BULLETIN: Receiver Seeks Default Judgments Against Key Zeek Rewards’ Clawback Defendants
BULLETIN: (6th Update 8:34 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) Zeek Rewards’ receiver Kenneth D. Bell has gone to federal court in the Western District of North Carolina, seeking default judgments against key clawback defendants and alleged “winners” Trudy Gilmond and Jerry Napier, a figure in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi-scheme story. Bell is seeking more than $2.129 million from […]
RECOMMENDED READING: ‘Bank Of The Underworld’
UPDATED 12:12 P.M. EDT U.S.A. A thoughtful reader sent this along this morning. It’s a story by Jake Halpern in The Atlantic titled, “Bank of the Underworld[:] Liberty Reserve was like PayPal for the unbanked. Was it also a global money-laundering operation?” Here’s a snippet (italics added): Costa Rica was also increasingly known as a […]
In Conference Call For ‘SVM Global Initiative,’ Speaker Makes Veiled Reference To UFunClub Cross-Border Scheme Under Investigation In Thailand: Are North American ‘Sovereign Citizens’ At Work?
Are “sovereign citizens” immersed in the “SVM Global Initiative” and “UFunClub” cross-border, network-marketing schemes? “Sovereign citizens” may have an irrational belief that laws do not apply to them. It is not unusual for them to be involved in financial fraud, and some “sovereigns” have been linked to MLM HYIP frauds and securities offering frauds. Individuals […]
COURTING TROUBLE: In Bogus Promo, Obama Shown As Pitchman For ‘MyAdvertisingPays’
Depicting then-President George W. Bush as a fan of the AdSurfDaily MLM HYIP “program” backfired in spectacular fashion in 2008, drawing the attention of the U.S. Secret Service. Federal agents eventually seized more than $80 million in an asset-forfeiture case. ASD President Andy Bowdoin, accused of operating a cross-border Ponzi scheme, was indicted. He later […]
BULLETIN: Receiver Sues USHBB Inc., Maker Of Zeek Videos — And Ties Firm To AdSurfDaily Ponzi Scheme
9th UPDATE 9:01 P.M. EDT U.S.A. Indianapolis-based USHBB Inc. and three of its principals — James A. Moore, Robert Mecham and Oscar H. Brown — have been sued by the court-appointed receiver in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi- and pyramid-scheme case. Receiver Kenneth D. Bell alleges USHBB, a producer of videos, also did work for the […]
PARTINGS: Ronald C. Machen Jr., Whose Office Led AdSurfDaily Criminal Prosecution, Is Leaving Post As U.S. Attorney For District Of Columbia
“Serving as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia has been the highest honor of my professional career. I am tremendously grateful to the President, Attorney General Holder, and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton for placing their trust in me. The men and women of this office are among the most dedicated and talented public […]
Court Filings Show Self-Identified Church Sent $10,000 To Zeek Rewards 9 Days Before Collapse; 2 Other Checks From An Individual Were Marked ‘Blessing’
UPDATED 8:42 P.M. ET U.S.A. Members of the faith community joining MLM HYIP schemes is a problem. It happened with the $119 million AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme and the $72 million Legisi scam in 2008, for example. It’s happening currently with the “Achieve Community” scheme. Earlier, members of TelexFree — an alleged $1.8 billion pyramid scheme […]
TelexFree/iFreeX Figure Sann Rodrigues Appears In Car With Emerson Fittipaldi; Is Brazilian Racing Legend Being Duped By MLM Huckster?
UPDATED 2:14 P.M. ET U.S.A. It is not unusual for financial fraudsters to seek to rub elbows with famous people or to imply ties to them as a means of sanitizing purported “opportunities” or accenting their own bona fides. Recent examples of this include Florida-based Ponzi-schemer/racketeer Scott Rothstein, who mixed with the elite as his […]
AdClickXpress, Successor Scam To 2 Earlier Scams, Stirring Again — And Gets Bad Press In South African Media
“6. I affirm that I am not an employee or official of any government agency, nor am I acting on behalf of or collecting information for or on behalf of any government agency. I affirm that I am not an employee, by contract or otherwise, of any media or research company, and I am not […]
MILESTONE: The PP Blog’s 2,500th Post: Pennies For Our Thoughts
EDITOR’S NOTE: This post originally was published at 12:40 a.m. ET on Nov. 3. It will continue to appear at the top of the PP Blog for a while, but new stories will appear below it . . . Dear Readers, What a long, strange, occasionally exhilarating and sometimes frightening ride it has been. This […]
Quebec Moves To Shut Down Site That Purportedly Monitors HYIP Programs, Saying Operator Is Aiding Scammers
If the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) gets its way, a website styled maxhyip.com will be shut down and its operator blocked from promoting “products and services relating to various high-yield investment programs (HYIP[s]) to Quebeckers.” The alleged operator of the site is Steeve Beaudin, against whom AMF is seeking a cease-trade order and “administrative […]