PatrickPretty.com

Author: PatrickPretty.com

  • BULLETIN: FBI Foils ‘Chilling’ Plot To Kill Children, Families En Masse; Mohamed Osman Mohamud, A U.S. Citizen, Tried To Detonate Explosives-Laden Van At Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony In Portland, Ore.; Charged With Attempting To Use Weapon Of Mass Destruction

    BULLETIN: (UPDATED 6:41 A.M. ET U.S.A. Nov. 28) The FBI and police officers in Oregon have foiled a plot by a naturalized U.S. citizen to kill children and entire families by detonating a car bomb at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland yesterday.

    Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, of Corvallis, Ore., was charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. He was born in Somalia and faces life in prison if convicted.

    Crowd photos taken at the scene just prior to 6 p.m. yesterday, when the tree was scheduled to be lighted, appear to show that people by the hundreds attended the ceremony. The FBI said they were not in danger because the agency had intercepted the plot months ago, had kept Mohamud under surveillance as part of a long-term undercover probe and that the bomb be believed he was detonating was inert.

    “This defendant’s chilling determination is a stark reminder that there are people — even here in Oregon — who are determined to kill Americans,” said  U.S. Attorney Dwight C. Holton of the District of Oregon.

    ‘Absolutely Committed To Carrying Out An Attack On A Very Grand Scale’

    The day after Thanksgiving in the United States is known in the retail trade as “Black Friday.” Many Americans had a long holiday weekend and, as had become tradition, were crowding into holiday events and retail stores to pluck Black Friday bargains.

    “The [Portland] threat was very real,” said  said Arthur Balizan, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon. “Our investigation shows that Mohamud was absolutely committed to carrying out an attack on a very grand scale.”

    Given the chilling news that an American wanted to kill as many fellow Americans as possible by detonating explosives at a crowded holiday event, Balizan stressed that Portland’s public never was in danger.

    “I want to reassure the people of this community that, at every turn, we denied him the ability to actually carry out the attack,” Balizan said.

    Mohamud sought to contact a party “overseas” more than a year ago,  the FBI said.

    “[I]n August 2009, Mohamud was in e-mail contact with an unindicted associate (UA1) overseas who is believed to be involved in terrorist activities,” the FBI said. “In December 2009, while UA1 was located in the northwest frontier province of Pakistan, Mohamud and UA1 discussed the possibility of Mohamud traveling to Pakistan to engage in violent jihad. UAI allegedly referred Mohamud to a second unindicted associate (UA2) overseas and provided Mohamud with a name and email address to facilitate the process.”

    “In the months that followed, Mohamud allegedly made several unsuccessful attempts to contact UA2,” the FBI continued. “Ultimately, an FBI undercover operative contacted Mohamud via e-mail in June 2010 under the guise of being an associate of UA1. Mohamud and the FBI undercover operative then agreed to meet in Portland in July 2010. At this meeting, Mohamud allegedly told the FBI undercover operative that he had written articles that were published in Jihad Recollections, an online magazine that advocated violent jihad. Mohamud also indicated that he wanted to become’ operational.’ Asked what he meant by ‘operational,’ Mohamud stated that he wanted to put an ‘explosion’ together, but needed help.”

    Mohamud had been contemplating jihad for four years, the FBI said. Eventually he identified Portland’s tree-lighting ceremony as his target.

    Mohamud Knew Children, Parents Would Be In In The Crowd; Portland Deliberately Targeted Because Of Location

    That children and their parents would be attending the Portland ceremony mattered nothing to Mohamud, who moved forward with the plan, the FBI said. Chillingly, Mohamud speculated that his bid to kill Portland residents would be less apt to be detected.

    “. . . it’s in Oregon; and Oregon like you know, nobody ever thinks about it,” the FBI quoted Mohamud as telling an undercover operative.

    The steadfast plan was to look for a “huge mass that will . . . be attacked in their own element with their families celebrating the holidays,” the FBI said.

    As the attack plan moved forward, the FBI said, Mohamud focused on logistics, deciding on a location for the bomb to be detonated and mailing “bomb components to the undercover FBI operatives, who he believed were assembling the device.”

    He also plotted a way to flee the United States after the attack, the FBI said.

    Mohamud “mailed” passport photos to undercover operatives “as part of a plan to help him sneak out of the country after the attack,” the FBI said. “In addition, Mohamud provided the undercover FBI operatives with a thumb drive that contained detailed directions to the bomb location and operational instructions for the attack.”

    ‘Test’ Detonation Conducted In Rural Oregon Prior To Urban Tree-Lighting Event

    A test detonation occurred in a remote section of Oregon 22 days before the planned Black Friday attack, the FBI said.

    “[O]n November 4, 2010, Mohamud and the undercover FBI operatives traveled to a remote location in Lincoln County, Ore., where they detonated a bomb concealed in a backpack as a trial run for the upcoming attack,” the FBI said.  “Afterwards, on the drive back to Corvallis, undercover FBI operatives questioned Mohamud as to whether he was capable of looking at the bodies of those who would be killed in the upcoming attack in Portland. According to the affidavit, Mohamud responded, ‘I want whoever is attending that event to leave, to leave either dead or injured.’”

