Ponzi Scheme Targets Investors In Shariah-Compliant Financial Products

A Department of Justice press release yesterday unveiled an indictment against three owners of a bankrupt Chicago real estate development firm charging that they ran a Ponzi scheme aimed at investors seeking Shariah-compliant investments. The indictment alleges that two of the owners of Sunrise Equities, Inc. misrepresented that an investment in the company was Shariah compliant, and promised returns of between 15% and 30%.  Hundreds of Muslims in the Chicago area invested, and collectively they lost some $30 million in the fraud. Sunrise was not generating any profits from real estate development and prior investors could be paid only out of funds later invested by others. The two defendants charged in the affinity-group fraud have now fled the country.