SCAMMERS SLAMMED

[October 29th, 2003] One of the biggest rip-offs in recent Portland history has reached at least partial closure.

Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Frank Bearden found that local lawyer Guy Rencher and his associates Robert Skirving and Paul James Peiffer committed dozens of securities-law violations.

In 2000 and 2001, the men bilked local investors out of more than $7 million (see "Scammed!," WW, June 19, 2002) in what Bearden referred to as "a classic Ponzi-type scheme." The operation was part of larger scam originating in the Caribbean that cost investors more than $200 million globally.

In Portland, Rencher, a trusts and estates lawyer, and an accountant named Mark Brown roped clients into a scheme concocted by Skirving that promised investors 30 percent returns risk-free for depositing their money with an offshore bank. One client, Joy Vandervelden, an octogenarian Forest Grove resident, lost $3 million to the men.

Ruling on civil charges brought by the state's Department of Consumer and Business Services, Bearden fined Skirving $780,000, Peiffer $390,000 and Rencher $435,000 for their offenses. All three men previously declared bankruptcy, which makes it doubtful that the fines are collectible.

Rencher, who testified that he has voluntarily stopped practicing law, faces a continuing investigation from the Oregon State Bar, which previously suspended his license temporarily for "dishonesty" and "false or misleading advertising."

Skirving, whom Bearden called the mastermind of the operation, currently faces related criminal charges in Nevada.