ASD ALL OVER AGAIN? Gold Nugget Invest (GNI) Collapse Brings Out The Conspiracy Theorists, Apologists; Theorists Claim Interpol Investigating SEC
EDITOR’S NOTE: Conspiracy theories quickly became part of the AdSurfDaily story after federal agents seized tens of millions of dollars from the company in August 2008 amid Ponzi scheme allegations.
Yesterday reports surfaced that Gold Nugget Invest (GNI), a High Yield Income Program (HYIP) positioned as a betting arbitrage, had collapsed. GNI reportedly announced that it had engaged in forex trading, an announcement that surprised some members who apparently believed they had invested in a sports-betting enterprise.
As was the case with ASD, conspiracy theories surfaced quickly after GNI’s purported collapse. The post below summarizes some of the early, tortured claims.
Here, now, the post . . .
UPDATED 10:26 A.M. ET (U.S.A.) Did you know any of the following things:
That Interpol had unearthed a complex plot by Former President George W. Bush to undermine the world economy and install banking puppets?
That Bush had started “drug trafficking operations,” funding them with Ponzi proceeds and profits from manufacturing weapons?
That Interpol was investigating the SEC for financial crimes and that others were suing the SEC for $3.87 trillion because the agency and President Bush somehow had established a secret trading platform and were operating their own Ponzi scheme on Wall Street?
That at least one member of President Obama’s cabinet recently had been secretly arrested for a crime related to “sabotage” and then, apparently, secretly released and permitted to continue in his old job?
That Obama himself had been warned that he faced arrest for the manner in which he was running the country?
That U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the attorneys general of the U.S. states have been warned secretly that they face arrest?
That the U.S. government and its clandestine operatives somehow had staged the attempt to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight bound for Detroit on Christmas Day?
That it was OK for GNI to collect large sums of money from new members — even if it knew it did not have the resources to pay its current members — because members’ first duty was to the company and not to themselves?
That an apparent decision by GNI to lock up members’ funds for 14 months was entirely appropriate because its first duty was to save itself so it later could redistribute the funds through a scheme with different rules?
That members who placed money with the company and pulled it out with interest after 30 days were in no small part responsible for GNI’s problems?
That criticizing GNI management in any way demonstrates that the critics are immature and not responsible adults?
We knew none of these things until reports of GNI’s collapse and its hard-too-decipher “Re-organization” program surfaced yesterday. The reference to Interpol’s purported SEC probe seems to be tied to SEC-initiated litigation against CMKM Diamonds and other individuals and companies.
CMKM Diamonds was a Pinksheet stock.
How all of the other conspiracy theories evolved is unclear.
Utterly bizarre!
http://seeker401.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/cmkm-diamonds-inc-case-versus-the-sec-outrageous-fraud-alleged/
As for GNI, promoters TeamAaronShara have not mentioned it at all. In fact they have been very quiet recently. David Courtney only mentions GNI in passing in his latest diatribe. This is typical of the ponzi pimps, they do not like to talk about their failures, just talk up the latest scam.
Conspiracy theories and ponzi schemes seem to go hand in hand for some reason. Perhaps if you are a big enough numpty to believe that ponzi schemes like ASD, CEP, 12DailyPro, AdVentures4U, GNI etc are real investments, then daft conspiracy theories would be right up their street.
Remember that “Le” (“Lee”?) chap, fervent ASD and Bowdoin supporter? The one who believed in the David Ike blood drinking, shape shifting aliens?
Hi Tony,
At this early point after GNI’s purported demise/restructuring, one of the most bizarre things is that the conspiracy theorists seem to have latched on to theories simply because theories were available to be latched on to — and that latching onto the theories somehow served them, even though the theories seem to be in opposition to any theories that in some twisted way could be “helpful” to GNI.
Now, I have to admit that some of the theories I’ve read about the purported Interpol probe of the SEC and the purported $3.7 trillion lawsuit are hard to follow — in part because they incorporate other theories.
But the GNI people who seemed to have latched onto the Interpol-is-investigating-the-SEC-theory appear not to understand that the theory appears to be tied to people who are upset at the government for not returning investor funds from an alleged penny-stock scheme.
