Archive for February 2014

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Massachusetts Confirms TelexFree Probe

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Massachusetts Confirms TelexFree Probe

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: The office of Massachusetts Commonwealth Secretary William Galvin has confirmed an investigation into the TelexFree MLM “program” is under way. “There is an investigation going on, but I can’t comment beyond that,” said Brian McNiff, a spokesman for Galvin. The brief statement to the PP Blog marks the first confirmation […]

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Hospitalized [UPDATE: Now Released From Hospital]

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was hospitalized in Washington this morning after “experiencing symptoms including faintness and shortness of breath,” the Justice Department said. Holder is 63. “He is currently resting comfortably and in good condition,” the Justice Department said. “He is alert and conversing with his doctors. Additional information will be provided as it […]

MORE FROM MLM LA-LA LAND: Is It A Taunt? Purported Successor Firm To WCM777/Kingdom777 Uses Image Of Golden Pyramid

MORE FROM MLM LA-LA LAND: Is It A Taunt? Purported Successor Firm To WCM777/Kingdom777 Uses Image Of Golden Pyramid

Updated 6:24 p.m ET (U.S.A.) Members of the WCM777 scam, which morphed into Kingdom777 after regulatory actions were filed, have been informed by a “program” upline that the venture now is operating as Global-Unity, a source told the PP Blog today. Parts of the Global-Unity website appear to be under construction. The “News” tab, for […]

Scrutiny Of TelexFree Intensifies; 2 European Police Agencies Issue Warnings And Say Madeiran Community At Risk

Scrutiny Of TelexFree Intensifies; 2 European Police Agencies Issue Warnings And Say Madeiran Community At Risk

Updated 9:45 a.m. (Feb. 27, 2014, U.S.A.) Police who serve Portuguese-speaking residents in two British Crown dependencies — the States of Jersey and Guernsey — have issued warnings on the TelexFree scheme. News of the warnings was published on BehindMLM.com. Brazil-based TelexFree executive Carlos Costa waved the flags of Portugal and Madeira in a curious […]

UPDATE: Promoters May Be Lobbying TelexFree To Keep Ponzi Scheme Intact

UPDATE: Promoters May Be Lobbying TelexFree To Keep Ponzi Scheme Intact

Updated 8:36 a.m. ET (Feb. 26, U.S.A.) Some TelexFree promoters may be lobbying the company and Brazil-based executive Carlos Costa to keep its original Ponzi scheme intact, according to a Blog post (in Portuguese) observed by the PP Blog this morning. BehindMLM.com reported on Feb. 19 that TelexFree may be in the process of changing […]

Hawaii Says Man Created 13 Fake Identities And Disguised Voice To Scam Elderly Woman Out Of $1.4 Million

Hawaii Says Man Created 13 Fake Identities And Disguised Voice To Scam Elderly Woman Out Of $1.4 Million

Bing Long Yee was named in a Preliminary Order to Cease and Desist after securities investigators in Hawaii discovered he’d duped an elderly woman out of $1.4 million over a period of 15 years — in part by disguising his voice and adopting “as many as 13 different personas,” the Department of Commerce and Consumer […]

Quebec Issues Warning On ‘Affluential Group Corp.’

Quebec Issues Warning On 'Affluential Group Corp.'

The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) says an entity known as “Affluential Group Corp.” is soliciting illegally in Quebec. AMF conducted cybersurveillance and discovered online ads for Affluential Group and is seeking “orders to cease the solicitation, remove the ads and close Affluential Group Corp.’s website,” the agency said. In addition, the agency said, AMF […]

FOR SPANISH-SPEAKERS: Telemundo 39 (Dallas) Report On WCM777

FOR SPANISH-SPEAKERS: Telemundo 39 (Dallas) Report On WCM777

Here is a link to a Telemundo 39 (Dallas) report on the WCM777 “program.” Link. The unofficial total of jurisdictions or regulatory agencies filing actions or issuing Investor Alerts against WCM777 stands at seven: The country of Peru, the state of Massachusetts, the state of California, the state of Colorado, the state of Louisiana, the […]

CBS-MIAMI: Man With Sword Threatened Supermarket Customers And Was Shot By Security Guard

CBS-MIAMI: Man With Sword Threatened Supermarket Customers And Was Shot By Security Guard

Armed with a sword, Hector Hechavarria walked into the Presidente Supermarket in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood, threatened to kill shoppers, knicked a customer in the elbow, assaulted a security guard — and eventually was shot by the same guard, CBS-Miami is reporting. The guard, according to the station, was Antonio Mendoza, 47. Police said his […]

Anti-Defamation League, One Of First Groups To Warn Public About AdSurfDaily Figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming, Now Says ‘Sovereign Citizens’ Are Forming ‘Vigilante Grand Juries’ And Harassing Public Officials In New York, Florida And Elsewhere

Anti-Defamation League, One Of First Groups To Warn Public About AdSurfDaily Figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming, Now Says 'Sovereign Citizens' Are Forming 'Vigilante Grand Juries' And Harassing Public Officials In New York, Florida And Elsewhere

Kenneth Wayne Leaming, the AdSurfDaily Ponzi story figure and purported “sovereign citizen” now serving eight years in federal prison in part for filing bogus liens against public officials involved in the 2008 ASD case, once claimed the federal judge in Washington state who presided over his criminal trial owed him 208,000 ounces of “99.9% fine […]

UPDATE: Alleged ‘PhoneCard USA’ Ponzi Schemer Once Arrested In Brazil On Narcotics Charges Now Charged In United States With Possessing ‘Improvised Explosive Devices’

UPDATE: Alleged 'PhoneCard USA' Ponzi Schemer Once Arrested In Brazil On Narcotics Charges Now Charged In United States With Possessing 'Improvised Explosive Devices'

Istvan Merchenthaler, the U.S.-based alleged “PhoneCard USA” Ponzi schemer who reportedly was arrested on narcotics-trafficking charges in Brazil a decade ago and later was linked to pipe bombs found in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, has been indicted on charges of possessing “approximately 60 plastic PVC pipe improvised explosive devices” plus “approximately 400 cardboard tube IEDs, […]