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Category: Writing And Branding

BULLETIN: Court Orders $2.1 Million Judgment Against Trudy Gilmond, Key Zeek Rewards’ Clawback Defendant

UPDATED 9:35 P.M. EDT U.S.A. Saying that Zeek Rewards’ clawback defendant Trudy Gilmond of Vermont “refused” to appear in North Carolina federal court on May 27 as directed, Senior U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen has entered a judgment against Gilmond for $2,129,522.27.

Mullen’s ruling is a significant win for Zeek receiver Kenneth D. Bell. Bell alleged in April that Gilmond and fellow Zeek clawback defendant Jerry Napier of Michigan had failed to defend the actions against them and had missed depositions in Vermont and Detroit, respectively.

Bell sought default judgments against both Gilmond and Napier and asked Mullen to make them appear in federal court for the Western District of North Carolina to show cause why judgments should not be entered against them.

“On May 11, 2015, the Court entered an Order directing Trudy Gilmond to personally appear before the Court on May 27, 2015 at 11:00 a.m. to show cause why judgment should not be entered against her as requested by the Receiver,” Mullen wrote in an order dated yesterday. “Ms. Gilmond failed to appear as directed. Indeed she advised the court by letter that she refused to do so.

“IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the Receiver’s Motion is GRANTED and judgment is hereby ENTERED against Defendants Trudy Gilmond and Trudy Gilmond LLC in the amount of $2,129,522.27,” Mullen wrote.

The news was better for Napier, from whom the receiver is seeking more than $2.041 million.

Bell informed the court that “Mr. Napier has appeared for a deposition and is cooperating in the production of documents,” Mullen wrote in a separate order dated yesterday.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

May 29, 2015
Judge Orders Sann Rodrigues Off The Road

From YouTube.

UPDATED 3:19 P.M. EDT U.S.A. TelexFree and IFreeX MLM promoter Sanderley Rodrigues de Vasconcelos (Sann Rodrigues) won’t be putting the pedal to the metal of his Lamborghini anytime soon — unless he wants to risk going back to jail.

That’s because U.S. Magistrate Judge Steven C. Mannion of the District of New Jersey issued an order May 21 for Rodrigues to surrender his driver’s license as one of the conditions for his release on a charge of immigration fraud. There are other tight conditions, including home confinement, electronic monitoring, secured bond and passport surrender.

And if any doubts remained that U.S. authorities were unaware of the TelexFree-related allegations of securities fraud against Rodrigues in Massachusetts federal court when he was busted in New Jersey earlier his month on the immigration charge, those doubts have been put to rest.

That’s because Mannion specifically referenced the TelexFree case. Indeed, the New Jersey judge informed Rodrigues that he’d deem it “evidence of the defendant preparing to flee” if the Massachusetts court determined the Brazil native had “moved assets” after the immigration bust and violated an injunction flowing from the SEC’s civil case against Rodrigues and seven others filed in April 2014.

Such gamesmanship would be treated as a violation of his bail conditions in New Jersey, Mannion warned.

Mannion also ordered Rodrigues to obtain “[m]ental heath testing/treatment” at the direction of pretrial services. No reason was cited.

The SEC alleged last year that Rodrigues had claimed on YouTube that “God” made MLM and “binary” and that Rodrigues had claimed he’s “never going to stop this.”

In 2006, Rodrigues was named an SEC defendant in a complaint that charged he operated a pyramid scheme known as Universo Fone Club that involved phone cards. TelexFree, which surfaced about six years later, purportedly sold VOIP services.

In May 2014 — a month after the SEC brought the TelexFree-related action against Rodrigues and seven others — Rodrigues appears to have become involved in an unsuccessful effort to create the impression he’d been accorded honors by the Brazilian Senate.

Rodrigues, according to court filings, informed Mannion that he owned two cars — one of them a 2007 Lamborghini of “unknown” value used for the purposes of “Business.” The other car, said to be worth $60,000, was not described.

A “Sann Rodrigues” YouTube account shows Rodrigues posing with three flashy rides, including a Lamborghini, a Ferrari and a Mercedes-Benz.

Prior to his immigration arrest, the TelexFree huckster was seen tooling around in a Ferrari and playing highway cowboy. Rodrigues has a wife and two young children, according to court filings.

Meanwhile, Rodrigues owns two “unencumbered” homes — one worth $400,000, the other $175,000 — and currently makes $80,000 a year, according to court filings.

As the PP Blog reported on May 25, the IFreeX site went offline sometime after Rodrigues was arrested on the immigration charge. The reason why remains unclear.

One thing that is clear is that Mannion also ordered Rodrigues not to break any federal, state or local laws while he was out on bail.

