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  • SPECIAL REPORT: ‘Achieve Community’ Promoter On YouTube Shows Her Back Office For ‘Unison Wealth,’ Revealing Ponzi-Board Bonanza

    As "Achieve Community" promoter Jristen Jennifer shows her back office in the "Unison Wealth" program, ads for other "programs" appear, including some "programs" on well-known Ponzi-scheme forums.
    As “Achieve Community” promoter Kristen Jennifer shows her back office in the “Unison Wealth” program, ads for other “programs” appear, including some “programs” on well-known Ponzi-scheme forums.

    EDITOR’S NOTE: In litigation related to Zeek Rewards, a Ponzi-board “program,” court-appointed receiver Kenneth D. Bell has raised a concern that network-marketers may be proceeding from one fraud scheme to another. Bell has asked a federal judge to take “judicial notice” of certain YouTube videos.

    ** ______________________**

    UPDATED 10:07 P.M. ET U.S.A. “Unison Wealth” is a “program” on MoneyMakerGroup from which a promoter claims “Turn $35 One-Time Into $1545.” It’s also on TalkGold. Both MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold are forums listed in U.S. federal court files as places from which Ponzi schemes are promoted.

    One such reference to the forums is in the context of Nicholas Smirnow, the operator of the Pathway To Prosperity HYIP fraud who was arrested in Canada this month after being charged by the United States in 2010 and spending time in the Philippines.

    Pathway To Prosperity allegedly plucked people from 120 countries for $72 million. An affidavit by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in the Smirnow case specifically references MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold. The affidavit has been available online for more than four years and is published by the office of Stephen R. Wigginton, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois.

    A “program’s” presence on the Ponzi boards is a crimson-red flag that a scam is occurring. Thousands of promoters of Zeek Rewards, a Ponzi-board “program” alleged to gave gathered on the order of $897 million, now face litigation aimed at clawing back their “winnings” from Zeek. At least one payment vendor for Zeek claims it was rendered insolvent through its business relationship with North Carolina-based Zeek.

    The individual litigation nightmares for Zeek fans and vendors may include crushing legal bills, the need to respond to subpoenas and sit for depositions or otherwise make an appearance in North Carolina federal court even if the litigation targets do not reside in North Carolina. The experience alone can be financially and emotionally draining, perhaps even more so if a person is deemed an “insider” or “winner” who received in excess of $1,000 from the Zeek enterprise.

    On another Ponzi-board front, promoters and vendors of TelexFree — an alleged $1.2 billion fraud — also are facing Zeek-like litigation nightmares.

    Like Pathway To Prosperity, Zeek and TelexFree, “Achieve Community” also has a Ponzi-board presence. This potentially sets the stage for new HYIP litigation nightmares from law-enforcement, receivers mandated by court order to round up fraud proceeds and class-action lawyers. And because some Achieve Community promoters are simultaneously promoting other Ponzi-board “programs,” any litigation that emerges could be amplified across multiple courts. Achieve, for example, appears to be operating in Michigan and Colorado.

    In theory, an Achieve promoter living in, say, Florida (or any other state) could be compelled by court order to appear in a federal court in another state to produce documents, sales materials, promos and business records.

    Back-Office Tour By Achieve Promoter Is Revealing

    Promoting Achieve is bad enough. But some Achieve promoters now are pitching other Ponzi-board “programs.” One YouTube promo dated Dec. 20 for Unison Wealth by an Achieve promoter takes prospects inside the Unison Wealth back office.

    Remarkably — and without comment from Achieve/Unison promoter Kristen Jennifer — the promo shows one ad after another for HYIP schemes loading in the Unison back office. (The ads load as Kristen pitches Unison.)

    The first of these is “MyTrafficValue.” As Kristen tries to sell viewers on Unison, a banner ad for MyTrafficValue claims “invest to earn 110% within 4 days or daily payments until 125%.”

    Who placed the ad is unknown, but the mere presence of the ad shows that Unison is driving traffic to a Ponzi-board “program” with a 141-page thread at MoneyMakerGroup.

    On Dec. 17, the PP Blog reported that an ad for a Ponzi-board “program” known as Cycles 24/7  was appearing inside a promo for Achieve by Mike Chitty. The Chitty ad showed the Achieve back office.

    Lo and behold, an ad for Cycles 24/7 also appears in the Unison back office of Achieve promoter Kristen. (BehindMLM.com has a report dated today on Cycles 24/7.)

    What obviously is occurring is that one scam is giving synergy to another. It hardly ends with Cycles 24/7.

    Indeed, even as Achieve promoter Kristen is narrating her ad for Unison, ads for other Ponzi-board “programs” load on the screen. Ads for each of these “programs” (and others) appear:

    • BitcoinCycler.
    • TrinityLines.
    • OneTenMethod. (URL appears to be OwnMatrix.com, with “OWN” an acronym for Online Wealth Network.)
    • HeavenPaid. (“THIS DONT [sic] SUCK” is among the claims.)
    • MyAdvertisingPays.
    • ClickAdPays.
    • Super 2×7 Matrix.
    • EveryoneCycles.