    Upon returning to Corvallis that same day, Mohamud recorded a video of himself with the undercover FBI operatives in which he read a written statement that offered a rationale for his bomb attack, the FBI said.

  • Leaming Claimed Small Town Targeted Him For ‘DEATH’; Second Woman Blocked By Federal Judge From Filing ‘Notary’ Claim In AdSurfDaily Case Has Leaming Tie; Leaming And ASD Figure Christian Oesch Try To Sue United States

    Kenneth Wayne Leaming, also known as "Kenneth Wayne" and "Keny."

    UPDATED 5:52 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) A Washington state man emerging as a figure in the AdSurfDaily forfeiture case claimed a small town targeted him for “DEATH” and threatened to kill him by “HUNTING” him down “in screaming packs and mobs” and using “several armed street gangs” that served as police, according to records.

    Kenneth Wayne Leaming of Spanaway filed a lien for $10 million in 2009 against the city of Puyallup, Wash., in the case. Among the claims were that Puyallup engaged in terrorism by controlling “multiple electronic broadcast media” and employing police who used “chemical and biological weapons,” “machine guns” and “explosives.”

    The lien was notarized by Tina M. Hall, a Leaming business associate and another emerging figure in the ASD case. Hall’s notary license was revoked last month. Leaming has been linked by the Anti-Defamation League to an “extremist group” known as “Little Shell Pembina Band of North America.”

    Puyallup is a city of about 33,000 in Pierce County.

    Pattern Of Filing Astronomical Liens

    In a separate case in which Leaming’s name is referenced as a co-defendant with Janice Kay Bryson, a lien for more than $19 billion was placed against several individuals and the city of Fife, Wash., another small town in Pierce County. Records show that Leaming has been assessed sanctions of at least $15,000 in Washington state for filing false liens.

    Fife has a population of about 4,800. Puyallup, named in the $10 million lien, somehow also became a party along with Fife in the $19 billion lien.

    Lien For Billions Filed Against Hospital With Historic Roots To St. Francis Of Assisi And The Order Of Poor Ladies Founded By St. Clare

    Leaming also filed a bogus lien for $9.2 billion against St. Clare Hospital, a faith-based facility in Washington state that admitted 6,995 patients, handled 48,363 patient visits to its Emergency Department and received 26,114 outpatient visits during the 2008 fiscal year.

    Hall also affixed her notary seal to the lien against St. Clare, which is operated by Franciscan Heath Systems and traces its faith-based healthcare mission in Washington state to 1891.

    The Franciscan Order is named after St. Francis, known the world over as St. Francis of Assisi, who died 784 years ago, in 1226, after rejecting earthly wealth and living in poverty as a street preacher. He is one the most revered figures in the annals of Christianity.

    One of the first followers of the man who became known as St. Francis of Assisi was Chiara Offreduccio. She became known as Clare of Assisi and, after being elevated to sainthood, St. Clare. Clare of Assisi was the founder of the Order of Poor Ladies which, like the Franciscan Order, rejected earthly wealth. The Order of Poor Ladies went on to become known as the Order of St. Clare, known the world over as the “Poor Clares.”

    Leaming sought to attach “all tangible and intangible property” of the St. Clare Franciscan facility, including its money, furnishings and fixtures, according to records. St. Clare was Leaming’s community hospital in Spanaway. Ironically, AdSurfDaily members had positioned ASD in promotional materials as the invention of a Christian “genius” and an attractive way for people of faith to make enormous sums of money by clicking on advertisements for less than 20 minutes a day.

    Members who recruited other members were paid commissions of 10 percent. Commissions for second-level recruits in the MLM scheme were set at 5 percent. ASD member and purported company “trainer” Robert Fava claimed in a testimonial that he made $1,000 a day from ASD.

    ASD President Andy Bowdoin, speaking at an event in Las Vegas in May 2008, exhorted attendees to “to have an attitude of gratitude with God” and imagine themselves in possession of “a big check coming in from AdSurfDaily.” Bowdoin thanked God from the stage for developing him into a “money magnet.”

    Video from the Las Vegas event shows members standing in line to turn money over to ASD — and employees placing paperwork into plastic baskets. By Aug. 1, 2008, about two months after the Las Vegas gathering, the U.S. Secret Service seized tens of millions of dollars from 10 personal bank accounts held by Bowdoin, amid allegations of money-laundering, wire fraud and operating a Ponzi scheme. Court filings placed the amount seized from Bowdoin at $65.8 million.

    One of his personal accounts contained more than $31.6 million; another contained more than $23.7 million. Prosecutors said ASD was not Bowdoin’s first brush with the law. In the 1990s, he pleaded guilty to felonies that flowed from an Alabama securites caper, avoiding prison by agreeing to make restitution to victims.

