Bloomberg Law
June 28, 2018, 7:40 PM UTC

Lawyer Suspended for Role in Facebook IPO Ponzi Scheme

Samson Habte
Samson Habte
Reporter

A South Carolina lawyer was suspended from practice June 27 for helping a prominent venture capitalist execute a Ponzi scheme that fooled investors into thinking they would acquire highly-coveted, pre-IPO shares in Facebook and other social media companies.

Voting unanimously, the South Carolina Supreme Court said John B. Kern should lose his law license for at least 18 months for his role in a scheme that landed his client—former financier and one-time Oregon gubernatorial candidate Craig Berkman—in prison for six years.

The case required the justices to answer a question that only two courts had previously addressed: whether bar authorities ...

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