SENIORS HARMED: Judge Issues Findings In CFTC Case Against Matthew B. Pizzolato; Says Investors Lost Retirement Savings In Scheme
A Louisiania man charged criminally in an alleged Ponzi scheme and sued civilly on the same day last month lied to investors, some of whom liquidated retirement savings and annuities only to suffer massive losses by entrusting funds to Matthew B. Pizzolato, a federal judge has ruled.
The case against Pizzolato is proceeding on separate tracks: [...]
Trevor Cook Allegedly ‘Refused’ To Cooperate With Ponzi Receiver; Security Guards Posted At Van Dusen Mansion In Minneapolis
A Minnesota man accused of operating a Ponzi scheme with Christian radio host Pat Kiley is not cooperating with the court-appointed receiver in the case and might have spent $30,000 on “gift cards” after the SEC and CFTC brought twin actions last month, according to the receiver.
The receiver, R. J. Zayed, described efforts to locate [...]
BizAdSplash Website Offline For ‘Upgrades,’ But Surf Says It Is ‘Excited’; BAS Also Was ‘Excited’ After Announcing Meltdown In Summer
BizAdSplash, one of the so-called AdSurfDaily autosurf clones, always is “excited” about something.
This time it’s “excited” about 2010. The surf, however, says it will be offline for the first four days of the new year — and a note on the site suggests members could not log in for the final eight days of 2009.
BAS [...]
FINRA Issues Alert On ‘Green Energy’ Scams In Wake Of SEC’s Ponzi Allegations Against Mantria/Speed Of Wealth
As the year of the Ponzi scheme comes to a close, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has issued an Investment Alert warning the public about a relatively new form of fraud: “green energy investments” that trade on investors’ affinity for keeping the planet clean.
Such schemes “promise large gains from investing in companies purportedly involved in [...]
Alleged Jeffrey Mowen Ponzi Creates Storage Problem For U.S. Marshals Service; Huge Auction Scheduled In Utah
A Utah man arrested in Panama on Ponzi charges, brought back to the United States to stand trial and later implicated in a murder-for-hire plot owned so many cars and motorcycles that the U.S. Marshal’s Service has been given permission to sell them prior to the trial.
Jeffrey Lane Mowen had acquired more than 200 vehicles [...]
POLL: As 2009 Draws To A Close, Cast Your Vote For The Most Interesting Figure In The AdSurfDaily Story
EDITOR’S NOTE: Included in this post is a year-end poll to determine “The Most Interesting Figure” in the long-running AdSurfDaily story. Five of the seven choices are individuals who’ve been an intriguing part of the story. The remaining two choices are intriguing entities consisting of individuals.
The individuals include Andy Bowdoin (the only individual in [...]
REPORT: Feds Open Inquiry Into Allen Stanford’s Political Donations; Committee To Which Andy Bowdoin Donated Money Again Makes News In Ponzi Probe
The Justice Department has opened a probe into the political donations of R. Allen Stanford, according to the Miami Herald.
Stanford is jailed in Texas amid allegations he presided over a $7 billion Ponzi scheme on the Caribbean island nation of Antigua.
Among the first names to surface were the names of the National Republican Congressional Committee [...]
SPECIAL REPORT: Alleged Colorado Ponzi Schemer Had Criminal Record For Securities Fraud, Previous Bankruptcy Record; Allegations Reminiscent Of ASD/Golden Panda Cases
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is about securities and fraud allegations leveled in Colorado against Philip R. Lochmiller and others. The case was brought amid assertions Lochmiller was operating a real-estate Ponzi, although the backdrop of the story is similar to the backdrop of the story on the “advertising” Ponzi allegations against Florida-based AdSurfDaily. Some of [...]
Man Jailed For Ignoring Court Order In Puerto Rico-Based Envelope-Stuffing Scheme Targeting Spanish-Speaking Customers; Translators, Postal Inspectors Assisted In FTC Probe
A man has been jailed for ignoring a court order in a civil case and continuing to operate an envelope-stuffing scheme from the area of Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, the Federal Trade Commission announced Dec. 23.
Zoilo Cruz, also known as Zoilo Cruz Carrion, conducts business as International Marketing and Universal Wealth. The case was brought [...]
PP HOLIDAY READING: AdViewGlobal Stories Dominated Reader Interest In 2009; ASDMBA And ADV4U Coverage, Bowdoin Proffer, Guest Columnists Commanded Attention
UPDATED 1:25 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) AdViewGlobal-related stories comprised eight of the 10 “Most Popular” posts on the PatrickPretty.com Blog in 2009, as determined by a software scoring system that measures a range of data. The result suggests that readers were intensely interested in coverage of the controversial autosurf.
