High school student was identified by the Securities and Exchange Commission as the mastermind behind an online securities scheme that bilked at least 1,000 investors out of more than US$1 million over a two-month period.

A 17-year-old Mission Viejo, California high school student was identified by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Monday as the mastermind behind an online securities scheme that bilked at least 1,000 investors out of more than US$1 million over a two-month period. Cole A. Bartiromo was accused of running Invest Better 2001 (IB 2001), an online entity that operated as an independent Web site and on bulletin boards located on an MSN community Web site. The enterprise promised potential investors anywhere from a 125 percent return on their investment to as much as 2,500 percent return, in what it billed a "Christmas Miracle Program." The scheme advocated placing what were described as "safe bets" with three online sports bookmaking operation. IB 2001's activities occurred between approximately November 1st and December 13th, 2001, which is when the SEC first took action against it. However, SEC officials didn't name Bartiromo as the principal perpetrator of the fraud until Monday. According to the SEC, Bartiromo allegedly received investors' funds through PayPal and Osgold accounts, then transferred at least $900,000 of those funds into an account at a casino in Costa Rica. The SEC and Bartiromo came to an agreement Monday to return $900,000 to investors. Other charges are pending on civil penalties and on what the SEC termed "disgorgement of ill-gotten gains." The SEC is looking at other individuals who might have played a part in the fraud; however, no one else has yet been charged.