bolze.jpgLet’s see, there’s Marcus “DB” Schrenker, Jaffe (well, he claims he was sick so we assume that some federalle actually heard his voice on the phone and looked at the caller ID or something), and now Dennis Bolze, the Knoxville area trader who vanished in mid-December “after some of his investors failed to receive dividend payments and began asking questions.”
As the details get thicker, a different kind of escape emerges:
No distress call. No dramatic plane accident. Just sudden, silent absence. Well done! I bet he got a good 14 day head start.

Bolze and his wife, Kathleen, were widely known as supporters of charities and often hosted fundraising events in their 16,000-square-foot Gatlinburg mountaintop home. The house is now unoccupied, and, according to reports, the furniture has been removed. Kathleen Bolze is believed to be living in the area….

Ah HA! He left her behind! Someone who knows how to follow the rules! The plot thickens.
Says former FBI agent, now private investigator for the investors:

So they trusted him and they invested a small amount. They would just get a statement printed out on his letterhead showing the current status of their investment, about how it had been used, and the thing that concerned me the most in looking at it, how they invested for years on a day to day basis is, it very rarely had a loss….

Mmm-hmmmm.
The FBI and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission are investigating, apparently. Any bets on what they will find?
Would you have invested? Here’s the promotional material:
010709bolze2.pdf
010709bolze.pdf
Investors level accusations against missing trader [KnoxNews]
Investors may be mostly European [KnoxNews]
FBI investigating missing Sevier Co. stock trader [WATE.com]

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Comments (55)

  1. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 12:13 PM

    That “FAQ” looks like a 5th grader typed it. Terrible grammar, syntax, and blatant errors / lies. If you invested money with this “firm,” then you deserve what you got.
    “We are incorporated in Nevada because Las Vegas has a lot of trade shows and Delaware doesn’t.”

  2. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 12:14 PM

    The local moonshiner he scammed in Gatlinburg probably has him buried in the back 40.
    Feel free to substitute “meth lab producer”

  3. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 12:15 PM

    blown away by the FAQ. @1 is correct. those that invested deserve their darwinian comeuppance

  4. Posted by american bandersnatch | January 14, 2009 at 12:18 PM

    Wow. Why do I bother to make an honest living when it seems so easy to use crappy materials to scam people?

  5. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 12:21 PM

    lol @4. Also, why are the spaniards so easy to dupe? I hereby announce my Iberian Financial Speculation Ponzi Fund; or strategy is simple — we bilk the Spaniards before others do.

  6. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 12:25 PM

    monkey and a typewriter made this fund

  7. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 12:26 PM

    I heard a rumor about MS… crazy stuff, lets just say more ugliness to be revealed by the receding tide.

  8. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 12:28 PM

    @7 whats the rumor? Thats just like saying “Guess what I have the funniest joke in the world”

  9. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 12:30 PM

    Primerica will rule us all one day.

  10. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 12:33 PM

    I am the CEO of a hedge fund. I have a friend who wants to know of any of you know where he can find a Connecticut-based institution learn flying and parachuting skills at the same time in an upscale way?

  11. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 12:35 PM

    @8 did you hear the one about the gullible commenter?

  12. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 12:36 PM

    Come join us at Primerica!

  13. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 12:36 PM
  14. Posted by american bandersnatch | January 14, 2009 at 12:38 PM

    @5 – Just promise them good returns and say that I give you my word as a Spaniard. Works unless they’re a pirate.

  15. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 12:39 PM

    I’ve seen better grammar on Nigerian e-mail scams.

  16. Posted by mrpink | January 14, 2009 at 12:39 PM

    His wife looks like WIDECLOPS. You see the cankles on that cow? Sheesh.
    -mrp

  17. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 12:41 PM

    WIDECLOPS = ?

  18. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 12:42 PM

    I always over estimate other people’s intelligence. just shows you what an idiot I am.

  19. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 12:48 PM

    Looks to be pretty solid and air tight. Sign me up! Can I just give you this garbage bag full of cash now? Or should I get a cashiers check for you?

  20. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 12:50 PM

    Primerica has some very good opportunities right now.

  21. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 12:50 PM

    The name on your PDF.
    Michael L. Potter
    produces 1505 hits in the Nevada Business Entity database search by Officer name.
    Lots of shell corporations
    https://esos.state.nv.us/SOSServices/AnonymousAccess/CorpSearch/CorpSearch.aspx
    No Bolze hit at all.
    Centurion Asset Management, Inc. shows ownership by
    Donald D. Merritt
    Merritt has 1551 Hits by officer name.
    Lots of shell corporations there as well.
    It will take some time to plow through the shell corporations, but typically in these cases inadvertent clues are dropped. This is often the use of secretaries and girlfriends as officers, and they are quite willing to talk about the old men.

