Archive for October 2009

UPDATED 1:18 P.M. EDT (NOV 2, 2009, U.S.A.)
Now Available
Dear Readers,
On Monday, Nov. 2, we will release an eReport titled, “Rebates Aren’t Guaranteed: The True Story Of Ponzi Deceptions And Myths In The Criminal Autosurf ‘Industry.’”
The PDF-formatted product will be available through e-Junkie.com, with convenient payment via PayPal or major credit card, where available. We are [...]

UPDATED 2:03 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Prosecutors have advised a federal judge that the government expects David G. Friehling to plead guilty to charges next week.
Friehling was the small-shop accountant for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities.
The mere fact that Bernard Madoff’s multibillion firm used a small shop that employed a single accountant — Friehling himself — [...]

UPDATED 8:28 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Minneapolis/St. Paul has Tom Petters, accused of operating a $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme by deceiving investors into thinking they were financing his company’s purchase of electronics that later would be sold to Wal-Mart and other huge retailers.
And now Chicago has Matthew [...]

UPDATED 9:23 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The ASDMBA website appears to be back online. Our earlier story is below . . .
The website of the ASD Members Business Association — asdmba.com — is offline. ASDMBA’s domain registration appears to have expired yesterday, and the site now resolves to a GoDaddy.com page that displays ads.
Bob Guenther, ASDMBA’s [...]

A federal judge has given the go-ahead to a court-appointed receiver to sell the assets of Affiliate Strategies Inc. (ASI), the parent company of the Noobing autosurf.
U.S. District Judge Julie A. Robinson of the District of Kansas approved the plan submitted by receiver Larry Cook. The plan authorizes Cook to sell the assets in auction [...]

UPDATED 9:28 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Donald Chouinard urged clients in Montana and Idaho to invest in what they thought was a “day-trading program,” authorities said.
In one case, he allegedly persuaded a client to borrow a large sum to enter the program. The case is remarkable in the sense that one of its specific allegations provides [...]

UPDATED 6:51 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Kenneth Kenitzer of Pleasanton has become the most recent senior citizen to face significant jail time for his actions in a Ponzi and affinity fraud scheme. The California Ponzi fleeced investors and churchgoers out of at least $40 million, authorities said.
Kenitzer, 66, is expected to plead guilty “in the near [...]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was prompted by a post we saw on Scam.com. The “lede” is deliberately buried in this article in favor of some background information.
During the 1990s, I was sitting at home one evening just minding my own business. Back in those days I routinely had staggered newspaper deadlines beginning at 7 p.m. [...]

NEWS: In the world of high finance, Tom Petters was Bernard Madoff before Bernard Madoff was Bernard Madoff — at least with respect to shocking headlines about Ponzi schemes.
Jury selection is under way in Minnesota in the Petters case. The allegations that Petters presided over a $3.65 billion Ponzi were unfathomable in September 2008. The [...]

UPDATED 2:07 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Courthouse News Service is reporting that Bank of America has been named a defendant in a federal lawsuit filed in Florida that alleges it aided and abetted the Beau Diamond Ponzi scheme that fleeced investors out of millions of dollars.
Bank of America also is named a defendant in a lawsuit [...]

Yesterday we reported that the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) ordered penalties and disgorgement totaling $42 million in the case against Legacy Capital Inc., Legacy Trust Inc., Manna Trading Corp Ltd. and Manna Humanitarian Foundation.
We reported several parallels to the ongoing investigation in the United States into the business practices of AdSurfDaily/Golden Panda Ad Builder [...]

The British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) has ordered four respondents in a civil action to pay penalties of $26 million for operating a Ponzi scheme and to surrender $16 million in illegal profits.
In forceful findings that may echo throughout the HYIP and autosurfing universe, BCSC said the schemers tried to skirt securities laws by selling [...]

EDITOR’S NOTE: If you’ve been approached by individuals or a downline “team” and invited to join an online “surfing” program that purports to be an “advertising” company, this column may be of some value to you. Extremely well-known publishing companies — companies that produce titles you know and love, and companies that know advertising and [...]

UPDATED 10:47 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The state of Florida has revoked the corporate registration of AdSurfDaily Inc.
Meanwhile, the state has dissolved Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises Inc. Both actions were taken Sept. 25 by the Florida Department of State’s Division of Corporations because neither company filed required paperwork.
ASD’s registration is marked “REVOKED FOR ANNUAL REPORT.” The registration for [...]

Michael R.N. McDonnell is the attorney for a Florida man charged Tuesday with obtaining $388,000 in a mortgage-fraud scheme, according to the Naples Daily News.
McDonnell, a lawyer for nearly 40 years, recently was retained to represent AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin in a civil-forfeiture case involving tens of millions of dollars seized from Bowdoin’s bank accounts [...]

Seven banks failed in the United States today, including three in Florida, one in Georgia, one in Minnesota, one in Wisconsin and one in Illinois.
Two of the failed Florida banks were in Naples. The third was in Bradenton, about 120 miles north of Naples. Both cities are situated in Gulf Coast counties. Two other Bradenton [...]

Federal agents, local police officers and prosecutors nationwide have carried out the largest action “ever undertaken against a Mexican drug cartel,” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced.
At least 303 individuals in 19 states were arrested in the past two days alone as part of Project Coronado. More than 3,000 agents and officers operated across the [...]

Dear Readers,
From time to time I publish a post in letter form. This usually happens when a post in story, editorial or essay form does not seem appropriate. This is one of those times.
Honestly, just how strange could things get in Ponzi Land?
Ponzi Land, which relatively few people outside of law enforcement even knew existed [...]

In a case that features some of the same elements of the alleged AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme — a senior citizen as the operator, appeals to religion, the sale of unregistered securities, commingling of funds, seized assets and advertising materials that promised a payout — an 83-year-old New York man today effectively was sentenced to life [...]