Archive for June 2011

NOTE TO READERS: Some of the evidence federal prosecutors have in the Ponzi scheme case against AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin is coming into clearer focus. The PP Blog expects to publish a report within the next couple of hours. Our report is based on an affidavit originally filed under seal by the U.S. Secret Service […]

BULLETIN: The SEC has gone to federal court in Utah to seek penalties against a precious metals company and associated firms and individuals,  amid spectacular allegations that a PR firm sold the unregistered securities of its own corrupt penny-stock client and a disbarred attorney enabled the scam by issuing a bogus opinion letter. Utah has […]

NOTE TO READERS: The headline of this news brief is excerpted from remarks made in Indiana today by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Read Holder’s full remarks here. The attorney general was speaking at a summit on cybersecurity. His remarks may be the clearest sign yet that the United States is dialing up its efforts […]

BULLETIN: In 2009, federal prosecutors warned that pro se pleadings by members of Florida-based AdSurfDaily had the potential to slow efforts to provide restitution for victims of the ASD Ponzi scheme. Pro se filings by ASD President Andy Bowdoin and dozens of ASD members crowded the court docket for months and delayed the implementation of […]

UPDATED 12:15 P.M. ET (U.S.A., FEB. 6, 2012) An Internet Marketer based in Calfornia used domains with “co.uk” extensions and duped British customers into believing they were doing business with a firm based in the United Kingdom, the Federal Trade Commison said. The actions of Jaivin Karnani and his associated firms, including a company known […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: The cases against M25 Investments Inc. (M25) and M37 Investments LLC (M37) include elements that are common in online fraud schemes. For starters, the offers were targeted at senior citizens and people of faith. Moreover, the firms relied on PowerPoint presentations and charts that wowed victims with tales of fantastic earnings. The fraud […]

BULLETIN: Nevin Shapiro, the Florida-based operator of a bizarre “grocery” Ponzi scheme that gathered nearly $1 billion and caused losses approaching $100 million, has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. Shapiro, 42, was charged by federal prosecutors in New Jersey last year after investigations by the FBI and the IRS. He pleaded guilty […]

BULLETIN: Thanh Viet Jeremy Cao, the California Ponzi schemer sentenced last month to 30 years in federal prison and ordered to pay $12.4 million in restitution, has pleaded guilty in a separate fraud case. Federal prosecutors in Nevada alleged last year that Cao filed nearly two dozen bogus liens against SEC attorneys, federal judges, federal […]

A recidivist securities felon tied to at least 24 bank accounts had an airline ticket for Bermuda last week but was arrested in Florida  before he could get offshore after scamming investors in a long-running fraud scheme that had gathered $20 million, according to law-enforcement officials. Charged in a criminal complaint by the U.S. Postal […]

A web-based pitchman for the alleged Legisi Ponzi scheme has been hit with separate court judgments of $1.69 million and $810,000. Meanwhile, the court-appointed receiver in the Legisi case has hired local counsel in Oregon to pursue the judgments against Matthew J. Gagnon and Mazu Publishing Inc. Legisi was alleged by the SEC in 2008 […]

BULLETIN: UPDATED 7:35 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (CONSOB), the Italian equivalent of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, is conducting a probe into claims made about Club Asteria and has issued a 90-day suspension order that bars promoters from trading in Italy. Club Asteria is based in […]