PatrickPretty.com

Day: October 18, 2011

  • UPDATE: JustBeenPaid Also Is Using Image Of Star Trek’s ‘Mr. Spock’; Fictional Spaceman Joins Oprah, Warren Buffett As Unknowing Pitchmen For Global Ponzi Scheme

    One of the frames from the "Mr. Spock" promo for JustBeenPaid.
    Another frame from the promo.

    UPDATE: The PP Blog reported here that Warren Buffett had become an unknowing pitchman for the global JustBeenPaid Ponzi scheme whose promoters also pushed the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme on the public.

    Meanwhile, the Blog reported here that Oprah Winfrey had met the same fate at the hands of the JustBeenPaid henchmen.

    The Blog now is reporting that “Mr. Spock,” one of the fictional characters on the Star Trek television and movie series, also has become an unknowing Just Been Paid pitchman. Spock was portrayed by Leonard Nimoy.

    The images of “Mr. Spock” and Winfrey are hosted on JustBeenPaid’s server, the Blog has confirmed. Each photo file has a separate name. The files are contained within publicly accessible folders on the JustBeenPaid website. The images of Buffett are hosted on YouTube.

    JustBeenPaid’s website also houses an image of American icon Benjamin Franklin. The image is in the same publicly accessible folder that serves the images of Winfrey and “Mr. Spock.” The server for JustBeenPaid appears to be located in Texas, although the domain registration uses a street address in South Africa.

    Frederick Mann is listed as the registrant contact for JustBeenPaid.

    Earlier today, the PP Blog reported that the purported Club Asteria “program” was using a quote by the assassinated Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi to drive traffic to the Club Asteria scheme. An image of famed businessman Richard Branson also appears in this month’s Club Asteria house organ.

     

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: FDA Chemist Cheng Yi Liang Pleads Guilty In Insider Trading Case; ‘Shocking Abuse Of Trust,’ Feds Say Of Schemer’s Plot To Use Database To Harvest Illegal Profits

    >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Cheng Yi Liang, the FDA chemist accused in March of mining the agency’s database for drug approvals or denials and using the information to make insider trades, has pleaded guilty to securities fraud and failing to disclose illicit profits.

    Liang, 57, of Gaithersburg, Md., faces a maximum term of 25 years in federal prison. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 9. The case was one that embarrassed the FDA and its employees, but one that exposed the corruption of a federal worker who used the tools of government to line his own pockets.

    The SEC simultaneously charged Liang civilly in March, opening up a second litigation front.

    As part of a plea agreement in the Feds’ criminal case, Liang will forfeit $3.7 million, a home and condominium in Maryland and funds  in 10 bank or investment accounts, federal prosecutors said.

    The FDA is a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

    “Profiting based on sensitive, insider information is not only illegal, but taints the image of thousands of hard-working government employees,” said Elton Malone,  special agent in charge of the HHS-Office of Inspector General Special Investigations Branch.  “We will continue to insist that federal government employee conduct be held to the highest of standards.”

    “Mr. Liang used inside information about pharmaceutical companies — information he had access to solely because of his position at the FDA — to pocket millions in illicit profits,” said Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer. “In a shocking abuse of trust, Mr. Liang exploited his position as a chemist in the FDA’s Office of New Drug Quality Assessment to cash in, using the accounts of relatives and acquaintances to hide his illegal trading.  Now, like many others on Wall Street and elsewhere, he is facing the significant consequences of trading stocks on inside information.”

    Breuer is head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

    While employed at FDA, Liang “was required to file a Confidential Financial Disclosure form disclosing, among other things, investment assets with a value greater than $1,000 and sources of income greater than $200.,” investigators said. “During the time period of his insider trading scheme, Liang annually filed these forms and failed to disclose using the controlled accounts or his income from the illicit securities trading.”

    The FBI participated in the criminal probe.

    “Those who use privileged and valuable information for personal gain, break the trust placed in them as a government employee and the integrity of the research they conduct on behalf of the U.S. government,” said James W. McJunkin, assistant director in charge of the agency’s Washington Field Office.

