Archive for June 2011

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Paranoia-Maker: FBI Undercover Sting In Florida Leads To Criminal, Civil Charges Against 5 In Alleged Penny-Stock Capers; Agents Established ‘Phony’ Consulting Company

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Paranoia-Maker: FBI Undercover Sting In Florida Leads To Criminal, Civil Charges Against 5 In Alleged Penny-Stock Capers; Agents Established 'Phony' Consulting Company

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: An undercover sting by the FBI in Florida has led to criminal and civil charges against five alleged penny-stock fraudsters in Florida, Texas, Nevada and California. The sting featured a phony “consulting” company created by the FBI, authorities said. News about the make-believe consultancy followed on the heels of news […]

Man Who Fled To Philippines After Bizop Scam Was Exposed By Postal Inspectors Sentenced To 125 Months In Federal Prison; Robert Nicol Bilked More Than $5 Million In Utah-Based Fraud Ventures

Man Who Fled To Philippines After Bizop Scam Was Exposed By Postal Inspectors Sentenced To 125 Months In Federal Prison; Robert Nicol Bilked More Than $5 Million In Utah-Based Fraud Ventures

A man who ran a Utah-based fraud scheme has been sentenced by a federal judge in Florida to 125 months behind bars. Robert Nicol initially fled to a remote section of the Philippines after the U.S. Postal Inspection Service executed a search warrant in an investigation of Gold Star Vending Inc. in 2007. But authorities […]

BULLETIN: Club Asteria Says Revenue Has Plunged ‘Dramatically’; Firm Blames Member Lies For Crisis, Compares Situation To Run On The Bank

BULLETIN: Club Asteria Says Revenue Has Plunged 'Dramatically'; Firm Blames Member Lies For Crisis, Compares Situation To Run On The Bank

BULLETIN: UPDATED 6:44 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Club Asteria, a Virginia-based company that claims to elevate people out of poverty globally by involving them in an MLM-like income and recruitment scheme, has acknowledged a revenue plunge and described it as dramatic. In an audio recording posted online, the firm blamed its current state on lies from […]

UPDATE: Blurb For Club Asteria Executive Reappears On Website; Separately, Promoter ‘Ken Russo’ Says On TalkGold Ponzi Forum That The ‘Next Couple Of Months Will Tell The Story’

UPDATE: Blurb For Club Asteria Executive Reappears On Website; Separately, Promoter 'Ken Russo' Says On TalkGold Ponzi Forum That The 'Next Couple Of Months Will Tell The Story'

A blurb for Hank Needham has reappeared on the Club Asteria website after having been missing for days. The blurb appears to have gone missing sometime between June 19 and June 24, but is back on the site today. Separately, promoter “Ken Russo,” who posts as “DRdave” on the TalkGold Ponzi scheme and criminals’ forum, […]

TV, Web Pitchman Donald Lapre Arraigned In ‘Medical Facility’ After Arrest By Federal Agents; Accused Huckster Recovering From ‘Self-Inflicted’ Wounds To Legs After Missing Court Date

TV, Web Pitchman Donald Lapre Arraigned In 'Medical Facility' After Arrest By Federal Agents; Accused Huckster Recovering From 'Self-Inflicted' Wounds To Legs After Missing Court Date

He called it “The Greatest Vitamin in the World.” Federal prosecutors in Arizona, however, called it conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, promotional money-laundering and transactional money-laundering, accusing Donald Lapre of selling “essentially worthless” Internet businesses to more than 226,000 victims. And now Lapre, 47, is under arrest. Prosecutors said he skipped a June 22 court […]

Affinity-Fraud Victim, 72, Tells Newspaper He ‘Won’t Trust Anybody’ For The Rest Of His Life; Ohio Real-Estate Ponzi Scheme That Spread By Word-Of-Mouth Was Discovered After Suicide Of Church ‘Praise Band’ Member

Affinity-Fraud Victim, 72, Tells Newspaper He 'Won't Trust Anybody' For The Rest Of His Life; Ohio Real-Estate Ponzi Scheme That Spread By Word-Of-Mouth Was Discovered After Suicide Of Church 'Praise Band' Member

UPDATED 9:47 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) A 72-year-old man and his 60-year-old wife built up a $400,000 retirement nest egg through hard work over decades at a cosmetics factory — only to see it consumed in a real-estate Ponzi scheme operated by two church members, including one who killed himself when the scheme was unraveling, the […]

Government Refuses To Say Whether Return Of INetGlobal Funds Means The Firm Has Been Cleared And The Probe Into Its Business Practices Has Concluded

Government Refuses To Say Whether Return Of INetGlobal Funds Means The Firm Has Been Cleared And The Probe Into Its Business Practices Has Concluded

UPDATED 9:24 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) A spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones of the District of Minnesota refused to say today whether the government’s probe into the business practices of Inter-Mark Corp. and INetGlobal is over. “[W]e never confirm or deny the existence of investigations,” said Jeanne Cooney. The firms announced yesterday that prosecutors […]

BULLETIN: FLORIDA — AGAIN: CFTC Says Man With 3 Aliases Ripped Off Church Members And Prayer-Group Attendees In Forex Ponzi Scheme And Then Moved To Canada

BULLETIN: FLORIDA -- AGAIN: CFTC Says Man With 3 Aliases Ripped Off Church Members And Prayer-Group Attendees In Forex Ponzi Scheme And Then Moved To Canada

BULLETIN: The CFTC has gone to federal court in the Southern District of Florida, alleging that a former Miami man who conducted prayer services in his home ripped off church members, friends, neighbors and others in a Forex Ponzi scheme. Some investors bought into the scheme with cash payments that totaled in the hundreds of […]

UPDATE: Is Club Asteria Missing An Executive? Blurb For ‘Director Of Sales And Marketing’ Goes Missing From Website Amid Reports Firm Has Suspended Cashouts

UPDATE: Is Club Asteria Missing An Executive? Blurb For 'Director Of Sales And Marketing' Goes Missing From Website Amid Reports Firm Has Suspended Cashouts

A blurb for a key leader of an online “program” that claims to elevate people out of poverty globally has gone missing. The blurb for Hank Needham, whom Club Asteria identified as its director of sales and marketing, appears to have vanished between June 19 and today. Also missing from the Club Asteria webpage that […]

UNCONFIRMED: Club Asteria Suspends Member Cashouts; If Ponzi Forum Reports On Payout Halt Are True, Then Decision Was Made Virtually 2 Years To The Day After AdViewGlobal Autosurf Collapsed

UNCONFIRMED: Club Asteria Suspends Member Cashouts; If Ponzi Forum Reports On Payout Halt Are True, Then Decision Was Made Virtually 2 Years To The Day After AdViewGlobal Autosurf Collapsed

A Virginia-based company that trades on the name of the World Bank and claims to help lift some of the poorest people on earth out of poverty by involving them in an income and MLM-like recruitment scheme has suspended member cashouts, according to posts on Ponzi scheme and criminals’ forums. If the news about Club […]

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: 2 Men Arrested In Alleged Plot To Attack Military Processing Center In Seattle; Military Enlistees Allegedly Were Subjects Of Planned Mass Murder With Grenades And Machine Guns

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: 2 Men Arrested In Alleged Plot To Attack Military Processing Center In Seattle; Military Enlistees Allegedly Were Subjects Of Planned Mass Murder With Grenades And Machine Guns

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Two men were arrested in Washington state last night after the FBI disrupted a planned attack on a Seattle military intake center that included a daycare center for the children of federal employees, the Justice Department said. Arrested were Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif,  33, of Seattle, and Walli Mujahidh, 32, of […]