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Author: PatrickPretty.com

SEC: 77-Year-Old Amish Man Ran $33 Million Fraud Scheme Targeted At Fellow Amish; Meanwhile, CFTC Says North Carolina Pastor And Colleague Ran Forex Ponzi Scheme

UPDATED 2:50 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) A 77-year old Amish man in Sugarcreek, Ohio, ran a fraud scheme that gathered at least $33 million and affected 2,600 investors in 29 states, the SEC has alleged. Monroe L. Beachy’s long-running scheme mostly targeted fellow Amish, the agency charged. The scheme, which operated under the name of A&M Investments…

Feb 18, 2011
MIND-BOGGLER: Forex Scammer Who Never Traded Forex Charged In $35 Million Ponzi Scheme; CFTC’s Real-Life Complaint Against Keith F. Simmons And Co-Defendants Reads Like Bizarre Fiction

And people actually are questioning President Obama’s November 2009 decision to create the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force when things such as this are going on? An unregistered North Carolina company that churned tens of millions of dollars in a long-running shell game and described itself as a Forex dealer was operated by a…

Feb 17, 2011
Southern Florida’s Top Federal Prosecutor Says Offshore Biz-Op Fraudsters Have No Safe Havens; United States Throws Down Gauntlet To Criminal Hucksters

A top federal prosecutor said today that the United States would vigorously investigate and prosecute “business opportunity” fraudsters who target Americans. “This is true even if they operate from outside of the United States,” said Wifredo A. Ferrer, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. “International law enforcement cooperation eliminates safe havens for those…

Feb 16, 2011
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Deputy U.S. Marshal Shot And Killed In West Virginia Attack; 2 Others Wounded; Assailant Killed By Return Gunfire

BULLETIN: A deputy U.S. marshal was shot and killed this morning while serving an arrest warrant in a drug case at a home in Elkins, W. Va., a law-enforcement official said. Two other deputy marshals were wounded in the attack. Their conditions were not immediately known. Charles E. Smith, the alleged assailant, reportedly was killed…

Feb 16, 2011
Judge Says Ponzi And HYIP Operator Who Swindled Mother Of Fallen U.S. Marine Deserves More Jail Time Than Specified In Plea Bargain, Sentences Juan Rangel To 22 Years; Rangel’s Son Wanted By FBI In Bribery Caper

EDITOR’S NOTE: Although this story largely focuses on the sentencing of Juan Rangel, his son — Harold Rangel — is wanted by the FBI in a bribery case and is believed to have helped his father pull off a massive HYIP and Ponzi scheme. Although federal prosecutors offered a plea bargain to Ponzi and HYIP…

Feb 16, 2011
BULLETIN: Bench Warrant Issued For Ponzi Schemer Who Ran Commodities Caper, Ripped Off Condo Association To Keep Scheme Afloat And Appeared On CNBC As Trading Analyst, CFTC Says

BULLETIN: A federal judge has frozen the assets of a trader and television analyst charged criminally by a New York County grand jury with multiple felonies in an alleged commodity-pool Ponzi scheme and charged civilly by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission in the same caper. Brian Kim, 35, is a “fugitive,” declared Manhattan District…

Feb 15, 2011
AN HYIP PARANOIA-MAKER: Undercover Agent Listens To Alleged Bankrupt Fraudster’s Pitch In ‘Hooters’; SEC Files Emergency Action Alleging Christopher Love Blackwell At Helm Of Massive Fraud Scheme

EDITOR’S NOTE: This developing story on the alleged actions of accused securities schemer Christopher Love Blackwell is apt to cause paranoia among HYIP and prime-bank fraudsters, including criminals who populate online forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup. It features the presence of a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) undercover operative who allegedly infiltrated Blackwell’s scheme…

Feb 10, 2011
TalkGold Ponzi And Criminals’ Forum Deletes ‘Sticky’ Thread On InstaForex; Firm Named Defendant In CFTC Sweep Used Payment Processor Whose Contact Person Is Referenced In International Money-Laundering And Narcotics Case

The TalkGold Ponzi scheme and criminals’ forum has deleted a “sticky” thread reportedly paid for by InstaForex, a dubious company named a defendant in a registration sweep conducted by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission last month. The PP Blog reported two days ago that InstaForex was using TalkGold to promote a scheme by which…

Feb 10, 2011
SPECIAL REPORT: Forex Firms Named In CFTC Sweep Used Same Offshore Processor As Alleged Imperia Invest Fraud; Name Of Man Linked To ‘Perfect Money’ Appears In Ponzi Forfeiture Complaint In Which Feds Tied Cash To International Narcotics Trade

SPECIAL REPORT: UPDATED 2:27 P.M. ET (U.S.A., FEB. 9) Federal court and web records show that at least three of the 14 purported Forex dealers named defendants in a major sweep of unregistered firms last month by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission advertised that they accepted funds from Perfect Money. Perfect Money is a murky…

Feb 8, 2011
EDITORIAL: On Club Asteria, FxPowerPro And DisasterClub — And What The U.S. State Department Could Do To Contain The Danger Posed By The Talk Gold Ponzi And Criminals’ Forum And Others Of Its Ilk Worldwide

Let’s start with the chaos in Egypt this week. Protesters have streamed into the streets to demand that President Hosni Mubarak step down after three decades of autocratic rule. The government initially reacted by shutting down the Internet. As tensions rose, protesters, activists and journalists covering the events were beaten. Some of the protesters were…

Feb 4, 2011
BULLETIN: Florida — Again: Multiagency Probe Leads To Federal Criminal Charges Against 9 People In Interconnected Ponzi And Fraud Schemes

BULLETIN: An investigation by the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Miami Police Department has led to criminal charges against nine defendants in three Florida fraud schemes that allegedly were interconnected. Seven of the defendants were indicted. Two others were charged via criminal information, and the…

Feb 3, 2011