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  • JSS TRIPLER 2 (T2) UPDATE: Serial Ponzi-Board Huckster ‘Strosdegoz’ Deletes MoneyMakerGroup Link That Showed T2 Presence In The United States, Italy

    Prior to its killing, this post yesterday by Ponzi-forum huckster "strosdegoz" showed a DNS propagation map for JSS Tripler 2 (T2) when a link in the post was clicked. The page that loaded showed that T2 was accessible via wire in the United States. The post vanished without explanation in less than an hour.

    “strosdegoz,” the serial Ponzi-board pitchman who claims to have a presence on at least 35 forums or websites that promote “programs” that advertise preposterous returns, has killed a MoneyMakerGroup post he created that showed JSS Tripler 2 (T2) is accessible via wire in the United States.

    The original post, which appears to have been created because some T2 members were complaining they could not access the T2 site, was replaced with a single word: “Edit.” A note below the substituted one-word post explained it had been “edited by strosdegoz.”

    Prior to its killing, the post had included a link to this DNS tracking service. When that link was clicked, it showed that the JSSTripler2 domain is accessible in the United States. It also showed T2 is accessible in Italy. (More on the potential importance of T2’s reach into Italy below.)

    “strosdegoz” did not explain his decision to kill his post and the link. Nor did he say whether he was properly registered to sell securities to U.S. or Italian citizens. Nor did he say whether T2 was properly registered to do so.

    T2 was known to be accessible in the United States even before “strosdegoz” killed the link that showed multiple points of contact on U.S. soil from the East Coast and the West Coast and places in between. Still, the DNS map provided a compelling visual of how scammers from all parts of the world can reach into the United States (and other countries) and recruit the unknowing into the murkiest of investment enterprises.

    T2, which preemptively denies it is a Ponzi scheme despite advertising returns that dwarf the return rates of Bernard Madoff,  purports to pay a return of 2 percent a day, a figure that computes to an annualized return of 730 percent. The “opportunity” claimed for weeks that it had suspended member cashouts, blaming the development on an AlertPay account freeze.

    AlertPay is a processor based in Canada.

    But T2 now says is has regained access to the frozen funds, a development that led to a flood of “I got paid” posts on MoneyMakerGroup, which is listed in U.S. federal court filings as a place from which Ponzi schemes are promoted.

    After having posted the DNS tracking link and later deleting it, “strosdegoz” — also known as “manolo” — virtually simultaneously posted an “I got paid” post for T2 at MoneyMakerGroup.

    “I got paid today already,” the post read. “Fast as usual.”

    Only days earlier, T2 purportedly was paying no one. Its explanation of an AlertPay freeze was a virtual concession that the enterprise was insolvent and could not pull from other resources to meet its obligations. “Opportunities” such as T2 pretend liabilities do not exist or conceal insolvency by treating liabilities as assets. Any significant interruption of cash flow can create a crisis that potentially affects thousands or even tens of thousands of participants.

    Both the edited DNS post and the “I got paid” post below it had a time stamp of 7:11 p.m. (The original DNS post had a time stamp of 6:21 p.m; the edit occurred at 7:11 p.m., according to the time stamp, and the follow-up “I got paid” post also was time-stamped at 7:11 p.m.)

    T2 Reaches Into Italy As Promoters Of Namesake ‘Opportunity’ JSS Tripler Are Under The Lens

    T2 purportedly created its name by appropriating the name of JSS Tripler, another “program” that advertises a return of 2 percent a day. JSS Tripler promoters have come under the lens of CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator.

    Like T2, JSS Tripler is accessible in the United States — with no corresponding evidence that the program itself as well as its promoters have any registrations as issuers of securities or broker-dealers.

    JSS Tripler promoters have pooh-poohed the CONSOB action, preferring instead to flood the Ponzi forums with “I got paid” posts.

    Compellingly, the DNS link “strosdegoz” posted at MoneyMakerGroup yesterday for T2 — JSS Tripler’s purported namesake — showed that T2 is accessible in Rome, the capital of Italy. CONSOB is headquartered in Rome.

    Club Asteria, another Ponzi-forum darling, came under the CONSOB lens last year — even as “strosdegoz” was leading Club Asteria cheers. The Club Asteria “program,” which traded on the name of the World Bank, first slashed weekly payouts and then eliminated them — amid reports of a PayPal freeze.