    About $14 million more under the control of Clarence Busby and an ASD-related  company known as Golden Panda Ad Builder also was seized by the Secret Service. The abbreviation “Rev.” was attached to Busby’s name 120 times in an ASD-related court filing that accused the company and unnamed co-conspirators of racketeering.

    Busby was accused by the SEC in the 1990s of participating in three prime bank schemes in which investors were promised enormous returns that did not materialize.

    Why Leaming, who acknowledges an “Almighty Creator” only known as “I am” in documents that identify Leaming as “Postmaster,” would seek to vex and bankrupt a faith-based hospital and two small towns in Washington state is unclear.

    Also unclear is why any ASD member would put faith in the purported legal skills of Leaming, who was accused of the unauthorized practice of law in the state five years ago and was the subject of a protection-from-abuse order filed by a notary public who claimed he coerced her into notarizing documents.

    At least two notaries public have lost their licenses in Washington state after performing work for Leaming, according to records.

    At Least 3 ASD Filers Have Leaming Ties

    Excluding himself, Leaming now has been linked to at least three people who either filed or attempted to file documents in the ASD case: Hall, Christian Oesch and Kathryn E. Aschlea.

    On June 11, 2010, Aschlea was blocked by U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer from filing a document styled “Claim by Notary Presentment/Acceptance” in the ASD forfeiture case in the District of Columbia.

    The nature of the blocked filing is not publicly known.

    Records in Washington state identify a woman by the same name as a notary public. Meanwhile, Kathryn Aschlea is listed as a business partner of Kenneth Wayne Leaming in a venture known as FAN NW LTD INC. Aschlea is listed as a “governing person” and vice president of the firm, with Leaming — shortening his name to “Kenneth Wayne” by dropping the surname “Leaming” in the registration — listed as president and a “governing person.”

    The unsuccessful bid to file in the ASD case occurred more than five months after Collyer issued a final order of forfeiture that granted the government title to the money seized by the U.S. Secret Service from Andy Bowdoin. Collyer signed an order in July 2009 that awarded the money seized from Busby’s Golden Panda to the government.

    Federal prosecutors announced more than two years ago that money declared forfeited would be used to compensate victims.

    Prosecutors brought the forfeiture case to enforce wire-fraud and money-laundering laws, according to court records. A racketeering statute also is referenced in the forfeiture complaint.

    Collyer has consistently ruled that nonparty claimants have no standing in the ASD case.

    On July 2, 2010 — nearly six months after Collyer issued the final forfeiture order and four months after Bowdoin appealed it — Collyer blocked Leaming and Christian Oesch from filing a document styled “Notice of Final Determination and Judgment by Christian Oesch and Kenneth Wayne.”

    Like Aschlea and Hall,  Oesch has a business tie to Leaming. A Leaming company known as AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS LAW INC. is listed as the registered agent for an Oesch-controlled company in Washington state known as HUMAN ECONOMIC RESOURCE SOLUTIONS LTD.

    Records list Hall as vice president of AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL, with Leaming as its president.

    Records suggest that within days of the July 2 docket entry in which Collyer blocked “Kenneth Wayne” and Oesch from filing the document styled “Notice of Final Determination and Judgment,” Leaming set the stage for ads positioning him as an “attorney” or “lawyer” to appear online. Those ads were removed by Justia.com, Oyez.org and Cornell University Law school earlier this month, after questions were raised about whether Leaming was a licensed attorney.

    Records show there have been multiple complaints about Leaming engaging in the unauthorized practice of law in Washington state. At least one of the complaints came from a woman who lost her notary’s license in 2005 as a result of notarizing documents on Leaming’s behalf, according to records.

    The woman also filed for a protection-from-abuse order against Leaming, according to records maintained by the Washington State Bar Association, which redacted the woman’s name in a 2005 letter to Leaming that accused him of the unauthorized practice of law.

    Records at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims show that “Kenneth Wayne” and Christian Oesch filed a complaint against the United States on July 23, 2010, about three weeks after Collyer rejected their bids to file a document on the ASD docket in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

    A public link to the complaint is not available. The docket, however, shows that the U.S. Department of Justice has filed a motion to dismiss the complaint. Whether Leaming and Oesch even can establish that the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (COFC), which typically hears contract disputes in a limited number cases in which the government waives sovereign immunity, has jurisdiction to hear an ASD-related dispute is far from clear.

    Leaming is listed as an “agent” for “MYHUB GROUP LLC” on the COFC docket. A company by that name is listed in Nevada records as in “default,” with Christian Oesch as its manager.

    Earlier this month, some ASD members received an email that referenced “MYHUB.” The email appeared to be a compendium assembled by ASD member Sara Mattoon. The same email referenced a purported “legal opinion” by “Keny.”

    “Keny” is a nickname used by Leaming.

    The email asserted that ASD members who filed a restitution claim through Rust Consulting, the government-approved claims administrator, might face a lawsuit from a group of ASD members.

