Archive for February 2013

EDITOR’S NOTE: This post originally was published Jan. 24 at 7:33 p.m. It was updated Feb. 8 to include this editor’s note reflecting that Andy Bowdoin now is listed as an inmate at the federal prison camp in Pensacola, Fla. (Pensacola FPC.)  The original story published Jan. 24 appears below and includes some edits to […]

BULLETIN: (UPDATED 4:38 P.M. EDT U.S.A.) A federal grand jury in the Western District of Washington has returned a superseding indictment against AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming. It is the second superseding indictment against Leaming. The first was filed in 2012. The new indictment was returned yesterday, a day after the […]

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Senior U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen has denied a motion by Zeek Rewards affiliates aligned with Robert Craddock to appoint an “examiner.” Craddock’s Fun Club USA and Zeek members and alleged “winners” David Sorrells, David Kettner and Mary Kettner asked for their attorney — Michael Quilling of Dallas — […]

An extraordinary drama is unfolding in Southern California involving a former Los Angeles police officer identified as Christopher Dorner. The photo of Dorner (left) was supplied by the Irvine Police Department, which identified Dorner as the suspect in the Sunday shooting deaths of Keith Lawrence and Monica Quan, a college-basketball coach. Dorner is 33. “Irvine […]

The PP Blog first told you about “Miracle Mineral Supplement,” also known as “Miracle Mineral Solution” or MMS, in August 2010. The FDA warned that serious harm could come to human beings who consumed it, saying MMS produced industrial bleach when used as directed. “Multiple independent distributors” sold the product online, the FDA said. Now, […]

Joe Hanel, the Denver correspondent for the Durango Herald, has written a series of reports that delves into the symphony of the bizarre surrounding Ponzi schemer Frederick H.K. Baker, who once was immersed in the HYIP world but now is in prison. If you’ve been wondering about the psychology of Ponzi schemes — perhaps particularly […]

Sentencing for Gregory N. McKnight, the operator of the Legisi HYIP Ponzi scheme, has been postponed until May 7. McKnight had been scheduled to be sentenced today. The postponement marks at least the fourth in the case. McKnight pleaded guilty to wire fraud a year ago this month. The docket of the case in federal […]

Karen Patricia Bowie, whom the SEC described in 2009 as a citizen of Canada who bought a house in Maine with fraud proceeds from the Titan Wealth Management LLC Ponzi scheme in Texas, has been sentenced to 80 years in Texas state prison. The Texas State Securities Board described Bowie, 61, as a “foreign notes […]

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (UPDATED 1:06 P.M. ET U.S.A.) Gary Calhoun, the operator of the the MPB Today MLM “program” and a companion grocery-delivery business known as Southeastern Delivery, has pleaded guilty to a state-level racketeering charge in Florida. He was charged in December. Calhoun, 56, of Pensacola, was not immediately sentenced. But he […]

David Merrick, the operator of Trader’s International Return Network (TIRN) fraud scheme, already is serving a TIRN-related, 97-month prison sentence for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering, and securities fraud, plus one count of money laundering. And now a federal judge has imposed addition sanctions, ordering Merrick and TIRN — a presence on Ponzi […]

BULLETIN: (UPDATED 6:05 P.M. ET U.S.A.) “Shortly after 3:00 p.m., I spoke with Colonel Hugh McCall of the Department of Public Safety and Homeland Security Director Spencer Collier,” said Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley in a statement.  “They informed me that law enforcement had breached the bunker, the child was safe and the abductor was killed.” […]