Archive for April 2013

Harvey Douglas Goff, the Utah man who engaged in a bizarre hectoring campaign against public officials at the local, state and federal levels, has been sentenced to 36 months in federal prison and ordered to stay away from “sovereign citizen” groups for three years after his release. Goff is expected to begin his prison sentence […]

ANNOUNCEMENT: The PP Blog has banned a specific IP that appears to originate in the area of Fort Wayne, Ind. Between 1:33 p.m. and 1:36 p.m. today, the IP sought to pull six separate PP Blog stories with the aim of planting spam links. The first story was this one, dated Dec. 17, 2010: URGENT […]

Shares of MLM company  Herbalife were halted this morning after its auditor — KPMG — issued a statement yesterday that it was informed “late last week” that “the partner in charge of KPMG’s audit practice in our Los Angeles business unit was involved in providing non-public client information to a third party, who then used […]

BULLETIN: (UPDATED 10:54 A.M. USA EDT) Baroness Margaret Thatcher has died in London, reportedly of a stroke. She was 87. A statement from Prime Minister David Cameron: “As our first woman Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher succeeded against all the odds, and the real thing about Margaret Thatcher is that she didn’t just lead our country, […]

BULLETIN: (UPDATED 1:56 P.M. EDT (APRIL 8, U.S.A.) In a move that may rattle promoters of HYIP fraud schemes, the SEC has scheduled a deposition for at least one individual known to have pitched the Profitable Sunrise “program.” Pitchman Anthony M. Infante will be deposed April 11 at a location in Florida, according to the […]

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (17th update 4:02 p.m.) The SEC has filed a complaint against the ProfitableSunrise HYIP “program” in federal court in Atlanta. The story first was reported by CourthouseNewsService this morning. At the same time, the PP Blog has learned that the agency applied for an emergency asset freeze, explaining that Profitable […]

Profitable Sunrise had come under investigation in Colorado at least by March 8 and was officially notified March 11 that the state suspected it was breaking securities laws, the state Securities Board says in filings this week. Colorado scheduled a hearing for March 25 after learning that Profitable Sunrise also was under investigation in North […]

WordPress has booted a Blogger named in an April 2 order by CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator. The Blog of Daniele Verzari now carries this message: “vdprojectitaly.wordpress.com is no longer available. “This blog has been archived or suspended for a violation of our Terms of Service . . .” HYIP schemes spread in part through […]

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: In yet another disturbing attack against the law-enforcement community, the sheriff of West Virginia’s Mingo County has been shot and killed near the Mingo County Courthouse, multiple media outlets are reporting. A suspect is in custody in the shooting death of newly elected Sheriff Eugene Crum, the Charleston Daily Mail […]

UPDATE 8:07 A.M. EDT (APRIL 4, U.S.A.) The report did not air during the 8 p.m. or 11 p.m. broadcasts, possibly because developments in other stories took precedence. Our April 3 story is below . . . The Blog of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 is carrying this teaser today: “360 Wednesday[:] One of the biggest […]

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: The Italian securities regulator CONSOB has filed a suspension order that names an alleged promoter of Profitable Sunrise, amid allegations that Profitable Sunrise is an investment program. The agency said it observed pitches for ProfitableSunrise on a WordPress Blog under the control of “Daniele Verzari, who presents himself to users […]