PatrickPretty.com

Category: Alleged Ponzi Schemes

DONATION-BUTTON POST: A Word Of Thanks And A Word Of Remembrance As The PP Blog And Its Author Continue To Face Challenge Of Keeping Publication Online

Dear Readers, Another new month is approaching. There are bills to pay — and the usual lack of funds to pay them. As I noted in July, I am passing the hat reluctantly — but pass it I must. These posts always are the hardest to write. Although the Blog is highly relevant in the…

Sep 22, 2011
EDITORIAL: An Intriguing Question Raised By The Full Tilt Poker Allegations: What Is Real Online — And What Is Not?

In Manhattan yesterday, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara accused the online company Full Tilt Poker of operating a massive Ponzi scheme on a global scale. The prosecution of Full Tilt began in April. The case includes multiple online poker companies as defendants. As the investigation evolved, the Full Tilt Ponzi scheme was detected, prosecutors said. It…

Sep 21, 2011
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Full Tilt Poker Was ‘Global Ponzi Scheme’ That Gathered ‘Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars,’ Feds Say

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Federal prosecutors in New York say that Full Tilt Poker was a “global Ponzi scheme” that raked in “hundreds of millions of dollars” — while defrauding players and lining the pockets of insiders who used offshore bank accounts. Snippet from an amended complaint filed in the Southern District of New…

Sep 20, 2011
Accused Ponzi Scheme Felon Andy Bowdoin Launches Facebook Page, Asks Members To ‘Like’ Him And ‘Share’ Link To Defense Fundraising Site ‘Right Away’

After weeks of delays, a Facebook “Fan” page for accused Ponzi schemer Thomas Anderson “Andy” Bowdoin finally has launched. The site includes a link to “Andy’s Fundraising Army,” the web venue at which Bowdoin’s bid to raise $500,000 to pay for criminal lawyers has fallen 95 percent short of its goal. Bowdoin, 76, was arrested…

Sep 19, 2011
BULLETIN: New Jersey Ponzi Scheme Figure Jenifer Devine Pleads Guilty To Wire Fraud; Case Was Brought By Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force

A New Jersey woman accused of operating an $8 million Ponzi and investment-fraud scheme has pleaded guilty to wire fraud. Jenifer Devine, 39, of Fair Lawn, was accused in November 2010 of ripping off investors in a purported wholesale business known as Devine Wholesale, which purportedly offered clothing and electronics. But it was a promissory-notes…

Sep 15, 2011
UPDATE: His Fundraising Goal 95 Percent Short Of The Mark, Accused Felon Andy Bowdoin Asks The People He’s Charged With Defrauding For ‘Positive’ Testimonials; ‘I Warmly Invite You To Write Your Personal Viewpoint’

A Florida man’s weeks-long, nonstop efforts to raise defense funds from the people he is accused of defrauding in a $110 million Ponzi scheme have fallen flat, leaving him 95 percent short of his $500,000 goal. But AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin says he still wants members to send him money — and he’s asking for…

Sep 14, 2011
Attorney General Visits U.S. Attorney’s Office In District Of Columbia To Commemorate 10th Anniversary Of 9/11 Attack; Justice Department Dedicates National Security Conference Room In Memory Of Barbara Olson, Terrorist Victim And Former AUSA

EDITOR’S NOTE: The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia brought both the civil and criminal prosecutions in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi case. In 2008, ASD President Andy Bowdoin compared prosecutors in the office to “Satan,” saying that what happened to ASD was “30 times worse” in some ways than what happened on Sept. 11,…

Sep 13, 2011
UPDATE: Club Asteria, Cherry Shares, ‘JustBeenPaid’ Promoter ’10BucksUp’ Falsely Claims PP Blog Posts As ‘ISPY’ On MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi Forum; HYIP Apologist Taunts U.S. Law Enforcement In Bizarre Post

The bizarre descent into chaos of a failing “program” that claimed to be moving to “offshore” servers and once made its participants swear they were not government spies or media lackeys has gotten stranger yet. Poster “10BucksUp,” who’s now flogging the JustBeenPaid “program,” falsely claimed on the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum today that the PP Blog…

Sep 13, 2011
BULLETIN: Appeals Court Upholds Federal Judge Who Departed From Sentencing Guidelines And Prosecution’s Recommendation — And Imposed Maximum Prison Term On Louisiana Ponzi Schemer

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit has unanimously upheld the 30-year sentence imposed last year on Ponzi schemer Matthew B. Pizzolato by U.S. District Judge Lance M. Africk of the Eastern District of Louisiana. Although Pizzolato had worked out a plea deal with prosecutors that included a nonbinding recommendation for Pizzolato to…

Sep 10, 2011
Image Of Famed Actor And Grammy-Winner Will Smith Appears In Club Asteria House Organ Just Above ‘JOIN NOW’ Button; No Immediate Comment From His Publicist

UPDATED 1:47 P.M. EDT (U.S.A. OCT. 29, 2011.) An image of famed actor and rapper Will Smith appears in Club Asteria’s September house organ, an online glossy used by the firm to recruit affiliates across the world. It was unclear if Smith had knowledge of the promo or had authorized Club Asteria to use his…

Sep 9, 2011
UPDATE: Eliott Jay Dresher Pleads Guilty In $13.5 Million Ponzi Scheme That Traded On Famous ‘NASCAR’ Brand

UPDATE: Eliott Jay Dresher, the California man whose Ponzi scheme traded on the famous racing brand of NASCAR, now faces up to 20 years in federal prison after pleading guilty in Los Angeles to mail fraud. Dresher, 64, of Chatsworth, was jailed in December 2009 in a case brought by the FBI and the U.S.…

Sep 8, 2011