The largest counter-terrorism campaign in Australia’s history reportedly is under way today, with officials saying one or more individuals with links to ISIS planned random attacks against members of the Australian public to demonstrate the reach of the terrorist group.
ISIS is associated with beheadings. Two American journalists and a British aid worker have been executed in this fashion by ISIS, which has taken over lands in Iraq and Syria.
Video circulating in Australian media today shows that police seized a sword.
Pre-dawn raids across Sydney and Brisbane led to the arrest of fifteen people and the reported seizure of a scimitar, a gun, machetes, balaclavas and military fatigues which authorities said were to be used in a plot to “shock, horrify and terrorise” the community.
“It is of serious concern that in the heart of our community there have been plans to conduct a random attack,” New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said. “We know there were plans on foot and we have been able to disrupt that.”
Fifteen people have been detained in relation to serious terrorism related offences during a major NSW Joint Counter Terrorism (JCTT) operation in Sydney today.
More than 800 officers from the AFP and NSW Police Force conducted 25 search warrants across Sydney this morning in the suburbs of Beecroft, Bellavista, Guildford, Merrylands, Northmead, Wentworthville, Marsfield, Westmead, Castle Hill, Revesby, Bass Hill and Regents Park.
Fifteen warrants have been undertaken at Sydney premises this morning, with a further 10 warrants undertaken in relation to vehicles.
The operation follows the Joint Counter Terrorism Team investigation of a group of people located in Sydney alleged to have the intent to carry out random attacks on individuals here in Australia.
Police believe this group was actively preparing for the attacks however there is no information regarding a specific attack, including dates, time or location.
The warrants were undertaken today to prevent the group’s planning activities at the earliest opportunity, and collect further evidence.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott told reporters that “exhortations” were coming from an Australian who is senior in the ISIS movement to support networks in Australia to “conduct demonstration killings.”
Also:
Further charges laid following Joint Counter-Terrorism raids — Operation Appleby: https://t.co/jHzoA7SG5n
From a BitClub Network promo on a page in Indonesian today. Red blocks by PP Blog.
Much remains murky about BitClub Network, a Bitcoin-themed “program” that in typical HYIP fashion missed at least three advertised launch dates earlier this month.
The launch, however, now appears to have gotten under way shortly after “2 p.m. EST” today, a possible indicator that the “program” is using Panama time.
One promo the PP Blog observed shortly after the launch time was in Indonesian. It appeared to claim that BitClub Network paid between 0.3 percent and 0.8 percent a day. If we are reading this claim correctly, it appears as though the promoter is saying recruits who send in $3,000 will earn somewhere between $9 and $24 a day — or between $270 and $720 a month.
We ran the Indonesian claim through Google Translate. Here is part of what the English translation reads (italics added):
. . . the process is run by experts [mining?] bitcoin Digital Currency you just sit at home and receive a daily income of about 0.3 to 0.8% everyday.
The Indonesian pitch also referred to “compounding.” Many HYIP schemes purport that “earnings” can be compounded and that relatively small sums will be become tremendous fortunes over time. Zeek Rewards, which allegedly collected on the order of $850 million in a combined Ponzi- and pyramid scheme that lasted less than two years, was such a “compounding” program.
If our reading of the early info on BitClub Network is correct, it is an upstart offering fraud with a lower daily payout rate than Zeek, which averaged about 1.5 percent. Promos for Bitclub Network claim recruits will get paid for 1,000 days. Zeek had a much shorter term, absent “rollovers.” BitClub Network also may have a rollover feature.
Alleged Zeek Rewards winner Brian Spatola of Randolph, N.J., appears to be on the front lines of BitClub Network. So does alleged Zeek winner T. LeMont Silver, a named defendant in a clawback action by the court-appointed receiver in the Zeek case.
The BitClubNetwork site itself today was using rolling headlines from other sites. One read, “United Way Becomes Largest Nonprofit to Accept Bitcoin.”
