BULLETIN: SEC Gains Asset Freeze, Seeks Shutdown Of Imperia Invest In Emergency Action; Program Pitched On Same Ponzi Forums Promoting MPB Today; Agency Says Imperia Defrauded Thousands Of Deaf Americans
BULLETIN UPDATED 5:02 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.): The SEC has gone to federal court in Utah to halt the operations of Imperia Invest IBC, alleging a spectacular fraud that fleeced money from thousands of Americans with hearing impairments.
Imperia was promoted from the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum — one of the Ponzi forums promoting the MPB Today “grocery” MLM. Imperia also was the topic of discussion and defenses on TalkGold and ASAMonitor, two other forums that are pitching MPB Today.
The SEC’s allegations against Imperia are stunning. More than 14,000 investors were defrauded worldwide, the agency said.
Among the victims were thousands of deaf investors in the United States, the SEC said.
Imperia gathered relatively small sums from thousands of people, the SEC charged, noting that “no evidence has been found that any of the investors have received a single payment.”
“Imperia Invest IBC is a web-based entity that claimed, until late 2009, to be located in the Bahamas,” the SEC charged. “The Bahamian address listed by Imperia is fictitious. Imperia now claims to be located in Vanuatu. However, Imperia is not registered to do business in Vanuatu and the address listed on its website appears also to be fictitious. Neither Imperia nor its securities are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Imperia is not licensed or registered with the Commission, with any state, or with any Self Regulatory Organization.”
Categorically absurd representations of earnings and the program’s potential were made to investors, the SEC said.
“Investors were promised eye-popping amounts of money in return for a simple $50 or $100 investment, and Imperia has made numerous excuses on its website about why these returns haven’t been paid,” said Ken Israel, director of the SEC’s Salt Lake Regional office.
“The Imperia website shows an example of such earnings in which a $50 investment will return $134,000 to the investor in six months,” the SEC charged. At the same time, the agency said some investors were told that spectacular sums were due them for doing business with Imperia.
“Imperia represented to one investor who invested $150.00 with Imperia that Imperia owed him $36,610,755.20 within a two year time frame,” the SEC charged. “Another individual’s account statement who invested $500 in July 2007 showed he is owed $43,907,652.20 as of May 2010.”
It was not immediately clear how so many deaf investors became involved in Imperia. A federal judge has approved an asset freeze.
Imperia called its product Traded Endowment Policies (TEP), which the SEC described as “the British term for viatical settlements.”
“A TEP or viatical settlement involves the sale of an insurance policy by the policy owner before the policy matures, and policies are sold at a discount from face value in an amount greater than the current cash surrender value,” the SEC said.
“There are at least 14,000 [Imperia] investors worldwide with a total investment exceeding $7 million,” the SEC said. “In the United States, there appear to be approximately 6,000 investors, most of whom belong the hearing impaired community, who have invested in excess of $4 million with Imperia.”
Imperia used offshore payment processors such as “Liberty Reserve, located in Costa Rica; Perfect Money, located in Panama; and Procurrex, located in the British Virgin Islands,” the SEC charged. “Once Imperia received funds from Investors, it appears that Imperia then transferred amounts from these accounts to foreign bank accounts, including but not limited to accounts located in Cyprus and New Zealand.”
Even as Imperia was ripping off investors, it also was infringing trademarks and the intellectual property of Visa, the credit-card service, the SEC charged..
“Imperia also requires that investors purchase a Visa debit card to access their investment proceeds,” the SEC said. “Imperia charges customers a fee to purchase the Visa debit card ranging from $145 to $450.
“Visa has not authorized Imperia to use its name or trademarks and has sent Imperia a cease-and-desist letter to halt its unauthorized use of the Visa name and logo,” the SEC said. “There is no evidence that any investor who has ordered a Visa debit card from Imperia has actually received such a card.”
One poster on the MoneyMakerGroup forum advised prospects that he would keep an “open mind” about Imperia, according to web records.
“Anyway, in the final analysis each person must make their own decision,” the poster said in 2007.
While the MoneyMakerGroup poster was holding forth about keeping an “open mind,” Imperia was cloaking itself to siphon millions of dollars, according to web records and court records.
