Retirement planner stops in Chicago on 2,100-mile bike ride to support Ponzi scheme victims

A retirement planner is cruising from Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C. — not by air but on wheels.

So far, Aaron Novinger, 48, has biked about 1,000 miles of the 2,100-mile journey to support victims of Ponzi schemes. He calls his journey “Pedaling for Ponzis” and stopped Friday at Dearborn Park in Chicago.

“It's been a challenge — physically, emotionally, spiritually, but they're worth it,” Novinger said. “I won't rest until we make them whole.”

A Ponzi scheme is a financial fraud that pays early investors with money received from later investors, creating an illusion of large profits. The most common victims are older people who have accumulated wealth, said Alexander Loftus, a business litigation lawyer based in Chicago.

“It blows up eventually,” Loftus said. “Ultimately, because there's no value being created, everybody loses.”

Novinger, a retirement planner of 20 years, worked with two financial advisers who unknowingly got caught up in the StarGrower Ponzi scheme, where an Indianapolis man raised $11 million by defrauding 100 investors, many of whom were elderly. The Ponzi organizers scammed the advisers’ clients and ruined the advisers’ lives and careers, he said.

“I've sat across the table from these individuals for so many years,” Novinger said. “I saw the devastation that happened with the advisers and with the advisers' clients.”

Novinger said he constantly thinks about the victims of Ponzi schemes, pointing to a couple who lost $986,000 — their entire life savings.

“They have a special needs son. The money's supposed to take care of him when they pass away, and it's gone,” Novinger said.

He has raised $1,500, so far and plans to donate the money to families affected by the StarGrower Ponzi scheme.

Novinger rides a recumbent bike, which is in a reclining position. While the bike helps with his lower back issues, it’s also harder to bike over mountains and hills.

“Your only leverage is quad power, going through those hills in Missouri — in Texas, we call them mountains,” he said.

He chose to bike rather than walk because of a foot disorder that makes walking painful.

“I've done a lot of these endurance 100-plus mile events on a bike. It's just that plus a few more days,” he said.

Novinger’s wife, Rebecca, accompanies him by car. She helped pack gear and figures out routes.

“We are basically a mobile home right now in this car,” Rebecca Novinger said. “We don't stay in a hotel every night, so there's some nights where we camp.”

While Novinger is on the freeway, his wife drives 10 miles ahead to make sure there’s no construction or potholes.

“She's the navigator. She's the secret to the whole thing,” he said. “I couldn't fathom doing it without my best friend, my soulmate, my wife.”

Novinger said his route included Chicago to reach as many people as possible.

“Chicago is also a huge mecca for the financial industry and sector,” Novinger said.

Novinger, who began his ride in April, plans to finish his bike ride at the U.S. Capitol steps on Memorial Day, where he'll call for tougher penalties on Ponzi scheme perpetrators.

"I can't rest until there's reform," Novinger said. "We have to make them think before they act, so we stop the devastation."