    “Again, we are asking that our Claimants do not engage in the DOJ’s Remission Process, as long you want to maintain being part of our Group Claims whatsoever,” the portion of the email attributed to MYHUB read in part. “If you are indeed wanting to eat on the other side of the fence, you must let us know before you submit anything to the DOJ, without causing us potential harm and further damages. In case you were to fail to notify us, we would have a possible claim against you, and that’s not what you want us to do in the first place.”

  • BULLETIN: Appeals Court Upholds Conviction Of James Bunchan, Pyramid Schemer Who Scammed Investors, Plotted Murder Of 12 Witnesses And Identified Federal Prosecutor As Possible Homicide Target

    BULLETIN: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has upheld the conviction of James Bunchan in a murder-for-hire plot that grew from a pyramid scheme that gathered $20 million and mostly targeted people of Cambodian descent.

    Federal prosecutors described the pyramid scheme as “devastating,” saying it relied on smoke and mirrors to fleece more than 500 victims, many of whom lacked command of English and had little formal education.

    While awaiting trial in the pyramid case, Bunchan discussed hiring a hitman to kill Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Pirozzolo of the District of Massachusetts. Pirozzolo specializes in prosecuting economic crimes.

    Bunchan was the founder and owner of World Marketing Direct Selling (WMDS) and OneUniverseOnline (1UOL), which were positioned as purveyors of cosmetics, health and dietary supplements.

    The pyramid scheme collapsed in early 2005. Federal prosecutors said the companies generated money almost exclusively through the recruitment of new investors or “members.”

    While jailed in Massachusetts awaiting trial in the pyramid case, Bunchan hatched a murder-for-hire plot that called for 12 people be believed would testify against him to be killed. The FBI became aware of the plot and staged a sting in which Bunchan believed an assassin named “Jamal” would carry out the murders for a fee.

    “Jamal” actually was an undercover police officer posing as a hitman.

    Bunchan first was convicted on the pyramid charges and sentenced to 35 years in federal prison. After the pyramid trial, he was tried on charges flowing from the murder-for-hire plot. A jury returned guilty verdicts in the murder-for-hire plot, and Bunchan was sentenced to 25 years.

    All in all, Bunchan’s pyramid scheme resulted in sentences totaling 60 years. His bids to overturn convictions in both cases now have failed.

    Pirozzolo, who joined the Justice Department in 2003 and encountered the Bunchan pyramid case two years later, was promoted to First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts last year.

    In 2007, Pirozzolo received the Justice Department’s Director’s Award for his role in the investigation and prosecution of illegal mutual fund market timing conduct occurring at Prudential Securities Inc.

    Pirozzolo also received the Chief Postal Inspector Award for his work on the Prudential market timing cases. In 2008, he received a Victim Rights Award for his work on the Bunchan case.

    Visit Leagle.com to read the murder-for-hire appeals decision against Bunchan.

  • BULLETIN: Pyramid Scheme Figure Tied To International Narcotics Traffickers Pleads Guilty In Money-Laundering Conspiracy; David Murcia And Co-Conspirators Set Up ‘Hundreds Of Companies’ To Clean Up Dirty Cash

    “The so-called ‘Bernie Madoff of Colombia’ now stands convicted of money-laundering . . .” — U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara

    David Murcia

    BULLETIN: The Colombian mastermind of the D.M.G. Group (DMG) pyramid scheme has pleaded guilty in New York  to conspiring to launder drug money in the United States.

    David Eduardo Helmut Murcia Guzman (David Murcia) was extradited under heavy guard from Colombia to the United States in January. DMG was a “multi-level marketing scheme” that began in 2003, largely targeting the poor. The firm provided prepaid debit cards that permitted participants to purchase electronics through DMG, prosecutors said.

    DMG’s membership ranks swelled to more than 400,000, with the scheme capturing hundreds of millions of dollars. The pyramid collapsed in 2008 — but not before Murcia and others had set up an international money-laundering operation that routed narcotics proceeds through Mexico and concealed the criminality in real estate and other holdings in the United States, prosecutors said.

    “The so-called ‘Bernie Madoff of Colombia’ now stands convicted of money-laundering in Manhattan federal court,” said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. “Criminals have an increasingly global reach. As they develop more and more sophisticated methods of concealing their criminal proceeds, we will continue to track them, working with our law enforcement partners to bring them to justice. The United States will never be a haven for illegal funds.”

    Hundreds of “subsidiary and affiliated companies” were established in a bid to cleanse dirty money, prosecutors said.

    Bharara’s Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit handled the case, which includes multiple defendants and multiple guilty pleas. The DEA, ICE, the New York Police Department and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs played prominent roles in the case.

    See story from Jan. 16, 2010.

    See Aug. 9 story about the extradition of Murcia’s legal adviser Margarita Leonor Pabon Castro, who now is among six defendants who have pleaded guilty.

