Andrey C. Hicks, accused civilly by the SEC last week of orchestrating a domestic and offshore fraud, now has been charged criminally with wire fraud, federal prosecutors in Massachusetts said.
Kardashian and Humphries have been married barely two months. The divorce papers were filed today: Halloween Day. TMZ said Kardashian cited “irreconcilable” differences” with Humphries.
Hicks operated a purported hedge fund known as Locust Offshore Fund Ltd. and an entity known as Locust Offshore Management LLC of Delaware.
“Locust” is a term associated with a destructive bug capable of wiping out vegetation. How the firms allegedly operated by Hicks got their names was not immediately clear.
Trading on the names of destructive insects, however, is not unprecedented in the fraud sphere.
In May, a bizarre firm known as “Insectrio” was promoted on Ponzi scheme forums such as TalkGold, MoneyMakerGroup and DreamTeamMoney. Insectrio apparently collapsed in late August.
The SEC said Hicks made up two degrees from Harvard as part of his “Locust” scam, which involved more than $1.6 million, according to court filings.
We’ve mentioned it before — and we’ll mention it again. In July 2010, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) described the HYIP sphere as a “bizarre substratum of the Internet.”
It was as good a description as any, and here is yet another case in point:
The MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum said today that it “temporarily” closed its thread for the “JustBeenPaid” Ponzi scheme owing to bickering between “10BucksUp” and “lolalola.” JustBeenPaid, which is trading on the names of Warren Buffett and Oprah Winfrey, makes users affirm they are not government spies and purportedly began a transition in August to “offshore” servers. Members have been grumbling for weeks.
“10BucksUp” rose to Ponzi forum prominence earlier this year through his efforts to promote the Club Asteria HYIP, which is trading on the names of the World Bank and the American Red Cross. “10BucksUp” also promoted the JustBeenPaid HYIP while discouraging members from filing chargebacks with AlertPay for the good of all JustBeenPaid investors.
“lolalola” now is hawking something called JSSTRIPLER2 or T2, which apparently is trading on the name of JustBeenPaid’s purported JSS Tripler arm.
Although “10BucksUp” insists the purported new program is merely a “copycat” of the JustBeenPaid program, “lolalola” claims that, “[F]rom what I understand from the Admin is they did not trademark the brand or do they hold a copyright on the name… so he is free to use it.”
In essence, two fraud programs now appear to be trading on the same name — but both “10BucksUp” and “lolalola” appear to be more concerned about clashing with each other than whether the schemes have (or are) stealing cash on a grand scale.
Or something like that . . .
“lolalola” is simultaneously promoting something called Zeek Rewards.
“10BucksUp” recently has promoted Club Asteria, JustBeenPaid, Ad2Million and Cherry Shares. All of the programs are in a state of decay or outright disappearance. Cherry Shares is cited in litigation in Canada, and Club Asteria is cited in litigation in Italy.
MoneyMakerGroup is listed in U.S. federal court filings as a place from which Ponzi schemes are promoted. So is TalkGold, another Ponzi forum.
In this frame from a cash-gifting video dated May 3, 2008, then-AdSurfDaily pitchman Hank Needham opens an envelope from a cash-gifing scheme — and five $100 bills purportedly from "George" spill out. The date on the video coincides with a period of time in which Needham's image appeared in an ad for ASD. Needham later would emerge as a Club Asteria principal and purported owner of the "program," which suspended cashouts earlier this year and caught the attention of regulators in Italy.
Is anybody at home at Club Asteria and the purported Asteria Philanthropic Foundation? And where, precisely, is home?
The Club Asteria Blog on a .US domain has not been updated since Oct. 15. In the recent past, the Blog had been updated approximately every three (or so) days, according to the date notations on the site. Updates were posted on Oct. 15, Oct. 12, Oct. 9, Oct. 6, Oct. 3, Sept. 30, Sept. 27, Sept. 24, Sept. 21, Sept. 16.
Fifteen full days have passed since the most recent update.
Separately, the Club Asteria “News” page on its .com domain has not been updated since Sept. 12, a period that encompasses more than a month and a half.
Although the American Red Cross sent the Asteria Philanthropic Foundation a cease-and-desist letter six days ago amid concerns of brand leeching, Club Asteria continues to publish the Red Cross logo and name in its October house organ. The firm uses the publication, an emagazine, for recruiting.
It is common for fraud schemes to plant the seed they are affiliated with a legitimate entity.
Meanwhile, the Asteria Philanthropic Foundation, which also is known as the Asteria Foundation and uses street addresses in the United States and Hong Kong, also continues to publish the Red Cross name and logo on the foundation’s .org site.
Before suspending member cashouts earlier this year, Club Asteria issued payments via wire from a purported Hong Kong entity known as Asteria Holdings Limited, according to “I Got Paid” posts on infamous Ponzi scheme forums.
Last month, Club Asteria removed from its house organ an image and purported “interview” with actor Will Smith. A “JOIN NOW” button had been placed near the Smith-related content. In this month’s house organ, a “JOIN OUR MISSION” button was placed inside a quotation from Mahatma Gandhi, the slain Indian champion of freedom. Gandhi’s name was misspelled in the promo.
Virginia authorities said on Oct. 20 that Club Asteria was not registered as an issuer of securities in the state. They declined to say whether a Club Asteria probe was under way.
In May, CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator, banned promos for the firm in Italy.
In a video dated May 3, 2008 — prior to the apparent formation of Club Asteria and the Asteria Foundation but during a period of time in which Club Asteria principal Hank Needham’s image appeared in a promo for AdSurfDaily — Needham appeared in a video for cash gifting, the PP Blog has learned.
Needham is seen in the cash-gifting video opening an envelope from a courier service that contained a smaller envelope. The package purportedly was sent by “George.”
When Needham opened the smaller envelope, five $100 bills spilled out.
“Thank you, George, ” Needham said.
Needham then fanned the bills in front of the camera.
In August 2008, the U.S. Secret Service seized tens of millions of dollars in the ASD case, amid Ponzi allegations. It is known that some ASD members also were cash-gifting enthusiasts. After the ASD-related seizures, some ASD members sought to recruit others for cash-gifting, autosurf and HYIP schemes, claiming the schemes were excellent ways to make up for ASD losses while highlighting the purported “offshore” locations of some of the “programs.”
Andrey C. Hicks, accused civilly by the SEC last week of orchestrating a domestic and offshore fraud, now has been charged criminally with wire fraud, federal prosecutors in Massachusetts said.
