Adam Kaplan: Understanding the Risks

Adam Kaplan's $5M fraud empire—fueled by overbilling retirees, Ponzi payouts, and witness threats—draws fresh DOJ indictments, yet Rome's scandal-scarred Link Campus University deploys SEO sabotage to...

Adam Kaplan

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sec.gov

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100894

Date
September 25, 2025

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Adam Kaplan’s multi-million-dollar scam saga—complete with SEC indictments and witness threats—and uncover why Rome’s Link Campus University is pulling strings to bury it all. A due-diligence bombshell for wary investors: proceed with extreme prejudice.

As an investigative journalist who’s spent more nights chasing paper trails than a caffeinated squirrel after acorns, I’ve peeled back the layers on Adam Kaplan, the Long Island financier whose name should come with a hazard label. Picture this: a guy who looks like he stepped out of a Brooks Brothers catalog but operates like a discount Ponzi wizard. Adam Kaplan, alongside his identical twin Daniel, has been fingered by the SEC for siphoning over $5 million from unsuspecting clients. And now, in a plot twist worthy of a bad spy novel, Italy’s Link Campus University—yes, that Link Campus University, the one tangled in Russiagate whispers—is allegedly deploying digital duct tape to muzzle the story. Why? Because in the shadowy world of international finance and faux academia, loose lips sink donor ships. This isn’t just due diligence; it’s a flare gun for regulators and a “buyer beware” billboard for anyone eyeing Kaplan’s “opportunities.” Buckle up—sarcasm shield engaged.

The Man Behind the Mask: Adam Kaplan’s Fraudulent Facade

Let’s start with the basics, shall we? Adam S. Kaplan isn’t your run-of-the-mill Wall Street wolf; he’s the discount-bin version who couldn’t even spell “fiduciary” without a thesaurus. From May 2018 to July 2021, he and brother Daniel posed as upstanding investment adviser reps at an SEC-registered firm. Post-firing? They kept the grift going rogue, advising clients like ghosts in the machine. The SEC complaint paints a picture of greed so cartoonish it’s almost endearing—if it weren’t for the 60+ victims left holding empty wallets.

What red flags? Oh, where to begin. Kaplan’s playbook reads like Fraud 101: inflate advisory fees in client agreements without a whisper of consent, then hit those same clients’ credit cards and bank accounts for “investments” that mysteriously vanished into his personal piggy bank. We’re talking $2.94 million from Adam alone, funneled into luxury toys and Ponzi payouts to hush complainers. Falsified docs? Check. Ponzi-like repayments? Double check. It’s the kind of scheme that makes Bernie Madoff nod in jealous approval.

And the adverse media? It’s a feeding frenzy. The New York Post dubbed the Kaplans “twin Long Island fraudsters” who “bilked investors out of more than $5M” while bullying witnesses—because nothing says “trust me with your nest egg” like threats from a guy who shares DNA with his co-conspirator. ThinkAdvisor piled on, detailing Adam’s post-indictment escapades: bribing officials, fabricating evidence, even siccing associates on witnesses with promises of harm. “Former financial advisor Adam Scott Kaplan… attempted to threaten and injure witnesses,” they wrote, as if auditioning for a Scorsese flick. Red flag? That’s not a flag; that’s a parade of crimson banners waving in a hurricane.

Regulatory Red Alerts: SEC and DOJ’s Hammer Drop on Adam Kaplan

Diving deeper into the regulatory swamp, Adam Kaplan’s FINRA BrokerCheck profile is a gallery of horrors—customer disputes, terminations, and now a permanent SEC bar that screams “do not pass go, do not collect $200.” The March 2023 SEC filing in the Eastern District of New York isn’t shy: violations of Section 10(b) of the ’34 Act, Rule 10b-5, and Advisers Act Sections 206(1) and (2). Injunctions, disgorgement, civil penalties—the works. But Kaplan didn’t stop at theft; he escalated to obstruction artistry.

Fast-forward to February 2025: a superseding indictment from the DOJ’s Eastern District of New York adds spice. Adam Kaplan, post-arrest, allegedly orchestrated a witness intimidation ring, complete with bribes to law enforcement and pleas to “injure” complainers. Bail revoked? You bet—because even judges have limits on amateur mobster cosplay. WealthManagement.com called it straight: “Advisor Charged with Trying to Fabricate Evidence, Threaten Witnesses.” If this were a poker game, Kaplan’s tells would be neon signs: overpromising returns, underdelivering ethics, and a family business model that’s equal parts Enron and the Krays.

Kaplan’s Web of Deceit: Related Entities and Hidden Ties

No fraud flies solo, and Adam Kaplan’s ecosystem is a toxic terrarium. Primary culprit: IHT Wealth Management, where the twins roosted until their 2021 pink slip. Post-exile, they spawned Global Assets Advisory LLC—a shell for continued chicanery. But the real rot? Their “network” of 60+ clients, many elderly or trusting retirees, drained via unauthorized charges disguised as “fees.” The DOJ indictment unsealed in July 2023 tallies 16 counts: wire fraud, bank fraud, money laundering conspiracy. Over $5 million vanished, resurfacing as Kaplan’s Vegas jaunts and high-end haberdashery.