The finding also suggests that AVG members were [...]
Michigan Men Who Urged Victims Not To Cooperate With FBI Sentenced To Prison In Oil-And-Gas Ponzi Scheme
Two Michigan brothers who urged investors in their oil-and-gas Ponzi scheme not to cooperate with the FBI have been sentenced to prison.
Eric Riley Merkle, 55, and Jay Vernon Merkle, 53, both of Williamston, Mich., were sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for conspiracy, securities fraud, mail fraud and wire fraud. They also were ordered [...]
Belize, Israel, Switzerland, Canada And United States Cooperate In Case That Leads To Judgment Against Florida-Based Company Posing As ‘Offshore’ Investment Firm
EDITOR’S NOTE: Members of Florida-based AdSurfDaily and a closely connected autosurf firm, AdViewGlobal, purportedly based in Uruguay, may find this story particularly eye-opening.
Play the autosurf or “offshore” HYIP investment games? Buy into the hype that overseas “registration” provides “shelter?” Pose as an “expert” on the Ponzi and HYIP boards and tell your downline members or [...]
SEC Moves Against Triton Financial After Woman With Gun Showed Up At Firm’s Texas Office To Demand Refund; Alleged Fraud Scheme Embarrasses NFL, Heisman Trophy Winners, PGA Champions Tour
A case in Texas may provide the clearest sign yet that securities fraud in the United States is separating people from their senses — not that law enforcement missed the important clues provided by an earlier case in California in which investors who were purportedly fleeced allegedly posed as federal agents and attempted an armed [...]
Virginia Attorney Whose License Was Revoked After Firm Wrote Bad Checks For Huge Sums Convicted In Ponzi Scheme; Troy Titus Faces Up To 590 Years In Prison
These are some trying times for the legal profession. Disbarred Florida attorney Scott Rothstein is implicated in an alleged $1.2 billion Ponzi fraud in which prosecutors said attorneys from his shuttered, 70-attorney firm in Fort Lauderdale were getting paid from Ponzi proceeds that flowed from bogus “settlements” in cases involving sexual harassment or sexual infidelity.
And [...]
Senior Citizen Guilty In Michigan Ponzi Scheme; Feds Say Richard Taft Johnson Sold ‘Charitable’ Program To Fellow Seniors, Duping Them Into Ruin
Both state and federal prosecutors in Michigan have been attacking Ponzi schemers and affinity fraudsters. Yesterday the office of Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox charged three men with racketeering for their roles in an alleged time-share Ponzi scheme targeted at senior citizens.
In a separate Michigan case, federal prosecutors have announced the guilty plea of Richard [...]
3 Michigan Men Charged With Racketeering For Their Local Roles In Alleged $350 Million National Ponzi Scheme
Three Michigan men were arrested for racketeering today for their local roles in an alleged national Ponzi scheme that targeted senior citizens.
Robert Valeri Sr., 59, of South Lyon, Robert Antonio Valeri Jr., 32, of Canton, and Jeffrey Ron Mitchell, 39, of Walled Lake, were accused of cheating 125 Michigan seniors out of their life savings [...]
EDITORIAL: God, Las Vegas, Satan, The 9/11 Terrorists, The Shills, Andy Bowdoin, And The U.S. Secret Service
A claim was made yesterday in a now-deleted Surf’s Up post that AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin “would not sell us out and he has stood his ground firm since August of 2008.”
It was a lie by Bowdoin through a shill. The source to prove the lie is Bowdoin himself. Bowdoin has acknowledged in his own [...]
Bowdoin Purportedly Tells ASD Member That Prosecutors ‘Have’ Finally Admitted To Screwing Up; Email Asks Members To Look For ‘Rally’ Videos; New Flap Starts On Surf’s Up
UPDATED 5:34 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) In a development reminiscent of a claim made more than a year ago on the Pro-AdSurfDaily Surf’s Up forum that prosecutors had acknowledged behind closed doors that ASD was not a Ponzi scheme and refused to admit it publicly because of embarrassment, a new email missive surfaced today that suggested [...]
BREAKING NEWS: Bowdoin Tries To Have Judge Collyer Disqualified; Collyer Says She Will Not Step Down From Ponzi Forfeiture Case
AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin has filed a motion to disqualify U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer from hearing the civil-forfeiture case against tens of millions of dollars seized from ASD last year.
Collyer reponded by issuing an order in which she refused to disqualify herself. Collyer said Bowdoin no longer had standing in the case.
“If Mr. Bowdoin [...]
