Archive for June 2011

Star Tribune, Minnesota’s Largest Newspaper, Targeted In International ‘Scareware’ Cyberattack; 2 Suspects Arrested In Latvia; Bogus Ad Agency Purportedly Based In Miami Allegedly Used To Dupe Famous American Publishing Company

Star Tribune, Minnesota's Largest Newspaper, Targeted In International 'Scareware' Cyberattack; 2 Suspects Arrested In Latvia; Bogus Ad Agency Purportedly Based In Miami Allegedly Used To Dupe Famous American Publishing Company

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one of those stories that can cause people to scream. The U.S. publishing industry has been deeply affected by the Internet. Print advertisers — the people who pay the bills — now can communicate directly and immediately with readers, a development that is sucking the life out of traditional print publishers. […]

FLORIDA — AGAIN: Miami Attorney Awaiting Sentencing In Ponzi Scheme Charged With Stealing From Employee Benefit Plan

FLORIDA -- AGAIN: Miami Attorney Awaiting Sentencing In Ponzi Scheme Charged With Stealing From Employee Benefit Plan

A Miami attorney awaiting sentencing in a Ponzi scheme case now has been accused of stealing from an employee benefit plan, federal prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida said. Lorn Leitman, 61, was charged with stealing from the South Florida Emergency Physicians P.A. Profit Sharing Plan. He faces up to 20 years in federal […]

BULLETIN: Christopher Pettengill Pleads Guilty In Trevor Cook Ponzi Scheme

BULLETIN: Christopher Pettengill Pleads Guilty In Trevor Cook Ponzi Scheme

BULLETIN: Christopher Pettengill, a figure in the $194 million Trevor Cook Ponzi scheme, has pleaded guilty in Minneapolis to securities fraud, money-laundering and conspiracy, the FBI said. Read Breaking News coverage in the Star Tribune, which is reporting that Pettengill says he has been cooperating with federal investigators since January. Pettengill, 54, of Plymouth, Minn., […]

BULLETIN: Defendant In January CFTC Sweep Ordered To Pay $280,000 Penalty; ‘ForInvest’ Also Ordered To Remove Forex Solicitation Pages From Internet; Firm Used Same Payment Processor As Imperia Invest IBC, Ponzi Forum Darling And Defendant In SEC Action

BULLETIN: Defendant In January CFTC Sweep Ordered To Pay $280,000 Penalty; 'ForInvest' Also Ordered To Remove Forex Solicitation Pages From Internet; Firm Used Same Payment Processor As Imperia Invest IBC, Ponzi Forum Darling And Defendant In SEC Action

BULLETIN: A Delaware company accused by the CFTC in January of illegally hawking Forex offers has been hit with a $280,000 penalty and ordered to remove its Forex solicitation pages from the Internet. U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel of the Northern District of Illinois entered the order against ForInvest Group of Delaware. ForInvest also […]

EDITORIAL: The AdSurfDaily Solution: Form ‘Andy’s Army,’ Target The Government With $50 ‘Rocks,’ Stone ‘Goliath’ With Cash From ASD Members And ‘Other Freedom Fighters Across America,’ Provide Bowdoin’s Lawyers ‘Massive Funds’ To Defeat ‘Giant Common Enemy’

EDITORIAL: The AdSurfDaily Solution: Form 'Andy's Army,' Target The Government With $50 'Rocks,' Stone 'Goliath' With Cash From ASD Members And 'Other Freedom Fighters Across America,' Provide Bowdoin's Lawyers 'Massive Funds' To Defeat 'Giant Common Enemy'

Two weeks after a purported “sovereign citizen” allegedly opened fire with an AK-47 on a Pensacola seafood store because it was out of crawfish, Floridians may be confronting yet-another bizarre and disturbing drama. Indeed, members of Quincy-based AdSurfDaily appear to be circulating an email call to raise defense funds for ASD President Andy Bowdoin, accused […]

BULLETIN: R.J. Zayed, Court-Appointed Receiver In Trevor Cook Ponzi, Recovers More Than $1.1 Million In Switzerland

BULLETIN: R.J. Zayed, Court-Appointed Receiver In Trevor Cook Ponzi, Recovers More Than $1.1 Million In Switzerland

BULLETIN: The court-appointed receiver in the Trevor Cook Ponzi scheme has recovered more than $1.1 million that had been tied up in Switzerland. Receiver R.J. Zayed says that $1,127,495 has been deposited in a U.S. Court account. “[T]he Receiver has now accomplished the goal of repatriating the Swiss funds so that money can be returned […]

