Temple U alumni/Philly residents Troy Wragg and Amanda Knorr have found themselves in a lot of hot water this week, as the SEC has charged the firm they work for, Mantria Industries, with an elaborate “eco-ponzi” scheme that bilked oldsters out of their retirement funds with the promise of fortunes from bio-tech startups. The SEC is charging that Knorr, Wragg and two others in Denver were a bunch of junior-varsity Madoffs, racking up about $30M in investments that were either not-quite-as-sold or outright lies. Among them: Something called “biochar,” a charcoal substitute made from “organic waste,” other products bearing the company’s Eternagreen brand — and some real estate and lending transactions, which may have been legit, as well as a record label, featuring the hip-hop group Icebloc, who also seem, not to put too fine a point on it, pretty phony, but more in the Holden Caulfield sense. So what do Wragg and Knorr have to say for themselves? Right now, nothing — but keep your eyes on this one. It’s too weird to stay quiet for long.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at 12:19 pm.