Martin A. Armstrong

Martin Arthur Armstrong (born November 1, 1949 in New Jersey) is the former chairman of Princeton Economics International Ltd. He was indicted on September 29, 1999 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York for conspiracy to defraud the United States. for alleged fraud involving Japanese investors. On August 17, 2006, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. On April 10, 2007, he was sentenced to five years in prison. He was released from prison on September 2, 2011.

Career

As a teenager, Armstrong worked at a rare stamp and coin dealership and became a millionaire at age fifteen. Then he opened his own store at age twenty-one. 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, Armstrong continued to collect gold and antiquities.

Armstrong was a frequent contributor to academic journals and often was sought for comment on financial topics. As an investor, he proved^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]}

In 1981 Armstrong formed Princeton Economics and, in 1998, he established a hedge fund in partnership with Magnum Global Investments.

During that time he developed a financial prediction model called the "pi-cycle model" and published long term forecasts which are still monitored by the financial press. In the United Kingdom, for example, a popular financial magazine Money Week published an article on Martin Armstrong on March 27, 2007, titled "The strange case of the jailed market genius". In that article they highlighted the model had predicted a major top in financial markets for February 27, 2007, with the next major bottom being June 18, 2011.

Criminal charges

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. 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. Armstrong was jailed for seven years for contempt of court, and only went to trial when the United States Court of Appeals removed Judge Owen from his case in 2007 after Armstrong spent several days in solitary confinement. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five more years in prison.

Family

Armstrong, who is divorced, has two children. His daughter, Victoria Armstrong, paid her father visits in prison on most Wednesdays, spending about one hour with him in a common room with other visitors and prisoners. Martin Armstrong Jr. and Victory Armstrong supported their father in what was, according to Martin Armstrong Jr., a "one sided legal battle". They asked the public for help and sent letters to the judges. According to Armstrong's daughter Victoria Armstrong, "It took nearly thirty years for my dad to develop this model and his refusing to turn over its source code to the government is a big reason why he has been held in jail for over seven years without a trial. His model was his life’s work and his passion that ultimately landed him in jail. Although it's great to hear people that have benefited from his insight, after seeing what has happened to him I wish he kept it to himself."

Writing in prison

Armstrong published on May 22, 2009 a piece entitled "Is Democracy Dying? Leviathan, The Power Cleverly Hidden Behind Politicians" in which he uses the history to explain what he contends is a delusion of Democracy.

The paper "Looking Behind the Curtain", Published by Armstrong on April 9, 2009, details purported events connecting Goldman Sachs to U.S. government manipulation of financial markets.

As of November 24, 2009 a dedicated site hosting over forty of his essays is available at martinarmstrong.org.

Related websites

Official website (PDFs)

• http://www.scribd.com/kzuur58
• http://www.martinarmstrong.org/
• http://princetoneconomics.blogspot.com/ (blog postings related to research)

Security and Exchange Commission related documents

• http://www.sec.gov/litigation/aljdec/2009/id372rgm.pdf
• http://www.sec.gov/litigation/opinions/2009/ia-2926.pdf

Other

• http://www.dailypaul.com/node/74285
• http://www.topix.com/forum/business/TS8IHELKS6G8FDV65