UPDATE: SEC Declines To Comment On Pitchman’s Video Promo For ‘Achieve Community’ And 2 Other Ponzi-Board ‘Programs’ That Used Footage From Agency’s Website

achievelogoThe U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission declined this morning to comment on a Jan. 9 YouTube pitch from an “Achieve Community” promoter who mixed nearly six minutes of footage from the SEC website into a pitch for Achieve and two other Ponzi-board “programs.”

Rodney Blackburn implied in the 14:27 production that the SEC did not have jurisdiction over “programs” such as Achieve, Unison Wealth and Trinity Lines. Parts of the Blackburn promo were recorded inside his back office of Unison Wealth.

“[D]ecline comment,” the SEC succinctly said today.

Achieve purports that $50 sent to the “program” fetches back $400. Members reportedly were permitted to buy multiple $50 “positions” and to roll a percentage of “earnings” back into the “program,” a straight-line money-cycling scheme.

A similar rollback feature was an element in the Zeek Rewards scheme shut down by the SEC in 2012.

Blackburn says he prefers “passive” programs. The SEC and state-level regulators have a history of acting against such ventures. Zeek, for example, was promoted as a “passive” scheme.

At about the 0:51 mark of Blackburn’s Jan. 9 video, ads for “programs” called “Paradox Cash” and “GlobalAdShare” appear, meaning that people such as Blackburn who sign up for Unison Wealth are being shown promos for still-other Ponzi-board schemes.

“GET PAID DAILY FOR DOING NOTHING,” the ad for GlobalAdShare blares.

Blackburn’s Jan. 9 video is at least the second confirmation that Unison Wealth is beaming ads for other HYIPs.

On Dec. 12, the office of then-U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Heaphy of the Western District of Virginia had no immediate comment on an Achieve Community call in which Blackburn was a host. The call demonstrated that Achieve was driving business by reaching across state lines and that one or more senior citizens had signed up, including a woman who claimed her 86-year-old husband of 53 years had been “in the hospital for a full year and six months in the nursing home.”

Achieve reportedly suspended payouts to members more than two months ago after losing its ability to conduct business through Payoneer. Although it announced a purported deal with Global Cash Card on Dec. 18 to resume payouts, that deal appears to have fallen through.

The “program” said last week that it would resume payouts on an unspecified date through a “temporary” processor. The “temporary” processor was not named.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy recently has dialed up its efforts to educate the public about scams that spread on social-media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Achieve and its promoters have or had a presence on all three.

 

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4 Responses to “UPDATE: SEC Declines To Comment On Pitchman’s Video Promo For ‘Achieve Community’ And 2 Other Ponzi-Board ‘Programs’ That Used Footage From Agency’s Website”

  1. Contact the Colorado Attorney General @ stopfraudcolorado.gov/about-consumer-protection/complaint-forms/securities-fraud-report-form and get this crazy scan called acheive community stopped today!!!

  2. On YouTube, Rodney’s LIST (Legendary Income Solutions Team) colleague Mike Chitty is imploring Achieve members to hang on and not go negative. The video has an upload date of Jan. 13 and is titled, “Achieve Community Update 1 14 15.”

    Outtake from Chitty’s narration:

    “I mean, I’ve got, you know, $40,000 tied up in Achieve. You know, if I thought that this thing was a hoax or something to, you know, where they were just going to take the money and run, I’d be the first one to say, because I’m deeply, deeply invested. And I also have several of my friends, close personal friends, Rodney Blackburn, Adam Perrin, you know, who are just as invested as I am. You know, I have a whole marketing team that, you know, 85 percent of the membership my marketing team, you know, is in Achieve.”

    Mike has an unnamed Plan B, couched as making sure Achievers don’t have all of their eggs in one basket.

    Based on other recent Chitty videos, looks as though Unison Wealth is one of his Plan B schemes and something called “EZWealthBuilder” is another.

    Patrick

  3. IMHO, that pretty much means SEC has a case file on them but is not tipping their hand on how they want this thing to end.

  4. “Decline comment” indicates that the SEC is very much aware and involved in the investigation of the Achieve Community.

    “Subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, the SEC cannot disclose the existence or non-existence of an investigation and any information gathered unless made a matter of public record in proceedings brought before the SEC or in the courts.”

    http://www.sec.gov/complaint.shtml