The state of Massachusetts — the U.S. base of TelexFree — put out an IFreeX warning last year.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

May 28, 2015
IFreeX Site Offline; At Least 2 U.S. Officials Involved In TelexFree Ponzi Prosecution Also Involved In Sann Rodrigues Prosecution On Immigration Charge

From a 2014 YouTube promo for iFreeX. Masking by PP Blog. In 2014, T-Mobile told the PP Blog that it was seeking to determine if IFreeX was misusing T-Mobile’s intellectual property.

The website of IFreeX.com is offline. The PP Blog could not immediately determine why. Visitors are seeing a GoDaddy.com page.

A PP Blog reader reported the outage at 6:49 p.m. EDT today. The outage occurred one week to the day after TelexFree and IFreeX figure Sann Rodrigues was arrested at a New Jersey airport on allegations related to visa fraud.

Google cache suggests IFreeX.com was online earlier today.

As part of its reporting, the PP Blog has reviewed certain documents pertaining to the criminal prosecution of TelexFree figures James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler and documents pertaining to the immigration arrest of Rodrigues. The documents show that the same U.S. federal prosecutor is involved in both the Merrill/Wanzeler case and the immigration case involving Rodrigues.

At the same time, the documents show that the same Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agent also is involved in both prosecutions. In addition to filing paperwork against Rodrigues in the immigration case, the agent filed paperwork that led to the 2014 arrest on a TelexFree-related material-witness warrant at JFK Airport in New York of Katia Wanzeler.

Katia is the wife of Carlos Wanzeler, who has been described by the United States as an international fugitive. Katia later was released. HSI, which conducted a TelexFree-related undercover operation beginning in 2013, is an arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler were indicted in July 2014 on eight criminal counts of wire fraud and one criminal count of wire-fraud conspiracy. Earlier, in April 2014, Merrill, Carlos Wanzeler, Rodrigues and five others were charged civilly with fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

TelexFree, which hawked a VOIP service, has been described in Bankruptcy Court filings by a court-appointed trustee as a cross-border pyramid scheme that gathered $1.8 billion in about two years.

Separately, BehindMLM.com is reporting in a story dated May 26 that a website known as 2PayNet also is offline. The site may be connected in some way with IFreeX.

In September 2014, Massachusetts Commonwealth Secretary William Galvin described IFreeX as something that appeared “to be nothing more than a rebranded TelexFREE fraud for mobile phones.”

On Oct. 1, 2014, T-Mobile told the PP Blog that it was seeking to determine if IFreeX was misusing T-Mobile’s intellectual property in online promos for IFreeX.

The Department of Homeland Security also is involved in intellectual-property cases. It is unclear if the agency investigated IFreeX for abuse of intellectual property.

Says DHS on its website (italics added):

Intellectual property rights theft is not a victimless crime. It threatens U.S. businesses and robs hard-working Americans of their jobs, which negatively impacts the economy. It can also pose serious health and safety risks to consumers, and oftentimes, it fuels global organized crime.

NOTE: In an affidavit accompanying the immigration complaint against Rodrigues, a footnote leads to a report on Rodrigues by the PP Blog. The story was published on Feb. 6, 2014. It is titled, “MORE FROM MLM LA-LA LAND: Former SEC Defendant In Pyramid-Scheme And Affinity-Fraud Case To Headline TelexFree Event In Spain.”

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

May 25, 2015
(1) Ponzi Cash Allegedly Paid For ‘Breast Augmentation’; (2) John Sposato Case Shows ‘Small’ Schemes On U.S. Radar; (3) What UFunClub/UToken Investors Can Learn

A Louisiana man ripped off investors in a multifaceted Ponzi scheme and used some of the cash to buy a “new Chevrolet Camaro for one girlfriend and breast augmentation surgery [for] another girlfriend,” according to a bill of information filed against him.

John Sposato, 64, of Slidell, has been charged with wire fraud, the office of U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite of the Eastern District of Louisiana said.

Much of the charging document describes typical Ponzi fare. When payments were delayed, for instance, Sposato allegedly blamed events on the weather, family illnesses and “issues with the international financial institutions in which the funds were supposedly invested.”

Perhaps hinting that prime-bank fraud was part of the swindle, the charging document references “international bank instruments.”

Sposato also made “lulling payments” from “new investor money” to keep the Ponzi alive and to dupe investors into believing the scheme was legitimate, according to the charging document.

In addition to the purported “international bank instruments,” Sposato also allegedly pushed supposedly “cutting edge oil remediation and recovery” and real-estate investments. The Sposato-linked companies referenced by prosecutors included Pegasus Investment & Development Corporation LLC; Pegasus Investments; Oil Eaters LLC; Organic Miracle Incorporation; S&J Corporate Properties LLC; Pegasus Demolition & Debris Removal Service LLC; and Pegasus Truck Lines Inc.

The investments were described as “never at risk,” according to the charging document.

As is the case in many schemes, Sposato’s investors allegedly were told “their principal investments were immune from market volatility and were secure from any losses.”

