Martin Armstrong is the former chairman of Princeton Economics International Ltd. As a teenager, Armstrong worked at a rare stamp and coin dealership and became a millionaire at age 15. Then he opened his own store at age 21. After studying historical gold prices, he developed a cyclical theory of commodity prices and began a company, Economic Consultants of Princeton. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed multiple complaints about this company, finding that it failed to maintain adequate records, misstated performance results, and was not properly registered. During this time, he continued to collect gold & antiquities which would later become a major bone of contention with the New York State justice system. Armstrong was a frequent contributor to academic journals and was often sought for comment on financial topics. As an investor, he claims that his market timing approach predicted both the high-water mark of the Nikkei in 1989, months ahead of time, and also the July 20, 1998, high in the U.S. equities market. In 1981 Armstrong formed Princeton Economics and, in 1998, he established a hedge fund in partnership with Magnum Global Investments. In 1999, Japanese fraud investigators determined that Armstrong had been collecting money from Japanese investors, improperly "commingling" these funds with funds from other investors, and using the fresh money to cover losses he had incurred while trading; a form of Ponzi scheme. Assisting Armstrong in his scheme was the Republic New York Bank which produced false account statements to reassure Armstrong's investors, and which in 2001 agreed to pay $606 million as restitution for its part in the scandal. Armstrong was indicted in 1999, and was ordered by Judge Richard Owen to turn over a number of gold bars, computers, and antiquities that had been bought with the fund's money; the list included bronze helmets and a bust of Julius Caesar. Armstrong produced some of the items, but claimed the others were not in his possession; this led to several contempt of court charges. He was jailed for seven years for contempt of court, and only went to trial when the NY Court of Appeals removed Judge Owen from his case; in 2007 he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five more years in prison. I wonder why this case sounds so familiar? I can't find a thing regarding if he is in any way shape or form related to B. Madoff......

Find all info here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_A._Armstrong