  • SPECIAL REPORT: Woman Blocked By Federal Judge From Filing Claim In ASD Case Notarized $9.2 Billion ‘Lien’ Against Hospital In Washington State; Kenneth Wayne Leaming Sought To Attach ‘All Tangible’ Property Of Franciscan Healthcare Facility

    Kenneth Wayne Leaming, also known as Kenneth Wayne.
    Kenneth Wayne Leaming, also known as Kenneth Wayne.

    UPDATED 8:03 A.M. ET (U.S.A., Nov. 23) A Washington state notary public stripped of her license last month notarized a purported “admiralty” lien for the colossal sum of $9.24 billion against Franciscan Heath Systems, the faith-based operator of St. Clare Hospital of Lakewood, Wash., according to records.

    The Franciscan tradition in Washington state traces its roots to 1891, when the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia founded St. Joseph Hospital in Tacoma. St. Clare is a 106-bed facility that serves Lakewood, Spanaway, Steilacoom, DuPont, University Place and other communities in Pierce County, according to records.

    The purported lien, acknowledged with the seal of notary Tina M. Hall, was in favor of her business colleague, Kenneth Wayne Leaming, according to records in Pierce County.

    Both Hall and Leaming are listed as officers of American International Business Law Inc., a Spanaway company some members of Florida-based AdSurfDaily say is performing legal work on their behalf.

    U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer of the District of Columbia has blocked bids by both Hall and Leaming to file pleadings in the ASD case. Hall lost her notary license last month after notarizing a string of bizarre documents in Washington state. The nature of the documents she sought to file in the ASD case, which is being prosecuted in the District of Columbia, has not been disclosed publicly.

    Some ASD members have said they intended to pursue an admiralty claim against the government.

    Leaming, using the notary services of Hall, sought in June 2009 to attach “all tangible and intangible property” of the hospital, including its fixtures, furnishings, motor vehicles, bank accounts, passbooks, saving certificates, stock certificates, lines of credit, inventories, promissory notes, office equipment, educational equipment — and even its mineral and water rights, according to records.

    Hall’s license was revoked about 14 months later. The precise reason for the revocation — and whether the documents filed against the hospital played any role in the revocation decision — was not immediately clear.

    Other records show that Hall has filed similar documents on Leaming’s behalf in other cases. One of them was for $10 million against members of the City Council of Puyallap, Wash.

    Hall also notarized documents for other clients, including a filing styled an “Affidavit of Alternative Obligation” for $100 million against a bank dubbed an “agent” for the Internal Revenue Service.

    Such scorched-earth filings have been referred to in other cases as “paper terrorism,” a litigation approach that is designed to rattle the nerves of judges, prosecutors, attorneys and courtroom opponents. ASD member Curtis Richmond has been associated with such filings in a separate case in Utah. In the Utah case,  Richmond was among a group of litigants sued successfully for racketeering after a purported “Indian” tribe with which they were involved placed a bogus lien against a county prosecutor for $250 million.

    Leaming, who was accused in 2005 of the unauthorized practice of law in Washington state, was dubbed “Postmaster” in the bizarre filing against Franciscan Heath Systems, the hospital, Pierce County Court Commissioner Mark Gelman and others.

    Members of law enforcement were expressly warned in the notarized document not to attempt to “negate” Leaming’s wishes to attach the property of the hospital and others. Parties who attempted to interfere “shall be deemed outlaws and/or felons and shall be prosecuted,” according to the filing.

    If filing liens against a hospital that has the responsibility for tending to the needs of entire communities were not enough, Leaming also filed liens or claims against the Washington State Bar Association, members of the Practice of Law Board and others.

    These liens were styled “commercial liens” or “admiralty” claims or “international claims.” On Oct. 16, 2009, a judge ruled them null and void and ordered Leaming to pay the attorneys’ fees and court costs of his targets. The judge also imposed a $10,000 sanction against Leaming to be paid to the Washington State Bar Association’s Lawyer’s Fund for Client Protection.

    See earlier story about the revocation of Hall’s notary license for “professional misconduct.”

    See earlier story about ads listing Leaming as an attorney being pulled from prominent websites.

    See earlier story about threatening email received by some ASD members.

  • ANNOUNCEMENT: Special Report On Bizarre Events Associated With AdSurfDaily Case Coming Soon

    The PP Blog will publish a Special Report on bizarre events associated with figures in the AdSurfDaily case soon. We anticipate that the report will be published within the hour.

    UPDATE: Story is here.

  • BREAKING NEWS: Atlanta Securities Attorney Gregory Bartko Jailed Immediately After Guilty Verdicts In North Carolina Fraud Case; Judge Finds That Lawyer Committed Perjury While Testifying

    The Atlanta securities attorney who was defending clients in the alleged Billionaire Boys Club Ponzi case in Detroit and then was indicted in North Carolina on charges that he was running his own fraud scheme has been found guilty.

    Gregory Bartko was immediately jailed by U.S. District Judge James C. Dever III, who found that Bartko had committed perjury on the witness stand in the North Carolina case. Jurors had just returned guilty verdicts against Bartko for conspiracy, mail fraud and selling unregistered securities.

