PatrickPretty.com

Category: Alleged Ponzi Schemes

BREAKING NEWS: FBI Tells Senate Judiciary Committee It Is Probing 314 HYIP Schemes Only Months After ASD Members Asked Panel To Probe Prosecutors

And to think that only months ago — in February 2009 — various members of AdSurfDaily wrote to the Senate Judiciary Committee trying to elicit support for Ponzi schemes. The letter-writing campaign was spearheaded by “Professor” Patrick Moriarty and pushed by the Pro-AdSurfDaily Surf’s Up forum. But now the FBI has told the committee, led…

Dec 10, 2009
Ponzi Suspect to Judge, ‘Jail Me’; Judge To Ponzi Suspect, ‘OK’; Minnesota’s Gerard Frank Cellette Jr. Booked Into Hennepin County Jail On 36 Felony Counts

Gerard Frank Cellette Jr. was implicated by prosecutors in an alleged $53 million Ponzi scheme in Minnesota last month. Cellette, 44, of Andover, Minn., asked a judge to jail him yesterday — and the judge granted his wish. Cellette now is Inmate No. 2009034708 in the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Jail. He was charged Nov. 5…

Dec 10, 2009
Madoff Confessed Ponzi Scheme Year Ago Today; AdViewGlobal Prepared Ponzi Roll-Out Even As Stunned Public Watched Madoff Spectacle Unfold

One year ago today Bernard Madoff uttered a memorable phrase, describing his securities business economically as “one big lie” — and his Ponzi house of cards came tumbling down. Even as Madoff was uttering those three words to his sons and the FBI soon was to knock on his door, the insiders behind the AdViewGlobal…

Dec 10, 2009
AdViewGlobal Recording Suggests Member Cashed Out $10,000 Only Days After Formal Launch And That Insiders Were Awarded Bonuses; Less Than Two Weeks Later, Surf Switched To ‘Private Association’ Structure

UPDATED 7:19 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) A recording posted on a public website of a Feb. 12 conference call by the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf suggests an unnamed male member of the surf qualified for a $10,000 cashout within days of the company’s formal launch. The recording leads to questions about how a participant could qualify for…

Dec 7, 2009
INTRIGUE: Is Our ‘joe’ The Surf’s Up ‘joe?’ Egg-Themed HYIP Pitch Leads To Questions As ASD Members Continue To Promote Programs Associated With Ponzi Model

UPDATED 5:24 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) Is the “joe” who posted here before being blocked for showcasing an utter lack of restraint the same “joe” who pitched four HYIPs on the Pro-AdSurfDaily Surf’s Up forum two days ago? We don’t know. We do know, however, that both “joes” have pushed Ponzi programs and displayed an astonishing…

Dec 5, 2009
‘Egg’-Themed HYIP Domains Pitched By Surf’s Up Poster Registered In Last Name Of Man Dubbed A ‘Co-Conspirator’ In Scheme To Defraud Prepaid Wireless Company; Government Of Belize Issued Warning About HYIP Site

UPDATED 2:22 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) A poster using the handle “joe” at the Pro-AdSurfDaily Surf’s Up forum advertised four egg-themed domain names that redirected to four high-yield investment programs yesterday, sayingÂ in all-caps, “ALL MY EGGS ARE NOT IN ONE BASKET. “I MAKE $2000.00 A WEEK.” It is unclear if the poster has a license to…

Dec 4, 2009
Michigan Woman Charged With Racketeering In Alleged Real-Estate Ponzi Scheme; Rita Gosselin Arrested, Jailed Early This Morning In Greater Detroit

Just hours after news broke of a racketeering indictment by Colorado prosecutors against a Denver-area man in an alleged Ponzi scheme, Michigan prosecutors announced the racketeering indictment of a Greater Detroit woman in what was described as a real-estate Ponzi scheme. In the past two days, prosecutors from different agencies in different regions of the…

Dec 3, 2009
RECOMMENDED READING: ‘Speed Of Wealth’ Defendant In Ponzi Scheme Case Pounds Denver Reporter With Offers To Join Trump Network, Other Opportunities

EDITOR’S NOTE: The story below references a column by Renee McGaw in the Denver Business Journal. Make sure you read the column. The link is at the bottom of this story. The column reminded us of what occurred in the opening hours of the prosecution against the assets of Florida-based AdSurfDaily Inc., accused in August…

Dec 3, 2009
Racketeering Alleged In 14-Year-Old Denver Ponzi Scheme; Mark J. Jackson Indicted Under State Law By Local Prosecutor

Think the Feds are the only thing to worry about if you’re in the Ponzi scheme business? Think again. In yet another prosecution that demonstrates Ponzi schemers have more to fear than federal agencies such as the SEC, the CFTC, the FBI, the Secret Service, the IRS and the Postal Inspection Service, a Colorado man…

Dec 3, 2009
REPORT: Former SEC Supervisor Aided Arizona ‘Numerologist’ Running A Ponzi Scheme; SEC Employee In Separate Case Probed For Threatening Boss, Bringing Weapons To Work

A former supervisor with the Securities and Exchange Commission unwittingly aided a man accused of operating a Ponzi scheme in Arizona, according to a report by SEC Inspector General H. David Kotz. Meanwhile, Kotz reported that the Office of Inspector General (OIG) also investigated a case in which an SEC enforcement accountant allegedly threatened a…

Dec 2, 2009
BULLETIN: Tom Petters Guilty On All 20 Counts In $3.65 Billion Ponzi Scheme Case In Minnesota

BULLETIN: Minnesota businessman Tom Petters has been found guilty by a Minnesota jury. UPDATED 6:03 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) Jury deliberations encompassed 32 hours over all or parts of five days. Petters blamed the fraud on subordinates, but the jury did not buy into his explanation that he had been inattentive to business since the stabbing…

Dec 2, 2009