“Imperia took proactive steps to conceal the identity of its control persons by using an anonymous browser to host its website, by communicating with all investors via email without disclosing the identity of any control persons and by establishing off-shore Paypal-style bank accounts to conceal the recipient of the investment proceeds,” the SEC charged.
In July, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority issued a warning about HYIP schemes pitched online. In May, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service accused an HYIP known as Pathway To Prosperity of defrauding more than 40,000 people in a scheme that took in about $70 million.
Pathway To Prosperity also was promoted on the Ponzi and criminals’ forums. ASAMonitor, TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup are specifically referenced in court filings in the Pathway to Prosperity case.
MoneyMakerGroup is specifically referenced in court documents in the alleged Legisi HYIP and Ponzi scheme, a fraud that allegedly gathered more than $70 million.
Read the SEC complaint against Imperia.
What great news, and now hopefully GNI and PTVPartner won’t be far behind. It has been a running battle with the promoters of this scam on the financial forums. Of course this is offshore and therefore the US has no jurisdiction was the mantra spewed by the faithful. So much for that myth. LOL!
I was banned on the MMG forum. Seems every time before I was banned, they made me use a new name to register. So then they said because I had multiple usernames (after 2 years), I was banned. LOL! Typical when you are causing financial harm to their paid advertisers scam programs.
The good news is I think the public is finally getting wise to these scams. Some of the die-hard players are finally saying they are giving up since so many of their programs have now cost them money.
Now we just have to get them to go after GNI and PTVPartner. Same M.O. as Imperia IBC claiming to be registered in a foreign country when they aren’t registered anywhere.
Good to see you Lynndel, I total agree with ya.
Does anyone know the identity of the principals? The SEC must because they filed in Utah. There must be a criminal action in the works. I would like any information out there so that I can run these people down.
You can start with this person: Doreen Petzold – Germany
doreen.petzold@safe-mail.net, as she was the name provided for the user account for the server.
But why bother tracking anyone down since the feds already have? I am sure their names will be revealed shortly. I am not saying don’t do it, but was wondering if it would be productive for you to do so.
Good to see you here too, and thanks. You have now arrived at the best blog on the net.
Lynn.
I’m just wondering why it was filed in Utah. The pleadings merely indicate that there were victims in the State but that seems true of every other state. As always, I am on the lookout for Utah based schemes.
lynn;
Kenneth Lougee said, “Does anyone know the identity of the principals? The SEC must because they filed in Utah. There must be a criminal action in the works. I would like any information out there so that I can run these people down.”
You said, “But why bother tracking anyone down since the feds already have? I am sure their names will be revealed shortly. I am not saying don’t do it, but was wondering if it would be productive for you to do so.”
Answer to your question: He intends to run ’em down (hopefully with a large truck). Sounds like a good idea to me, but I’ve also suggested flogging these lowlifes in the public square, so I’m somewhat of a hard guy when it comes to dealing with these scumbags.
-PWD
I think the reason why this was filed in Utah is because they had the largest number of victims than the other states. This was not based in Utah. We spent a year exposing this as a scam on the financial forums, and warning people not to join. Some listened, others didn’t. I think we will learn there were a lot of promoters from Utah too, thus adding to why Utah.
I do think this action has a lot of the mods and promoters of GNI shaking in their collective boots about now afraid GNI will be next. We certainly hope so.
FYI: According to the information we have Dr. Werner Jahnsen and Dr. Steve Baker, believed to be from Germany, were two of the principal’s behind the Imperia IBC scam.
I think this is the answer:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/50434126-79/deaf-community-utah-imperia.html.csp
Imperiainvest.net scammed me for a whopping $5,597.00 in total and I know tons of other people they have ripped off also. The SEC department let us to fan for ourselves and we get destroyed left and right by the wall streeters, by Bernie M, by all overseas scumbags from Nigeria, switzerland, Great Britain, Saudi Arabia you name it. I have lost 1/2 million of dollars from those scums, the stock market predators etc.