    During the same 13:18 YouTube promo by Achieve member Kristen for Unison, ads for other “programs” appear on the screen. (In some cases, these may include descriptors, rather than the actual “program” name.) This lineup includes Auto Mass Traffic, Dollar Funnel, $20 Quality AdPack, AdBoardMarketing, Private Cycler, Seven Save In Gold & Silver from $25 (edited Jan. 5, 2015), NetPennyStocks.com (” . . . Makes You Earn 101,970.75 And Get Paid Weekly”).

    A couple of ads for what appear to be “leads” program also appear. Some other names that appear in the ad are too fuzzy to be recognizable.

    Regulators have been warning for years about scams spreading on social media.

    In the Unison Wealth video, Kristen says, “I’m gonna keep you posted on this, but I have to be mindful of YouTube because YouTube doesn’t really like me posting result videos for some reason.”

    Perhaps Kristen hasn’t heard about the SEC’s warnings about scams spreading on YouTube.  (See April 8, 2014, PP Blog story: BULLETIN: In New ‘Advertising’ Ponzi-Scheme Takedown, SEC Points To YouTube Video Allegedly Used By Scammers To Drive Sales — And Feds File Criminal Charges

    Also see April 30, 2014, PP Blog story: SEC: TelexFree’s Sann Rodrigues On YouTube: God Started MLM And Made ‘Binary’; ‘I Am Never Going To Stop This’

    Also see June 5, 2013, PP Blog story: YouTube Video Pitchmen For Profitable Sunrise Hit By Subpoenas From SEC.

    There are other instances, including the eAdGear case in which the SEC contacted YouTube owner Google for information. The eAdGear case speaks to the issue of a scam trying to sanitize itself by touting supposed links to legitimate companies. Achieve promoters are doing the same thing when they assert Achieve couldn’t possibly be a scam because certain well-known financial vendors do business with it.

    Think of Enron, a colossal fraud. That famous financial firms did business with it was immaterial to the issue that Enron itself was a huge scam.

    Kristen also ventures there may be certain tax advantages when one joins Unison Wealth. Veteran MLM huckster Phil Piccolo of TextCashNetwork, DataNetworkAffiliates and OWOW — disasters one and all — is infamous for making such claims.

    Is there any doubt that network marketers are falling off one cliff after another and, in one “program” after another, putting on blindfolds? These scams are gathering billions of dollars.

    Friends, Kristen very well could be one of the nicest, most sincere people you’d ever want to meet. But she is grossly misinformed about Achieve and Unison Wealth.

    The Zeek and TelexFree litigation alone offers compelling examples of decidedly unpleasant things that can happen when HYIP “programs” crater or attract regulatory scrutiny. For promoters to ignore these cases is to ignore peril.

    Achieve promoters currently are explaining away criticism as the tool of “haters.” Zeek and TelexFree promoters did the same thing.

     

  • BULLETIN: Lucrazon ‘Program’ Sued In Massachusetts, Amid Allegations Of Fraud

    breakingnews72BULLETIN: (Updated 10:18 a.m. ET Dec. 24 U.S.A.) Lucrazon Global, a purported revenue-sharing program pushed on Ponzi boards such as MoneyMakerGroup, has been sued in federal court by private plaintiffs who allege fraud.

    Named defendants in the Dec. 9 complaint in Massachusetts federal court are Lucrazon LLC and Lucrazon Global LLC, both of Delaware and California. Plaintiffs are Scott Bonarrigo of Massachusetts and Todd Betlejewski of California.

    Oscar Garcia and Alex Pitt are identified in the complaint as officers or employees of Lucrazon.

    Former TelexFree huckster Faith Sloan at one time pushed Lucrazon. Sloan was accused by the SEC of securities fraud earlier this year in a case that alleged TelexFree was a massive, international fraud.

    Some promoters of the WCM777 Ponzi scheme broken up by the SEC earlier this year also were targeting prospects for Lucrazon and seeking to get them to buy in at $8,000. The PP Blog noted in April that Lucrazon was promoting “Luxury Car Giveaways” and touting appearances by politicians/business figures such as Carlos Gutierrez, Mitt Romney and Vicente Fox at a Los Angeles confab.

    Garcia and Pitt are accused in the complaint of making repeated false and misleading representations “that the [Lucrazon] daily bonuses ‘could go to $20 a day, $50 a day . . . who knows.’” However, this was never possible and based upon faulty (as well as meticulously and deliberately skewed) mathematical statistics promulgated to entice Plaintiffs and others into buying into Defendants’ scheme.”

    Bonarrigo bought in for $46,000, with Betlejewski paying Lucrazon “approximately $110,000,” according to the complaint.

    “Further, Defendants and Oscar Garcia and Alex Pitt (again, falsely and in an attempt to mislead Plaintiffs) represented that Defendants would assemble some 10,000 merchant accounts each making $10,000 into a $100 million bundle, akin to mortgage bundles, and then sell them to the banks at many times monthly recurring commissions,” the complaint alleges. “This never happened and Defendants never intended to do so.”

    From the complaint (italics added):

    Defendants also advised Plaintiffs that online accounts were worth 10 times the monthly commissions, retail accounts were worth 30 times commissions, and medical accounts were worth 60 times monthly earnings, and that Plaintiffs could sell those accounts every month, or keep them for an alleged large payoff when the bundles were sold. This was not true [sic?] never offered to Plaintiffs nor did Defendants make any attempts to secure such sales that would provide Plaintiffs the ability to elect to either sell or retain their merchant accounts . . .