Some scams trade on the names of reputable entities as a means of creating a veneer of legitimacy. The names of other famous companies easily could appear in the rolling headlines on BitClub Network, which is presented as a “mining” venture that offers “shares.”
That famous entities may use Bitcoin does not mean that BitClub Network itself is legitimate. Prior to the emergence of Bitcoin, the scammers who promote HYIPs routinely traded on the names of famous banks and credit-card companies, hoping the legitimacy of those enterprises would rub off on the emerging scams.
Here is part of what BitClub Network says about itself on its website (italics added):
BitClub is not owned by any one person, we are a team of experts, entrepreneurs, professionals, network marketers, and programming geeks who have all come to together to launch a very simple business around a very complex industry. Anyone can join BitClub and begin earning a passive income by taking advantage of our expertise in Bitcoin mining and other Bitcoin related services.
Fuzzy ownership and claims about “passive income” lead to questions about whether a “program” is conducting an offering fraud, selling unregistered securities as investment contracts and permitting recruits who have little or no net worth to direct whatever safety blanket they have to murky enterprises with long reach.
It further claims to operate “virtually with contributors from all over the world.”
And, it claims, “[o]ur main servers and technology for digital mining is located in a very secure and private location that will only be made available by pictures and a live video feed in the near future.”
An earlier HYIP “program” known as JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid appeared to use servers in the Netherlands. Frederick Mann, its murky purported operator, once fretted that the JSS/JBP servers could be subjected to a “cruise missile” attack.
This is from the FAQs at the BitClub Network site (italics added):
Q – If BitClub is already successful at mining Bitcoin then why are you sharing profit? Great Question!s [sic]
A: Because of how mining works it is always getting harder and harder for smaller mines to make great profits. This is quickly turning into a game for the big boys. Bigger orders mean bigger discounts on hardware, less electricity and rent per Ghz, more flexibility in what is mined and many other factors. By starting BitClub Network we know that over the next couple of years we could become one of the largest most profitable mines in the world. We will actually make more money sharing the profits with you. That’s why there are so many mining pools, we are just doing things a little differently. We believe in the motto “Making money is a team sport.”
Despite the fact BitClub Network says it does not promote that “a share will have set return and we don’t offer 100% ROI claims,” the site in Indonesian is making a claim that the daily payout will range between 0.3 percent and 0.8 percent. If people send in $3,000 and purportedly make between $9 and $24 a day with it, they’d make between $9,000 and $24,000 in BitClub Network’s purported term of 1,000 days.
Bernard Madoff would not have dared to be so bold.
A graphic of a smiling miner wearing a button-down shirt and swinging a pick appears on the site in Indonesian. Another graphic at the site shows Bitcoin and an Automated Teller Machine — as through BitClubNetwork will be the easiest thing in the world, that laborers worldwide will be smiling.
The site in Indonesian also carries graphics of nice automobiles. A photo displays people standing in front of a “HOLLYWOOD” sign — presumptively in California. The banner in part reads, “MALAYSIA.”
Another “MALAYSIA” banner appears in the foreground of a shot that shows people and pine trees set against a backdrop of snow.
Following a recent pattern in HYIP promos, famous landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe also appear on the site in Indonesian.
BULLETIN: (2nd Update 5:26 p.m. EDT Sept. 16 U.S.A.) The court-appointed trustee in the TelexFree bankruptcy case says in court filings that MLM attorney Jeffrey Babener advised TelexFree in August 2013 that it was operating a pyramid scheme.
TelexFree nevertheless continued to collect money, Trustee Stephen B. Darr said.
Just two months earlier — in June 2013 — TelexFree’s Brazilian arm (Ympactus) “was seized by the Brazilian authorities and its operations shut down based upon the allegations that its operations constituted a pyramid scheme,” Darr said.
Between early February 2014 and mid-March 2014 alone, Darr said, TelexFree “took approximately $50,000,000 from new and existing Promoters.”
This occurred while both the SEC and the Massachusetts Securities Division were investigating TelexFree, Darr said.
