Ponzi-Schemer To PleadGuilty

PHILADELPHIA - (12/16/04) -- Investment advisor Robert F.Bentley, president of now-defunct Bentley Financial Services, isexpected to plead guilty fraud charges in connection with one ofthe biggest Ponzi schemes ever. Bentley was charged this week withfraud and bribery in the sale of about $370 million worth of bogusCDs to 220 investors, including 112 credit unions. The briberycharge relates to an offer by Bentley to pay an investment managerof Sunflower Bank of Kansas a $1 million kickback in exchange forsteering $185 million of the bank's investments to Bentley's firm.The largest credit union investors in Bentley's CDs were: ClawsonCommunity FCU ($15.8 million); Houston Energy CU ($13.9 million);Cheney FCU ($10.7 million); Texaco Houston CU ($10.2 million);Ukrainian Self-Reliance Michigan FCU ($8.2 million); Entex CU ($7.5million); Government Employees CU of Maine ($7.2 million); KentuckyEmployees CU ($7.1 million); Mutual CU ($6.5 million); DefenseContracts South FCU ($4.6 million); Central Jersey FCU ($4.6million); Ascension School Employees CU ($4.2 million); Texas GulfFCU ($4.1 million) and North Oakland Community CU ($4.7million).