    . . . As further enticement, Defendants repeatedly advised Plaintiffs and others that when these “bundles” were sold, each Brand Partner position (to which both Plaintiffs purchased several) was entitled to a share of this pool of money, and that leaders of said accounts, like Plaintiffs, would be offered interest into another bundle. This was not true [sic?] never offered to Plaintiffs nor did Defendants make any attempts to secure such sales that would provide Plaintiffs the ability to elect to either sell or retain their merchant accounts or be offered the opportunity to re-invest their proceeds towards another endeavor . . .

    Despite Defendants’ false and misleading representations, and due solely to Plaintiffs’ own work ethic and business acumen, Plaintiffs began to successfully develop business accounts and profit, which, per Defendants’ representations, was to be passed onto Plaintiffs as part of the aforementioned “daily bonuses.” In fact, said “bonuses” were to commence in January of 2014. Not surprisingly, Defendants never paid any amount of “bonuses” to either Plaintiff . . .

    Despite this, and for vague and illusory reasons, these bonuses owed and due to Plaintiffs were then postponed to February of 2014, then yet again to March of 2014, then again in April of 2014 . . .

    As such, Plaintiffs [believe] that there simply was no intent whatsoever to actually pay out these “bonuses” but instead Defendants’ representations to the contrary were simply part and parcel of an overall fraudulent scheme to secure as much monetary benefit as possible from Plaintiffs at Plaintiffs’ expense and detriment.

    What is more, when daily bonuses did finally begin to commence, they were nothing like what was promised to issue, both in terms of amount and frequency of disbursement. Then mysteriously, all bonus payments simply stopped . . .

    However, despite this demonstrable cessation of payments, Plaintiffs’ back office reporting evidences that Defendants falsely and deceptively reported these payments or “bonuses” has having been successfully transmitted, when no such payments were in fact issued to Plaintiffs in any fashion. Put bluntly, Defendants is intentionally and knowingly withholding money that rightfully belongs to Plaintiffs.

    NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog. View complaint here.

  • UPDATE: In Impossibly Butchered Messaging, ‘Achieve Community’ Promos Marry Three-Month, 800-Percent ROI ‘Program’ To Santa Claus While Encouraging Participants Not To ‘Sell Out’ To Banks For ‘Tiny’ Annual Returns

    From an Achieve Community promo.
    From an Achieve Community Facebook promo posted Dec. 20.

    The “Achieve Community,” a Ponzi-board money-cycling “program” targeted at Christians and positioned by some network marketers as an alternative for people who don’t want to “sell out” to banks and their “tiny little 1% annual return,” would like you to know that Santa Claus and an elf are on the team.

    By buying one “EXTRA” $50 Achieve position on Christmas Day, Achievers will come into possession of “the gift that Keeps On Giving!” according to a bizarre new promo published on Facebook Saturday by Achieve co-founder Kristi Johnson.

    A fellow Facebook poster, however, laments, “Kristi, Can you please answer this question? I tried the whole weekend to purchase new positions. But every time it says, an error occur[r]ed, your payment is declined. I called already to MasterCard and nothing is wrong with my Card. Problem seems to be with readytoachieve. I sent already 4 messages to readytoachieve, but i get no answer.”

    Volunteers purportedly now are assisting Achieve, which appears to be transitioning to new financial vendors after parting company with Payoneer weeks ago, with support duties.  Johnson has claimed she’s typically too busy to answer questions, that members should turn to the website FAQs and a recently installed private forum for assistance and that co-founder Troy Barnes “won’t be around much anymore” because of pressing family issues.

    Separately, Achieve boosters parroting each other continue to circulate a promo that reads, “We are not investing in a stock or buying shares in a company. We are using our God given universal right to spend our money the way we want. We choose not to sell out to the banking system for their tiny little 1% annual return.”

    The claim appears in both video and text form. It is common for HYIP promoters to invoke God and seek to fuel contempt against banks. Some Achieve promoters appear to have hijacked the original claim and worked it into their individual promos. The original source of the claim is unclear.

    No authority that God had granted any such “universal right” is provided.  Nor does the promo explain why banks are not doing the same thing Achieve is doing or how Achieve will get by if banks and payment vendors it relies on pull the plug on Achieve. If the assertion that banks pay 1 percent annually is true, however, it would mean that Achieve pays 800 times that percentage in three months or less.

    Because banks have greater economies of scale than Achieve and greater opportunities to employ vertical integration, they could pound Achieve into the sand by simply adopting the Achieve business model — and yet they don’t do it.

    The reason why is that the banks would be creating a liability of $400 for every $50 they accepted for the purchase of “positions” and that regulators and class-action litigants would attack any disclaimer language as an obvious attempt to sanitize a Ponzi scheme and create a license to steal tremendous sums of money.

    Even though Achieve appears to have generated cash flow by switching to an offshore processor known as iPayDNA after the Payoneer divorce in late October or early November, Achieve very well could be insolvent today. This is because it is not meeting obligations when they become due. Payouts due Achieve members who joined or repurchased positions on Sept 12 were due to be paid in early November, but reportedly have not been paid.

