PatrickPretty.com

Category: Alleged Ponzi Schemes

Now, A ‘B-Movie’ Ponzi Scheme: Producer Mahmoud Karkehabadi Charged With 89 Felonies, Faces $11 Million Bail, California AG Says

EDITOR’S NOTE: If you’re keeping a Bubba Blue notebook on how to have a Ponzi scheme — as opposed to shrimp — here’s one for your list. UPDATED AT 12:33 P.M. June 6, 2013. See Comments thread below. Mahmoud Karkehabadi has been sentenced to 27 years in state prison . . . A producer of…

Aug 25, 2010
Pyramid Scheme Operated From Building Known As ‘One Pyramid Center’; Pennsylvania AG Says; Universities, Nonprofits Swindled In Alleged Caper With Offshore Tentacles

Four Pennsylvania residents have been charged in an alleged pyramid-scheme caper that gathered more than $7.5 million and bilked universities, nonprofits, local governments and other clients, investigators said. Charged in the case were Brian James Murray, 67, of Scranton; Murray’s wife, Diane D. Murray, 66; Christine M. Oliver-Shean, 51, of Scranton; and Oliver-Shean’s husband, Timothy…

Aug 25, 2010
BULLETIN: Trevor Cook Sentenced To 25 Years In Federal Prison; Victims Lost At Least $158 Million In International Forex Ponzi Scheme That Traded On Religion

BULLETIN: Ponzi schemer Trevor Cook has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for his role in an international Forex Ponzi scheme that gathered more than $190 million and fleeced victims out of more than $158 million. In ordering the prison term, U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum sided with the prosecution’s recommendation of a…

Aug 24, 2010
UNACCEPTABLE: ‘Hopefully One Day He Will Pick The Wrong Target And . . . Someone Will Take A Shotgun To Him,’ Internet Marketer Says About ‘Salty Droid’ Author

DISCLOSURE: I was a volunteer Moderator at the Warrior Forum (WF) between December 2007 and July 2008. I learned what is best — and worst — about Internet Marketing at the WF. Just as my Mod days were coming to an end, the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme case was coming to the fore — and Internet…

Aug 23, 2010
KABOOM! Feds Release Info On ‘Alpha Trade Group’ Forex Scheme With Ties To Mexico, Panama; Records Suggest Scheme Was Collapsing Even Prior To Promos On TalkGold, MoneyMakerGroup Forums

Yet another HYIP scheme pushed on the TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup forums has been outlined by federal prosecutors — this time in Florida. The name of the scheme was Alpha Trade Group (ATG), and web records show that the scheme was pitched on TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup beginning on Oct. 7, 2009. Court records, meanwhile, show that…

Aug 23, 2010
BREAKING NEWS: Another Spectacular Ponzi Scheme Alleged In Florida; OLINT Operator David A. Smith Charged In Caribbean Forex Caper; Extradition To United States Expected

BULLETIN: A citizen of Jamaica has been charged by U.S. prosecutors in Orlando with operating a Forex Ponzi scheme alleged to have gathered more than $200 million from more than 6,000 investors. David A. Smith had help from unindicted co-conspirators in Florida, prosecutors charged. The office of U.S. Attorney A. Brian Albritton of the Middle…

Aug 19, 2010
BULLETIN: Church Pastor Was Running Forex Ponzi Scheme, CFTC Says; Agency Gets Emergency Asset Freeze Against Jeremiah C. Yancy

A church pastor targeted congregants in a Forex Ponzi scheme in which he misappropriated at least $462,000, the CFTC said. The pastor, Jeremiah C. Yancy, previously had been implicated by Idaho regulators in a real-estate swindle and scheme to sell unregistered securities that resulted in ruinous losses for investors, according to records. Yancy also is…

Aug 19, 2010
Son Says AdSurfDaily’s Andy Bowdoin Used Religion To Fleece Masses And Disgraced Family Name; Huckster’s Scheming Dates Back To 1960s, Another Family Member Says; ‘He Has A Criminal Mind’

Growing up a child of Andy Bowdoin and advancing through adolescence and adulthood was hard because of Bowdoin’s habitual scheming, according to Scott Bowdoin, Andy Bowdoin’s son. “He uses religion — always,” Scott Bowdoin, 42, said flatly of his 75-year-old father, noting he had not spoken to Andy Bowdoin in about 15 years because the…

Aug 16, 2010
BREAKING NEWS: Andy Bowdoin’s Son Comments On Father’s Ponzi Case; ‘He Is A Man With No Conscience; He Has Been Doing This All His Life’

The PP Blog conducted an interview this morning with Scott Bowdoin, a son of AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin. Scott Bowdoin stressed that he did not approve of his father’s conduct or support Andy Bowdoin in any way. In August 2008, the U.S. Secret Service alleged that Andy Bowdoin was at the helm of a massive…

Aug 16, 2010
UPDATE: Robert Hodgins Still Wanted By Interpol; Co-Defendant In Narcotics Probe With Link To AdSurfDaily Case Sentenced To Prison; Colombian Drug Business Used Same Debit Card As ASD

A Colombian national implicated in an international conspiracy to launder drug money has been sentenced to 45 months in prison, federal prosecutors announced. Meanwhile, another figure in the alleged scheme — Robert Hodgins, the operator of Dallas-based Virtual Money Inc. (VM) — remains at large, prosecutors said. Hodgins is wanted by Interpol on a warrant…

Aug 15, 2010
BULLETIN: $200 Million Ponzi And Affinty-Fraud Scheme Alleged By Feds In New Jersey; Eli Weinstein Arrested By FBI

UPDATED 2:40 P.M. EDT (U.S.A) The Newark Star-Ledger and the Asbury Park Press are reporting that New Jersey real-estate developer Eli Weinstein has been arrested by the FBI in a Ponzi and affinity-fraud case that may involve $200 million or more. Both newspapers had photographers on the scene as the arrest was made this morning.…

Aug 12, 2010