UFunClub/UToken, a scheme currently under investigation in Thailand and also operating in the United States, has made similar claims, according to promoters. There also are reports about problems with banks and delayed or absent payouts. At the same time, there are reports that sports cars have been seized by police and that the UFun/UToen probe has spread to Malaysia.

Read the Sposato charging document that alleges a Ponzi swindle of more than $811,000. Prosecutors said the scheme was “national” in scope , that 48 individuals in the United States invested with Sposato and that he “provided prospective investors false or fraudulent documents to make the investments appear legitimate and to conceal the true nature of the Ponzi scheme.”

Like the Achieve Community case filed by the SEC in February, the Sposato case demonstrates that even “small” Ponzi schemes are on the radar of U.S. law enforcement.

UFunClub/UToken, apt to have gathered a far greater sum than either Achieve or Sposato, may have affected tens of thousands of investors worldwide, including hundreds or more in the United States. As was the alleged case with Sposato, UFunClub/UToken may be operating through multiple companies.

May 23, 2015
Bogus Offer To Take Over Avon Turns SEC Website Into Crime Scene

On May 14, someone used the SEC’s EDGAR database to plant a bogus news release that claimed a company known as PTG Capital Partners LTD. had made an offer to buy out Avon Products Inc. for $18.75 a share. As NPR put it on May 15, this was “a huge premium.”

DealBook, on May 14, reported that the “federal government’s system for filing securities documents may not be as secure as many on Wall Street assume.”

Given that the typo-laden hoax that appears in part to have been a copy-and-paste job in which words were lifted from the website of a legitimate company caused Avon’s stock price to surge, the news release looked like a pump-and-dump bid. It could be that, of course.

But it also could be something more sinister: a marketplace taunt, if not a taunt at the U.S. government itself that more or less screams, “Look what we can do! And we don’t need even to hire an editor!”

The theatrics that effectively turned part of the SEC’s website into a crime scene appear to have gotten under way at roughly 11:30 a.m. on Thursday. Avon responded quickly, issuing a statement within about 90 minutes.

“In response to an SEC filing made by an entity purporting to be named ‘PTG Capital Partners,’ Avon reports that it has not received any offer or other communication from such an entity and has not been able to confirm that such an entity exists,” the company said.

Like A Ponzi-Board Scam

Remember Profitable Sunrise, the egregious scam shut down by the SEC and state regulators in 2013? The SEC alleged that Profitable Sunrise operated from a “mail drop” in England and had a registered agent based in Seychelles, an island chain in the Indian Ocean.

A listing for PTG Capital Partners on the SEC’s website claims the business has a street address in London and was incorporated in “BRITISH INDIAN OCEAN TERRITORY.”

In a May 15 story, the Wall Street Journal, reporting on an FBI inquiry into the bogus Avon takeover bid and citing information from a U.K. government official, noted that “[t]here are no businesses registered in the British Indian Ocean Territory.”

Any number of recent scams appear either to have fabricated U.K. addresses or used mail drops to reach out and pluck the masses. The utterly preposterous Rockfeller.biz was only one of them. Others include MooreFund and SummitOilProfits.

These scams, which often use an MLM or network marketing component in which affiliates are promised recruitment commissions, are stealing millions and millions of dollars. The money disappears down ratholes.

Now, Avon, an MLM company, appears to have been targeted in a similar scheme — one that may have the appearance of a pump-and-dump but perhaps was calculated to taunt the government.

In March 2014, the SEC alleged that a “program” known as Fleet Mutual Wealth Limited (or Mutual Wealth) effectively had filed invalid Forms D with the commission to dupe the masses. “Pre-IPO” scams also are of concern. (See UFunClub.)

Some international scammers allegedly have traded on American-sounding names to fleece their marks. (See ProfitsParadise.)

The bogus PTG Capital Partners offer to buy Avon is of significant concern. It should be investigated as an attack on the free market.

May 18, 2015
ZEEK: New Zealand Clawback Defendant With Alleged Username Of ‘sovlife’ Challenges U.S. Court’s Jurisdiction

UPDATED 9:37 P.M. EDT U.S.A. David Ian MacGregor Fraser, a New Zealand resident who allegedly used the Zeek Rewards’ username of “sovlife,” has challenged a U.S. Court’s jurisdiction over him in a clawback lawsuit filed in February by Zeek receiver Kenneth D. Bell.

Bell alleged that David Ian MacGregor Fraser received $89,722 from Zeek’s “unlawful combined Ponzi and pyramid scheme.” The receiver, who contends the U.S. Court has jurisdiction in international clawback actions in part because Zeek operated from North Carolina and sent money from the state to participants such as MacGregor Fraser, is seeking a judgment in that amount, plus interest. He alleges the money came from Zeek victims.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission described Zeek in 2012 as a massive, cross-border fraud scheme that had gathered hundreds of millions of dollars. In October 2014, alleged Zeek operator Paul R. Burks was charged criminally with wire- and mail-fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud, and tax-fraud conspiracy.

