epstein". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  9. Hoffenberg v. US, February 6, 2012.
  10. Alana Goodman and Daniel Halper (2020). A Convenient Death, Penguin Publishing Group.
  11. "Former CEO charged with fraud; Steven Hoffenberg, who..." Baltimore Sun. February 18, 1994.
  12. United States Securities and Exchange Commission (September 17, 1996)."Litigation Release No. 15053 / Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Release No.816; SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION v. MICHAEL ROSOFF," 96 Civ. 7064 (WK) S.D.N.Y.
  13. Stubbings, Dave (May 30, 2020). "Jeffrey Epstein net worth - how pedophile financier made his millions". Mirror.
  15. "SEC Sues Buyer of NY Post For Fraud". AP News. February 8, 1993.
  16. Jim Zarolli (August 14, 2019). "Jeffrey Epstein's Former Business Associate: I Want To Assist Victims". NPR.
  17. "Legal". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. March 6, 1997.
  18. "Financial executive faces fraud charges". Tampa Bay Times. October 6, 2005.
  19. "Hoffenberg sentenced to 20 years: Towers Financial..." Chicago Tribune. March 7, 1997.
  20. Bernstein, Jacob (August 12, 2017). "Trump Tower, a Home for Celebrities and Charlatans". The New York Times.
  21. Soltes, Eugene (December 14, 2016). "The Psychology of White-Collar Criminals". The Atlantic.
  22. Brock Colyar, Kelsey Hurwitz, Charlotte Klein, Ezekiel Kweku, Amy Larocca, Yinka Martins, Adam K. Raymond, Matthew Schneier, Matt Stieb, and James D. Walsh (July 22, 2019). "The High Society That Surrounded Jeffrey Epstein". Intelligencer.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  23. "Towers' Hoffenberg Gets 20 Years in Jail". The Wall Street Journal. March 10, 1997.
  24. "In Re: Michael E. Rosoff," July 6, 2000.
  25. Briquelet, Kate; Conner, Tracy (July 14, 2019). "Ponzi Scheme Victims Say Epstein Swindled Them". Daily Beast.
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