2 Of 3 Wire-Fraud Counts Against DFRF’s Filho Pertain To YouTube Videos; Feds Busy With Search Warrants
EDITOR’S NOTE: See related story yesterday.
Pitching your HYIP fraud scheme on YouTube and deceiving your audience en masse? You might need a good attorney: Two of the three wire-fraud counts against alleged DFRF Enterprises operator Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho pertain to YouTube pitches.
One, allegedly uploaded on Oct. 20, 2014, is titled “Primeiro Evento DFRF.” The other, allegedly uploaded on May 9, 2015, is titled “DFRF Entrevista Stock Market Registration and Card With CEO Daniel Filho.” The third wire-fraud count involves “a wire transfer of $1.8 million from an Eastern Bank account ending in 7206, in the name of DFRF Enterprises, LLC, to a Citibank account ending in 4458, in the name of DFRF Enterprises, LLC,” according to an indictment returned Aug. 5.
The video below has the same title of second one referenced in the indictment, but may be a copy:
Some HYIP promoters may not know that making false claims on YouTube can result in criminal charges of wire fraud and potentially decades in prison. Filho is alleged to have been at the helm of a $23 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme.
Other records show criminal investigators have been busy executing search warrants — no fewer than six of them, including ones that suggest there could be criminal actions coming against one or more others.
These warrants, according to docket entries, involve at least three mobile phones with numbers in the regions of Orlando and Tallahassee, Fla., and San Francisco. The Feds also have sought “GPS Location information” for a “Rolls Royce Ghost,” plus information on AOL and .com (dotcom) email addresses with DFRF links.
The SEC, among other agencies, has been warning for years about scams spreading on YouTube and other social media. Here is one such warning.
NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.