GNI BECOMES THIS YEAR’S ASD: Autosurf/HYIP Pimps Continue To Cheerlead Ponzi Schemes As Bank Failures Pile Up In The United States
The new year is starting out like the year that just passed. Banks are failing, unemployment is high, money is not trickling down to small businesses that need capital to expand and create new jobs — and the Ponzi pimps are still putting lipstick on pigs, pushing autosurfs and HYIPs and cheerleading for them even [...]
TREVOR COOK AND KINGZ’ MURKY WORLD: Did Accused Ponzi Schemer Cook Send $75 Million To Mysterious ‘Investor’ Known Only As ‘Fased?’ Why AdSurfDaily/AdViewGlobal Cheerleaders Should Pay Attention
UPDATED 5:25 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) KINGZ Capital Management Corp. (KCM) might have been used or contemplated for use as a tool in two far-reaching, incredibly elaborate Ponzi schemes, according to an analysis of public records and other information.
One of the schemes ultimately appears to have consumed tens of millions of dollars in a squalid venture [...]
KA-BOOM! Offshore Firm To Which AdViewGlobal Claimed Wire Tie Booted From National Futures Association After Investigators Discover Ponzi Figure Trevor Cook Was Managing Its Investor Pool
UPDATED 1:18 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) A company that denied any ties to the AdViewGlobal autosurf after AVG listed it as a facilitator of offshore wire transfers has been permanently banned by the National Futures Association (NFA) amid allegations that it failed to uphold high ethical standards and failed to supervise its operations.
KINGZ Capital Management Corp. [...]
IT’S OFFICIAL: Scott Rothstein Is A Racketeer; Disbarred Lawyer Pleads Guilty, Forfeits $1.2 Billion; FBI Cites ‘Red Flags,’ IRS Cites ‘Lies’
Disbarred Florida attorney Scott Rothstein has pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy that included mail fraud and wire fraud, and to two separate counts of wire fraud.
“Today’s guilty plea is an important step in bringing to justice those who perpetrated a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme under the guise of operating a legitimate law firm,” said [...]
EDITORIAL: BizAdSplash, AdGateWorld, AdViewGlobal: Serial Promoters Should Be Prosecuted, ASD Members In Clone Ranks Should Be Excluded From Restitution Fund
If a thousand people tell you the autosurf they’re promoting is the “real deal” and that they’ve done their “due diligence” — they are lying.
If you believe them, you are setting yourself up to be fleeced and perhaps even dragged into court, perhaps as a reluctant victim or perhaps even as a defendant in a [...]
BizAdSplash Tanks, Takes Participants’ Money With It, Members Say; Surf Invokes God, Says ‘Party Is Over’ In Sign-Off Note
The Biz Ad Splash (BAS) autosurf has tanked, taking participants’ money with it, members said tonight.
Members reported receiving a platitude-filled email from Clarence Busby announcing the surf’s closure. The email, which included a pep talk and invoked God, did not say if, when or how members would be compensated.
“Now what about the future?” the email [...]
POLL: Are The Robbers Smarter Than The Cops? (Sidenote: Are You Ready For A Ponzi Prime-Time Drama On Cable?)
Our new poll asks a simple question: “Is The Average Autosurf/HYIP Promoter Smarter Than The Average FBI Agent, Secret Service Agent, Postal Inspector, IRS Investigator Or SEC/CFTC Investigator?”
You may vote only once. There is an option of “Other” in this poll if you don’t want to limit yourself to a “Yes” or “No” answer.
This poll [...]
THE GREAT PONZI PAPER CHASE: Playing Field Spans Globe, Judge Says; SEC Notes Cook/Kiley Banking Ties In Antigua, Europe, Middle East
The ruling by a federal judge yesterday that put alleged Minnesota Ponzi schemer Trevor Cook behind bars until he surrenders tens of millions of dollars in offshore bank accounts includes some interesting details.
For one, Cook, accused by the SEC and the CFTC in a $190 million fraud, had access to a bank account in Antigua. [...]
PONZI UNIVERSE: Just How Weird Will It Get? Spammer With Possible ASD Ties Tries To Post News Release In 10 Separate PP Threads; Elsewhere, A ‘Comic Book’ Ponzi Scheme
On a day a federal judge ordered alleged Minnesota Ponzi schemer Trevor Cook jailed — in part for not turning over a two-passenger submarine allegedly purchased on eBay with Ponzi proceeds — the following things happened:
A would-be PP Blog poster attempted to post the same news release about AdSurfDaily mainstay “Professor” Patrick Moriarty in 10 [...]