Earlier in 2014, Zeek figures Dawn Wright-Olivares and her stepson Daniel Olivares pleaded guilty to criminal charges filed in 2013 — Wright-Olivares to investment-fraud conspiracy and tax-fraud conspiracy and Olivares to investment-fraud conspiracy.

Web records suggest MacGregor Fraser used the shortened name of “David MacGregor” when pitching Zeek online through GetResponse.com, an email service sold in the United States and other countries.

A Zeek promo in which the username “sovlife” and the name “David MacGregor” appear begins in this fashion, according to Google search results. (Italics added):

Hi Friend

If you haven’t caught up with the latest news, or weren’t on the conference call the other day, then I just wanted to highlight the main points.

Screen shot of promo for Zeek. Red highlight by PP Blog.

MacGregor Fraser, who is represented in the clawback lawsuit by North Carolina attorney June K. Allison of Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick in Charlotte, answered Bell’s complaint as “David Fraser.” The answer, however, acknowledges the longer version of the name as it appeared in Bell’s complaint. So does an affidavit submitted to the U.S. court by David Ian MacGregor Fraser.

The moniker “sovLife” appears repeatedly on the website theclassifiedsplus.com through which videos play. Some of these videos point to MLM “programs” such as the Empower Network in which “sovLife” is used as the affiliate ID.

Other videos at theclassifiedsplus point to a web entity known as sovereignlife.com. This domain is styled “SovereignLife” and identifies its operator as “David MacGregor.” There is a corresponding YouTube account in that name through which videos viewable through theclassifiedsplus.com play.

One of them with an upload date of July 3, 2013, is titled “My July 4 Message for the America That Was.” In the video, a man (presumptively “David MacGregor”) holds forth that he once was a big supporter of the United States. That support, however, apparently has evaporated in that the man contends in the video that the United States is “Dare I say it? A force for evil.”

Other videos in the David MacGregor account have titles such as “Bitcoin Debit Card – How to Get One,” “You Can Now Be a Reseller For SovereignLife And Keep All The Money!,” “Tax Slave or Sovereign Individual?”

Some individuals who may identify with the word “sovereign” have participated in various fraud schemes, have painted their fellow human beings as slaves (see Frederick Mann) or government-owned property (see Kenneth Wayne Leaming) and have expressed an irrational belief that laws do not apply to them.

Other “sovereigns” have made wild claims that they hold diplomatic immunity and thus cannot be prosecuted or are answerable only to Jesus Christ.

Zeek Clawback Defense

Compared to the “David MacGregor” video suggestion that America is evil, the David Fraser response to Bell’s clawback complaint before Senior U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen of the Western District of North Carolina includes no inflammatory rhetoric or claims of evildoing by the United States.

Fraser, through the American law firm, is seeking dismissal of the complaint for lack of jurisdiction. He also is seeking to quash process in New Zealand, even though he acknowledges he has been served.

Among Fraser’s specific defense claims is that he was an “innocent participant” in Zeek, having joined the program in “November 2011” while he was a “resident of Malaysia” and maintaining “a Post Office Box in New Zealand.”

In possible conflict with the information shown in the screen shot above that references a sum ($5,000 in U.S. cash), the Super Bowl played in the United States and Super Bowl tickets that have “cash-out values for those not in the USA,” Fraser further contends he had “no specific knowledge that ZeekRewards was initiated from the United States.”

He also contends he was “unaware that ZeekRewards originated in North Carolina.” This, too, may be in possible conflict with information generally known about Zeek, in that Zeek openly operated from North Carolina and invited participants to events held in that state.

At one point in its history, Zeek openly advertised auctions for sums of U.S. cash — even as it preemptively denied it was operating a pyramid scheme and complained that the U.S. Social Security system was a “legal” and “collapsing” pyramid scheme.

Precisely why Zeek was making political statements on its website is unknown.

Accused Zeek Ponzi schemer Paul R. Burks lived in North Carolina. In 2012, Federal Election Commission records showed that Burks gave money to the campaign of U.S. Presidential hopeful Rep. Ron Paul.

From a U.S. standpoint, Zeek used offshore payment processors such as SolidTrustPay and AlertPay, both of which provided services for the $119 million AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme broken up by the U.S. Secret Service in 2008.

Now-jailed AdSurfDaily Ponzi-scheme operator Andy Bowdoin also made donations to a political cause, according to the 2010 indictment against him.

AlertPay eventually transitioned into Payza. Bell has said he is continuing to investigate STP and Payza transactions, and federal prosecutors in the District of Colombia have been soliciting information on Payza for more than a year.