  22. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 12:51 PM

    @10 Connecticut Parachutists Inc., in Ellington CT is where you, oops I mean he wants to go.

  23. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 12:52 PM

    AUM, anyone?
    16,000 sq ft? I can’t imagine wtf a couple needs that much space for.

  24. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 12:57 PM

    I hope Lem Motlow’s estate was not harmed in any way, shape or form.

  25. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 12:58 PM

    5% Management Fee? Clearly, only dummies would have paid that much, even if they can’t read English good.

  26. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 12:58 PM

    From the archives of the Gatlinburg Chronicle
    Dennis Bolze “Wins it Big” Playing TN Lottery’s Powerball
    October 12, 2001 – If he hadn’t bought flowers for his wife, Dennis Bolze of Gatlinburg wouldn’t have been the owner of a winning Powerball ticket worth $100,000,000. Bolze, having matched 6 of the 6 Powerball numbers, was the lucky TN Powerball winner for the October 6, 2001 drawing. There were a total of 55,428 winning tickets sold statewide for that drawing whose values ranged from $3 to $100,000 each.
    Shortly after buying his wife a beautiful bouquet of a dozen red roses in the floral section of Save A’Lot Grocery in Gatlinburg, where he works as a cashier, Bolze was once again standing in line to make another purchase. It was then that Bolze overheard the person in front of him buy a Powerball ticket. Not typically a player, Bolze recalled saying to himself, “I’ll buy one, too.” Bolze purchased one Powerball “Quick Pick” ticket. As it turned out, one ticket was all that Bolze needed to win.
    Last Thursday, while enjoying breakfast at Tim Hortons, Bolze remembered to check the newspaper for the winning Powerball numbers for last night’s drawing. Realizing that he had matched five of the numbers drawn, Bolze immediately called a friend to ask how much the ticket was worth. “Oh, you won big,” his friend laughingly declared.
    Bolze then phoned his wife, who wasn’t home at the time, and said, “Hey, we won it big…we won $100,000,000 in Powerball!” “It was very exciting,” Bolze said about the moment he learned he won.
    Shortly after discovering his good fortune, Bolze arrived at TN Lottery headquarters in Nashville to accept his prize. After receiving his check for $70,000,000 (the prize value after taxes) he commented to Lottery officials, “I’m going to buy all the Timbit snack packs that Tim Horton’s makes. ”
    The winning Powerball numbers
    drawn on October 6, 2001 were 03 – 05 – 13 – 21 – 34. The Powerball was 55, and the PowerPlay Multiplier was 38. Overall odds of winning a Powerball prize are 1:3,600,000. For selling Bolzes’ winning Powerball ticket, Save A’Lot Grocery will receive a $10,000 bonus check from the TN Lottery.

  27. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 12:58 PM

    @23 — not just 16,000 sq ft but it’s a chalet! With 4 mortgages, of course. Hopefully more bathrooms than mortgages, but you never know.

  28. Posted by Garuda | January 14, 2009 at 1:03 PM

    The WATE.com headline is incorrect. It states that a “stock trader” is missing. I don’t think the guy ever traded a stock. He just took the money and ran.
    The reason to incorporate in Las Vegas is that the hookers only accept cash.

  29. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 1:09 PM

    The officer of Bolze’s companies are Nevada Nominee officers. See this discussion of Donald Merritt:
    http://www.frauddiscovery.net/fdinewsite/parthree2.html

  30. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 1:09 PM
  31. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 1:12 PM

    I wonder how many more clowns like this guy Bolze (should be pronounced “Balls”) are out there?
    @#26…Thanks for the PowerBall archive. WTF is the matter with a moron like Bolze? After collecting $70 Mil, why does one feel the need to go off and scam people?
    The Guy from Delaware

  32. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 1:18 PM

    BTW, that picture of Bolze…Is he wearing his wife’s eye shadow or his own? Clown?
    The Guy from Delaware

  33. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 1:25 PM

    What is it about charities and crooks?

  34. Posted by Anal_yst | January 14, 2009 at 1:26 PM

    #1 said it best.
    A fool and his money…

  35. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 1:32 PM

    THE Lottery hit was a SCAM…..
    see:
    http://www.cityviewmag.com/departments/real-estate/282-a-giving-life.html
    Written by Kathryn Gage
    Photography By Gary Heatherly
    Google the name Dennis Bolze, and you’ll learn two things: one, he won the lottery (to the tune of $100,000,000) and two, even though he’s a wealthy man, he continues to work everyday. If you talk to Dennis Bolze, you’ll learn that the elaborate story of his mega win was a hoax orchestrated by a friend, and that his real story is every bit as compelling as if he had won the lottery. It brings to my mind the question most everyone has asked, “What would I do if I won the lottery? Would I pay off debt? Travel the world? Or give it all away?” Dennis Bolze would most assuredly do the latter. Because even though he wasn’t given $100,000,000, he gives to others as though he had been. And this principal of giving back is at the core of the man whom I feel fortunate to have met.

