The Forewarned Investor: Don't Get Fooled Again by Corporate Fraud

Thousands of people every year are fooled into investing in companies that turn out to be downright criminal. We've seen it happen; It may even have happened to you. But it doesn't have to. In almost every case of major corporate fraud over the last century, sharp-eyed investors could have picked out warning signs and exited before the crash.

The basic techniques of corporate fraud have changed little over time. The danger signs that cropped up around Charles Ponzi’s international postage stamp scheme in the 1920s and Stanley Goldblum’s insurance company in the 1940s are the same as those at Enron, Tyco, and WorldCom.

Investors have fallen for the same bag of tricks again and again, despite the fact that every business rogue leaves tracks in the sand.

The Forewarned Investor is the first book to show you how to identify the next Enron or the next WorldCom. Don’t get fooled again!

Brett S. Messing is the Managing Partner of GPS Partners, an investment management firm specializing in income-oriented securities. He was previously a Managing Director at Lehman Brothers. Mr. Messing has contributed to Fortune magazine and appears regularly on CNBC. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Brown University and lives in Los Angeles, California with his wife, Marla, and three daughters, Natalie, Samantha, and Morgan.

Steven A. Sugarman is a Partner of GPS Partners. He previously worked with Mr. Messing at Lehman Brothers where he was primarily responsible for the management of income‑oriented investments. Mr. Sugarman began his career as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company. He is a graduate of the Yale Law School and Dartmouth College and lives in Santa Monica, California with his wife, Ainslie, and his daughter, Sierra.