PatrickPretty.com

Day: September 2, 2014

  • TelexFree Figure Carlos Costa Suffers Heart Attack

    Carlos Costa. From YouTube.
    Carlos Costa. From YouTube.

    EDITOR’S NOTE: On Sept. 4, a PP Blog reader who understands Portuguese posted a link to a Globo.com story that confirms from a medical source that Carlos Costa suffered a heart attack on Sept. 2 and is being treated at Meridional Hospital in Cariacica in the state of Espírito Santo. Here is a link in Portuguese to that story.

    The PP Blog’s earlier story is below . . .

    ** _________________________ **

    1st Update 11:46 p.m. (Sept. 2) EDT U.S.A. There are reports that Brazil-based TelexFree figure and candidate for political office Carlos Costa suffered a heart attack and was taken to a hospital today.

    The PP Blog cannot independently confirm the reports, but has observed a video of Costa in what appears to be a hospital room.

    Costa gives the “thumbs up” sign in the video, which is accessible via Facebook. At the time of this PP Blog post, the Facebook post showing Costa in a hospital room reads, “6 hours ago.” The video lasts 13 seconds, and shows Costa speaking while clad in a green gown.

    If our reading of the situation is correct, Costa’s campaign is advising his followers that the candidate will be off the campaign trail at least until Sept. 8.

    TelexFree is alleged in the United States to be a Ponzi- and pyramid scheme that gathered more than $1.2 billion. Federal police in Brazil conducted TelexFree-related raids in July.

    Some TelexFree affiliates in the United States have accused Costa of racketeering.

  • DEVELOPING STORY: Zeek Receiver Seeks Temporary Restraining Order ‘Necessary To Prevent Further Dissipation And Waste Of The Assets At Issue’

    DEVELOPING STORY: (Updated 9:44 a.m. EDT Sept 3, U.S.A.) The court-appointed receiver in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi- and pyramid case has asked a federal judge for a Temporary Restraining Order he says is necessary to prevent “further dissipation and waste” of certain assets.

    Receiver Kenneth D. Bell asked that the motion be filed under seal. The Zeek-related assets Bell believes could shrink were not specified in a public filing

    “The underlying motion and memorandum contain sensitive information regarding Receivership Property,” Bell advised Senior U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen of the Western District of North Carolina.

    Neither the SEC nor Zeek operator Paul R. Burks objected to the request for the motion to be filed under seal.

    From the public portion of a filing by the receiver today (italics added):

    The underlying motion and memorandum contain sensitive information regarding Receivership Property. As explained in detail in the memorandum, sealing the Receiver’s motion and memorandum is necessary to prevent further dissipation and waste of the assets at issue. The Receiver seeks to have the underlying motion sealed only temporarily until the Court can consider and rule on the motion.

    When Mullen would rule on the motion was not immediately clear. The public portion of Bell’s pleading today is styled, “Receiver’s Motion to Seal Ex Parte Motion for Temporary Restraining Order Enforcing the Court’s Asset Freeze.”

    The sealed information contains three exhibits, according to the docket of the case.

    Burks and Zeek figures Dawn Wright-Olivares and Daniel Olivares agreed to a $600 million consent judgment “to be satisfied with substantially all of their assets,” according to a filing by Bell in July.

    The receiver’s motion for the TRO and to file under seal appears on the docket of the SEC case originally filed against Zeek and Burks in August 2012. The agency sued Wright-Olivares and Olivares in a separate case in December 2013.

    Both Wright-Olivares and Olivares have pleaded guilty to criminal charges.

    NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

  • ZEEK RECEIVER: ‘No Comment’ On BitClub Network Story

    Zeek receiver Kenneth D. Bell had “no comment” this morning on an Aug. 30, PP Blog story that reported Zeek figure T. LeMont Silver now was pushing a murky “program” called “BitClub Network.”

    Bell has raised concerns that Silver is a serial promoter of Zeek-like schemes to defraud.

    As the PP Blog noted yesterday, Silver also has been linked to a “program” known as “Gold Crowdfunding” that has links to the OneX scam that put AdSurfDaily Ponzi schemer Andy Bowdoin in jail in 2012. Like Bowdoin, Silver pitched OneX.

    OneX used an image of a bomb in its logo.

    OneX logo.
    OneX logo.

    Bell is suing Silver for the return of his alleged gains in Zeek, saying they came from Zeek victims. The SEC and federal prosecutors in the Western District of North Carolina have described Zeek as a Ponzi- and pyramid scheme that collected hundreds of millions of dollars in less than two years of operation.

    The SEC shut down Zeek in August 2012.

    Zeek figure Dawn Wright-Olivares pleaded guilty to criminal charges of investment-fraud conspiracy and tax-fraud conspiracy in February 2014. Her stepson, former Zeek programmer Daniel Olivares, pleaded guilty to a charge of investment-fraud conspiracy.

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a warning on Bitcoin-themed scams on Aug. 11, 2014. Silver’s promotions for BitClub Network began to appear on the Internet about three weeks later.

    CFPB did not immediately respond to a request for comment on BitClub Network, which Silver has described as a “mining” venture.

    BitClub Network purportedly pays out a daily dividend for 1,000 days and has three “mining pools” with tiered buy-in rates: $500, $1,000 and $2,000. Early birds — described as “Leaders” — are being encouraged to send in $3,599 to qualify for a “Founder’s” position.

    Much is murky about BitClub Network.

    Also see Sept. 1 report on “Gold Crowdfunding” by BehindMLM.com.