LOS ANGELES, Nov. 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Ponzi schemes cost investors worldwide at least $22 billion in the first three quarters of 2013 alone, according to numbers totaled from news reports of newly discovered Ponzi schemes and legal documents from guilty pleas, convictions and sentences for other perpetrators.

From friendly neighborhood "investment opportunities" to sophisticated securities programs, Ponzi schemes regularly trap unwary casual investors and savvy advisors alike. The consequences to everyone involved can be financially ruinous and personally devastating. From Bernard Madoff to Allen Stanford, and hundreds of local schemes across the globe, millions of victims have lost over $50 billion since 2008.

The new book, Ponzi-Proof Your Investments: An Investor's Guide to Avoiding Ponzi Schemes and Other Fraudulent Scams (IRR Publishers 2013) by Kathy Bazoian Phelps, managing partner of the Diamond McCarthy LLP Los Angeles office, offers investors a glimpse into the minds of Ponzi scheme perpetrators, leveling the playing field and providing investors their best shot at avoiding Ponzi schemes and fraudulent investments. It can help whether an investor is considering a new investment or wants to review a current investment program.

Ponzi-Proof Your Investments fills the need for an understandable resource that explains both the big picture of how fraudsters are so successful in defrauding investors out of their money as well as the details that investors must scrutinize to protect themselves. Each chapter includes bullet-point "Takeaway Tips."

Ms. Phelps, a nationally-recognized attorney and expert in the field of fraud prevention and detection, provides a step-by-step analysis of how to spot the red flags of fraud and suggests specific due diligence questions that investors should ask to avoid the fate of losing everything. She also provides a description of the psychology of both the investor and the fraudster, so that readers can be sensitive to the ways in which fraudsters gain the confidence of their victims.

Ms. Phelps is also the co-author, with bankruptcy judge Steven Rhodes, of the definitive legal treatise on Ponzi scheme law, The Ponzi Book: A Legal Resource for Unraveling Ponzi Schemes (LexisNexis 2012). She is also the author of The Ponzi Scheme Blog at www.theponzischemeblog.com where she frequently posts about new legal decisions and new schemes unfolding on a daily basis.

Kathy Phelps has been practicing in the area of fraud litigation, bankruptcy and other types of insolvency proceedings for 22 years.

To learn more about Ponzi-Proof Your Investments go to www.ponzi-proof.com.

About Diamond McCarthy LLP
Diamond McCarthy LLP is a boutique firm focused on high stakes complex litigation, corporate and financial restructuring/insolvency and commercial real estate. Diamond McCarthy LLP has offices in New York City, Houston, Dallas, Austin, Los Angeles and Denver. The firm's website is located at www.diamondmccarthy.com

SOURCE Diamond McCarthy LLP