A NEW WORLD SPEED RECORD? Alabama Jury Takes Only 28 Minutes To Convict Man Of Selling Unregistered Securities; Scott Frye Initially Fled To Philippines, But Small U.S. Community Wouldn’t Be Denied Justice
Want to mess with Alabamans in the securities fraud era? Don’t do it in Coffee County. A jury there took just 28 minutes to convict Scott Frye on five counts of selling unregistered securities or causing them to be sold.
That’s an average of 5.6 minutes of deliberations per count. The case was prosecuted by Coffee County District Attorney Tom Anderson and the Alabama Securities Commission.
Frye, who faces court action elsewhere in Alabama, initially avoided prosecution by fleeing to the Philippines. But he was arrested there after the United States revoked his passport and he became an undocumented alien on foreign soil, and Coffee County — which has a population of less than 47,000 — sent an investigator to bring him back from the Western Pacific to face trial.
Enterprise, the small Alabama city in which Frye’s two-day trial was conducted, is nearly 9,000 miles away from Manila, where Frye was arrested in 2009.
The Dothan Eagle reported on the 28-minute verdict. Other local media outlets such as WDHN have kept communities informed about the Frye case and have shown Frye being led from the courthouse in handcuffs.
Frye has been dubbed “the father of Internet fraud” — and it may be a richly deserved title. Though only in his early 40s upon his Alabama conviction this week, Frye’s name surfaces in SEC records dating back to 1995, when he was just 27.
One of the early pioneers of online fraud, Frye initially hatched a scheme that promised “riskless profits” from “investments in two Costa Rican enterprises,” the SEC said 16 years ago. The scam proved to involve what has been described as “coconut chips.”
Frye also was linked by Pennsylvania authorities to a securities scheme involving a device that purportedly would permit jewelers “to determine the exact quality and value of any gemstone.”
The Internet was so new back then that law enforcement felt the need to explain to judges what it was, and there was no general agreement about how the word best was presented in court documents. The SEC initially used an uppercase “N” in the third syllable.
“Frye has posted numerous messages on the InterNet, a decentralized web of computers, accessible to millions of potential investors across the country and world-wide, in which Frye has solicited funds from investors,” the SEC wrote in the 1995 Frye case.
So why isn’t Canada smart enough to revoke Nick Smirnow’s passport and arrange to go pick him up? Just askin’,,,!
Hi laidback,
Smirnow continues to be listed as the subject of a U.S. request to extradite from the Philippines:
http://www.justice.gov/usao/ils/Programs/VWA/Smirnow.htm
These government-to-government requests can take a long time. It’s been nearly a year with Smirnow, the alleged operator of the $70 million Pathway to Prosperity Ponzi scheme that affected tens of thousands of people globally.
P2P was heavily promoted on the Ponzi boards, and the filings in the case specifically referenced TalkGold, MoneyMakerGroup and ASAMonitor.
MoneyMakerGroup also was referenced in the Legisi Ponzi case.
Of course, Club Asteria now is one of the favorite flavors of the week at the Ponzi cesspits.
On a side note, the United States sent an unmistakable signal in its various cybercrime efforts this week. It was capped yesterday with the actions by Preet Bharara and the FBI and USDOJ in New York against the online poker companies.
A banker in Utah had a very bad day yesterday, as did many others:
http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/April11/scheinbergetalindictmentpr.pdf
Wanna know what’s interesting, laidback? The poker scandal at SunFirst Bank in Utah is not the bank’s only current scandal. It also has been tied to the alleged Jeremy Johnson fraud scheme. The FTC brought the Johnson case in December, and the FDIC ordered the bank to stop doing business with Johnson.
And now a Sunfirst big-wig has been implicated in the poker scandal!
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/51636750-78/bank-johnson-gambling-indictment.html.csp
Patrick
That was fast, I didn’t know they could order lunch that fast, more less eat and get around to deliberations, too.
In the Philippines a payment will normally have to be made before they hand over the prisoner. The fact is the various Philippine authorities also incur expenses when catching and holding foreign wrong doers. Perhaps the lack of payment is what is holding up the Smirnow extradition?
While in the Philippines Scot Frye tried various schemes and scams to survive and when finally apprehended he even tried to make deals with authorities where he would act as an informant and a sort of undercover agent. Of course his offers were rejected and he was extradited to America.
There are many people in the Philippines who fervently wish they ‘throw the book at Frye’ and sincerely hope never to see the man darken Philippine shores again.
Speaking of P.I. scammers, ever heard of Henry James Banayat Gacayan? AKA Juanito Corpuz? He runs the Pointshare gold/pointshare extreme scam. Been going on 6 years now. His primary clients are Americans and he is incorporated in NV. A Philippine resident he is selling securities without a license. He has served jail time as well, but always gets out.