REPORT: Nicholas Smirnow, Pathway To Prosperity Operator, Sentenced To Prison In Canada
Nicholas Smirnow: From INTERPOL.
Nicholas Smirnow, the operator of the Pathway To Prosperity Ponzi-board “program” charged with fraud by U.S. authorities in 2010, has been sentenced in Canada to seven years in prison.
News of the sentence appeared Sept. 30 at MuskokaRegion.com.
Smirnow was arrested in Canada for P2P-related crimes in 2014. The United States has submitted an extradition request.
INTERPOL’s wanted notice for Smirnow is still active. It lists his age as 59 and says he faces charges of conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud and money-laundering in the United States.
In June 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice pointed to P2P as an example of international mass-marketing fraud that occurs on the Internet. The “program” was a Ponzi-forum darling. MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold are referenced in P2P-related filings in the United States as places from which Ponzi schemes are promoted.
P2P operated in all the “permanently inhabited continents of the world,” a member of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service said in 2010.
Losses were pegged at about $70 million.
Ponzi forums and social media continue to drive traffic to hideous schemes. Recent examples of Ponzi-board programs include Traffic Monsoon, Zeek Rewards and TelexFree. There are many more.
NOTE: Thanks to a reader for the heads-up on Smirnow’s sentencing in Canada.
MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold are both owned by the same person.
If my memory serves me correctly, the Canadians didn’t freeze any of his assets, so there is nothing to return to the victims of this Ponzi.
There is no doubt in my mind that he has funds squirreled away in the Philippines. Just hope the US gets him when his sentence is up in Canada and puts him away for as long or longer than the Canadians.
Lyndel I’m not sure that what you said about having money squirrelled away in the Phillipines is correct. There might be, or even elsewhere. But it is well known there was no apparent reason for him returning to Canada when he did, particularly when there was a warrant out for his arrest.
My guess at the time was he might have run out of money, which is why he came back. The whole thing is bizarre.