Ponzi accomplice cheekily accused Investec of fraud for calling in loans

Tannenbaum’s top agent, Dean Rees, tried unsuccessfully to block bank’s R34m in mortgage claims by accusing it of devious dealing

- Justin Brown

In June 2009 Noseweek was the first to expose Barry Tannenbaum’s R3-billion cash pyramid or Ponzi scheme – an illegal form of gambling. Major players who were tempted to participate in the “game” that started in 2004 and crashed in 2009 included scores of South Africa’s ultra-rich. (See box story.)

The scheme generated a turnover of over R3bn (some estimates put it at double that), capping Brett Kebble’s massive gold share frauds.

A more recent follow-up investigation by Noseweek (nose245) has found that, despite extensive and extremely costly investigations by insolvency trustees and forensic auditors, a lot of the money that flowed in and out of the scheme to offshore bank accounts remains unaccounted for. Of the money that was recovered, most was seized by the state as the proceeds of crime.

And the two main perpetrators, Tannenbaum himself and top accomplice Dean Rees, remain safely ensconced abroad – in Australia and Switzerland respectively – out of reach of South African law enforcement agencies.

Noseweek’s recent research has found one further ironic chapter in the story that largely escaped media attention: how Rees attempted to dodge an R34-million claim Investec brought against him by accusing the bank of devious dealing and fraud.

Dean Rees was one of Tannenbaum’s top collaborators, along with lawyer Darryl Leigh, in a multi-billion-rand Ponzi scheme that was launched in 2004 and went bang in 2009.