BULLETIN: Quebec Regulators Reference Cherryshares And Mega Pension Plan — Two ‘Programs’ Pushed On Ponzi Boards — In Freeze And Cease-Trade Orders Against 3 Canadian Promoters, 2 Companies

BULLETIN: Quebec Regulators Reference Cherryshares And Mega Pension Plan -- Two 'Programs' Pushed On Ponzi Boards -- In Freeze And Cease-Trade Orders Against 3 Canadian Promoters, 2 Companies

BULLETIN: The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) has obtained freeze and cease-trade orders against three Quebec residents and two business entities — and has shut down at least one website amid allegations that an international marketing scam was under way. At least two of the programs referenced in AMF’s action were promoted on the TalkGold […]

Second Man With Trevor Cook Tie Charged Criminally In Massive Minnesota Ponzi Scheme; Christopher Pettengill Faces Securities-Fraud, Conspiracy And Money-Laundering Accusations

Second Man With Trevor Cook Tie Charged Criminally In Massive Minnesota Ponzi Scheme; Christopher Pettengill Faces Securities-Fraud, Conspiracy And Money-Laundering Accusations

A Minnesota man has become the second person with ties to convicted Ponzi schemer Trevor Cook’s Forex scam to be charged criminally. Christopher Pettengill, 54, of Plymouth, “knowingly concealed information from investors concerning the foreign currency program sold by Pettengill, Cook, and others,” federal prosecutors said. He has been charged with securities fraud, money-laundering and […]

UPDATE: PowerPoint Presentation For Club Asteria Says ‘Passive’ Income ‘100% GUARANTEED’: Is ‘Ken Russo’ Tone Deaf? Promoter Brags About $321 Payment Sent By Wire While Another Laments Payment Of 30 Cents; Members Say They’ll Contact AlertPay

UPDATE: PowerPoint Presentation For Club Asteria Says 'Passive' Income '100% GUARANTEED': Is 'Ken Russo' Tone Deaf? Promoter Brags About $321 Payment Sent By Wire While Another Laments Payment Of 30 Cents; Members Say They'll Contact AlertPay

UPDATED 9:09 A.M. EDT (June 14, U.S.A.) A PowerPoint pitch titled “Asteria Corporation” raises serious questions about the nature of the business “opportunity” and may undermine Club Asteria’s own claims that members alone are to blame for the company’s apparent troubles. The document is slugged “[ClubAsteriaPresentation]” and attributed to Asteria Corp. and Andrea Lucas. It […]

PART 2: PROSECUTION BOMBSHELL(S): Operators And ‘Insiders’ Received ‘Millions Of Dollars’ From ASD; Bowdoin Changed Subject When Told What He Was Doing Was ‘Not Mathematically Possible’; Government Targeted ASD Money In Iowa Bank Accounts

PART 2: PROSECUTION BOMBSHELL(S): Operators And 'Insiders' Received 'Millions Of Dollars' From ASD; Bowdoin Changed Subject When Told What He Was Doing Was 'Not Mathematically Possible'; Government Targeted ASD Money In Iowa Bank Accounts

EDITOR’S NOTE: See Part One here. UPDATED 1:46 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) AdSurfDaily “paid out millions of dollars to operators and insiders,” according to a U.S. Secret Service affidavit originally filed under seal in February 2009. But ASD President Andy Bowdoin changed the subject when people told him that what Florida-based ASD was doing not only […]

PROSECUTION BOMBSHELL(S): ASD Had ‘Special’ Class Of Members; Bowdoin’s ‘Silent Partner’ Was His 12DailyPro Sponsor; ‘North Carolina Lawyer’ (And Co-Owner) Of LaFuente Dinero Told Bowdoin U.S.-Based Attorneys Would Be His Business Partners In ‘Offshore’ Surf; Employees Caught ‘Minister’ Stealing From ASD Before He Launched Golden Panda Ad Builder

PROSECUTION BOMBSHELL(S): ASD Had 'Special' Class Of Members; Bowdoin's 'Silent Partner' Was His 12DailyPro Sponsor; 'North Carolina Lawyer' (And Co-Owner) Of LaFuente Dinero Told Bowdoin U.S.-Based Attorneys Would Be His Business Partners In 'Offshore' Surf; Employees Caught 'Minister' Stealing From ASD Before He Launched Golden Panda Ad Builder

EDITOR’S NOTE: First of two parts. Part Two will be published later tonight or tomorrow. Even as AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin was venturing to Washington in June 2008 to receive what his members and prospects were told was the “Medal of Distinction” from the President of the United States, he was harboring terrible secrets and […]