And, he noted, it also occurred after TelexFree — in the late summer or early fall of 2013 — had retained Robert Weaver, “an attorney with extensive white collar crime expertise, and the firm of Garvey, Schubert, Barer based in Seattle to, upon information and belief, provide legal advice respecting potential and/or ongoing violations of federal and state law.”
“Despite the shutdown of Ympactus on the basis that its business was a pyramid scheme, and being advised in August of 2013 that the Debtors’ business plan was a pyramid scheme, the Principals continued to operate their business in accordance with that scheme throughout 2013 and into March 2014,” Darr said.
Babener not only told TelexFree it was operating a pyramid scheme, he also told the law firm Greenberg Traurig that TelexFree was a pyramid scheme, Darr said.
Greenberg Traurig, Darr said, initially had been retained by TelexFree in early February 2014 to represent the company “in connection with the MSD investigation.”
The law firm then represented TelexFree in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case. That case was filed in Nevada on April 13, two days before the SEC and MSD brought actions and the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security raided TelexFree’s office in Massachusetts.
With TelexFree members complaining about high billings from TelexFree’s bankruptcy lawyers and other professionals involved in the bankruptcy case, Darr said that he “has reached an agreement in principle with Greenberg [Traurig] that should resolve the objections of the Trustee and the SEC to the Greenberg fee application.”
(See BehindMLM.com for story on clashes with the Gordon Silver law firm over fees.)
Overall, Darr said, TelexFree had racked up more than $5 billion in liabilities.
If it proves true Babener advised TelexFree it was operating a pyramid scheme, his concerns would appear to be in stark contrast to words MLM attorney Gerald Nehra delivered at a TelexFree convention in California in July 2013.
Moreover, the plaintiffs alleged, Nehra’s “opinions were packaged and promoted as part of TelexFree’s total ‘post Brazilian shut down package’ to the members of the putative class,” according to the complaint.
Nehra was not merely providing zealous representation to TelexFree, the plaintiffs alleged. Rather, he counseled “TelexFree on methods to evade United States securities laws that were intended to offer, in part, protection from pyramid Ponzi schemes; all to enrich himself financially and serve his own selfish interests.”
Nehra was billed as a “special guest” at a TelexFree rah-rah session in Spain in early March of this year, but appears not to have shown.
“Today, few threats are more urgent than the threat posed by violent extremism. And with the emergence of groups like ISIL, and the knowledge that some Americans are attempting to travel to countries like Syria and Iraq to take part in ongoing conflicts, the Justice Department is responding appropriately.” — Eric Holder, U.S. Attorney General,Sept. 15, 2014.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the full statement of the U.S. Department of Justice on an initiative to combat violent extremism in an era in which terrorists effectively are operating global mass-marketing campaigns. The terrorist group ISIS, which has taken over lands in Iraq and Syria, recently has engaged in beheadings of two American journalists and a British aid worker. A link to a video of remarks by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder appears at the bottom of this post. ISIS also is known as ISIL.
** ________________________________ **
Eric Holder. From Sept. 15, 2014, Justice Department video.
Attorney General Eric Holder announced Monday that the Justice Department will launch a new series of pilot programs in cities across the country to bring together community representatives, public safety officials and religious leaders to counter violent extremism. The new programs will be run in partnership with the White House, the Department of Homeland Security, and the National Counterterrorism Center.
“Today, few threats are more urgent than the threat posed by violent extremism,” [the] Attorney General said in a video message posted on the Justice Department’s website. “And with the emergence of groups like ISIL, and the knowledge that some Americans are attempting to travel to countries like Syria and Iraq to take part in ongoing conflicts, the Justice Department is responding appropriately.”
The complete text of the Attorney General’s video message is below:
“Last week, millions of Americans paused to mark the 13th anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001 – the deadliest acts of terror ever carried out on American soil. For my colleagues at every level of our nation’s Department of Justice, and for me, this anniversary was also a solemn reminder of our most important obligation: to ensure America’s national security and protect the American people from a range of evolving threats.
