Cops Probe Death of Accused Ponzi-Schemer

Police are investigating the weekend death of accused Ponzi-schemer Danny Pang to determine if it was suicide or death by natural causes, reports the Wall Street Journal. There is no evidence of foul play in the California financier's death, but results from a definitive toxicology test will take two months to complete.The SEC accused Taipei-born Pang, 42, of running a multimillion-dollar life insurance fraud targeted at Taiwanese in which investors were paid with the money of new investors.

A federal judge froze Pang's assets and confined him to his Newport Beach home. Pang said the SEC was vilifying him to make up for its failure to catch Bernie Madoff's prolonged Ponzi scheme, but federal prosecutors slapped him with charges related to illegally structuring cash transactions and avoiding reporting requirements. Pang was previously linked to organized crime; his wife had been shot to death at their home in 1997.
(More Danny Pang stories.)