PatrickPretty.com

Author: PatrickPretty.com

EDITORIAL: Salt Lake Tribune Publishes Series On MLM; Reader Claims Reporter A ‘Broke’ Purveyor Of ‘Negativity’; Separately, Len Clements (IQ-155) ‘Assumes’ Reporter Was ‘Duped’ By The ‘Flimflam’ Of MLM Critics

We highly recommend an even-handed series the Salt Lake Tribune published on the subject of multilevel marketing in Utah. (Link appears at bottom of post.) The series includes comments from MLM enthusiasts, the Direct Selling Association, attorneys for well-known MLM companies, MLM critics and the FTC. Meanwhile, the series shows that MLM has some political…

Mar 4, 2011
FEDS: Illegal Money-Transmitting Businesse Operating In ‘Shadows’ Funneled $172 Million Offshore For ‘Shell’ Companies; Murky Enterprises Blocked From Using Oregon Banks ‘Like The Corner ATM’

An Oregon man living in a small town set up “numerous” shell companies for Russian clients and funneled more than $172 million to at least 50 countries, prosecutors said. Victor Kaganov, 69, of Tigard, has pleaded guilty to charges of operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business. Tigard is small city whose population is about 47,000. Kaganov…

Mar 3, 2011
SEC Charges Rajat K. Gupta, One Of World’s Top Business Consultants, In Insider Trading Case Involving Raj Rajaratnam, One Of America’s Richest Men

In a case apt to plague Wall Street with questions about whether people on Main Street should trust it, the SEC has accused one of the world’s foremost business consultants with providing illegal “insider trading” tips that lined the corporate pockets of one of the richest men in the world. Rajat K. Gupta is accused…

Mar 1, 2011
Florida Serves Up Another Bizarre One: CFTC Files Emergency Action To Halt Alleged Ponzi Scheme; David L. Ortiz Charged Amid Allegations ‘Holistic’ Health Firm Was Collecting Forex Funds

A Florida man who operated a website known as “Forex Futures Trader” to drive business to his Ponzi scheme has been sued for fraud in an emergency action, the CFTC said. Some of the cash was routed through a firm that continued to do business despite the fact it was dissolved by the state in…

Mar 1, 2011
SPECIAL REPORT: U.S. Counter-Terrorism Unit Intercepted Communication From Person With AdSurfDaily Ties In 2009; Intended Recipient Was Imprisoned Felon Associated With Scheme In Which Prospects Were Told They Could Rip Off Government’s Medicaid Program

EDITOR’S NOTE: Lower in this story, the names of AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin and other individuals appear. They are NOT the individuals referenced in the government communiqué described below. UPDATED 12:50 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) The name of a person known to have used at least two names and to have AdSurfDaily ties appears in a…

Feb 27, 2011
BULLETIN: Man Implicated By Jamaica In Alleged $326 Million Ponzi Known As ‘Cash Plus’ Now Accused By United States Of Orchestrating Separate HYIP Scheme That Funneled Cash To Latvian And Jamaican Accounts

EDITOR’S NOTE: You might feel a chill after reading the story below about Bertram A. Hill and co-defendants implicated by the SEC in an international fraud scheme that ensnared investors in the United States and Europe. The SEC case includes an allegation that U.S. retail brokers were solicited to push unqualified clients to a murky…

Feb 24, 2011
PROSECUTION BOMBSHELL: Accused Ponzi Schemer Andy Bowdoin Traveled To Costa Rica In 2008 To Explore Option For Offshore ‘Autosurf’ Firm; AdSurfDaily’s Internal Software System Identified Member Payouts As ‘ROI,’ Despite ASD Claim It Was Not Offering Investments

BULLETIN: UPDATED 9:29 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) Prosecutors have advised a federal judge that AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin and unnamed “others” traveled to Costa Rica in the spring of 2008 to get the lay of the land for an offshore autosurf that would be “another version” of ASD. The alleged trip occurred less than two years…

Feb 21, 2011
UPDATE: Suspect Arrested Friday In Alleged Pump-And-Dump Scheme And Costa Rican Money-Laundering Caper May Have Link To Bizarre Underwater ‘Nation’ That Sells ‘Driver’s Licenses’ For $140

Jonathan R. Curshen, one of six people charged criminally by federal prosecutors and sued civilly by the SEC last week in Southern Florida in an alleged penny-stock, securities fraud, wire-fraud and money-laundering caper, once was a purported “consulate” to the bizarre, nonexistent nation of “New Utopia,” according to web records. New Utopia was a fanciful…

Feb 21, 2011
BULLETIN: Gold Quest International (GQI) UPLINE/DOWNLINE Groups Will Be Subject Of Hearing By Ontario Securities Commission; Case Alleges Respondents Were Both Investors And Promoters Who Pushed Unregistered Securities Of Bizarre Firm

EDITOR’S NOTE: If you’re pushing Ponzi schemes on MoneyMakerGroup, TalkGold and other criminal forums, allegations brought by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) against geographically localized promoters of Gold Quest International (GQI) may interrupt your delusions of invincibility over the next several weeks. Upline and downline networks within Gold Quest International (GQI), a bizarre company taken…

Feb 21, 2011
KABOOM! SEC, Feds Target Alleged Money-Laundering Operation In Costa Rica; 6 People From Various Countries Charged Criminally; 7 Charged Civilly In Coordinated Probe Of ‘Pump And Dump’ Schemes

BULLETIN: Two days after Southern Florida’s top federal prosecutor warned that offshore fraudsters who targeted Americans had no safe haven, six people from various parts of the world who allegedly ran or contributed to a pump-and-dump scheme that used the services of a money-laundering operation in Costa Rica have been charged criminally, authorities said. The…

Feb 18, 2011
BULLETIN: Another Alleged Forex Ponzi Scheme — This One In Texas; CFTC Says Convicted Felon And Known Securities Swindler Ran New Scam By Trading In Accounts In Wife’s Name

A Texas man with federal convictions two decades ago in Utah on charges of securities fraud, mail fraud, making false statements and conspiracy started a Forex Ponzi scheme in 2008 and stole at least $750,000 from investors, according to a CFTC complaint originally filed under seal earlier this month. U.S. District Judge Richard Schell of…

Feb 18, 2011