Yea, Imperiainvest took me for approx. $900.00
My friend said that IBC is true and 700 deaf people got some money. I told him that I doubt because someone made up a story to fool him. No proof. Sadly, some of my friends still believe that it is a real IBC and will get some money. thanks
Admin test.
1. Imperia is an offshore entity and is not subject to USA rules.
2. Imperia was investigated by Chinese gov before they would let any of their citizens invest. Anyone who knows anything know how tough the Chinese gov can be.
3. Imperia has paid out in the past. This personal fact not fiction.
4. Imperia never dealt in securities the banks did so nothing illegal there.
5. There have been people who have gotten their debit cards, again firsthand knowledge.
6. The biggest problem has been caused by Imperia unwillingness to tell investors what is going on. No contact for extended period breeds panic and distrust.
7. Imp has been researched by World Court and other jurisdictions and found to be legit.
So I say it is possible with all the misleading and misinformation provided to SEC will lead to a long delay. But the deaf people have themselves to blame.
Thank You
Louis
Got any real, verifiable links to back up the bs Louie?
Unfortunately, that’s the way most of these scams work, Susanne.
The scammers pay out small amounts, leading people to believe the program is legitimate.
Think of it this way:
You send $100 to the scammer and he offers to pay you interest of 1% per week of your investment.
What that effectively means is, it will take 100 weeks before you even get back the original amount, even though the scammer claims he is paying the unbelievable amount of interest.
100 weeks, that’s almost 2 years. During which time you will appear to receive 1% PER WEEK interest compared to the 2 or 3% PER YEAR banks are offering.
It also gives the scammer/s 2 years to run away with your money at any time he (or she) chooses before you start to get suspicious.
Be very, very wary of ANY program where you see lots of “I got paid” testimonials.
Whip.
My number 3 is backed up by a personal friend whom I have known for 30 years that was paid off 4 years ago. That is one reason why I got in.
None of the information is speculation as I have independent confirmation from inside sources.(Not Imperia)
I might just aded that TEP trading has been around in Europe for 25 years or more. So it must be possible that an investment like this can work.
I have no ill will towards the deaf people who filed a complaint. As I stated before Imperia’s lack of communication has caused these problems. I must say I resent you refering to my posting as bs. Any info posted by me can be backed up. I am however not about to release the source of my discreet info.
Louis
Yes I think you are right your knowledge is just and all those who have caused this delay will be very sorry.
So, you of course have nothing. Shocking.
@louis
I agree with you, Imperiainvest is an offshore company and SEC cannot do anything, blame on Utah deaf people who made all this confusion just for 50$ plus debit card cost, this operation is very, very complicaated and it takes time, I think that II will do a good job rembaursing deaf people comunity their 50$ and debit card cost and put them aside not permitting them to interfer again.
In the end,we don’t have anything else to loose, maybe WE HAVE!!!!!!!!
AND IF THEY REALY HAVE INTENTION TO PAYOUT?!!!!!!
Not true.
Cite your source. Name the Chinese agency that “investigated” Imperia and gave it a “gov” stamp of approval.
This is a standard deflection in HYIP cases — like saying an “opportunity” is “legal” because the government already would have shut it down if anything untoward was occurring. This type of explanation surfaces in scheme after scheme after scheme. Some MPB Today members have used it — just like ASD members before them.
Immaterial even if true. Most fraud schemes pay out. That’s how they recruit new victims. It is not uniquely true, however, that all fraud schemes pay out. Some simply run with the money, perhaps particularly in the HYIP/autosurf realms.
Imperia certainly DID deal in securities. Like other fraud schemes, it didn’t call them securities.
Immaterial even if true.
This alone makes it fraud.
Total B.S.
Name your source. What kind of “misleading” info has been provided to the SEC? What kind of “misinformation” has been provided to the SEC?
On a side note, I strongly encourage all members of Imperia to contact the SEC.
Patrick
love,
I hope you reconsider your views/opinions on this entire matter. Deaf people and others were defrauded in a massive, international scam. Wealth was flushed away, thus taking a toll on household economies and the U.S. economy in general.