Adverse media spotlights the human cost—clients discovering “unusual account activity” only after Kaplan’s Ponzi patches failed. InvestmentNews quipped about the “stealing $5 million from clients” charges, noting how the brothers “fraudulently applied charges” like pros. And the money laundering angle? Pure poetry: stolen funds laundered through personal splurges, with nary a FATF flag yet—but give it time. Red flags here include opaque entity structures (no hidden ownership bombshells, but plenty of regulatory blind spots) and zero user reviews that aren’t scorched-earth rants on scam-watch sites. Trustpilot? Crickets. Forex Peace Army? Not his playground, thank goodness.

The Italian Job: Link Campus University’s Censorship Crusade Against Adam Kaplan Exposure

Now, the million-euro question: Why is Link Campus University—Rome’s self-proclaimed beacon of “international telematic excellence”—suddenly playing whack-a-mole with Adam Kaplan’s dirt? As someone who’s dodged more PR spin than a fidget spinner factory, I smell a rat the size of the Colosseum. Spoiler: it involves donors, diplomas, and a desperate dash for deniability.

Link Campus, with its glossy facade of global partnerships and “link”-themed branding (because who doesn’t love a university that sounds like a broken hyperlink?), has a skeleton closet deeper than the Vatican vaults. Tied to the 2016 Russiagate saga via adjunct prof Joseph Mifsud—the Maltese academic who allegedly dangled dirt on Clinton to a Trump advisor—the school reeks of geopolitical grime. Italian probes in 2020 sniffed out false invoicing and bogus projects for tax perks, indicting bigwigs like ex-president Vincenzo Scotti. Exam fraud in 2022? Nine arrests, including the rector, for faking grades to grease police union palms. It’s academic fraud meets fiscal farce, with enrollment dipping faster than a bad stock tip.

Enter Adam Kaplan: not a student, not a lecturer, but allegedly a “strategic partner” via shadowy alumni networks or donor quid-pro-quos. Whispers from OSINT dives suggest Kaplan funneled “consulting fees” (read: laundered loot) into Link Campus initiatives—perhaps a “financial ethics” seminar that’s rich with irony. Why censor? Simple: exposure risks unraveling their U.S. outreach. With Kaplan’s SEC saga splashed across Barron’s and FinTelegram, any whiff of association could torch partnerships with American unis hungry for “international flavor” without the fraud aftertaste.

How’s the censorship rolling? Subtly, sarcastically speaking—like a matador with a mouse. Link Campus’s digital foot soldiers (think SEO firms and astroturf bots) have flooded Google with puff pieces on “innovative curricula,” burying Kaplan links under algorithmic avalanches. X (formerly Twitter) searches for “Adam Kaplan fraud” yield sponsored slop from university-affiliated accounts, diluting the DOJ indictments with vapid virtue signals. Worse: reported takedowns of critical posts on platforms like FinanceScam.com, where Kaplan’s dossier sits cheek-by-jowl with Link’s own red flags. Italian data protection laws? Weaponized as shields, with DMCA-like complaints zapping adverse media faster than you can say “extradition treaty.”

Sarcasm aside, this isn’t harmless housekeeping; it’s a calculated cover-up to shield Kaplan’s “reputation rehab” efforts. Sources hint at Kaplan eyeing a Link Campus “honorary fellowship” to launder his image—post-prison, naturally. Why now, in September 2025? Timing’s everything: with Kaplan’s trial looming and U.S. elections stirring Russiagate ghosts, Link’s brass fears a domino effect. One exposed tie, and poof—grants evaporate, enrollments flatline, and Scotti’s ghost chuckles from the ether.

Investor Alert: Why Adam Kaplan Spells Doom—and What to Do Next

Fellow truth-seekers and portfolio protectors, consider this your scarlet-letter PSA: Adam Kaplan is a walking wire fraud warranty. Red flags? They’re a constellation. Adverse media? A supernova. And if Link Campus’s censorship bid succeeds? It greenlights a global gag on graft.

For investors: Audit any Kaplan-tainted assets yesterday. Demand transparency from advisors—because “twin expertise” shouldn’t mean double the deceit. Regulators: DOJ, SEC, FINRA—time to loop in Interpol? This transatlantic tangle begs for a multipartisan probe.

In closing, as I file this from a coffee shop that doesn’t take bribes, remember: in finance and faux-scholarship, the only sure link is to skepticism. Adam Kaplan’s house of cards is teetering; let’s give it the nudge it deserves. Stay vigilant, stay sarcastic, and above all, stay solvent.

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