  • BULLETIN: Michigan Ponzi Schemer Keith Epstein, Who Sanitized Caper With Charitable Donations While He Ripped Off Senior Citzens And Spent Their Money On Strippers, Sentenced To Federal Prison

    Keith Epstein, 56, told senior citizens they could trust him with their money. Some of his investors believed him — and they liquidated legitimate holdings and gave the cash to Epstein.

    But Epstein, of Farmington Hills, Mich., was running a $4 million Ponzi scheme, the FBI said.

    He took the cash from his victims, spending it on gambling and to support “multiple exotic dancers,” investigators said.

    Some investors received Ponzi payments, investigators said. Epstein plied his marks in part by visiting their homes, participating in their family functions and by putting “money toward[] charitable causes important to clients,” the FBI said.

    Epstein, who’d been held in the Macomb County lockup for violating state laws and writing a bad check, now is on his way to an unspecified federal prison. He was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds to 97 months for the Ponzi scheme.

    “We hope to send a message to investment advisors that we will aggressively prosecute those who steal from the elderly and other small investors,” U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade of the Eastern District of Michigan said.

    “Many of his victims’ retirement funds have been completely eviscerated, leaving them with nothing after lifetimes of saving and hard work,” the FBI said.

    Edmunds ordered Epstein to make resitution of $4.1 million to victims.

     

  • INCREDIBLE: Month After Will Smith Debacle, Club Asteria Turns To Mahatma Gandhi To Drive Traffic — And Misspells Name Of Assassinated Champion Of Freedom While Turning Him Into A Pitchman; House Organ Also Includes Photo Of Richard Branson

    Last month, it was famed actor Will Smith. This month, it is Mahatma Gandhi, the civil-rights champion and beacon of freedom in India who was assassinated at a prayer meeting in 1948.

    After placing a “JOIN NOW” button under an image of Smith in its September house organ and later removing both the  image and a purported “interview” with Smith, Club Asteria has turned to Gandhi in its October issue.

    Although the promo features no image of Gandhi, it does include a quote attributed to him: “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

    The promo misspells the slain leader’s last name, and a “JOIN OUR MISSION” button appears directly below the quotation, which appears on Page 37 of the October house organ.

    Club Asteria became a darling of the Ponzi boards earlier this year before slashing payouts and later eliminating them. Promos for the firm were banned in Italy, and Club Asteria acknowledged its PayPal account had been suspended.

    The developments were blamed on members.

    Club Asteria and thousands of its members have traded on the name of the World Bank. The firm announced a cash crisis in June, comparing the situation to a run on the bank.

    A spread on Pages 26 and 27 of the October Club Asteria house organ features a photo of famed entrepreneur Richard Branson posing with a group of mostly younger people. An accompanying story asserts that a group of Club Asteria members conversed with Branson at an entrepreneurial event in Richmond, Va., “a few weeks ago.”

    “Both Richard Branson and Club Asteria share a common link and that link is GRATITUDE,” the story claimed.

    The story appears to have been written by a Club Asteria staffer. A “JOIN NOW” button appears on Page 27, though not directly below the image of Branson.

    Ponzi forum boosters such as “Ken Russo” repeatedly sang the praises of Club Asteria.

    The PP Blog reported yesterday that a separate program promoted on the Ponzi boards — Just Been Paid — was using images of Oprah Winfrey to drive traffic. JustBeenPaid also is using images of Warren Buffett.

    In 2008, a “program” with the bizarre name of Cash Tanker used images of Jesus Christ in sales pitches. Cash Tanker ultimately tanked.

    Many of the “programs” on the Ponzi boards — Club Asteria, Just Been Paid and AdSurfDaily, for instance — have or had promoters and members in common. Promo posts for Cash Tanker appeared on the now-defunct, pro-ASD “Surf’s Up” forum, and Club Asteria executive Hank Needham has been linked to promo for ASD.

    The October 2011 Club Asteria house organ, which includes the Gandhi quote and attached  sign-up button and the image of Branson with a sign-up button on the same page, also features a photo of Needham. A button below the Needham photo reads, “ABOUT COURAGE.”