“Today, few threats are more urgent than the threat posed by violent extremism. And with the emergence of groups like ISIL, and the knowledge that some Americans are attempting to travel to countries like Syria and Iraq to take part in ongoing conflicts, the Justice Department is responding appropriately.
“Through law enforcement agencies like the FBI, American authorities are working with our international partners and Interpol to disseminate information on foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq, including individuals who have traveled from the United States. We have established processes for detecting American extremists who attempt to join terror groups abroad. And we have engaged in extensive outreach to communities here in the U.S. – so we can work with them to identify threats before they emerge, to disrupt homegrown terrorists, and to apprehend would-be violent extremists. But we can – and we must – do even more.
“Today, I am announcing that the Department of Justice is partnering with the White House, the Department of Homeland Security, and the National Counterterrorism Center to launch a new series of pilot programs in cities across the nation. These programs will bring together community representatives, public safety officials, religious leaders, and United States Attorneys to improve local engagement; to counter violent extremism; and – ultimately – to build a broad network of community partnerships to keep our nation safe. Under President Obama’s leadership, along with our interagency affiliates, we will work closely with community representatives to develop comprehensive local strategies, to raise awareness about important issues, to share information on best practices, and to expand and improve training in every area of the country.
“Already, since 2012, our U.S. Attorneys have held or attended more than 1,700 engagement-related events or meetings to enhance trust and facilitate communication in their neighborhoods and districts. This innovative new pilot initiative will build on that important work. And the White House will be hosting a Countering Violent Extremism summit in October to highlight these and other domestic and international efforts. Ultimately, the pilot programs will enable us to develop more effective – and more inclusive – ways to help build the more just, secure, and free society that all Americans deserve.
“As we move forward together, our work must continue to be guided by the core democratic values – and the ideals of freedom, openness, and inclusion – that have always set this nation apart on the world stage. We must be both innovative and aggressive in countering violent extremism and combating those who would sow intolerance, division, and hate – not just within our borders, but with our international partners on a global scale. And we must never lose sight of what violent extremists fear the most: the strength of our communities; our unwavering respect for equality, civil rights, and civil liberties; and our enduring commitment to justice, democracy, and the rule of law.”
BULLETIN: The government of Colombia appears to be seizing assets linked to four Colombians with alleged ties to TelexFree, which authorities in the United States have described as a massive cross-border pyramid- and Ponzi scheme.
La Superintendencia de Sociedades, Colombia’s Superintendency of Companies, has published notices of the action. (See link to document (Spanish) below.)
At a 2013 TelexFree event in California, then-TelexFree President James Merrill suggested from the stage that the Colombian government “feared” network marketing.
The precise context of Merrill’s remark on Colombia made at the Newport Beach TelexFree confab last year was unclear. In an April 2014 pyramid- and Ponzi complaint against TelexFree, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission referenced comments made by Merrill and TelexFree figures Carlos Wanzeler and Steve Labriola at the Newport Beach event.
Brazilian federal police have conducted TelexFree-related raids, as have the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the FBI in the United States.
The infamous D.M.G. Group (DMG) “program” in Colombia and other nations had ties to money-laundering and narcotics trafficking, with U.S. federal prosecutors saying hundreds of “subsidiary and affiliated companies” were established in a bid to cleanse dirty money.
UPDATE: There are reports on Twitter that the launch of the murky BitClub Network “program” has been delayed.
This would be the third postponement.
A purported “enormous opportunity in Bitcoin Mining,” according to veteran HYIP huckster and alleged Zeek Rewards Ponzi “winner” T. LeMont Silver, BitClub Network advertised a Sept. 1 launch date.
Promoters of the scheme then claimed it would launch on Sept. 3 or Sept. 4, but that didn’t happen. The purported launch date then was moved up to Sept. 10, the eve of the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Now, promoters say the 9/10 launch is off. A Facebook post this afternoon claims the launch will be “slightly delayed” and that the “program” will “give 24 hour notice before launch once everything is ready to go.”
