PatrickPretty.com

Category: Alleged Ponzi Schemes

BULLETIN: Trevor Cook Charged Criminally With Mail Fraud And Tax Evasion In Alleged $190 Million Ponzi Case In Minnesota

BULLETIN: Trevor Cook, the reputed head of a $190 million Ponzi scheme in Minnesota, has been charged criminally with mail fraud and income-tax evasion. Cook, 37, previously had been charged civilly by the SEC and the CFTC. The criminal charges filed today came after a probe by the FBI and the IRS Criminal Investigations Unit,…

Mar 30, 2010
Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force Credited With Bust In Bizarre Ohio Ponzi Involving ‘Unique Momentum Filter’; Enrique F. Villalba Charged With Wire Fraud

An Ohio man who graduated from West Point and earned a law degree in Washington state has been charged in a bizarre Ponzi and investment-fraud scheme that allegedly combined the science of physics with a unique “momentum filter” that purportedly enabled him to predict how the futures market would behave with â€œan uncanny degree of…

Mar 29, 2010
Secret Service Busts Another Alleged Ponzi In Florida; Michael Greenberg Accused Of Using 9 Company Names To Bilk Investors, Banks, Law Firm, Small Business Administration

A Florida man who spent time in prison for wire fraud and money-laundering in a previous Ponzi scheme embarked on a new scheme after his release, federal prosecutors said. Within two years of being released from custody in 1996 — and while still on supervised probation — Michael Greenberg, 50, started a new Ponzi and…

Mar 29, 2010
INetGlobal Accuses Former CEO Of Extortion Bid; Says Company Is Solvent; Accuses Government Of Leaking Search Warrant Affidavit To Press

Denying it was a Ponzi scheme, INetGlobal says a federal judge should release about $25 million, business records and computer equipment seized in an investigation by the U.S. Secret Service last month because the property was “unlawfully seized.” Meanwhile, INetGlobal has accused its former chief executive officer — whom it describes as a “informant” who…

Mar 26, 2010
BULLETIN: Autosurf Biz Takes Another Pounding; Federal Judge Adds Noobing As Receivership Defendant In Fraud Case Against Parent Company; 14 Other Subsidiaries Named

UPDATED 6:05 P.M. EDT (U.S.A., Jan. 20, 2011.) In yet another case that portends disaster for the so-called “autosurf” industry, a federal judge has ordered the Noobing autosurf to be added as a receivership defendant in a fraud case brought against its parent company. The FTC and attorneys general from Minnesota, North Carolina and Kansas…

Mar 25, 2010
DATA NETWORK AFFILIATES: License-Plate Data A ‘Loss Leader’; Company Statements Will Prove To Be ‘More Than 100% Accurate’

Using language with which followers of the long-running AdSurfDaily Ponzi/pyramid-scheme saga will be familiar, Data Network Affiliates (DNA) has declared its license-plate data program a “loss leader.” Meanwhile, the company declared it has “no competition” and that members will come to understand its advertising claims are true once it rolls out three-fourths of its program.…

Mar 25, 2010
ANALYSIS: Another Troubled Autosurf, Another Bizarre PR Approach; Some INetGlobal Supporters Attack The Messenger

If you follow news about the so-called autosurf “industry,” the mind-boggling PR approach by some supporters of Steve Renner’s INetGlobal is apt to remind you of the bizarre approach employed by Florida-based AdSurfDaily and some members of the now-defunct Surf’s Up forum. If you’re new to the ongoing saga of AdSurfDaily (ASD), the developing story…

Mar 20, 2010
FBI CHIEF: ‘Major Threats’ Emerging From ‘Stored Value’ Debit Cards And ‘Shell Corporations’; ‘Shadow Banking System’ Has Exploited Vulnerabilities

EDITOR’S NOTE: Autosurf or HYIP promoter? White-collar fraudster of another stripe? Fan of “stored value” debit devices used in the context of well-publicized,Â fraudulent business models? Owner of a “shell” company used to disguise the ownership of funds? Figure you’re smarter than the cops and that you’ve perfected your form of deceit as you pocket…

Mar 19, 2010
BULLETIN: CFTC Busts 2 Alleged Ponzi Schemes; Patrick H. Rakotonanahary Arrested By FBI In Florida After Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force Probe

A Florida man has been arrested by the FBI on 21 counts of wire fraud amid allegations he operated a forex Ponzi scheme, collecting more than $10.2 million and pocketing $1 million for himself. The announcement of the arrest of Patrick H. Rakotonanahary, 34, ofÂ Punta Gorda, Fla., was made in Hawaii after a joint…

Mar 16, 2010
Death Cycle For BizAdSplash Complete; Site Resolves To Blank Page On U.S. Server; Members’ Losses Unclear

It entered the autosurf world in January 2009 with the stern bang of a drum in a promotional video. The message was dire: “The World Is In Crisis,” it warned. “Turn On The News, And You’ll See. The Stock Market Is At A Record Low. Foreclosures Are At An All-Time High. Thousand’s (sic) Are Losing…

Mar 15, 2010
WELCOME TO PLANET CYBERFRAUD, U.S. REGION: IC3 Report Shows Tremendous Surge In Dollars Lost To Online Scams; Nevada, Utah, Florida, D.C. Among Cyberscam Capitals

Welcome to the rapidly evolving world of Planet Fraud, U.S. Region — or, more precisely, the U.S. Region of Planet Cyberfraud, the electronic web of deceit that often exists out of view and is sucking wealth at an alarming pace. Its capitals last year, according to a new report from The Internet Crime Complaint Center…

Mar 12, 2010