The theory is hard to follow, but it looks as though the early theorists were trying to make the point that the SEC was not good at what it does and — as was the case with Madoff — let the scheme proliferate to suck in more people.
Gradually, the early theory seems to have morphed into a grandiose theory that the best way to deal with the SEC was to use some of the SEC’s language in the CMKM Diamonds case and accuse the agency of an even grander fraud that somehow caused $3.7 trillion in damages to holders of penny stocks.
At this point, it’s hard to tell if the grandiose conspiracy theorists touting the purported lawsuit pending against the SEC are using it as a smokescreen to cover up their own involvement with CMKM or actually are CMKM victims out to score some sort of theoretical political points because the agency blew the Madoff case.
There is no context in which a $3.7 trillion lawsuit and an Interpol-led probe of the SEC can be taken seriously — just as there was no context in which the attempt by the purportedly “sovereign” Indian tribe to sue the SEC for $1.7 trillion in 2008 can be taken seriously.
The $1.7 trillion lawsuit — part of the Gold Quest International (GQI) litigation, not to be confused with the current Gold Nugget International (GNI) collapse — did not even survive the docket. The judge ordered it stricken, and then sent the US Marshals out to start arresting people.
One thing than can be taken seriously, though, are the behavioral traits present in so many of these schemes.
Agreed. Conspiracy theories and Ponzi schemes do go hand-in-hand. I hope the Interacency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force tries to establish ties between the online HYIP Ponzis, which, as readers have pointed out here and elsewhere, all largely follow the same script — while they’re collecting money AND when they collapse.
A common thread is the presence of the conspiracy theorists, the tax deniers and the sovereigns who think they can start a state on paper or create one through corporate filings — and use it to create a blanket of immunity.
There is a nexus between these shell companies and LLCs — often created in Nevada, Wyoming and Florida — and some of the HYIPs/autosurfs, with the common tie being the tax deniers and the links to Panama, Belize and Nevis and, to some extent, the Canadian and European banking infrastructure.
There also appears to be a heavy presence of penny-stock manipulators and schemers, along with a collection of forex fraudsters.
It is POSSIBLE — and I stress POSSIBLE — that seemingly unrelated events are creating considerable stress for the major fraudsters. For example, when Stanford’s bank went down, it seems to have taken a couple of autosurfs/HYIPs with it, and caused problems for others.
Maybe some of Stanford’s depositors were running HYIPs/autosurfs and buying Stanford CDs with proceeds from the HYIP/autosurf schemes. They were OK while Stanford was still operating because money they skimmed from their own Ponzis was earning above-market rates, and their own Ponzi customers still were creating enough cash flow to sustain the Ponzis.
Stanford got nailed — thus wiping out CD profits and potentially even exposing the operators of the HYIP/Autosurfs to a tax investigation — and thus forcing some HYIPs/autosurfs to close up shop. I know for a fact that the IRS is trying to get the names of Stanford’s depositors:
https://patrickpretty.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/IRSStanfordJohnDoesOrder.pdf
The problems at GNI began shortly after the SEC/CFTC took down the alleged Cook/Kiley Ponzi in Minnesota. I’ve seen no evidence that GNI and the Cook/Kiley enterprises were related, but it would not surprise me if a lot of the players have money in MULTIPLE pools — and when one seemingly unrelated Ponzi goes down, it creates stress for others.
Patrick
Yes, that has definitely happened before. I’m sure others with better memories can give better examples, but when PIPS collapsed it took some others with it. I think CEP also “invested” with other ponzi HYIPS, and I think there were several small scale HYIPS that “invested” with 12DailyPro. Some do it openly, some claim to have access to “special high yield projects only accessible to the super-rich” or some such nonsense.
Hi Tony,
From Paragraph 20 and 21 of the SEC complaint against CEP:
“Through CEP’s Internet website, http://www.colonendparenthesis.net, CEP,
Reed and Kimbrell solicited investors to become members in CEP’s investment
program. On the homepage of this site, CEP claimed that investors could make the ‘% of an auto-surf without surfing.’ CEP also claimed to provide investors ‘with a safer way to invest online by diversifying your investments in multiple venues’ including ‘travel agencies, condominiums, real estate, the trading of goods and currencies, and health products.’