In his defense filings, Frazer said he “made or received” Zeek payments through AlertPay over the Internet, but maintained he’d never set foot in North Carolina.

Now, he contends, he unfairly is being “haled” to appear in court in North Carolina.

“To ask him to defend this suit halfway around the world on account of falling into the [Zeek] Insider’s international Internet scheme would clearly offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice,” his lawyer argued.

“Defendant Fraser never ordered or directed that anything of value be sent to him in either Malaysia or New Zealand from North Carolina,” his lawyer argued. “Rather, based on the way the website operated, amounts he earned on-line were credited to his on-line Payza account by ZeekRewards . . . Defendant Fraser did not know from what country or state the funds originated . . .”

In court filings, Fraser says he has been a citizen of New Zealand since 1978 and was born in Great Britain. He is a citizen there, too, according to his affidavit.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

May 10, 2015
Masonic Fraternal Police Department ‘Fictitious,’ Sheriff’s Dept. Says

From left to right: David Henry, Brandon Kiel and Tonette Hayes. Images provided by Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department. Photo compilation by PP Blog.

An outfit calling itself the Masonic Fraternal Police Department and operating in the area of Santa Clarita is “fictitious,” the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.

Three people linked to the bogus agency were arrested last week. There are concerns more people may be involved, the Sheriff’s Department said.

The alleged posers were identified as David Henry, 46, the purported “chief”; Brandon Kiel, 36; and Tonette Hayes, 56. The Los Angeles Times reported that Kiel was an aide to California Attorney General Kamala Harris and was placed on paid leave on April 30, the date of his arrest.

From the Times, quoting David Beltran, a spokesman for the California Department of Justice (italics added):

“The attorney general has been concerned about these serious allegations from the point she was first briefed on this investigation,” Beltran said. “Our office has been cooperating with investigators from the beginning and will continue to do so.”

The Masonic Fraternal Police Department has its own website at a .org. Among the claims is that “We are not ‘Sovereign Citizens’ nor do we condone terrorist activity, sovereign citizens or clandestine!”

At the same time, the site claims, “The Masonic Fraternal Police Department, (M.F.P.D.) is the Knights Templar’s!” It further ventures that “The Masonic Fraternal Police Department (M.F.P.D.) is a Masonic Sovereign Jurisdiction (Municipality) located within the incorporated City of Santa Clarita, California. The Chief of Police is Honorable Grand Master David Henry 33º was elected and is Governed by a Grand Supreme Council, and 33 Masonic Jurisdictions. He currently oversees a 1/2 Million members throughout the United States.

Immediate Suspicion And Confusion In Real Law-Enforcement Community

In an advisory published on May 5, the Sheriff’s Department said the sudden presence of the Masonic Fraternal Police Department “immediately created suspicion and confusion within the law enforcement community.”

From the advisory (italics/bolding added):

On or about January 27^th, 2015, letters from the “Masonic Fraternal Police Department” (MFPD) were sent via United States mail and were addressed to Chiefs of select law enforcement agencies throughout Southern California. The letters were sent to advise these Chiefs that “David Henry” had been elected as Chief of the MFPD, which immediately created suspicion and confusion within the law enforcement community.

Shortly after law enforcement agencies began receiving letters, many began receiving calls from an individual who identified himself as “Chief Deputy Director Brandon Kiel,” requesting meetings with each agency’s chief.

Detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department began their involvement with this investigation when a meeting was scheduled with Captain Roosevelt Johnson of Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station. During Captain Johnson’s meeting with members of MFPD, his suspicions were aroused when they could not answer basic questions about MFPD’s jurisdiction and overall department mission. The group claimed that they were descendants of the “Knights Templar” and that their police agency had been in existence for 3000 years. Additionally, they claimed that MFPD had sovereign jurisdiction in 33 States and across the border in Mexico.

Detectives conducted a thorough investigation in collaboration with several law enforcement agencies and determined MFPD was not a legitimate police agency.

On April 29th, 2015, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Detectives, deputies from Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station and Sheriff’s Special Enforcement Bureau served search and arrest warrants in the 28000 block of Linda Vista Street and the 17000 Block of Sierra Highway, in the City of Santa Clarita Three individuals were arrested and identified as 46 year-old David Henry, 56 year-old Tonette Hayes, and 36 year-old Brandon Kiel. During the search of the above two locations, detectives recovered badges, identification cards, weapons, uniforms, police type vehicles and other law enforcement equipment.

Henry, a resident of Santa Clarita, was arrested for Perjury Under Oath and Impersonating a Peace Officer. He was booked at Santa Clarita Valley Station on April 30^th, 2015 and is pictured wearing a plaid shirt.

Hayes, also a resident of Santa Clarita, was arrested for Impersonating a Peace Officer and booked at Santa Clarita Valley Station on April 30^th, 2015. She is pictured wearing a black shirt.

