PatrickPretty.com

Category: The Economy

BULLETIN: Feds Now Say Andy Bowdoin Was Charged In Securities Swindle In Third Alabama County; Records Show Arrest Warrants Were Issued And Suggest AdSurfDaily Patriarch Spent Time In Jail Prior To ASD Launch And Subsequent Ponzi Probe

In April 24 court filings, federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia described four instances in which accused Ponzi schemer Andy Bowdoin was charged during the 1990s with state-level, securities-related crimes in Alabama. Those crimes occurred in Montgomery and Wilcox counties, prosecutors said. But yesterday prosecutors informed Bowdoin’s lawyers and U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer…

May 1, 2012
UPDATE: Call In Which Frederick Mann Told JSS/JBP Members That ‘Opportunity’ Was Paying Them With Funds From ‘New Members’ Goes Missing From Website

UPDATED 7:44 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.). A potentially damning audio recording of a March 15 conference call in which Frederick Mann told JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid members that the “opportunity” was paying them with money from “new members” has gone missing from the JSS/JBP website. The precise date on which the recording was removed was not immediately clear.…

May 1, 2012
UPDATE: AdSurfDaily’s Andy Bowdoin Faces May 8 Bond-Review Hearing

With federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia now saying AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin was involved in multiple fraud schemes after the U.S. Secret Service seized $65.8 million from his personal bank accounts in August 2008 in a Ponzi probe, the ASD patriarch now faces a bond-review hearing in Washington. U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer…

Apr 30, 2012
PP Blog Experiences Computer Meltdown

Dear Readers, I drove to my sister’s house this morning to make this quick post. The past few days have brought about a crisis . . . On Friday, both of the computers used to publish the Blog developed problems with condensation. Precisely how and why this happened remain a mystery. Our desktop machine became…

Apr 29, 2012
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: [UPDATED]: Government Says It Has Tied Andy Bowdoin To Failed AdViewGlobal Autosurf; Prosecutors Also Cite AdSurfDaily Patriarch’s ‘OneX’ Sales Pitch, Calling Program A ‘Fraudulent Scheme’

UPDATED 11:40 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Federal prosecutors say they’ve tied AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin to the failed AdViewGlobal autosurf and intend to introduce evidence of “uncharged misconduct” at Bowdoin’s trial for the alleged ASD Ponzi scheme. Meanwhile, prosecutors say “OneX” — a “program” Bowdoin said he was pitching to help pay for his criminal defense…

Apr 26, 2012
[DONATION POST]: PP Blog At Brink Again As May Approaches (And Publication Passes 1,600-Post Milestone)

With May approaching , the PP Blog once again is at the edge of an abyss. In July 2011, the Blog enabled a donation button. We’ve stayed online to fight the good fight — thanks to readers. As was the case last month, key bills are coming due and core essentials are in short supply.…

Apr 26, 2012
MOST UN-‘WISE’: 2 Ponzi Schemers Ride Their Wordplay To Prison Sentences Totaling More Than 33 Years; Judge Declares Crime ‘Evil’

“Defendant Trebor Company (Robert spelled backward) is a sole proprietorship owned by [Robert C. Brown Jr.] and is the name he has used for his ‘investment group.’” — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in civil complaint against Trebor and Brown, July 23, 2008 “Evidence at trial established that much of the investor money was funneled…

Apr 26, 2012
UPDATE: 3 Women Sentenced To Jail For Ponzi Swindle In California; Scam Involved Bogus ‘Milk’ Sales To Disneyland And Allegedly Targeted Parents Of School Children

The three California women who hatched a Ponzi scheme involving purportedly “exclusive” milk sales to Disneyland and allegedly recruited investors from the ranks of local PTA members at an elementary school in the Los Angeles region now have been sentenced to jail terms. (PTA stands for Parent-Teacher Association.) The PP Blog first reported on Maricela…

Apr 25, 2012
INCREDIBLE! SEC Says Recidivist Huckster And Felon Allen E. Weintraub Is Scamming Again — This Time With Purported Facebook Shares; Court Grants Asset Freeze And Agency Publishes Phone Number To Take Complaints

BULLETIN: The SEC is tackling another bizarre securities-fraud case in which the alleged elements read like fiction. In May 2011, the agency charged Allen E. Weintraub of Aventura, Fla., in a bogus “tender offer” caper in which he fraudulently claimed to have backers to purchase (for purported billions of dollars) Eastman Kodak Co. and AMR…

Apr 25, 2012
UPDATE: John Chiyuan Lee, Scammer Whose Case Shattered Ponzi-Board Myth, Sentenced To California State Prison And Ordered To Make Restitution

In fleeing to Thailand, becoming a fugitive listed by INTERPOL and leaving dozens of U.S. victims in his wake when his Ponzi scheme collapsed, John Chiyuan Lee shattered the Ponzi-forum myth that “offshore equals safe.” “Safe — for a while while INTERPOL is beaming your picture 24/7 and U.S. authorities at the local, state and…

Apr 25, 2012
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: JSS Tripler Banned By Italian Securities Regulator CONSOB; ‘Marketing The Offering’ Is ‘Prohibited,’ Agency Announces

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator, has banned promos for JSS Tripler, the purported arm of a “program” known as JustBeenPaid that has advertised a daily return of 2 percent and a monthly return of 60 percent. In an English translation on CONSOB’s website this morning, the regulator described JSS Tripler…

Apr 23, 2012