PatrickPretty.com

Day: February 25, 2014

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

    Some TelexFree members may be unhappy if the "program" changes its compensation plan. Source: Screen shot of Blog at Blogspot.com.
    Some TelexFree members may be unhappy if the “program” changes its compensation plan. Source: Screen shot of Blog at Blogspot.com.

    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 its compensation plan. Details remain murky. It is common for fraud schemes that either know they are under scrutiny or sense they soon will be to change rules or make cosmetic tweaks to keep money coming in.

    After-the-fact changes, however, cannot unring bells of HYIP fraud that already have been rung. And the changes sometimes introduce new disguises designed to sustain a Ponzi deception.

    TelexFree, alleged in Brazil to be a pyramid scheme, has been under investigation in that country since at least June 2013. In the AdSurfDaily and Zeek Rewards Ponzi/pyramid cases in the United States, prosecutors said that both firms made cosmetic tweaks in bids to stay under the radar.

    Here is a Google translation from Portuguese to English of the Blog post that may signal that some TelexFree reps want the firm to cling to a Ponzi business model (italics added):

    Campaign advisers on social networks asking an unchanged Marketing Plan International Telexfree.

    And you, what do you think? Want to try the new plan Telexfree or would you change anything, because this plan is already excellent?

    Share if you do not want changes in Telexfree.

    Affiliates of online Ponzi schemes often claim their “program” is legal and excellent because it pays. But all successful Ponzi schemes pay. Bernard Madoff’s epic scheme “paid” — until it didn’t. And the Ponzi scheme of George Theodule aimed at Haitian immigrants also “paid” — until it didn’t.

    Theodule, 52, was sentenced yesterday to 150 months in federal prison.

    “George Louis Theodule defrauded his victims out of millions of their hard-earned dollars,” said U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida.

    “[Theodule] did so by taking advantage of people who trusted him because of their cultural affinity,” Ferrer said. “Such tactics are intolerable, especially given that some of his victims lost their entire life savings. This sentence should send a strong message to those who prey on the trust of others: you will get caught and justice will be served.”

    Also on the Blog reporting potential dissatisfaction with TelexFree changes was a post on something called CicloFAST, possibly an emerging “opportunity” of some sort. The CicloFAST website prominently displays a photo of a MasterCard.

    Like TelexFree, CicloFast styles the last four letters of its name in uppercase — i.e. FREE and FAST. It was not immediately clear if the firms had a business relationship.

    Some U.S.-based promoters of TelexFree claim that $15,125 sent to the company effectively will triple or quadruple in a year. Among the firm’s key pitchman is Sann Rodrigues, a former SEC defendant in a pyramid-scheme and affinity-fraud case.

    Rodrigues, a purported TelexFree millionaire, has been billed by the firm as a headliner at a planned TelexFree convention March 1 and 2 in Spain.

    Any change in the TelexFree compensation plan could lead to questions about why Rodrigues was permitted to make large sums of money under a plan that now needs to be changed and whether less-successful affiliates now will be hamstrung even tighter.

    Some TelexFree promoters have demonized the Brazilian  prosecutors who brought the pyramid case in the state of Acre. It is common for HYIP scams to pander to the rank-and-file and to marry the processes of demonization and envy.

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

    recommendedreading1Bing 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 Affairs said.

    The order was issued by Hawaii Commissioner of Securities Tung Chan. The state is asking “[a]nyone who has been solicited by or transacted business with Yee or who may have information regarding this matter” to contact the State Securities Enforcement Branch.

    Yee used the money for “gambling and personal expenses instead of investments,” the state said.

    From a statement by the state government of Hawaii (italics added):

    The order asserts that, from 1998 through February 2013, Yee solicited an elderly Hawaii woman to invest in an elaborate business venture. Yee allegedly told the woman that he ran various businesses, including real estate, jade stone exportation, and a restaurant start-up, and needed money to help fund his businesses.

    Yee allegedly created as many as 13 fake identities of individuals who were supposedly involved in his businesses and he assumed at least three different personas by disguising his voice while on the phone with the woman. As a result, the order alleges the woman provided a combined total of $1,414,145 to Yee for investment in his businesses.

    The order further alleges that none of the woman’s money was used as promised. Instead, Yee allegedly spent all $1,414,145 to gamble at casinos in Las Vegas and on personal living expenses. To date, the woman has not received any of her principal or promised returns.

  • Quebec Issues Warning On ‘Affluential Group Corp.’

    cautionflagThe 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 is seeking “to impose administrative penalties on the firm and its two officers, Ali Haida Tarafdar and Sean Pugliese.”

    “Advertisements posted on classified ad websites target consumers with $20,000 to $25,000 to invest, and promise investment returns of 12% to 25% within six months,” AMF said.

    From an AMF statement (italics added):

    Neither Affluential Group Corp. nor its representatives or directors, Ali Haida Tarafdar and Sean Pugliese, are registered with the AMF, and are therefore not authorized to solicit Québec consumers for investment purposes.

    Google search results show that at least one Affluential Group ad appeared on Craigslist before being deleted.