Kiel, a resident of Los Angeles, was arrested for Impersonating a Peace Officer and Misuse of a Government Identification. He was booked at Santa Clarita Valley Station on April 30, 2015. He is pictured wearing a white shirt and grey suit.

Detectives believe these three suspects were attempting to deceive individuals in the community as to their status as law enforcement officials for a purpose yet to be determined. Investigators also believe there may be other individuals associated with this organization.

NOTE: Our thanks to a PP Blog reader who sent in this news tip.

May 7, 2015
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Zeek Receiver Files Clawback Lawsuits Against Residents Of Brazil, Israel, France, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (10th Update 10:59 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) Zeek Rewards’ receiver Kenneth D. Bell has filed clawback lawsuits against alleged “winners” with addresses in Brazil, Israel, France, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands.

The winners are alleged to have received illicit gains from Zeek’s Ponzi- and pyramid scheme. Alleged sums won range from tens of thousands of dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to eight complaints filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.

The subheads below contain info on the alleged winners, where they live and how much they won.

Brazil

Eduardo Borges de Aguiar, Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro, $692,366.97. Username: “ZRBrasil.”

Denise Marchon Monteiro Bernardes, Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro, $159,930.77. Username: “denisemarchon.”

Fernando Eneas Lessa, Rio de Janeiro, $121,768.53. Username: “ZRRioDeJaneiro.”

Luis Claudio Lima Trindade, Ananindeua, Para, $101,129.02. Username “convite.”

Hygson Assef Pereira da Rocha, Rio de Janeiro, $95,776.73. Username: “hygson.”

Edson Tadeu Tobias, Sao Paulo, $87,682.07. Username: “nabisart.”

Daniel Elias Neves, Praia Grande, Sao Paulo, $85,747.32. Username: “danielneves.”

Israel

Hagit Rockah, Rishon LeZion, $316,584.31. Username: “bsd.”

Jacob Stiner, Netanya, $184,120.22. Username: “steiner.”

Tzahi Rozental and Itzhak Harel, Rishon LeZion, $183,164.93. Username: “2000dollar.” “Upon information and belief, Rozental and Harel received payments from ZeekRewards under the name Itzhak Harel.”

Pnina Soraski, Beitar Illit, $181,881.12. Username: “pnina.”

Hava Lipcer, Beit She’an, $173,049.21. Username: “success180.”

Sigalit Rahat, Rishon LeZion, $169,053.14. Username: “sigalitrahat.”

Demyan Michaeli, Holon, $153,074.10. Username: “demyan.”

Erez Shaked, Tel Aviv, $98,352.27. Username: “Erezmora.”

Menahem Lipcer, Beit She’an, $69,907.85. Username: “sucess180M.”

Rivka Haimovitz, Jerusalem, $69,646.49. Username: “dynemic.”

Oshrit Marciano, Mevaseret Zion, $68,419.10o. Username: “oshritmarciano.”

Baruch Heyman, Jerusalem, $68,165.19. Username: “arrowhead.”

Shemuel Cohen, Akko, $67,066.64. Username: “muli.”

Ilan Doron, Kochav Yair, $54,472.84. Username: “ilandoron.”

Meshulam Shapira, Jerusalem, $53,219.36. Username: “bracha.”

France

Suzanna Dreyer, La Valettedu-Var, $446,613.38. Username: “InterestedPeople.” (Also see BehindMLM.com story on “GooBets,” plus these PP Blog stories: “GooBets,’ Cross-Border Fraud Scheme, Emerges” and “After Seeing Photos Of Its Players On ‘GooBets,’ National Basketball Association To Turn Matter Over To ‘Legal Department.”)

Sweden

Nils Ove Marcelind, Torslanda, $131,051.06. Username: “spanien.”

Ola Persson, Orebro, $84,359.67. Username: “sunseeker.”

Rolf Ostlund, Gavle, $82,469.10. Username: “gate1.”

Lars Apelthun, Uppsala, $81,083.80. Username: “go2gate.”

Anders Brunnegard, Tvarred, $51,675.54. Username: “uniq.”

Denmark

Eric Mortensen, Kastrup, $563,452.84. Username: “mysecretcircle.”

Joergen Stegler Lorentzen, Vestervig, Thisted, $64,610.97. Username: “Thybo.”

Leda Rasmussen, Copenhagen, $53,652.76. Username: “bmw4me2.”

Germany

Marit Kafurke, Scheessel, $161,981.95. Username: “turbolady.”

Frank Astheimer, Martinsthal, $146,740.05. Username: “goldteam.”

Yovanka Mirich, Dusseldorf, $58,905.93. Username: “europe1.”

Jan Wrobel, Weil am Rhein, $53,450.17. Username: “team.”

Ireland

Michal Gach, Carrigaline, County Cork, $191,450.01. Username: “thebestrewards.”