    That Achieve also appears to be playing payment processor roulette potentially adds to its attractiveness for class-action litigation against both itself and payment vendors on the theory of racketeering and “deepening insolvency.” (See this document from private litigants in the TelexFree bankruptcy case. Like Achieve, TelexFree was promoted on Ponzi boards such as MoneyMakerGroup. So was Zeek Rewards, a “program” that also has encountered class-action litigation. )

    Achieve says $50 turns into $400. Multiple “positions” can be purchased. Some promos have extrapolated returns in the hundreds of thousands of dollars or even in excess of $1 million.

    Members reportedly have not received payouts from Achieve since the relationship with Payoneer ended.

    From an Achieve promo playing on YouTube. Masking by PP Blog.
    From an Achieve promo playing on YouTube. Masking by PP Blog.

    Also see Dec. 17 PP Blog report: UPDATE: Competing Cycler Advertised Inside ‘Achieve Community’ Forum Collapsed At Launch Yesterday

    Also see Dec. 12 PP Blog report: Federal Prosecutors Have No Immediate Comment On ‘Achieve Community’ Call In Which Senior Citizen With 86-Year-Old Ailing Husband Was Told, ‘You Are Exactly The Type Of Person That The Achieve Community Is Built Around And For’

    Also see Dec. 9 PP Blog report: SPECIAL REPORT: We’re Like ‘A Ride At Disney World,’ Achieve Community Cycler Bizarrely Claims

    Also see Dec. 7 PP Blog report: ‘The Achieve Community’ Promoter Records Commercial At ATM In Hawaii; YouTube Text Promo Claims Achieve A ‘True Lifetime Income Plan!’

    Also see Nov. 17 PP Blog report: RECOMMENDED READING: Two Stories/Threads At BehindMLM.com On ‘The Achieve Community’

  • ‘They Were, Quite Simply, Assassinated’

    Officer Wenjian Liu.
    Officer Wenjian Liu.

    At 2:47 p.m. Saturday, New York Police Department officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were very much alive. They were seated in their cruiser in Brooklyn. It was parked curbside.

    No one knows what they were talking about or thinking about. They expected to return to their loved ones after work, though. Liu, 32, was a newlywed; Ramos, 40, was married and had two sons.

    Neither officer would live to see 2:48. Police Commissioner William Bratton — on national TV Saturday — said Liu and Ramos “may never have actually even seen their assailant — their murderer.”

    That’s because Ismaaiyl Brinsley, the assailant and murderer, ambushed them. He did so after announcing his intent on Instagram and apparently even publishing a photo of the gun he intended to use. This he did after shooting his ex-girlfriend in Maryland earlier in the day.

    Any two cops would do.

    Officer Rafael Ramos.
    Officer Rafael Ramos.

    Brinsley, 28, “walked up to the police car,” Bratton told the New York public and the American people. “He took a shooting stance on the passenger side and fired the weapon — his weapon — several times through the front passenger window, striking both officers.”

    “They were, quite simply, assassinated — targeted for their uniform, and for the responsibility they embraced to keep the people of this city safe,” Bratton said.

    By yesterday it had become clear that using Instagram to announce his plan to execute two police officers — or, as he put it, “Putting Wings On Pigs” — would not be enough. Seconds before he ambushed Liu and Ramos he reportedly told passerby, “Watch what I’m going to do.”

    After shooting a human being in Maryland and killing two others in New York, Brinsley then took another human life: his own.

     

     

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: ‘North Korean Government’ Responsible For Sony Pictures Hack, FBI Says

    URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: The “North Korean government” is responsible for the catastrophic hack at Sony Pictures Entertainment last month, the FBI says.

    As pressure mounts for the United States to retaliate, President Obama is expected to take questions on the matter at 1:30 p.m. today.

    The FBI said it was “deeply concerned about the destructive nature of this attack on a private sector entity and the ordinary citizens who worked there. Further, North Korea’s attack on SPE reaffirms that cyber threats pose one of the gravest national security dangers to the United States.

    “Though the FBI has seen a wide variety and increasing number of cyber intrusions, the destructive nature of this attack, coupled with its coercive nature, sets it apart. North Korea’s actions were intended to inflict significant harm on a U.S. business and suppress the right of American citizens to express themselves. Such acts of intimidation fall outside the bounds of acceptable state behavior. The FBI takes seriously any attempt—whether through cyber-enabled means, threats of violence, or otherwise—to undermine the economic and social prosperity of our citizens.”

    Threats of 9/11-style terrorist attacks against movie patrons and theaters that screened a comedic film that mocks North Korea leader Kim Jong Un and depicts him as an assassination target first caused theaters to bail on “The Interview,” a Sony film scheduled to open Christmas Day. Sony itself later withdrew the film, triggering an avalanche of criticism that it had caved into the demands of terrorists.

    As the situation evolved, it became clear that the United States viewed the attack on Sony as an attack against the country itself.