    How the Detroit case in which Bartko was representing accused Ponzi schemer John J. Bravata against civil charges filed by the SEC will proceed is unclear.

    Prosecutors said the North Carolina case against Bartko was one in which an attorney tried to hide behind criminals to insulate himself from prosecution.

    “We should not let criminals get away simply because they have carefully covered their tracks,” said U.S. Attorney George E.B. Holding of the Eastern District of North Carolina.

    “Complicated and difficult crimes by sophisticated and careful criminals may not be easy to investigate or prosecute, but they are some of the most important cases our office handles,” Holding said. “In this case, an experienced Atlanta securities attorney had used other criminal players to insulate himself from prosecution. He had evaded SEC audits, avoided examination by the bar association, and managed to fool nearly everyone, keeping both his license to practice law and his securities licenses.

    “The Defendant was involved in a scheme to defraud victims of millions of dollars but yet was still representing clients before the SEC,” Holding said. “Such a defendant deserves to be prosecuted to the full degree under the law.”

    Assisting in the Bartko case were the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the IRS and the North Carolina Secretary of State’s Office.

    See earlier story on the PP Blog.

    See Holding’s news release on the conviction and jailing of Bartko.

    The 2009 Michigan case became known as the “Billionaires Boys Club” prosecution because a Bravata company was named “BBC Equities,” and the SEC asserted in July 2009 that BBC was intended to stand for “Billionaire Boys Club.”

    A California Ponzi scheme in the 1980s also was known as “The Billionaire Boys Club.”

  • THE BIG CHILL: PP Blog Gets ‘Dear Rat Bastard’ Email With Repeated ‘Doomsday’ References; Blog Considers Note A Threat And Will Share It With Law-Enforcement Agencies

    EDITOR’S NOTE: This post quotes content from an email received early this evening by the PP Blog. Some readers may find the language objectionable.

    UPDATED 11:16A.M. ET (U.S.A., Nov. 22) In what it views as part of a continuing pattern of harassment and a bid to chill its reporting on online fraud schemes and Internet crime, the PP Blog apparently was fraudulently registered as a new member of an online “opportunity” and has received an email that apparently “confirms” the registration. The email, which was received at 6:01 p.m. (ET) today, was sent to the Blog’s support address — specifically to the attention of “RatBastard Fucktard.”

    “Dear Rat Bastard,” the “registration” email began.

    It is possible that the email originated off a server in Michigan that is associated with a cash-gifting program.

    The person who used the Blog’s address fraudulently appears to have caused a fraudulent “affiliate” site for the “opportunity” to be created with the Blog’s address, while causing the word “Doomsday” to appear in the body of the “registration” email to further hector the Blog.

    In late October and early November, the PP Blog was subjected to sustained DDoS attacks. The Blog shared specific details of the attacks with law enforcement.  At 8:29 p.m. today, the Blog forwarded the “header” information from the “registration” email to law enforcement.

    After the “Dear Rat Bastard” greeting, the “registration” email continued:

    “Everyone in our community welcomes you as a valuable and productive member. You will now be able to share the message and mission of ‘Winners 2011’ which is spreading like a wildfire across the globe. We are grateful of your decision and assure you that the entire community will support you at all times as well as those you help by inviting them to also become members of ‘Winners 2011’.”

    The PP Blog made no decision to register for a program known as Winners 2011 and has no knowledge about a program by that name, except for cursory knowledge it gained this evening after being registered fraudulently for the program. Moreover, the Blog never agreed to receive email from Winners 2011 or subscribe to a list controlled by the program. The “registration” email received by the Blog this evening did not include an unsubscribe link.

    The Blog’s address appears to have been entered into a form by a criminal who made a calculation that the “Rat Bastard” and “Doomsday” references would chill the Blog’s reporting while at once creating maintenance chores for the Blog.

    “WE urge you to login to your back office and become very familiar with all the information it offers so you will be able to speak to potential new members intelligently and knowledgably,” the  “registration” email continued. “Stay in close contact with your inviter and their inviter as well as teach your people to do the same, this is a team effort.

    “Remember: Winners have simply formed the habit of doing things losers don’t like to do,” the email concluded.

    The Winners 2011 program may be associated with a gifting program known as 14Eagles, which is being pitched from websites, social-media sites and forums.

    Today’s false registration of the PP Blog as a member of Winners 2011 follows a pattern of strange events that have occurred on Sundays. Read earlier story based on events that occurred on Sunday, Oct. 3.

  • Egg-Themed Domains Used To Promote HYIPs That Flushed Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars Go Missing — Plus, An Update On Data Network Affiliates Amid Suggestion Thyroid Cancer Sufferers Can Benefit From Product Called ‘O-WOW TurboMune’

    Four egg-themed domain names used to drive business to HYIPs that ended in spectacular flameouts and foreshadowed a warning from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) have gone missing.

