Archive for January 2010

POLL RESULT: Readers Say Ponzi Schemes Pose National-Security Threat; Did Surf and HYIP Advocates See Poll As PR Threat?

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 […]

GNI Members: Failed Program Was ‘Honest’ And ‘Real’; Critics Should Shut Up And Focus On Haiti Earthquake

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, […]

PROSECUTORS: ‘Final Action’ In Second ASD Forfeiture Case Not Expected For ‘Several Months’

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 […]

California Man Guilty In $62 Million Ponzi Scheme; Milton Retana Targeted Latinos, Ordered Evidence To Be Hidden In Back Of Religious Bookstore

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 […]

BULLETIN: Alberta Securities Commission Rules Gold Quest International A Ponzi Scheme AND A Pyramid Scheme; Panel Concludes GQI Was A ‘Sham’

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 […]

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

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 […]

CHILLING: Terrorism Link, A Ponzi, An HYIP, Gold, Mysterious ‘Offshore’ Businesses, ‘Rebates’ — And A Brutal Murder In California

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

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 […]

MAGNIFYING GLASS: Local Cops Alerted Receiver In Cook/Kiley Ponzi Case That Credit Card Was Being Used After Asset Freeze

MAGNIFYING GLASS: Local Cops Alerted Receiver In Cook/Kiley Ponzi Case That Credit Card Was Being Used After Asset Freeze

Player in a Ponzi scheme? If alleged Minnesota schemer Trevor Cook’s experience is any indication, you should expect to be placed under a microscope by local merchants and police if you’re named in a complaint by regulators. Cub Foods, a Minnesota-based grocery chain, placed Cook under video surveillance when he entered a local store. A […]

Citing ‘Walks Like A Duck,’ Federal Judge Orders Florida Securities Fraudster Jailed For Hiding Assets From SEC

Citing 'Walks Like A Duck,' Federal Judge Orders Florida Securities Fraudster Jailed For Hiding Assets From SEC

A federal judge has ordered a Florida man to surrender to U.S. Marshals Jan. 25 after finding him in contempt of court for hiding assets from the SEC overseas. Should Jamie L. Solow fail to surrender by 2 p.m., U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks said, marshals will be dispatched to arrest him. Middlebrooks already […]

UPDATE: Prosecutor Lauds FBI Terrorism Task Force In Case That Linked Serial HYIP Promoter To Scheme Operated By Man Convicted Of Financing Terrorism

UPDATE: Prosecutor Lauds FBI Terrorism Task Force In Case That Linked Serial HYIP Promoter To Scheme Operated By Man Convicted Of Financing Terrorism

EDITOR’S NOTE: In an earlier post, we briefly touched on Ponzi peddler Brian David Anderson and his tie to an HYIP operated by a man convicted of financing terror. Federal prosecutors now have released a formal statement on Anderson’s guilty plea in a related Ponzi scheme — and the statement thanked the FBI’s Joint Terrorism […]