Patrick
@Patrick,
I don’t think that II’s fault is that world’s economy is pushed down,deaf people anyway could wait another couple of weeks before file a complaint to Sec,
I PERSONALY COME FROM CRISTIAN STATE THAT WAS BOMBED BY USA AIRFORCE IN THE 20TH CENTURY WITH THE EXCUSE THAT THAY HAD TO “DEFEND DEMOCRACY”, I LOST EVERYTHING HOUSE, RELATIVES, NATION, FRENDS AND FOR ME RPP II WAS A HOPE.
AND I DO NOT COMPLAIN WHILE YOU ALL STAY IN YOUR NATIONS, AMONG YOUR PEOPLE, SPEAKING YOUR LANGUAGE, AND ANYWAY YOU HAVE A POSSIBILITY TO FIND A JOB, WHILE I DO NOT HAVE.
I AM A RESIDENT ABROAD IN ANOTHER NATION AND I HAD TO START FROM ZERO AND I WISH YOU ALL NOT TO GO THROUGH MY OWN EXPERIENCE
I HOPE YOU WILL UNDERSTAND, AT LEAST TRY TO UNDERSTAND
GOD BLESS YOU ALL
Respectfully, love, the victims did not cause this problem; the international scammers caused the problem.
No one should wait “a couple of weeks” to file a complaint. The time further separates them from their money.
I, too, hope no one has to start from zero or rebuild from zero. Having covered numerous fraud schemes over the years, I have seen many examples of people who’d been scammed having to start from zero.
love, I have never had a bomb dropped on my village. The United States has not been invaded in my lifetime. There have been incursions and loss of life, as the 9/11 attacks and episodes since them demonstrate. In my view, the world has never been more insecure.
Much of the world looks to the United States for moral and financial leadership. It is my view that the United States and its military are a force for good, which is not to say that the use of force does not affect and alter human lives. There is chaos in war; there is fog in war; there are unintended consequences of war. Occasionally there are criminal consequences of war.
But I love my country. Its civilian and military apparatus keeps hundreds of millions of people safe from harm. It never sleeps so others CAN sleep.
One of the reasons this Blog reports on scams is because they create an untenable security situation for the freedom-loving people of the world. Billions of dollars disappear. The money is hard to trace. It could fall into the hands of organized criminals and terrorists.
These situations are so murky and so potentially filled with danger that it is absolutely unthinkable that people of faith are singing their praises. It is not a recipe for wealth; it is a recipe for a cocktail of pain and disaster.
Patrick
Funny how all you scammers seem to have somehow been the ‘victims’ of alleged ‘tragedies’.
@Whip,
I am sorry for you, that you think that everybody is scammer you don’t live well, but I am happy, I do not complain
You have no idea how I live….yet another lame insult from your scamming 101 playbook.
I live just fine not scamming anyone.
Of course you are happy that you can ripoff some people or else you’d be crying worse than you are now…..which you will be in the future once this gets shut down.
That only reason you are here trying to defend this scam is that articles like this one cut in to your potential theft from others.
To Admin:
I resent your implications that the information I provided is is someway a lie or bs. You don’t know everything and should be more considerate of facts presented. The point of view I gave was either firsthand knowledge or gov provided info. I am not about to divulge my source as it would be detrimental to this persons job. More importantly I gave my word. I presented the info I know strictly as a sounding board to those who want to see another perspective of the situation. I have NOTHING to gain. I will not however allow innuendo to invade my character without a response.
Thank you
Louis B
Louis,
You have not provided a single fact or anything that even remotely resembles a shred of evidence that Imperia is legitimate. What you have done is posted information that is demonstrably false and ambiguous.
The SEC has jurisdiction over enterprises that sell securities to U.S. citizens whether you like it or not. Thousands of deaf investors have been scammed, according to the SEC.
If you are going to post on this Blog in the manner in which you are posting, you should expect your opinion to be challenged.
Patrick
i appreciate the opportunity to post on your blog. However, you have a closed mind and do not read what I wrote. I cannot expose my source as it would affect his job with the gov. Also a retireed exec of the World Bank is where the info came from about them legit info. If you had a source that you said you would keep their
identity confidential then I would expect you to honor their request or you would not be much of a person. You can bad mouth me if you want but I trust my people.
Louis B
Admin test 11/7/10.