    The domains — including one that redirected to an HYIP site known bizarrely as Cash Tanker, which used an image of Jesus Christ to promote a purported payout of 2 percent a day — first were promoted on the pro-AdSurfDaily Surf’s Up forum  by a poster who used the handle “joe” in December 2009.

    The egg-themed promo featured a pitch that HYIP participants were wise to spread risk by not keeping all of their eggs in “ONE BASKET.” It also hawked Gold Nugget Invest (7.5 percent a week); Saza Investments (9 percent a week); and Genius Funds (6.5 percent a week).

    Despite an active criminal investigation into the business practices of ASD President Andy Bowdoin and alleged co-conspirators — and despite a RICO lawsuit filed by members against Bowdoin and repeated warnings from various regulators about the dangers of HYIPs and autosurfs — the egg-themed promo claimed in all-caps that “I MAKE 2000.00 A WEEK” and directly solicited ASD members to part with their money.

    One Surf’s Up member dissed critics of the promo, calling them “dead wrong.”

    “I also make a lot of money from those four and your remarks tell me you don’t know anything about them,” the member claimed. “[T]hey are very reputable [companies] who have been around for years….and the money is NOT made from ‘new’ people’s money….google them and look at various forums and see what others have to say about them….I don’t even know Joe, but I can vouch for the programs!”

    A  series of spectacular collapses that consumed each of the HYIPs then followed over a period of just weeks, demonstrating that spreading risk across multiple HYIPs by putting eggs in multiple HYIP baskets was spectacularly poor advice that had produced a recipe for financial disaster.

    In July, FINRA said that Genius Funds cost investors about $400 million. The regulator launched a public-awareness campaign, one component of which was an ad campaign on Google designed to educate and inform the public about HYIP fraud.

    “Open the cyber door to HYIPs, and you will find hundreds of HYIP websites vying for investor attention,” FINRA said. “It is a bizarre substratum of the Internet.”

    Records show that the government of Belize had issued a warning about Gold Nugget Invest nearly a month before the egg-themed promo had appeared on Surf’s Up and at least two members had vouched for the program.

    FINRA also pointed to criminal charges filed by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in May against Nicholas Smirnow, the alleged operator of an HYIP Ponzi scheme known as Pathway To Prosperity that fleeced more than 40,000 people across the globe out of an estimated $70 million.

    Gold Nugget Invest (GNI) collapsed in early January 2010, about a month after the egg-themed promo had appeared on Surf’s Up. Surf’s Up went offline just days prior to the collapse of GNI, which was explained in bizarre fashion.

    Using baffling prose, a purported GNI manager claimed the program ended after it had attempted to gain “a crystal clear vision of our financial vortex” during the fourth quarter of 2009.

    After the collapse of the programs in the original egg-themed pitch on Surf’s Up, the domains then were set to redirect to other HYIPs.

    Some ASD members later turned their attention to promoting MLM programs such as Narc That Car/Crowd Sourcing International (CSI), Data Network Affiliates (DNA) and MPB Today.  CSI and DNA purport to be in the business of paying people to write down the license-plate numbers of cars for entry in a database. MPB Today purports to be in the grocery business.

    DNA, which once instructed people of faith that it was their “MORAL OBLIGATION” to hawk a purported mortgage-reduction program offered alongside the purported license-plate program, now appears to have morphed into a program known as One World One Website or “O-WOW.”

    An email received by members of the O-WOW program this weekend purported that a man suffering from terminal thyroid cancer had derived benefit from an O-WOW product known as “TurboMune” and that members somehow can earn “24% Annual Interest on their money” by giving it to O-WOW.

    If members don’t pay O-WOW before Nov. 30, they’ll earn a lower rate of interest (18 percent), according to an email received by members.

    Like DNA, O-WOW is associated with Phil Piccolo. During a radio program in August, Piccolo threatened critics with lawsuits and planted the seed that he could cause critics to experience physical pain. DNA has an “F” rating from the Better Business Bureau. So does CSI. So does United Pro Media, a company formerly operated by MPB Today’s Gary Calhoun.

    See the PP Blog’s Dec. 4, 2009, story on the egg-themed pitches on the Surf’s Up forum.

  • BREAKING NEWS: OLINT Boss David A. Smith Extradited To United States From Turks And Caicos Islands; Faces Charges In Spectacular Forex-Fraud Case In Orlando Region

    BULLETIN: Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) traveled to the Turks And Caicos Islands to take accused Ponzi schemer David A. Smith into custody. Smith has been transported to the United States and is jailed in Florida.

    Smith, who was serving a prison term in the islands for fraud and conspiracy, became the subject of an official request by the United States to extradite him to face federal charges in Florida for bilking investors out of more than $220 million.

    The director of ICE said the Smith fraud posed a danger to the U.S. banking system, and the Department of Homeland Security is involved in the probe of Smith’s business activities.

    “One of ICE-Homeland Security Investigations’ critical missions is investigating the flow of illicit money across U.S. borders and the criminal enterprises behind that money,” said ICE Director John Morton. “Not only do these kinds of financial schemes damage the lives of the thousands of victims, but the international money laundering involved poses a direct threat to the security of the U.S. financial system.”