  36. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 1:41 PM

    @31 the post @26 was clearly a joke…

  37. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 2:05 PM

    So many fugitives, so little time.
    Remember that every village has at least one of these con men in operation. Post a note whenever one of them flees.
    How soon we forget Raoul Weil, at the time head of UBS’s global wealth management. Weil, who says he is innocent and stepped aside in November to prepare his defence, was formally declared a fugitive late on Tuesday.

  38. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 2:09 PM

    … and another one:
    The U.S. Marshals Service has announced a Columbus-area federal fugitive spent a couple days this weekend as the featured fugitive on amw.com, the Web site for “America’s Most Wanted.”
    Rebecca Parrett is a felon who jumped her bond in March 2008 after being convicted in a high-profile, $3 billion fraud case. Parrett was an executive at National Century Financial Enterprises (NCFE), a company that bilked investors out of millions of dollars by falsifying reports and intentionally deceiving the Securities and Exchange Commission. Parrett was facing the possibility of 75 years in prison after her conviction and never again reported to authorities as instructed by a Columbus federal judge.

  39. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 2:38 PM

    He’s clearly a Volunteer fan from that Orange shirt. Anyone who had their money managed from a UT grad deserves exactly what they got.

  40. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 2:42 PM

    Nice fluff piece about his 16,000sf eysore of a home and his “giving” nature 2 months before he went AWOL-
    http://www.cityviewmag.com/departments/real-estate/282-a-giving-life.html

  41. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 3:02 PM

    “The name of Kathleen Bolze, the stock trader’s wife, is on a plaque at Pratt Pavilion, the new basketball practice facility at the University of Tennessee. The couple made a $500,000 donation to that project”
    What they need to do is put up a new plaque with the name of the 100 investors whose money was actually used for the $500K donation.

  42. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 3:05 PM

    Asset protection strategy = Dirk?
    At one point, I know that you have met Dirk on one of his visits here.

  43. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 3:28 PM

    Rule #1- Don’t invest money with anyone that wears Croc’s or his wife has large cankles!
    http://www.knoxnews.com/photos/2009/jan/08/45617/

  44. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 3:34 PM

    Rule #1- Don’t invest money with anyone that wears Croc’s or his wife has large cankles!
    http://www.knoxnews.com/photos/2009/jan/08/45617/

  45. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 3:54 PM

    Hi! I live in Gatlinburg and have seen this house a few times.My friends have gotten taken by this guy.This guy has a very checkered past.I hope they catch him and his wife and throw away the keys.
    Gatlinburg

  46. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 3:56 PM

    Hi! I live in Gatlinburg and have seen this house a few times.My friends have gotten taken by this guy.This guy has a very checkered past.I hope they catch him and his wife and throw away the keys.
    Gatlinburg

  47. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 3:56 PM

    Hi! I live in Gatlinburg and have seen this house a few times.My friends have gotten taken by this guy.This guy has a very checkered past.I hope they catch him and his wife and throw away the keys.
    Gatlinburg

  48. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 4:55 PM

    @ TGFD – have you been on a hiatus? Haven’t seen you around here lately.

  49. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 5:48 PM

    She totally looks like Victoria Jackson. And I’d totally nail her (MILF!)

  50. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 6:22 PM

    I think all traders and hedge fund managers should go to David Copperfield School.

  51. Posted by guest | January 14, 2009 at 9:34 PM

    The problem is, she looks like TWO Victoria Jacksons. If you nail her, she may take your member and donate it to the U of T. You would see it on a plaque in the lobby. Be my guest.

  52. Posted by guest | January 15, 2009 at 11:24 AM

    Actually, Bolze is not a UT graduate. He dropped out of Georgia Tech.
    http://www.cityviewmag.com/departments/real-estate/282-a-giving-life.html

  53. Posted by Abbycohen | September 11, 2010 at 2:44 PM

    Good to see the euro-fags getting stuck. Just goes to show you can’t prevent stupid . . .

  54. Posted by Abbycohen | September 11, 2010 at 2:44 PM

    Good to see the euro-fags getting stuck. Just goes to show you can’t prevent stupid . . .

  55. Posted by Vic | January 21, 2011 at 9:21 AM

    I worked for Dennis Bolze years ago. He owned several mall stores and was always in trouble for not paying his rent. He was also a total lech and I damn near sued him for sexual harassment. This was in the early 90s. VERY glad to see karma caught up with him.

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