Ithink you are exagerating like any goverment agency of the USA,like Bush Or Obama fihgting the terrorist or anything like that you know guys you shopuld study your history better speially your politicians that keep lying and lying friend of the Bankers of wall Street and bodies of the Federal Reserve that are a bunch of crooks and thefts that took a lot of money from workers from your countrie and around the world and they are still running this scamms with bail out to all their friends and want the regular American to panic about terrorist,if you want to be the police of the world who give you that authority to say your are good or you are a bad guy,clean your house first before going to clean somone else.
Pretty much what I figure. Why do you clowns always come here with absolutely no information whatsoever?
I don’t believe that Imperia Invest IBC is scam! How long will Imperia Invest IBC keep freezing while they are investigating? Why were the SEC involved with Imperia Invest IBC? This is none of their businesses! I am going to file a complain against SEC.
And that would be because…………………….why ????
Gera-Imperia Member,
Not only was Imperia Invest a scam, it was a five-alarm scam. The SEC petitioned a federal judge for an EMERGENCY court order, and the judge granted the order.
In the following days, Imperia was specifically cited by President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force as a target of “Operation Broken Trust.”
The Imperia case is referenced on the official Blog of the U.S. Department of Justice:
http://blogs.usdoj.gov/blog/archives/1076#more-1076
And the Imperia case also is referenced in an official Investor Alert issued by the SEC on the Investor.gov website:
http://investor.gov/investor-warning-regarding-web-based-scheme-defrauding-deaf-investors/
Because the scam was targeted at U.S. residents, including thousands of Americans with hearing impairments. It most certainly was the “business” of the SEC to bring the charges.
For what? Taking action to halt a scheme that stole millions of dollars from deaf people and then publishing information to alert the public that a mysterious entity operating in a murky offshore form was picking the pockets of American investors?
Patrick
Does anyone knows if they are going to reimburse the money of the TEP’s and the “VISA’s” of the users?
Well, will some please tell me what going on. There are so mush mis information to keep you hang on HELP
Hello Chip,
What’s going on is that Imperia is a scam. There is no way to tell right now how the SEC litigation will evolve. I wish I could be more encouraging, but Imperia’s world is a murky one — as are many online investment “opportunities.”
I do wish you the best.
Patrick
Louis B,
Have you ever heard of an opportunity known as Club Asteria?
Patrick
[…] Oct. 7, 2010, story on the SEC’s action against Imperia Invest. (Make sure you read the comments thread below the […]
they caught the guy who ripped off the deaf people about imperia his name is jody dunn i talked to the sec to the gov of utah it is going to court she said she doubted any one would get there money to much hassle to get from foreign countries
The SEC filed a civil suit against Dunn on September 9, 2011
You can read a copy of the SEC litigation release here: http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2011/lr22090.htm
and download a copy of the SEC complaint in .PDF format here: http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2011/lr22090.htm
BTW, at the time of the SEC action, Dunn, who is deaf, was living on a disability pension.
It is alleged he used a small percentage of the $3.45 million it is alleged was involved to pay his personal expenses and then forwarded the rest to Imperia.
AFAIK, it is highly unlikely any monies are available for recovery from Dunn himself.
Quick note:
See also:
https://patrickpretty.com/2011/09/09/ponzi-forum-alert-moving-sec-charges-texas-based-imperia-invest-promoter-with-securities-fraud-other-offenses-agency-says-jody-dunn-targeted-deaf-investors-lied-to-them-and-cherry-pick/
Imperia Invest was flogged from the Ponzi boards — and the willfully blind promoters make sure other fraud programs have a chance to thrive as soon as one falters:
https://patrickpretty.com/2011/09/13/update-club-asteria-cherry-shares-justbeenpaid-promoter-10bucksup-falsely-claims-pp-blog-posts-as-ispy-on-moneymakergroup-ponzi-forum-hyip-apologist-taunts-u-s-law-enforcement-in-biza/
Patrick
[…] and Perfect Money also are referenced in the SEC’s October 2010 fraud complaint against Imperia Invest IBC, a scheme that targeted deaf investors. Imperia also had a presence on the Ponzi […]