Whether Silver — or any BitClub Network promoter — knows who is running things remains unclear.
Prospects are being told they’ll earn money for 1,000 days.
The advertised Sept. 1 launch date coincided with the 75 anniversary of the beginning of World War II.
A pitch accessible through Twitter claims the”launch will be delayed for a few days more.”
BULLETIN: (Updated 2:09 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) The White House has announced that President Obama will address the American people at 9 p.m. EDT tomorrow on the threat posed by ISIS, a terrorist group that has seized lands in Iraq and Syria. ISIS, the asserted Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, also is known as ISIL.
ISIS is responsible for the beheadings of two American journalists overseas and is believed to be holding other individuals captive.
The President will deliver an address to the nation from the State Floor of the White House Wednesday night at 9:00 PM EDT to discuss with the American people the threat posed by ISIL and to lay out the United States’ strategy for degrading and ultimately destroying the terrorist group.
Also see AP story dated today via the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that quotes a New York City police official talking about the “mass marketing of terrorism.”
Thursday is the 13 anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Regardless, Silver might have to dial up his efforts if he hopes to become be the new standard-bearer in the category of name-dropping to sell a purported MLM/direct-sales “opportunity.” That record is held unofficially by the WCM777 “program,” which the SEC described in March as an international pyramid scheme.
But even longtime MLM huckster Phil Piccolo — known as the “one-man Internet crime wave” in part for the ceaseless dropping of names such as Oprah Winfrey, Donald Trump, Groupon, Walmart and Apple — must be shaking his head in begrudging awe at Silver’s recent efforts to foist the emerging BitClub Network brand on the consuming public.
With BitClub Network, Silver has put his name-dropping into overdrive, joining the likes of the scamming chieftains of WCM777, the collapsed pyramid scheme that traded on the names of Siemens, Goldman Sachs, the Denny’s restaurant chain and a series of hospitality companies with famous flags.
Distressingly, Silver assures his audience in a recent promo that “people from all across the globe” were listening to his webinar and to promos of other affiliates. The named countries included the Philippines, Russia “and all over Europe, Australia, Canada.”
The Silver promo session was titled, “Make Money With No List Featuring BitClub Network Webinar.”
Silver hasn’t topped 700 yet in the unofficial name-dropping calculus, but he’s off to a good start, essentially positioning BitClub Network as a company that will create profit opportunities for the same sort of visionaries who spotted the genius behind one-time emerging brands such as Google, AOL, Microsoft (Internet Explorer), Amazon.com, Apple’s iPhone, Apple’s iPod, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blogger and more.
It’s all about “being at the right place at the right time,” Silver bleats. He even suggests in text that BitClub Network could be the next “email.”
As the video proceeds, Silver talks about Bitcoin, using slides to drop the names of Tiger Direct, the Sacramento Kings NBA franchise, Lord & Taylor, Dish Network, Expedia, Newegg and Gyft. He also works in the names of CVS Pharmacy, Sears, Target, Home Depot, Whole Foods Market and more.
Along the way, Silver also drops the names of California Gov. Jerry Brown, “China’s Central Bank Governor” and Gerogy Luntovsky, “deputy chairman of the bank of Russia,” according to text Silver displays.
From a promo for BitClub Network featuring T. LeMont Silver.
The BitClub Network “program” — originally set to launch Sept 1, the 75th anniversary of the beginning of World War II — reportedly now will launch on Sept. 10.
That’s the eve of the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The Sept. 10 launch time is pegged for “2pm EST,” which possibly means the “program” is using Panama time. Panama, part of the Americas, does not use Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).
Some of the money from the Profitable Sunrise HYIP swindle last year went to an entity in Panama City, the SEC said last year. Other Profitable Sunrise money ended up in Australia and the Czech Republic, according to court filings.
Profitable Sunrise operated through a “mail drop” in England and had a “director” in Seychelles, according to court filings.
