Indiana Money Manager Marcus Schrenker Called A ‘Mini-Madoff’

Marcus Schrenker’s past finally caught up with him. The Indiana financial manager was arrested by authorities on Jan. 13 after staging his own plane crash to escape financial ruin.

U.S. marshals located Schrenker late Tuesday night at a campsite in Quincy, Florida. Schrenker was then taken to a nearby hospital. Once released, he faces securities fraud charges for allegedly bilking clients out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

This isn’t first time Schrenker, who heads Heritage Wealth Management, Heritage Insurance Services and Icon Wealth Management, has been on the wrong side of the law. Mark Maddox, a former Indiana securities commissioner and later a lawyer, approached county and state regulatory officials in 2002 over concerns about Schrenker’s business practices. No investigation, however, ever evolved from Maddox’s inquiries.

Seven years later, 38-year-old Schrenker is charged in what many are calling a mini Bernard Madoff scheme. In between providing financial advice and managing investors’ portfolios, Schrenker created a personal empire. In addition to a 10,000-square-foot luxury home in the exclusive Geist Reservoir area, Schrenker was an avid collector of rare cars and owner of two airplanes.

Now it’s likely Schrenker will be trading in his Armani suits for less-attractive attire. In addition to the avalanche of lawsuits expected from investors, Schrenker already was facing $10 million or more in potential and actual court judgments and legal claims when he departed Indiana in his Piper aircraft on Jan. 11. State regulators also have filed charges against Schrenker for operating as a financial manager even though his license had expired in Indiana.

“My heart goes out to victims who lost money,” said Maddox, in an interview for Fox Channel 59. “I think we’re going to see not just hundreds of thousands but millions lost before the final accounting is done.”

This entry was posted on Friday, January 16th, 2009 at 3:48 pm and is filed under Hedge Fund Failures, Investor Beware, Madoff Investments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.