DFRF Asset Freeze Affects Accounts At At Least 13 Banks; Judge Orders Repatriation, Blocks Flow Of New Money

UPDATED 6:55 A.M. EDT JULY 30 U.S.A. In the SEC’s civil case against DFRF Enterprises, a federal judge in Massachusetts has issued an order that freezes accounts at at least 13 banks and enjoins DFRF from soliciting or accepting any more money or opening any new accounts.

Dated July 28, the order by Chief U.S. District Judge Patti B. Saris also directs DFRF to “take such steps as are necessary to repatriate and deposit into the registry of the Court any and all funds or other assets that were obtained directly or indirectly from any investors in connection with the activities described in the Complaint and that are presently located outside of the United States.”

At the same time, the order prohibits DFRF from withdrawing, paying, dissipating, selling, encumbering, assigning and transferring assets wherever such assets may exist or diminishing their value “in any way.” The order further prohibits DFRF from charging on or drawing from any credit arrangements it may have.

In short, the order lays to waste claims from DFRF and certain individual promoters that the purported opportunity would simply conduct business outside the United States — despite the gravity of the pyramid- and Ponzi allegations the SEC filed last month and the arrest in Florida last week of accused operator Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho.

The order applies to DFRF, Filho and six promoters charged by the SEC June 30. The case was announced July 2. The SEC’s case is ongoing, and the order is not limited to the 13 identified banks.

The 13 identified in the order are Bank of America, Central Florida Educators Federal Credit Union, Citibank, Citizens Bank, Eastern Bank, First Bank of Puerto Rico, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Regions Bank, Santander Bank, Suncoast Credit Union, SunTrust Bank, TD Bank and Wells Fargo Bank.

It was not immediately clear whether any of the banks halted DFRF-related account activity prior to the SEC action. The identities of the individual account-holders also was unclear.

In its complaint last month, the SEC tied Filho to TelexFree figure Sann Rodrigues, a defendant in the agency’s April 2014 civil case that alleged TelexFree was a massive Ponzi- and pyramid scheme.

The PP Blog highly recommends that persons interested in the DFRF case visit the website of the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida to read up on the 2010 Evolution Market Group/Finanzas Forex case.

Then visit the website of the remissions administrator in the EMG/Finanzas case. You will find that accounts linked to Filho were seized in that case and that a gold theme and expensive automobiles — elements in the DFRF case — also were elements in the EMG/Finanzas case.

You’ll also find that some of the money tied up in the EMG/Finanzas case also was linked to the narcotics business.

Also see this story, published May 16, 2010, by the PP Blog: KABOOM! Agents Tie Alleged ‘Evolution Market Group’ Ponzi And HYIP Fraud Scheme To Narcotics Case In Arizona; Tens Of Millions Of Dollars Seized; Firms Promoted On ASA Monitor, TalkGold Forums

Also see this story, published March 25, 2011, by the PP Blog: URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: German Cardona Soler, Figure Associated With International Forex Scam Pushed On TalkGold And MoneyMakerGroup, Arrested By Spanish National Police; Agency Alleges $300 Million Ponzi

As was the case with TelexFree, the SEC said in court filings last month that some DFRF investors paid their sponsors directly, instead of paying DFRF.

“The amount of checks and cash that the individual defendants collected directly from investors is currently unknown,” the agency said last month.

Circuitous money flow is a core signature of an online securities scam. So are remarkable earnings tales, hotel pitchfests and sea cruises, all of which are elements in the TelexFree and DFRF cases.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.