“Contrary to these claims, Reed and Kimbrell invested most of the
money CEP raised in other online investment programs, but failed to maintain
records of how CEP funds were invested.”
http://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2007/comp20191.pdf
Patrick
Patrick,
Sounds like they took their information from this site:
http://worldreports.org/
and specifically this article:
http://worldreports.org/news/257_operation_stillpoint_to_destroy_america_stopped
Let’s see now, if I get back spasms, can I say that Martians came down and shot me with their spasmodic ray gun?
Big Joe
Hi Big Joe,
I think you’re right about this. On one of the Ponzi boards yesterday, someone posted a long list of agencies to which one might complain about GNI.
This sparked a passive-aggressive post from a GNI cheerleader that the SEC, in essence, couldn’t spell SEC if you spotted it the “S” and the “C” — and the Interpol was “investigating” the SEC and that China and Britain are suing the SEC for running its own Ponzi scheme.
This led to a ridiculous follow up post in which it was stated as a fact that the SEC and its “heads” were going to be charged by Interpol with “Economic Terrorism” and “Treason” and that the heads potentially faced the death penalty because the alleged treason occurred during a time of war.
It also was argued that a naysayer did not understand “the full gravity of the situation” confronting the SEC as a result of the Interpol investigation and the purported lawsuits.
Naturally, the naysayers reduced the bizarre claims to ruins — and the original conspiracy theorist then tried to deflect with a comedy bit.
Patrick
P.S. Apparently, what’s making all of this possible is that Obama — like Lincoln during the Civil War — has suspended habeas corpus, and also has surrendered the United States’ sovereign immunity to Interpol.
What’s going to happen, it seems, is that Interpol is going to arrest the entire lot of SEC commissioners on U.S. soil because Obama has given Interpol the jurisdiction to do so — and, while Interpol is here, they’re also going to arrest George W. Bush.
The unannounced part of the theory seems to be that the U.S. Judicial system also surrendered jurisdiction to Interpol, which must be planning to import its own court and its own judge to hear the cases against the SEC and Bush.
Or perhaps Obama’s suspension of habeas corpus and his surrender of U.S. sovereignty was so complete that Interpol will just put Bush and the SEC commissioners on a prisoner’s air transport and hold the trial in Europe — or perhaps at the U.N.
In regard to PIPS, their were numerous “conspiracy rumors” that were floated about. It ran the gamut of “evil government” (where have we heard that one before?), major players, or big fish, “ginned” the system and took advantage of Bryan Marsden (where have we heard that one before?), “Trolls” took it down as they were jealous of Bryan Marsden and all the little people he was helping, the bankers took it down because they did not want the competition from PIPS, and a whole host of others I have forgotten. It seems they keep borrowing the playbook, and then update it to fit the times they think the gullible will believe. It is going to be interesting to see how far the people who truly believe in GNI will go in their defense of this scam. I seriously doubt it will reach the heights of the ASD members, but that remains to be seen. I think there were many of the ASD members in this one, so anything is possible with that group.
Thanks for the links to the (in)famous Christopher Story site.
It comes as no surprise that some of the ponzi defenders quote from it. Story seems to have a far bigger following amongst the Conspiracy Theorists in the US than he does in his own country (UK) where he is is considered to be completely discredited. why? because his “facts” are largely unsourced and he is generally thought of as a raving nutcase, albeit a very intelligent one.
[…] NOTE BY PP BLOG: Some scammers on Ponzi-scheme forums also purport to engage in “arbitrage.” The collapse of purported arbitrage “program” Gold Nugget Invest (GNI) in 2010 brought out the “conspiracy theorists,” the PP Blog reported at the time. […]
[…] Even after the government of Belize issued a warning against GNI in 2009, scammers continued to promote it — virtually to the very day it collapsed and took an unspecified sum with it. The collapse triggered a bizarre series of conspiracy theories. […]