    The actual hacking of Sony appears to have occurred in November, with “Guardians of Peace” taking credit. Troves of private emails and records were stolen, Sony and its employees were threatened and Sony’s computers effectively were rendered inoperable. Sony has been in PR damage-control mode for weeks, even as the firm’s intellectual property such as films not yet released fell into the hands of the hackers.

    Sony quickly reported the incident to the FBI, and the swiftness aided in the probe, the agency said.

    Here’s more from the FBI’s statement (italics added):

    As a result of our investigation, and in close collaboration with other U.S. government departments and agencies, the FBI now has enough information to conclude that the North Korean government is responsible for these actions. While the need to protect sensitive sources and methods precludes us from sharing all of this information, our conclusion is based, in part, on the following:

    • Technical analysis of the data deletion malware used in this attack revealed links to other malware that the FBI knows North Korean actors previously developed. For example, there were similarities in specific lines of code, encryption algorithms, data deletion methods, and compromised networks.
    • The FBI also observed significant overlap between the infrastructure used in this attack and other malicious cyber activity the U.S. government has previously linked directly to North Korea. For example, the FBI discovered that several Internet protocol (IP) addresses associated with known North Korean infrastructure communicated with IP addresses that were hardcoded into the data deletion malware used in this attack.
    • Separately, the tools used in the SPE attack have similarities to a cyber attack in March of last year against South Korean banks and media outlets, which was carried out by North Korea.

  • Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office: Florida Woman Arrested For ‘Felony Aggravated Battery On An Elderly Person’; Victim Refused Facebook ‘Friend’ Request

    Rachel Anne Hayes is accused of repeatedly slapping a 72-year-old woman for refusing a Facebook "friend" request. Photo source: Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.
    Rachel Anne Hayes is accused of repeatedly slapping a 72-year-old woman for refusing a Facebook “friend” request. Photo source: Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.

    Rachel Anne Hayes, 27, became “enraged” and repeatedly slapped a 72-year-old woman who refused her Facebook “friend” request, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said.

    The incident occurred Dec. 17 at a home in Seminole, Fla., after the older woman told the younger one “she felt the name that Hayes was using on Facebook was inappropriate,” authorities said.

    “Hayes became upset when the victim refused and walked out of the home,” authorities said. “When she returned the two re-engaged in an argument at the front door of the home. Deputies say Hayes slapped the victim several times, before the victim was able to retreat into the home and lock the door.

    “When deputies responded, the suspect had already left the residence,” authorities continued. “Through their investigation, deputies subsequently arrested the suspect for Felony Aggravated Battery on an Elderly Person. Hayes was transported to the Pinellas County Jail without further incident.”

    The Sheriff’s Office tweeted news of the Hayes arrest. Hayes was taken into custody at 4 a.m. on Dec. 18.

  • DEVELOPING STORY: More Than $800,000 In Funds Potentially Due Zeek Victims May Have Been Stolen By Credit-Card Vendor’s California Lawyer

    From a filing by Plastic Cash International in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi case. The screen shot above reflects a partial page from "Exhibit P," a copy of an investigative report by the California State Bar dated July 28, 2014.
    From a filing by Plastic Cash International in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi case. The screen shot above reflects a partial page from “Exhibit P,” a copy of a report by the California State Bar dated July 28, 2014.

    UPDATED 9:15 A.M. ET DEC. 19 U.S.A. If its presence on the Ponzi boards and similarity to the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme were not enough, the morass surrounding Zeek Rewards and operator Rex Venture Group may be getting even muddier.

    A Zeek credit-card vendor being pursued by the court-appointed receiver in the SEC’s 2012 Ponzi- and pyramid case says a California lawyer facing multiple bar investigations has stolen at least $800,000 that originated in Zeek transactions.

    It is possible that the number could be even higher, potentially on the order of $1 million or more, according to an estimate by the State Bar of California.

    A July 28 report by the Bar says the lawyer — Scott Stone Mehler of Long Beach — has invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Mehler, according to records, already has been recommended for disbarment for the alleged misappropriation of $1.4 million in funds from other clients.

    Whether a criminal investigation into Mehler’s alleged activities is under way was not immediately clear.

    Zeek receiver Kenneth D. Bell has been pursuing Plastic Cash International, formerly represented by Mehler, to return millions of dollars Bell alleges to be receivership assets. But PCI claims it is a victim of both Mehler and Zeek and, in any case, is unable to pay because working with Zeek destroyed its reputation in the financial community.

    “As a direct result of [Rex Venture Group’s] criminal and otherwise fraudulent conduct, all of PCI’s partners and customers eventually ceased doing business with PCI, ultimately resulting in PCI’s involvency,” Paul Schafer, PCI’s director of brand partnerships, said in a Dec. 17 affidavit.

    The Bar has alleged moral turpitude, misrepresentation to client, falsification of accounting, failure to maintain entrusted funds and failure to account against Mehler in the PCI matter involving Zeek funds. Bar documents strongly suggest that Mehler was using client funds, including PCI funds that originated via Zeek-related transactions, to play a shell game.

    If that proves to be the case, it would mean that Zeek Ponzi funds were being used to prop up Mehler’s personal scam.

    PCI, which says it first learned about Zeek operator Rex Venture Group in March 2012, five months before the SEC’s fraud complaint, potentially faces questions about whether any due diligence it conducted into Zeek was adequate.