BULLETIN: Trevor Cook Jailed For Contempt In Minnesota Ponzi Scheme Case; Judge Orders Him To Surrender $27 Million, Submarine, Houseboat, More
UPDATED 7:55 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) A federal judge has ordered Trevor Cook jailed for not turning over assets in a Minnesota Ponzi scheme case brought by the SEC.
Chief U.S. District Judge Michael J. Davis found Cook in civil contempt of court. U.S. Marshals “escorted Cook from the courtroom to jail,” the SEC said.
“Mr. Cook has [...]
Bowdoin, Prosecutors Clash Anew In August 2008 Forfeiture Case; Dispute May Explain Government’s Announcement Last Week That Separate Case Could Be Delayed For ‘Several Months’
UPDATED 2:03 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) Two attorneys for AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin are asking a federal judge to vacate orders she issued granting a default judgment to the government and granting a final order of forfeiture to tens of millions of dollars and a home seized in the case.
Attorneys Charles A. Murray and Michael R.N. [...]
POLL RESULT: Readers Say Ponzi Schemes Pose National-Security Threat; Did Surf and HYIP Advocates See Poll As PR Threat?
By better than a two-to-one margin, readers of the PatrickPretty.com Blog have concluded that Ponzi schemes pose a threat to national security, according to the results of a poll.
The poll, which began on Jan. 13 and concluded this morning, was unscientific. Still, the results suggest readers are concerned that the criminality associated with Ponzi schemes [...]
GNI Members: Failed Program Was ‘Honest’ And ‘Real’; Critics Should Shut Up And Focus On Haiti Earthquake
Critics of Gold Nugget Invest (GNI), the collapsed Internet HYIP, do not understand that the program that advertised a return of 7.5 percent a week was “real,” according to a member writing on an online Ponzi board.
Bickering about GNI only will lead to additional problems for the company, which is faithfully trying to reorganize, and [...]
PROSECUTORS: ‘Final Action’ In Second ASD Forfeiture Case Not Expected For ‘Several Months’
UPDATED 11:46 A.M. ET (U.S.A.) Final judicial action in the second forfeiture case filed against assets connected to AdSurfDaily “is not expected for at least several months,” federal prosecutors said.
The second action was filed in December 2008. It identified family members of ASD President Andy Bowdoin as beneficiaries of a Ponzi, wire-fraud and money-laundering scheme [...]
California Man Guilty In $62 Million Ponzi Scheme; Milton Retana Targeted Latinos, Ordered Evidence To Be Hidden In Back Of Religious Bookstore
In yet another case in which the name of a precious metal or mineral was used in a Ponzi scheme, Milton Retana has been found guilty of six counts of mail fraud and one count of lying to federal investigators.
Evidence of the fraud was hidden in the back of a religious bookstore operated by Retana’s [...]
BULLETIN: Alberta Securities Commission Rules Gold Quest International A Ponzi Scheme AND A Pyramid Scheme; Panel Concludes GQI Was A ‘Sham’
UPDATED 7:03 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) The Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) has ruled Gold Quest International (GQI) a Ponzi and a Pyramid scheme.
An ASC panel determined that GQI met the conditions for a Ponzi scheme because it had no viable product and paid earlier investors with money from new investors. It also was a pyramid scheme, [...]
RECEIVER: Trevor Cook May Be Hiding ‘Millions’ Of Iraqi Dinars, Faberge Eggs; SEC Has ‘Cooperating Witnesses’ In $190 Million Ponzi Case; Cook Wants $105 Monthly Outlay For Housecats
Alleged Minnesota Ponzi schemer Trevor Cook may be hiding “millions” of Iraqi Dinars once stored on the third floor of the Van Dusen mansion in Minneapolis, according to the court-appointed receiver in the case against Cook and former Christian radio host Pat Kiley.
Cook also had a “vast” collection of expensive watches and “numerous” jeweled Faberge [...]
CHILLING: Terrorism Link, A Ponzi, An HYIP, Gold, Mysterious ‘Offshore’ Businesses, ‘Rebates’ — And A Brutal Murder In California
EDITOR’S NOTE: HYIP or autosurf promoter? Can’t say no to the commissions from recruiting people into scheme after scheme? Position yourself as an “expert” on Internet forums — even though you don’t have a clue about the motivations of the program owners and may not even know their names? Find yourself promoting programs that reference [...]
Scott Rothstein Property To Be Auctioned Saturday; Big Crowd Expected; Politicians Likely To Stay Home
Disbarred attorney and Ponzi scheme suspect Scott Rothstein’s name is radioactive among politicians of both major parties in the United States. The embarrassment began to build when Rothstein, a celebrated schmoozer and source of campaign funds, fled to Morocco after the alleged $1.2 billion scheme began to unravel last fall.
Things got worse yet when federal [...]