Zeek Rewards Ponzi- and pyramid-scheme figure T. LeMont Silver, an early adopter of BitClub Network who is promising a $600 sign-up bonus and “training” for the “program,” now is using a Seychelles address, according to an email pitch he sent last week.
Seychelles is a known money-laundering haven. Silver may be operating from the Dominican Republic after parachuting into the nation after the collapse of Zeek in 2012 and the later collapse of two other purported “revenue-sharing programs” he was pitching.
Those “programs,” which ended up suing each other amid allegations of fraud, were GoFunPlaces/GoFun Rewards and JubiMax/JubiRev. Silver described disaffected prospects as “low-hanging fruit.”
BitClub Network, which purportedly offers “shares” of “mining pools,” has a Bitcoin theme. The reported buy-in levels are $500, $1,000 and $2,000, with “Founders’” positions going for $3,599.
Whether Silver even knows precisely who is operating the BitClub Network “program” is unclear. Also unclear is why the “program” chose start dates that corresponded with the starting dates of World War II in Europe and the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the United States.
Are the dates merely coincidences?
Hitler’s Nazi Third Reich was hoped to last 1,000 years. BitClub Network, early bird MLM HYIPers say, will pay a daily dividend for 1,000 days.
HYIP schemes in general are exceptionally murky propositions, with narratives, descriptions and actions that may be designed as taunts against both prospects and regulators. Profitable Sunrise, for example, used images of Jesus Christ in promos and offered a purported “Long Haul” plan with a purported Easter gift to be paid out on April 1, 2013 — April Fool’s Day.
March 31 of that year was Easter Sunday.
WCM777 also used images of Jesus Christ. A follow-up scam used images of a golden pyramid.
John Neil Hirst was charged by the U.K. Serious Fraud Office in 2011 with running a Ponzi scheme that targeted British, French and Americans through a company registered in Panama and Seychelles.
A 2010 scam known as “Alpha Trade Group” that was promoted on well-known Ponzi-scheme forums purported to be registered in Panama and was using “various corporations and fictitious names registered in Florida” to pull off the scheme, according to court filings.
David F. Merrick of Traders International Return Network (TIRN) was charged in a 2009 Ponzi scheme that was operating in the United States while funneling money to Panama, Mexico, Malaysia, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
It was promoted alongside the bizarrely named “Cash Crop Cycler.” Among the provocative claims on the CashCropCycler website was that the “program” was interested in building “a network that ticks.”
A 2011 scam known as OneX used an image of a bomb in its logo.
Silver was a OneX pitchman, alongside Andy Bowdoin, the operator of the $119 million AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme that he positioned as a “revenue-sharing” program.
At least one promo for Bitclub Network claims “All Countries” and prospects are accepted for “Legal Passive Income.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: On Sept. 4, a PP Blog reader who understands Portuguese posted a link to a Globo.com story that confirms from a medical source that Carlos Costa suffered a heart attack on Sept. 2 and is being treated at Meridional Hospital in Cariacica in the state of Espírito Santo. Here is a link in Portuguese to that story.
The PP Blog’s earlier story is below . . .
** _________________________ **
1st Update 11:46 p.m. (Sept. 2) EDT U.S.A. There are reports that Brazil-based TelexFree figure and candidate for political office Carlos Costa suffered a heart attack and was taken to a hospital today.
The PP Blog cannot independently confirm the reports, but has observed a video of Costa in what appears to be a hospital room.
Costa gives the “thumbs up” sign in the video, which is accessible via Facebook. At the time of this PP Blog post, the Facebook post showing Costa in a hospital room reads, “6 hours ago.” The video lasts 13 seconds, and shows Costa speaking while clad in a green gown.
If our reading of the situation is correct, Costa’s campaign is advising his followers that the candidate will be off the campaign trail at least until Sept. 8.
TelexFree is alleged in the United States to be a Ponzi- and pyramid scheme that gathered more than $1.2 billion. Federal police in Brazil conducted TelexFree-related raids in July.
Some TelexFree affiliates in the United States have accused Costa of racketeering.