    On Nov. 19, Bell asked Senior U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen for an order directing PCI to turn over more than $8.3 million to the receivership that PCI allegedly “failed to freeze and return to the Receivership Estate.” Bell also is seeking a contempt finding against PCI.

    For its part, PCI contends that it “never” held receivership assets and that “any” funds in dispute are not recoverable assets. The firm also contends that, through Mehler, it paid more than $1.1 million in fines issued by VISA. It also said it paid legal fees in excess of $600,000 and  Zeek-related chargebacks in excess of $2 million.

    NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

  • IRONY: Scheme Whose Actual Name Is ‘PlanB’ Tackled By European Authorities

    planb4youOne of the core signatures of an HYIP scam is highlighted when a “program” is presented as a “Plan B,” typically in the context of creating “multiple income streams” or “in case Plan A fails, you’d better have a “Plan B.”

    Zeek Rewards A-lister Keith Laggos gushed about Lyoness, his “Plan B” program. Zeek collapsed in a pile of Ponzi rubble and Lyoness later caught the attention of authorities in Australia.

    Fellow Zeek A-Lister T. LeMont Silver pushed an ill-fated series of Plans B such as JubiMax/JubiRev and GoFunRewards/GoFunPlaces.

    Zhunrize, remarkably, touted itself as both a “Plan A” and a “Plan B” scheme.

    Now it has come to pass that a “program” whose actual name is Plan B reportedly has encountered a police raid in Europe in which money and expensive cars were seized. Perhaps showcasing its Stepfordian mindlessness, the “program” added “4you” to its name, becoming “PlanB4You.”

    AdVentures4U, a similar MLM fraud, tried a similar tactic before crashing in 2009. That “program” was a “Plan B” for MLM scammers who earlier had joined the AdSurfDaily and AdViewGlobal MLM scams.

    This story about PlanB4You is in Dutch.  An English translation by Google Translate suggests there were police raids in the Netherlands and perhaps other countries, including Belgium.

    If the PlanB4You name wasn’t enough of a giveaway that the “program” was one to be avoided, PlanB4You’s presence on the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum provided another one. (It’s on TalkGold, too.)

    Or you could have read the July 2014 BehindMLM.com review of PlanB4You as yet another scam in progress.

     

     

  • BULLETIN: Extraordinary Drama Playing Out In Zeekland; Credit-Card Processor Says It Has Been ‘Rendered Insolvent’ Through Misconduct Of Paul Burks And Rex Venture Group

    breakingnews72BULLETIN: (8th Update 10:09 p.m. ET Dec. 18 U.S.A.) Payment vendor for a Ponzi-board “program?”

    More than two years after the shutdown of Zeek Rewards by the SEC, Plastic Cash International, a credit-card processor and would-be debit-card vendor for Zeek, said it has been “rendered insolvent as a result of the misconduct of [Rex Venture Group] and [Paul] Burks,” the operator of the Zeek scheme.

    PCI also says its onetime attorney in California who advised the company on Zeek matters has been disbarred and that the attorney stole $800,000 in funds that originated in transactions it processed for Zeek.

    Filings today by PCI identify the attorney as Scott Mehler. Details on the alleged Zeek-related theft were not immediately clear.

    On Sept. 3, 2014, Judge Donald F. Miles of the California State Bar Court issued an order recommending Mehler’s disbarment to the California Supreme Court.

    Filings in the case say Mehler misappropriated $1.4 million from two businessmen who sold their sheet-metal business to a company in Canada. In the papers, Mehler is accused of spending “all” the money entrusted to him, creating bogus screen shots to dupe the businessmen, ducking them for months and blaming his unresponsiveness to their demands for payment on mistakes with decimal points, miscalculations, a son who was ill, a wife who was out of town and an “injured dog.”

    In November 2014, Zeek receiver Kenneth D. Bell asked for an order directing PCI to turn over more than $8.3 million that he believes are receivership assets. PCI now contends that it is insolvent, that it is a victim of Zeek and that its very business relationship with Zeek triggered a series of epic disasters that led to its demise.

    Brian Newberry is the president, CEO and principal owner of PCI.

    From a filing by PCI today (italics added):

    Immediately upon discovering that RVG had been operating an alleged Ponzi Scheme, PCI directed PCI’s processing partner, without qualification, to honor all chargeback requests made by Customers, including those to whom monthly services had been rendered . . . To date, PCI has paid out at least $2,000,000 on Customer chargeback requests and related fees.

    Severe fines and penalties have been imposed on PCI because PCI contracted with RVG, which has since been exposed for various fraudulent and unlawful practices. Such fines and penalties continue to accrue. To date, PCI has paid an aggregate of at least $1,100,000 in fines based directly on PCI having processed transactions related to RVG . . .

    Furthermore, PCI has paid, to date, an aggregate of at least $600,000 in legal fees incurred by PCI, PCI’s processing partner and PCI’s merchant bank specifically related to handling the ZeekRewards fallout . . . Under the Agreement, these legal fees are RVG’s responsibility . . .

