Archive for January 2016

BULLETIN: MyAdvertisingPays (MAPS) Again Referenced In TelexFree Litigation; Lawyer Calls It A Ponzi Scheme While Calling Simon Stepsys A ‘Ponzi Mogul’

BULLETIN: MyAdvertisingPays (MAPS) Again Referenced In TelexFree Litigation; Lawyer Calls It A Ponzi Scheme While Calling Simon Stepsys A 'Ponzi Mogul'

BULLETIN: (6th update 7:23 p.m. ET U.S.A.) Class-action lawyers pursuing claims against TelexFree promoters have called the My Advertising Pays (MAPS) “program” a Ponzi scheme and described MAPS promoter Simon Stepsys as a “Ponzi mogul.” The case itself is not against MAPs. Even so, the lawyers now have made repeated references to MAPs and are lambasting the serial […]

UPDATE: Sann Rodrigues Wants To Avoid ‘Con Air’ Flight

UPDATE: Sann Rodrigues Wants To Avoid 'Con Air' Flight

Through defense counsel, TelexFree figure Sann Rodrigues said in court filings today that he wanted to avoid a flight on “Con Air” from Florida to Massachusetts to face a contempt proceeding in federal court there. “Con Air” is a nickname for the Justice Prisoner & Alien Transportation System (JPATS) operated by the U.S. Marshals Service. It’s […]

‘Phone Card’ Ponzi Schemer Caught With Pipe Bombs, IEDs And Thousands Of Rounds Of Ammunition Sentenced To Prison

'Phone Card' Ponzi Schemer Caught With Pipe Bombs, IEDs And Thousands Of Rounds Of Ammunition Sentenced To Prison

Istvan Merchenthaler, the “PhoneCard USA” Ponzi schemer who fabricated ties to Walmart and later was caught with pipe bombs, improvised explosive devices, a machine pistol and 16 other firearms spread across three states, has been sentenced to 140 months in federal prison. U.S. District Judge Robert F. Kelly of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania also ordered Merchenthaler to […]

Is Profitable Sunrise Pyramid Case At Risk? SEC Declines Comment

Is Profitable Sunrise Pyramid Case At Risk? SEC Declines Comment

The SEC this afternoon declined comment on an order by a federal judge in Atlanta that could lead to the dismissal of the agency’s 2013 case against Profitable Sunrise, an alleged international pyramid scheme and offering fraud targeted at U.S. residents by one or more murky figures. Such a dismissal almost certainly would embolden overseas HYIP scammers […]

Full Statement Of SEC On Jailing Of Sann Rodrigues

Full Statement Of SEC On Jailing Of Sann Rodrigues

EDITOR’S NOTE: As the PP Blog reported yesterday, TelexFree figure Sann Rodrigues has been jailed. The SEC today released a litigation statement on the matter and related developments. It is reproduced below in its entirety.  **__________________________** Florida Resident Ordered to Jail Based On Violating Court Orders Obtained by the SEC The Securities and Exchange Commission […]

BULLETIN: Sann Rodrigues, TelexFree Figure, Ordered Jailed

BULLETIN: Sann Rodrigues, TelexFree Figure, Ordered Jailed

BULLETIN:  (2nd Update 10:46 P.M. ET U.S.A.) TelexFree figure Sann Rodrigues has been ordered jailed. The order, dated Jan. 15, was issued by U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton of the District of Massachusetts. Gorton found Rodrigues in civil contempt last month for violating an asset freeze. Rodrigues did not purge the contempt by Jan. 15, so Gorton ordered the […]

TelexFree Trustee’s Proposed Class Actions May Affect Nearly 100,000 Alleged ‘Winners’ Globally

TelexFree Trustee's Proposed Class Actions May Affect Nearly 100,000 Alleged 'Winners' Globally

It’s another MLM legal and PR catastrophe. Let’s begin with the numbers, which are staggering: In two separate actions on Jan. 15, TelexFree bankruptcy Trustee Stephen B. Darr sued 56 named alleged “winners” in the MLM Ponzi- and pyramid scheme believed to have generated about $3 billion in corrupt, cross-border economic activity. These 56 promoters […]

Would-Be Philadelphia Cop-Killer Claims ISIS Inspiration, Investigators Say

Would-Be Philadelphia Cop-Killer Claims ISIS Inspiration, Investigators Say

Philadelphia police officer Jesse Hartnett has miraculously survived a late-night ambush in which a man who allegedly claimed allegiance to ISIS fired at least 11 shots at him and reached inside the patrol car to fire. The FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security immediately became involved in the probe, Police Commissioner Richard Ross […]

FBI: Convicted Murderer And Cross-Border E-Bullion Fraudster James Fayed Was Scamming The Scammers

FBI: Convicted Murderer And Cross-Border E-Bullion Fraudster James Fayed Was Scamming The Scammers

Still pushing Ponzi-board schemes in the age of cross-border fraud and terrorism? In a retrospective on the 2008 E-Bullion case, a retired FBI special agent says convicted murderer James Fayed was scamming HYIP scammers. “He just pocketed the money from all these high-yield investment programs after they ran,” said Maura Kelley. “And the money continued to come […]

Zeek Figure Darryle Douglas ‘Subject Of Ongoing Investigation’ By U.S. Marshals Service

Zeek Figure Darryle Douglas 'Subject Of Ongoing Investigation' By U.S. Marshals Service

Darryle Douglas, the alleged Zeek Rewards’ insider whose arrest was ordered last month, is still wanted by the U.S. Marshals Service. “He is the subject of an ongoing investigation,” a spokesman for the Marshals Service in the Western District of North Carolina told the PP Blog moments ago. “We’re trying to locate him.” The spokesman declined to […]

In Argument Over ‘Nutritional Product Pyramid Scheme,’ Indiana Man Allegedly Choked Woman And Threatened Her With Knife

In Argument Over 'Nutritional Product Pyramid Scheme,' Indiana Man Allegedly Choked Woman And Threatened Her With Knife

EDITOR’S NOTE: It didn’t take long last year for MLM to get some bad press, with India’s Central Bank issuing a caution on Jan. 1. The trade also got some bad publicity very early this year. A 44-year-old Indiana man was jailed last week after choking a woman and threatening her with a knife as her […]