    Smith was at the head of a Jamaican company known as Overseas Locket International Corp. (OLINT), prosecutors said. In 2006, he started another firm known as OLINT TCI Corp. Ltd. in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

    Both firms were described as “private investment clubs,” prosecutors said.

    Smith also was the majority owner in a Lake Mary, Fla., firm known as I-Trade FX LLC, prosecutors said.

    The scheme was pulled off with the help of unindicted co-conspirators in the United States, prosecutors said.

    The conspiracy was carried out in Seminole County, Fla., and was designed to channel money from the scheme into U.S. banks, prosecutors said.

    Residents of Orange County were affected by the scheme, prosecutors said. They noted that the unindicted co-conspirators were affiliated with a Florida company known as JIJ Investments. Prosecutors did not name the unindicted co-conspirators, describing them as “Directors” of JIJ.

    Federal prosecutors in the Middle District of Florida are involved in several actions targeted at alleged purveyors of massive fraud schemes.

    Assisting in the Smith case are U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), National Futures Association (NFA), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force.

    See earlier story.

  • DEVELOPING STORY: Tina M. Hall, VP Of Firm Linked To Kenneth Wayne Leaming, Had Notary License Revoked For ‘Professional Misconduct’; Woman With Same Name Sought To Intervene In AdSurfDaily Case

    A document that appears online features this purported likeness of Kenneth Wayne Leaming and purports to explain why he shortens his given name to "Kenneth Wayne."

    The state of Washington revoked the notary license of Tina M. Hall of Spanaway last month for “professional misconduct,” according to the Department of Licensing.

    Hall also is listed as vice president of American International Business Law Inc., a Spanaway company some AdSurfDaily members have said is performing legal work for a group of members.

    Separately, a woman identified as Tina M. Hall was denied leave to file pleadings in the AdSurfDaily forfeiture case by U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer on Jan. 27, 2010, and Feb. 12, 2010, according to the docket of the case. Each of the denied filings was styled “Claim by Notary Presentment.”

    Hall’s notary license was revoked about eight months later, according to records. Why the state took the action was not immediately clear. An entry on the state’s website notes a “finding” of professional misconduct and a revocation until March 3, 2015.

    The nature of the pleadings Hall apparently attempted to file in the ASD case was not immediately clear. Several weeks earlier, on Jan. 4, 2010, Collyer issued a forfeiture order that granted the government title to more than $65.8 million seized by the U.S. Secret Service from the personal bank accounts of ASD President Andy Bowdoin in August 2008.

    “Kenneth Wayne,” whose full given name is Kenneth Wayne Leaming, is listed as president of American International. The court docket in the ASD case shows that “Kenneth Wayne” was denied leave to file by Collyer on July 2, 2010. The denied pleading was styled “Notice of Final Determination and Judgment by Christian Oesch and Kenneth Wayne.”

    Oesch earlier had sought to intervene in the case by filing a pleading styled “MOTION to Set Aside Forfeiture & Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000 as Facts and Law will Prove.” Collyer denied the motion.

    Dozens of pro-se litigants sought unsuccessfully to intervene in the ASD case.

    Leaming, who goes by the nickname “Keny,” is believed to be the author of a purported “legal opinion” that some ASD members are using to discourage victims from filing a claim for restitution through the official claims administrator.

    Although Leaming advertised himself as a lawyer and published a fee structure of $250 an hour or $150 an hour for prepaid clients on websites operated by Justia.com, Oyez.org and Cornell University Law School, he does not appear to be a licensed attorney. Justia, Oyez and Cornell subsequently removed the listings, which used an address in Spanaway and the name of American International.

    Research by the PP Blog suggests Leaming began publishing the ad just days after Collyer denied him leave to file on July 2. The Washington State Bar Association sent Leaming a letter in 2005 that accused him of the unauthorized practice of law and being physically and emotionally abusive toward a notary public and coercing her to notarize documents.

    A document dubbed “Evidence of Name and Nationality” with Leaming’s full name (first, middle and last) and purported likeness appears online. The photo used in the document is similar to the photo used in the now-removed ads on the Justia, Oyez and Cornell websites. Using exceptionally formal language and stilted prose, the document purports to explain why Leaming drops his surname except for “familial” use.

    “On or about 20 December A.D. 1955 Edna Lottie and Raymond Roy, family LEAMING, begot an offspring son as a gift granted by the Almighty Creator, only known as ‘I Am’, granted it the proper name Kenneth Wayne, and the Nationality of an American National,” the document reads.

    “Kenneth Wayne also inherited the right to the family name LEAMING according to the historic practice of customs and usages,” the document continues. “Kenneth Wayne, having knowledge of the historic practice of customs and usages, and to avoid the confusion inherent in only being known as a son of ‘I Am’, presents himself according to is given name ‘Kenneth Wayne’ when acting as and for himself, and elects to only reference the family name (surname) when acting in a familial capacity.”