    Based on the advice of PCI’s (now disbarred) attorney, Scott Mehler (“Mehler”), that the funds in dispute belonged to PCI and not RVG, PCI used the funds PCI received from processing monthly memberships that remained after payment of the aforementioned chargebacks, fees, fines and penalties in an attempt to mitigate the damages resulting from RVG’s conduct . . .

    In addition to fines and legal fees, PCI and one of PCI’s principals, Brian Newberry, were themselves placed on the “MATCH List” based on the transactions processed for RVG . . . As a result, PCI’s processing partner, SecureNet, immediately ceased doing business with PCI altogether, thereby cutting PCI off from all sources of cash . . . Without any cash, PCI could not service the financial obligations imposed by contracts with other parties or otherwise meet operating expenses as they became due. PCI has asserted a Class 2 secured claim against the Estate, which claim is concurrently being pursued in accordance with the claims determination procedures established applicable to this SEC Enforcement Action, as ordered by this Court.

    NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

    UPDATE DEC. 18 7:32 P.M. ET: The PP Blog is working on an update to the story above.

    UPDATE DEC. 18 10:09 P.M. ET. See related story here.

  • UPDATE: Competing Cycler Advertised Inside ‘Achieve Community’ Forum Collapsed At Launch Yesterday

    This ad for "Cycles 24/7," a Ponzi-board "program," appears in the Achieve Community forum. Source: YouTube promo for Achieve.
    This ad (see top of screen shot) for “Cycles 24/7,” a Ponzi-board “program,” appears in the Achieve Community forum. Source: YouTube promo for Achieve.

    UPDATED 2:12 P.M. ET U.S.A. A competing cycler advertised inside the supposedly private “Achieve Community” forum and promoted on the MoneyMakerGroup forum collapsed at launch yesterday, triggering a classic uproar among willfully blind Ponzi-board scammers.

    The name of the cycler is Cycles 24/7. The PP Blog learned of the “program” only because Achieve promoter Mike Chitty recorded an Achieve commercial and posted it on YouTube on Dec. 15. Chitty’s Achieve promo shows a banner ad for Cycles 24/7 inside the Achieve forum, raising the specter that the unknown individual who posted the banner is an Achieve member promoting another scam.

    The ads inside the Achieve forum will show “different things that keep coming out,” Chitty said in his video. The ad for Cycles 24/7  claims, “Non Stop Earning For Everyone[.] JUST LAUNCHED[.] Automated Hybrid Straight Line Cycler[.] Turn $10 Into $30 or Turn $50 Into $400[.] Receive $1.00 or $5.00 Bonus[.] JOIN NOW!”

    Cycles 24/7 appears to have made its debut Dec. 10 on MoneyMakerGroup. With a prefunding period and a launch set for yesterday, the Cycles 24/7 server appears first to have showed to a crawl and then collapsed, triggering questions about whether a scamming “admin” had fled with the cash or was merely incompetent when choosing a hosting platform.

    Ponzi forum legend “Ken Russo,” formerly of the Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme and many others, apparently was not amused. “Just sent a support ticket with my refund request,” the huckster wrote at MoneyMakerGroup. “If it is not honored I will file a dispute with [Solid Trust Pay]. Just went through this with the AdBubbler fiasco!”

    Although the Cycles 24/7 website appears to be back online today, this message appears: “CYCLES 24/7 is relaunching soon!”

    Another Ponzi-board post claims “Rick Fleming” is the “admin” of the program. Cycles 24/7 members, according to a MoneyMakerGroup post, received an email that read (italics added):

    Good day All C247 Members,

    You will notice that my FB account has been suspended and reported by one of the members of Cycles24/7 group.

    This is too personal and unprofessional behaviour to an admin who is offering a genuine and life changing opportunity online.

    We can’t find any programs out there that Cycles 24/7 is offering to the members – instant payout, no preloaded positions to name a few.

    Cycles 24/7 members will expect transparency, honest and fair play at all times.

    The reason I am not showing you my photos is I am protecting myself and my family for possible threat or extortion.

    Involving in the money making program will always have risk despite of good intentions that you will bring to the members there are still others you can’t please.

    Cycles 24/7 was well plan and offering a generous compensation plan to the members. Admin only earn from 10% commissions every cycled position, other than that the remaining money is always given to the member’s position cycling out.

    Let’s continue remain positive and hope this will not affect the success of Cycles 24/7.

    The FB Group will remain open with the help of hardworking admins. All future updates will be send through our newsletter.

    Kind Regards,

    Rick Fleming

    Chitty hosted an Achieve conference call last week with fellow Achiever Rodney Blackburn that revealed one or more senior citizens were Achieve members. Blackburn, a onetime Iraqi dinar enthusiast, now has backed away from certain claims he made during the call, although he still claims Achieve is a great “program.”

    In his Dec. 15 YouTube promo, Chitty identities himself with the “Legendary Income Solutions Team” and asserts that “once those [Achieve payment] processors get in and we get everybody locked into the system, I really feel like — and this is a personal feeling; I’m not trying to make any forecasts for the Achieve Community itself — but the way I saw it before and the way I’m seeing it now, when that processor gets locked in, guys, hang on. Because we’re gonna blow up. And it’s gonna go absolutely insane again. Be ready. Have a repurchase plan.”