Elena Avdeeva, Waterford, $126,221.45. Username: “brand.”

Vivian Akoh, Waterford, $102,670.75. Username: “greatauctions.”

Ngozi Nwamara, Waterford, $80,338.90. Username: “leadauctions.”

Ints Priekulis, Waterford, $77,330.24. Username: “in1.”

Kate Favour Iwuoma, Cork, $56,035.32. Username: “favourauctions.”

The Netherlands

Remco Boom, Delft, $103,695.82. Username: “oppsincome.”

Renze Deelstra, Aalsmeer, $68,787.17. Username: “turboteam2012.”

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

May 6, 2015
British Columbia Securities Commission Issues Investor Alert On DFRF Enterprises Or Other ‘Companies Associated With Daniel Fernandez Rojo Filho’
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (Updated 6:30 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) The British Columbia Securities Commission has issued an Investor Alert on “DFRF Enterprises LLC, DFRF Enterprises Ltd., or other companies associated with Daniel Fernandez Rojo Filho.”

This appears to be the first such warning about DFRF in North America.

The claims associated with Rojo Filho and the enterprises are “economically impossible,” BCSC warned.

“Several” of the claims are “characteristic of investment fraud,” the agency warned.

From the Investor Alert (italics added):

The BCSC has become aware that Filho is offering investments to British Columbians with returns of up to 15% per month. Filho is also promising that DFRF will soon be listed on a public stock exchange, after which the value of members’ investments will triple within 30 days. Members will continue to receive up to 15% per month on their investment. These returns are economically impossible. Also, when selling securities, it is illegal to represent that those securities will be listed on an exchange without certain conditions being met.

Other claims being made by Filho include:
- investors’ principal is guaranteed and safe
- investor funds are held offshore
- he manages $144 billion in assets
- the company is extracting ten tonnes of gold per month from its mining properties in Mali, Africa
- 25% of the profits are donated to social and humanitarian causes
- existing members who refer new members are paid commissions of 10%
Several of these claims are characteristic of investment fraud. The BCSC urges investors/members, sales agents, or members of the public who have been approached or have information about DFRF Enterprises LLC, DFRF Enterprises Ltd or Daniel Filho to contact the BCSC inquiries line at 604-899-6854 or 1-800-373-6393 (toll free).

The PP Blog first wrote about Rojo Filho five years ago this month, reporting on his alleged role in a Ponzi scheme known as Evolution Market Group/Finanzas Forex. His name next appeared on the Blog in January 2015, in the context of DFRF, another high-yield scheme.

In February 2015, BehindMLM.com reported that DFRF had been sued in Massachusetts under the racketeering (RICO) statute.

Whether DFRF is under investigation by U.S. law enforcement is unclear. Two days ago, the PP Blog sought comment on DFRF from three U.S.-based law-enforcement agencies. None responded.

Earlier on Monday, BehindMLM.com reported that DFRF had dropped the names of the SEC and the FBI in a YouTube sales pitch uploaded in December 2014.

DFRF reportedly operates out of Florida and Massachusetts. The BCSC warning specifically referenced the city of Orlando, Fla.

The enterprise also claims it operates out of Vancouver, B.C., BCSC said.

On Monday, the PP Blog observed a DFRF video in which a presenter talked about “gold,” “humanitarian social projects, a “letter of credit,” a “global note,” a “master bond,” “insurance” and a purported guarantee.

Such a presentation leads to questions about whether DFRF is a hybrid mixture of a “traditional” HYIP, a prime-bank scheme and a shiny-object scheme.
May 6, 2015
Ripple Labs’ Settlement Agreement With Feds References Alleged Transaction With Roger Ver, American Expat Known As ‘Bitcoin Jesus’

From a settlement agreement between the U.S. Department of Justice and Ripple Labs. Red highlight by PP Blog. Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Will MLM/network-marketing hucksters pushing UFunClub/UToken find any value in the story below?

Ripple Labs Inc., based in San Francisco, “developed and sold virtual currency known as ‘XRP,’” but didn’t follow the law and “failed to establish and maintain an appropriate anti-money laundering program,” the U.S. Department of Justice said.

If Ripple’s name sounds familiar, perhaps it’s because the company sued the Rippln MLM “opportunity” in late 2013, alleging trademark infringement. In a statement, the Justice Department makes a veiled reference to that action, something that put Ripple on the radar.

At some point, Ripple became the subject of a criminal investigation led by the office of U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag of the Northern District of California. The IRS Criminal Investigation Division also participated.

As the investigation proceeded, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) became involved on the civil front.

Of particular note in the Justice Department’s news release about a settlement agreement with Ripple that ended the criminal probe was an allegation that a second Ripple subsidiary known as XRP II in late 2013 allegedly “negotiated a $250,000 transaction with an individual who had prior felony convictions for dealing in explosive devices and had been sentenced to prison.”

