Archive for July 2010

FANTASY POST: President Cuts Short Vacation To Address Nation On ‘Grave Threat To National Economic Security’; Government Targeted With ‘Taunt’ From Purported MLM Operators Amid Sea Of Incongruity; ‘We Have The Power,’ Unnamed ‘Group’ Says

FANTASY POST: President Cuts Short Vacation To Address Nation On 'Grave Threat To National Economic Security'; Government Targeted With 'Taunt' From Purported MLM Operators Amid Sea Of Incongruity; 'We Have The Power,' Unnamed 'Group' Says

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a fantasy post. The “story” below is not real. The PP Blog occasionally presents fantasy posts, parody and satire as a means of advancing the discussion about issues in the world of online crime and marketing schemes. BAR HARBOR, Maine (PPBlog) — President Obama abruptly cut short his family vacation here […]

Peter C. Son Sentenced To 15 Years In Forex Ponzi Scheme That Targeted Korean-Americans; Courtroom Spectator Heckled Scammer, Declaring He Deserved Death For Crime

Peter C. Son Sentenced To 15 Years In Forex Ponzi Scheme That Targeted Korean-Americans; Courtroom Spectator Heckled Scammer, Declaring He Deserved Death For Crime

A California man accused of bilking Korean-Americans in an $80 million Forex Ponzi scheme was sentenced yesterday to 15 years in federal prison. Prior to the sentencing of Peter C. Son of Danville, a courtroom spectator yelled in Korean that “You’ve got to kill that bastard!” according to the San Francisco Chronicle. In June 2009, […]

Kautilya Nandan Pruthi Charged Criminally In $173 Million Ponzi Case After Probe By London Police

Kautilya Nandan Pruthi Charged Criminally In $173 Million Ponzi Case After Probe By London Police

Last month, a  court in the United Kingdom ordered Kautilya Nandan Pruthi to pay more than $135 million to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for his role in an alleged Ponzi scheme that gathered the U.S. equivalent of $173 million. The FSA is the British equivalent of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Two others […]

Paul Greenwood To Forfeit $331 Million; Pleads Guilty In Massive Fraud Scheme That Put Public Pension Funds At Risk While He Collected Teddy Bears

Paul Greenwood To Forfeit $331 Million; Pleads Guilty In Massive Fraud Scheme That Put Public Pension Funds At Risk While He Collected Teddy Bears

Perhaps he’ll be remembered best for his collection of Steiff teddy bears paid for by investors, but there now are other reasons to remember Paul Greenwood. Greenwood has pleaded guilty to swindling institutional investors, universities and pension funds in a Ponzi-like scheme. He is believed to be cooperating with prosecutors in the ongoing probe of […]

CFTC: Convicted Felon Was Running Texas-Based Forex Firm; Robert Mihailovich Sr. And Robert Mihailovich Jr. Charged In Case That Alleges Pattern Of Marketing, Webinar Deception

CFTC: Convicted Felon Was Running Texas-Based Forex Firm; Robert Mihailovich Sr. And Robert Mihailovich Jr. Charged In Case That Alleges Pattern Of Marketing, Webinar Deception

Investors turned over more than $30 million to a felon who hid his conviction and even managed to persuade clients to give him power of attorney, the CFTC said. Robert Mihailovich Sr. was released from federal prison on June 27, 2007, after serving 21 months for mail fraud, the CFTC said. On Oct. 14, 2008 […]

REPORT: Pyramid Schemes Plaguing China; One Anti-Pyramid Activist Stabbed While Trying To Assist Victim, Another Bitten Repeatedly; Cult-Like Behavior In Spotlight

REPORT: Pyramid Schemes Plaguing China; One Anti-Pyramid Activist Stabbed While Trying To Assist Victim, Another Bitten Repeatedly; Cult-Like Behavior In Spotlight

An anti-pyramid scheme activist in China was stabbed by both the perpetrator of the scheme and the victim, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency. The wounds were not fatal, but demonstrate the dangers that confront citizens actively engaged in efforts to help an estimated 10 million Chinese caught up in schemes that use promises […]

BULLETIN: Receiver Says Trevor Cook’s Wife Received $103,000 Payout By Wire Day After SEC Came To Minneapolis For ‘Surprise’ Investigation

BULLETIN: Receiver Says Trevor Cook's Wife Received $103,000 Payout By Wire Day After SEC Came To Minneapolis For 'Surprise' Investigation

Gina Cook, the wife of acknowledged Ponzi schemer Trevor Cook, received a wire transfer of $103,437 on June 23, 2009, one day after six attorneys and accountants from the SEC began a “surprise” investigation at the scheme’s Minneapolis headquarters and served Trevor Cook with a subpoena, according to the court-appointed receiver in the case. Receiver […]

Beyond Diamonds Investments Inc., Darial Chatman Subjects Of ‘Cease And Desist’ Order In South Carolina; State Says Firm Was Selling Unregistered Securities And Claiming To Be ‘SEC Compliant’

Beyond Diamonds Investments Inc., Darial Chatman Subjects Of 'Cease And Desist' Order In South Carolina; State Says Firm Was Selling Unregistered Securities And Claiming To Be 'SEC Compliant'

UPDATED 12:52 P.M. EDT (USA) A South Carolina man previously ordered by Pennsylvania to stop selling unregistered securities for a real-estate business now has been ordered by South Carolina to stop selling unregistered securities for yet-another business, authorities said. Darial Chatman, also known as Darrell Chatman and Darrell Chapman, was ordered by the Pennsylvania Securities […]

SEC: ‘Offshore Does Not Mean Off-Limits’; Agency Charges Famous U.S. Firm With Violating Foreign Corrupt Practices Act In Alleged Bribery Scheme

SEC: 'Offshore Does Not Mean Off-Limits'; Agency Charges Famous U.S. Firm With Violating Foreign Corrupt Practices Act In Alleged Bribery Scheme

BULLETIN: The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged General Electric Co. and two foreign subsidiaries in an alleged kickback scheme with the Iraq government “to win contracts to supply medical equipment and water purification equipment.” Robert Khuzami, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, did not mince words when announcing the charges and a settlement […]

INetGlobal Loses Court Appeal; Judge Says Magistrate Judge’s Ruling On Treatment Of Witnesses Was Correct

INetGlobal Loses Court Appeal; Judge Says Magistrate Judge's Ruling On Treatment Of Witnesses Was Correct

INetGlobal, a Minneapolis-based autosurf firm under investigation by the U.S. Secret Service and the IRS, has lost an appeal. On May 28, U.S. Magistrate Judge Franklin Noel issued an order that permitted investigators to make contact with witnesses in the case under certain conditions. Paul Engh, an attorney who said he represented INetGlobal employees, filed […]

MAXIMUM KABOOM? Woman Found Guilty On 122,000 Counts In Pyramid Case; Tells Psychologist She Could Have Saved Firm Had Government Not Interfered

MAXIMUM KABOOM? Woman Found Guilty On 122,000 Counts In Pyramid Case; Tells Psychologist She Could Have Saved Firm Had Government Not Interfered

Is it the maximum case of Kaboom! — coupled with the maximum case of denial? The government of South Africa hit Maritjie Prinsloo with a whopping 122,000 counts of fraud, racketeering and money-laundering in a pyramid-scheme case that involved an estimated $205 million. (R1.5 billion.) Prinsloo was found guilty last month. South African media now […]