The Economy

Indicted Payza Announces ‘Restructuring’

Indicted Payza Announces 'Restructuring'

As one of its operators sits in a Michigan federal prison and the other is listed “at large” by U.S. authorities, Payza today announced a purported “restructuring” as a “European service” that has ceased serving U.S. customers. “This means that no transactions are allowed for US members at this time and Payza will no longer […]

Payza Site Seized By Feds

The website Payza.com has been seized, the office of U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu of the District of Columbia confirmed tonight. It was not immediately clear how the action will affect Payza customers worldwide, but Liu’s office has updated an information site here. In the update, authorities provided an email address for persons who have questions […]

BULLETIN: Payza, Patel Brothers Indicted; Feds Move To Forfeit Payza.com Domain Name

BULLETIN: Payza, Patel Brothers Indicted; Feds Move To Forfeit Payza.com Domain Name

BULLETIN: A grand jury in the District of Columbia has indicted the operators of Payza and moved for the forfeiture of the Payza.com domain name. Ferhan Patel, 37, has been arrested in Detroit and is being held.  Firoz Patel, 43, is listed by U.S. authorities as “at large.” The Payza.com domain name appears still to be […]

Proposed Class Action Alleges Traffic Monsoon’s Scoville Told PayPal He Was In ‘Investments’ Business

Proposed Class Action Alleges Traffic Monsoon's Scoville Told PayPal He Was In 'Investments' Business

In the aftermath of the SEC’s securities-fraud action against him last year and a judicial ruling this year that he was opertaing a Ponzi scheme, Traffic Monsoon’s Charles Scoville has blanketed social media with claims he was not offering investments. But Scoville told PayPal that “Traffic Monsoon’s business was “Investments – general” when he opened […]

Zeek’s Paul Burks Now In Federal Custody

Zeek's Paul Burks Now In Federal Custody

Paul Burks, the 70-year-old operator of the Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme, now is listed as prisoner No. 29723-058 at FMC Lexington. The facility is an administrative security federal medical center with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp in Lexington, Ky. After being sentenced in February to more than 14 years, Burks was ordered to report to […]

Troy Barnes, ‘Achieve Community’ Ponzi Schemer, Sentenced To 33 Months

Troy Barnes, 'Achieve Community' Ponzi Schemer, Sentenced To 33 Months

Troy A. Barnes ran “The Achieve Community” (TAC) scam along with Kristine L. “Kristi” Johnson. Barnes, 53, of Riverview Mich., now has been sentenced to 33 months in federal prison, the office of U.S. Attorney Jill Westmoreland Rose announced. Johnson, of Colorado, earlier was sentenced to 21 months. Achieve was a Ponzi-board program that used a […]

In Atmosphere Of Murkiness, Are Violations Of The Traffic Monsoon Asset Freeze Taking Place?

In Atmosphere Of Murkiness, Are Violations Of The Traffic Monsoon Asset Freeze Taking Place?

EDITOR’S NOTE: Traffic Monsoon is a Utah company. The firm also has purported business operations in the United Kingdom and Dubai. Details about the offshore operations are murky. A claim from an apparent Traffic Monsoon affiliate appeared Monday (April 3) on Facebook that “Allied Wallet is making refunds of [Traffic Monsoon]  purchases made by credit […]

‘Traffic Hurricane’ Members Beware: Preliminary Injunction Prohibits Traffic Monsoon, Scoville From Benefiting From ‘AdPack’ Businesses

'Traffic Hurricane' Members Beware: Preliminary Injunction Prohibits Traffic Monsoon, Scoville From Benefiting From 'AdPack' Businesses

2ND UPDATE 6:58 P.M. EDT U.S.A. Here’s a news flash for individuals who joined a “program” called Traffic Hurricane with the belief they somehow were helping the defense of Charles Scoville and Traffic Monsoon: Both Scoville and Traffic Monsoon  are “prohibited from soliciting, accepting, or depositing any monies obtained from actual or prospective investors, individuals, customers, companies, […]

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Judge Maintains Traffic Monsoon Receivership And Asset Freeze, Grants SEC’s Request For Preliminary Injunction

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Judge Maintains Traffic Monsoon Receivership And Asset Freeze, Grants SEC's Request For Preliminary Injunction

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: A federal judge in Utah has denied the request of Charles Scoville and Traffic Monsoon to set aside the Traffic Monsoon receivership and has granted the SEC’s motion for a preliminary injunction that continues an asset freeze ordered in July 2016. “The evidence clearly points to the fact that Traffic Monsoon’s […]

SEC Charges Zeek Figure Keith Laggos With Publishing Fake News To Sanitize Ponzi/Pyramid Scheme

SEC Charges Zeek Figure Keith Laggos With Publishing Fake News To Sanitize Ponzi/Pyramid Scheme

Keith Laggos, an AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme figure and the onetime publisher of Network Marketing Business Journal, has been charged by the SEC with securities fraud for illegally touting the Zeek Rewards scheme and using NMBJ to sanitize the egregious fraud that gathered hundreds of millions of dollars. Among the agency’s allegations is that “Laggos’s favorable […]

Famed Prosecutor Who Tied HYIP Scheme To Terrorist Financier Fired By Trump Administration

Famed Prosecutor Who Tied HYIP Scheme To Terrorist Financier Fired By Trump Administration

EDITORIAL: Ponzi schemers, Wall Street fraudsters and corrupt politicians must be taking comfort in the reported abrupt firing by the Trump administration of Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. There is no question that President Trump had the power to ask Bharara and dozens of other U.S. Attorneys who […]