‘Pay It Forward’ Gifting Scheme Leads To Felony Racketeering Charge, Sparks Child-Porn Probe In Michigan
As the PP Blog reported more than six years ago, Pay It Forward (PIF) “programs” have a noxious history in HYIP and cash-gifting Scamland. A new case in Michigan, however, may be off-the-charts in terms of noxiousness. That’s because investigators looking into a PIF scheme there found child pornography on the alleged PIF operator’s computer, […]
BRIEF: Get Prepared To File TelexFree Claims
Good news for potentially hundreds of thousands of people with TelexFree claims. TelexFree bankruptcy Trustee Stephen B. Darr informed Chief Judge Melvin S. Hoffman yesterday that testing could begin this month on the electronic proof of claim form (ePOC) and the online claims portal administered by BMC Group Inc. If all goes well, the “ePOC […]
Tax Problems Mount For TelexFree In Brazil, As Criminal Investigations Continue
It’s easy enough to forget that TelexFree and its principals have epic legal problems outside the United States, where the company has been found a Ponzi- and pyramid scheme and alleged operators James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler are under criminal indictment. History shows, however, that the problems began in the Brazilian state of Acre in […]
Second Guilty Plea From Purported JAG Lawyer Linked To SVM Global Initiative
The docket of of New York’s Kings Supreme Court (Brooklyn) shows that Kenneth Goldstein has pleaded guilty to a charge of unlicensed practice of law and a charge of offering a false instrument for filing. Goldstein, a purported JAG lawyer and figure in the SVM Global Initiative story, earlier pleaded guilty to the same charges […]
RECEIVER: (1) Zeek Defendant Class Action May Conclude This Year; (2) Some Claimants Still Haven’t Signed Required Release; (3) $10 Million Settlement With NewBridge Bank
Three significant pieces of news from Kenneth D. Bell, the receiver in the Zeek Rewards’ Ponzi- and pyramid-scheme case: In a March 28 announcement on the receivership website, Bell wrote that a defendant class-action lawsuit against more than 9,000 alleged Zeek winners in the United States may conclude this year. “We hope to bring to […]
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Zeek Vendor Pleads Guilty To Obstructing Probe
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (12th Update 2:57 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) In what may be a warning shot fired across the bow of payment vendors who hope to profit from Ponzi schemes, Zeek Rewards’ vendor Jaymes Meyer of Preferred Merchants Solutions LLC has pleaded guilty to a criminal charge of obstructing investigators in the Zeek Ponzi- […]
Hoax Weaves Conspiracy Theories And Taunts Rep. Gabby Giffords, Victims Of Arizona Mass Shooting
Jan. 8, 2011, was a horrifying day in U.S. history. It’s the day Jared Lee Loughner shot then-U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in the head. Grievously wounded, Giffords, remarkably, survived. Six others died in the Tucson attack, including U.S. District Judge John Roll of Arizona. In this Jan. 9, 2011, story, the Washington Post remembers Christina-Taylor Green, a 9-year-old slain by […]
CSA: ‘No Business Is Currently Registered Or Authorized To Market Or Sell Binary Options In Canada’
Offshore scammers have their eyes on your pocket book. “[N]o business is currently registered or authorized to market or sell binary options in Canada,” the Canadian Securities Administrators said in an Investor Alert today. The risk is not merely the loss of money, CSA said. “Canadians are exposing themselves to the high risk of identity theft […]
SEC, Lawyer Clash Over Representation Of TelexFree Figure Sann Rodrigues; Lamborghini Once Owned By Accused DFRF Enterprises’ Ponzi Schemer Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho Was Used To Pay Sann’s Legal Fees
3RD UPDATE 9:36 AM EDT MARCH 17 U.S.A. This one features highly questionable dealings between an alleged MLM securities fraudster (TelexFree’s Sann Rodrigues) and an alleged Ponzi schemer (Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho of DFRF Enterprises). Filho also has been linked to the alleged 2010 Finanzas Forex/Evolution Market Group Ponzi scheme, a Ponzi-board “program” that allegedly had ties to the narcotics trade. Suffice to […]
TelexFree Trustee Seeks Approval Of Settlement With PricewaterhouseCoopers
Big Four accounting firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers posted more than $115,000 in fees from the TelexFree Ponzi/pyramid scheme and will pay it all back under the terms of a stipulated settlement with TelexFree Trustee Stephen B. Darr, according to court filings. PwC admits no liability in the settlement, which requires the approval of Chief Bankruptcy Judge Melvin […]
In Wake Of Herbalife Probe And Vemma Litigation, ESPN Asks If AdvoCare Is Pyramid Scheme And Pusher Of False Hope
“And while the company claims its primary objective is selling products, many of its distributors tell a different story. ESPN interviewed more than 30 current and former salespeople, the vast majority of whom said their focus, and the focus of their superiors, was on recruiting other distributors. These new members, many of whom are drawn […]