    Achieve, which purportedly turns $50 into $400 and enables participants to buy multiple $50 “positions,” reportedly lost its ability more than a month ago to do business through Payoneer. An ad for Payza as shown on the Achieve forum also appeared in Chitty’s Dec. 15 promo, although it is unclear if Achieve is moving to Payza. The court-appointed receiver in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi-scheme case said in an Oct. 30, 2014, report to the court that he is continuing his “investigation and pursuit of outstanding funds from Payza” and other processors used by Zeek, including SolidTrustPay.

    Some Achieve members reportedly have grumbled or expressed concerns that anti-Achieve “spies” may be reading posts in the private forum. Chitty’s Dec. 15 video, however, shows that Achievers themselves may be creating leaks.

    From the video alone, the PP Blog was able to see multiple thread titles inside the forum and posts by some individual Achieve members.

     

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Nicholas Smirnow, Pathway To Prosperity HYIP Ponzi Figure, Arrested At Airport In Canada

    Nicholas Smirnow. Source: INTERPOL Wanted notice.
    Nicholas Smirnow. Source: INTERPOL Wanted notice.

    URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING:  (6th update 9:35 p.m. ET U.S.A.) Nicholas Smirnow, still listed by INTERPOL as a person wanted by the United States in the alleged Pathway To Prosperity (P2P) HYIP Ponzi scheme that affected people in 120 countries, has been arrested at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, Canadian media outlets are reporting.

    U.S. federal prosecutors charged Smirnow, believed now to be 56 or 57, in 2010. He has been listed by INTERPOL since that time.

    CTV News, via the Canadian Press, is reporting that U.S. authorities are aware of the arrest. Smirnow also has been charged with crimes in Canada.

    P2P was an instance of international mass-marketing fraud, U.S. authorities said in 2010.  Though large for its time in the 2008 to 2010 time frame after allegedly gathering more than $70 million and affecting 40,000 investors, P2P since has been eclipsed in dollar volume and victims count by other mass-marketing fraud schemes such as Zeek Rewards and TelexFree.

    Professor James E. Byrne, an HYIP expert consulted by the U.S. government in the P2P case, said in 2010 that “the investment scheme described in the materials that I have reviewed are not legitimate but resemble and are classic instances of so-called high yield frauds and fraudulent pyramid schemes. The proposed returns are excessive for even the most risky legitimate investments and are simply preposterous for investments whose principal is supposedly guaranteed.”

    From Byrne’s P2P analyis (italics added):

    The funds are turned over to the investment and “earn” returns that range from 1.5% daily for a 7 day plan Plus the return of the initial investment to 2.67% daily for a 60 day plan or 160.2% plus the return of the initial investment. The weekly returns on the 7 day investment would amount to approximately 540% per year without taking into account the principal and the 60 day plan would return approximately 950% annualized.

    Like many HYIP schemes before and after, P2P had a presence on well-known Ponzi scheme forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup. Both forums are referenced in P2P-related court filings. TalkGold got a mention last week in the Liberty Reserve money-laundering case.

    Like current schemes with a Ponzi-board presence such as “Achieve Community,” the P2P tentacles spread far and wide and sucked in vulnerable people such as senior citizens. From a PP Blog story on May 31, 2010 (italics/bolding added):

    The scheme was almost unimaginably widespread, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service said in an affidavit.

    “Financial records of payment processors utilized by P-2-P to collect investment funds from investors show that approximately 40,000 investors in 120 countries established accounts with P-2-P,” a postal inspector said. “Despite the fact that the investment was supposedly ‘guaranteed, investors lost approximately $70 million as a result of [Smirnow’s] actions.”

    The probe began when the U.S. government received a referral from the Illinois Securities Department “concerning an elderly Southern District of Illinois resident who had made a substantial investment in P-2-P,” the postal inspector said in the affidavit.

    “In addition to P-2-P’s own website, I discovered that P-2-P’s investment scheme was marketed on other websites, including High Yield Investment Program forums, which I was able to access directly through the internet,” the inspector said.

    Before long, the inspector determined that the scheme cost investors losses in 48 of the 50 U.S. states, and 18 of the 38 counties that comprise the Southern District of Illinois, prosecutors said.

    Such penetration in Illinois may suggest Smirnow had a promotional arm in the state. The complaint spells out a case against conspirators “known and unknown,” and the complaint notes that family members told other family members about the scheme.

    “When P-2-P’s funds were depleted and when investors did not receive a return of their funds as they had been promised, [Smirnow] caused a posting on P-2-P’s private forum warning investors not to complain to payment processors about P-2-P’s failure to return their money or they would find themselves ‘on the outside looking in,’” prosecutors charged.

    The postal inspector has spoken to “hundreds of P-2-P investors” during the course of the investigation, according to court filings.

    “Hundreds [of people] sent me copies of printouts they had made of P-2-P’s website, postings that had been made on the P-2-P’s members forum, and internet sites touting high yield investment programs which contained postings related to P-2-P,” the postal inspector said.

    With “Achieve Community,” promoters claim that $50 turns into $400 in three months or less. Participants are encouraged to roll over profits.

    Achieve Community promoters have published extrapolations that show “earnings” in the tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands and even the millions of dollars.