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Patrick H. Rakotonanahary Sentenced To Prison For Forex Scheme That Defrauded Investors In Hawaii And On The U.S. Mainland; Case Was One Of The First Brought By Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force

A Florida resident charged with defrauding investors in Hawaii and the U.S. mainland has been sentenced to 90 months in federal prison, ordered to begin serving his sentence immediately and make restitution — and advised he faces deportation to Madagascar upon his release from a U.S. prison. The case against Patrick H. Rakotonanahary, 34, of…

Jan 25, 2011
NEW HAVEN REGISTER: Feds, State Investigating Cash-Gifting Schemes In Connecticut; Grand Jury Convenes; State AG Called Gifting Programs The Business Of ‘Parasites’ In Statement About ‘The Women’s Gifting Table’ Last Year

State and federal probes into cash-gifting schemes are under way in Connecticut, the New Haven Register is reporting. Investigators are concerned about so-called “Women’s Gifting Tables,” and women soon will be called before a federal grand jury, the newspaper reported. Similar probes are under way in Michigan. Seven women were charged with felonies last month,…

Jan 23, 2011
‘FRAUD CREEP’: The Two-Word Term That Explains How Crime Expands On The Internet To Affect Tens Of Thousands Of Victims At A Time

EDITOR’S NOTE: Our definition of “fraud creep” — and suggestions on the context in which the term should be applied — appears lower in this story. First, some background . . . Investigators now are counting victims of massive, web-based fraud schemes tens of thousands at a time. Such scams pose both budgetary and logistical…

Jan 22, 2011
DEVELOPING STORY: Device Found Monday In Backpack Along Martin Luther King Jr. Parade Route In Spokane Was A Bomb ‘Capable Of Inflicting Multiple Casualties,’ FBI Says

On Monday, America celebrated the national holiday commemorating the life and legacy of community service of slain civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. with events in city after city. King, a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, was assassinated in Memphis in 1968. He had become an international figure in 1963, the year hundreds of…

Jan 19, 2011
BULLETIN: At Least 2 People Shot At Gardena High School Near Los Angeles; Teen Taken Into Custody On Live TV As Confusing Scene Plays Out

At least two people have been shot at Gardena High School near Los Angeles, KTLA is reporting. Early reports from a host of media sources were wildly conflicting. The first reports described a situation in which a gunman who had shot three people had either fled the scene or was holed up inside a classroom,…

Jan 18, 2011
Two Days Before Remissions Deadline, ASD Members Receive Yet-Another Confusing, Highly Questionable Email That Suggests Victims Seeking Restitution Should Tell Administrator That Program Was Not An Investment

Some AdSurfDaily members have received an email that appears to be attributed in part to Sara Mattoon, the embattled autosurf firm’s former spokeswoman. The most recent correspondence fractures facts, suggests the government has no credible witnesses or evidence in its wire-fraud and securities-fraud case against ASD President Andy Bowdoin and implies suggestions given to recipients…

Jan 17, 2011
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: New York Man Arrested After Threatening To Kill CFTC, SEC, NFA And FINRA Regulators; Vincent McCrudden Used Emails, Website To Terrorize Officials, Prosecutors Charge

A New York man sued by the CFTC last month for registration violations has been arrested on criminal charges of threatening to kill 47 current or former market regulators, federal prosecutors said. Vincent P. McCrudden, 49, who recently had been living in Singapore, was arrested yesterday by the FBI at Newark Liberty International Airport after…

Jan 14, 2011
EDITORIAL: ASD By The Numbers: Why America And The World Should Be Shocked — And Why Serial Autosurf And HYIP Promoters Should Be Prosecuted

UPDATED 12:04 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) In court filings this week in the AdSurfDaily autosurf Ponzi scheme case, federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia revealed a series of jaw-dropping numbers. The biggest of these is 500,000 — the number of pages of emails gleaned so far in the investigation, which began in July 2008. Because…

Jan 13, 2011
BULLETIN: 40,000 Potential Victims Identified So Far In ASD Case; Government Says Autosurf Firm May Not Have Entered All Names In Database

BULLETIN: Federal prosecutors now say that a Florida company whose operator is accused of running an international Ponzi scheme may have defrauded 40,000 or more victims and may not have entered all the names of people who gave it money into the firm’s database. Andy Bowdoin, the president of AdSurfDaily, was indicted last month on…

Jan 12, 2011
British Con Man Pleads Guilty In £14 Million Ponzi Scheme; Terry Freeman ‘Archetypal Fraudster Happy To Steal Money And Ruin Lives,’ London Detective Says

An Essex trader jailed in 1997 for financial fraud emerged from prison with a new name and swindled investors of £14 million ($28.8 million), the City of London Police Department said. Terry Freeman, 62, known as Terrence Sparks when he was jailed 14 years ago, pleaded guilty in Southwark Crown Court to fraudulent trading, engaging…

Jan 12, 2011
FTC: Company Sold Bogus ‘Green’ Certifications To ‘Anyone Willing To Pay A Fee’; Firm Known As ‘Tested Green’ Hawked ‘Worthless Labels,’ Agency Says

A company that called itself “Nonprofit Management LLC” and did business as “Tested Green” sold bogus environmental certifications and ramped up the deception by implying it was independently endorsed by the National Green Business Association and the National Association of Government Contractors, the FTC said. Not only were the environmental certifications bogus, the purported endorsements…

Jan 12, 2011