Based on information in the Ripple settlement agreement, the government appears to believe this individual is Roger Ver, sometimes described as “Bitcoin Jesus.”

Ver was convicted in 2002 on charges of selling explosive devices on eBay.

XRP II appears to have constituted an effort on Ripple’s part to address FinCEN money-laundering concerns, but the subsidiary failed to “follow its own internal ‘know your customer’ requirements,” the Justice Department said.

“Virtual currency exchangers must bring products to market that comply with our anti-money laundering laws,” said Director Jennifer Shasky Calvery of FinCEN. “Innovation is laudable but only as long as it does not unreasonably expose our financial system to tech-smart criminals eager to abuse the latest and most complex products.”

From a Justice Department statement on the settlement (italics added).

Ripple Labs Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary, XRP II LLC, formerly XRP Fund II LLC, have agreed to resolve a criminal investigation in exchange for a settlement agreement calling for a series of substantial remedial measures, including a migration of a portion of Ripple’s virtual currency business to a separate entity, the company’s ongoing cooperation in other investigations, an extensive remedial framework to ensure future compliance with federal laws and forfeiture and penalties totaling $700,000.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

May 6, 2015
CLAIM: UFunClub Opponents Are Like Zombies From ‘The Walking Dead’

‘Dominator’ Michael Mansell tells the UFunClub/UToken troops that opponents of the program are like the disease-spreading zombies on ‘The Walking Dead’ television series. Source: YouTube promo dated May 4, 2015.

If you want to sell UFunClub/UToken, you have to understand that you’ll encounter opposition from “sheeples,” according to American promoter Michael Mansell of the UFUN Dominators Team.

These sheeples will be trapped in their miserable lives to the point of being brain dead, and therefore will not understand that the visionary Dominators seek to “change the status quo,” “don’t expect the norm” and “do not accept ordinary.”

How to deal with the sheeples? Well, you bash their heads with baseball bats, he jokes.

“You gotta push through those crowds of people,” he says in a 1:13:55 YouTube promo featuring three other American Dominators while UFunClub/UToken is under investigation in Thailand, where people are being arrested and property and assets are being seized.

“I liken it to pushing through a bunch of zombies from ‘The Walking Dead.’ They’re gonna bite you; they’re gonna try to scratch you; they’re gonna try to infect you with their disease,” Mansell continues.

“But you gotta keep swinging that bat at their brains to make sure they don’t get in your way. And you gotta keep pushing through those zombies until you get to the other side, where you create your own new world.”

There may be up to 3,000 Americans in UFunClub/UToken, even though there is no official office in the United States, according to the video.

Precisely how so many Americans became involved remains unclear. If the 3,000 number is correct, however, it would mean that Americans potentially dumped more than $1.9 million into the cross-border scheme. Promoters advertised a minimum buy-in of $635. Buy-in sums of $1,230, $6,040, $12,100 and $57,500 also were advertised, meaning that American involvement in UFunClub/UToken could far exceed $1.9 million.

Mansell was not advocating for actual violence against the purportedly brain-dead opposition; he was simply playing off a baseball-bat theme handed him by Rodney Burton, a fellow American Dominator.

American MLMers/network marketers, Burton suggests, should be like slugger Babe Ruth: They should swing for the fences and not worry about fanning. After all, he says, people remember Ruth for his homeruns, not the number of times he whiffed.

As for the American UFunClub/UToken Dominators?

“We’re going to stand and keep on swinging until there’s no more bat left,” Burton says.

He also contended during that call that UFunClub/UToken has an office in the United States that hasn’t opened. He didn’t say where, but claimed U.S. members would be able to fund their accounts through ACH transactions tied to an ewallet gateway.

If any of that sounds familiar to PP Blog readers, it perhaps is because the U.S. Department of Justice sued Four Oaks Bank in North Carolina in 2014 for turning a blind eye to fraud markers and processing “close to $60 million in ACH transactions in furtherance of the illegal scheme.”

Which illegal scheme was that? Why, Rex Venture Group LLC, the operator of the cross-border Zeek Rewards scheme that ultimately gathered $897 million.

Any UFunClub/UToken ACH vendor could be at the same risk. In the context of UFunClub/UToken, the risk even could be amplified.

Why?

The case of TelexFree, an alleged $1.8 billion cross-border Ponzi- and pyramid scheme, may provide a strong clue. Records show that Brazilian regulators opened probes into its activities in that country in 2013.

Any number of TelexFree promoters turned a blind eye to the Brazil developments and continued to promote the purported opportunity. U.S. regulators later charged several American TelexFree promoters with securities fraud.

Records say that an American undercover agent for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security joined the TelexFree scheme under a promoter based in the United States.

In other news from the Dominators’ video, American promoter Jamison Palmer was said to be back in the United States after promoting the scheme from Thailand.

May 5, 2015