    Some Club Asteria cheerleaders claimed the “program” provided a “passive” return of up to 10 percent a week. “Ken Russo,” one of “strosdegoz’” fellow cheerleaders on the Ponzi forums, posted purported Club Asteria payment proofs totaling in the thousands of dollars.

    Even as accused AdSurfDaily Ponzi schemer Andy Bowdoin was pimping a murky “program” known as “OneX” while awaiting his September 2012 criminal trial that potentially could land him in prison for 125 years if found guilty on all counts, “strosdegoz” also emerged as a OneX pitchman.

    Among other things, Bowdoin is accused of selling unregistered securities to U.S. residents. He also is accused of using wires that run through the United States to sell prospects into the massive ASD scam, along with securities fraud.

    As “strosdegoz” was hawking T2 and OneX by wire, he turned his attention to a “program” called “HugeYield.”

    T2 purportedly is operated by “Dave,” now said to be venturing to Cambodia after previously venturing from England to Thailand during the purported AlertPay freeze. “Dave” posts on MoneyMakerGroup as Peakr8.

    JSS Tripler, meanwhile, is purported to be in the stable of “JustBeenPaid,” a “program” purportedly operated by onetime ASD promoter Frederick Mann.

    Like its Ponzi-forum cousin Legisi — which became the subject of an undercover operation by U.S. law enforcement that resulted in fraud charges — JSS Tripler makes members affirm they are not government spies or media lackeys.

     

  • BULLETIN: CFTC Moves Against Alleged Texas Forex Fraudster Christopher B. Cornett; Agency Says Huckster Is Convicted Felon Once Banned By NASD; 5 International Law-Enforcement Agencies Assisted In Probe

    BULLETIN: The CFTC has gone to federal court in Texas, alleging that Christopher B. Cornett of the town of Buda was operating a Forex- pool fraud and misappropriation scheme that gathered more than $14 million in phases between June 2008 and October 2011.

    Cornett has been charged civilly with fraud, which allegedly operated through entities the CFTC identified as ITLDU, ICM, International Forex Management LLC and/or IFM LLC.

    “[M]ost, if not all, of the profits, losses and account balances that Cornett reported to pool participants were false,” the CFTC said.

    Five international agencies, according to the CFTC, assisted in the probe: the U.K. Financial Services Authority, the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission, the Ontario Securities Commission, Germany’s BaFin, and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority.

    In 2003, according to the CFTC, the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) “barred [Cornett] with association with any NASD member in any capacity” and ordered Cornett to pay restitution in the amount of $28,423.73 for signing a customer’s name on the back of a check and using the funds for Cornett’s personal benefit without the authorization, knowledge or consent of the customer.”

    NASD was the predecessor agency of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).

    Also in 2003, Cornett was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to five counts of bank fraud, the CFTC said.

    Read the CFTC complaint.

     

     

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Police Confirm Morning Shooting At Middletown City Hall (New York State); Incident Occurred Outside Courtroom; Gunman Reported Dead; Multiple Police Agencies At Scene

    URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Multiple media outlets in New York state are reporting that shots were fired this morning at Middletown City Hall, an Orange County complex that houses a courtroom.

    The gunman, who reportedly was armed with a shotgun he had transported to the building on a motorcycle, reportedly was shot dead by a court officer, according to early reports.

    Police have not confirmed the alleged gunman’s death, but described him as a “lone gunman” who’d been transported to a local hospital.

    Early media reports suggest the gunman fired a shotgun blast toward the courtroom door, injuring at least one person and causing at least two people to be taken to the hospital to be treated for shock.

    Middletown is a small city situated in the Hudson Valley.

    Here is an early statement on the incident by the Middletown Police Department, which is led by Chief Ramon Bethencourt Jr:

    This morning, February 8, 2012 at approximately 9:09 am, a subject entered the vestibule outside of the Middletown City Court and opened fire towards the New York State Court Officers near the entrance. The suspect is believed to be a lone gunman.

    Court Officers returned fire on the suspect. One Court Officer was injured and was transported to Orange Regional Medical Center. The Court Officer did not suffer a life threatening injury.

    The suspect was transported to Orange Regional Medical Center. The suspect’s name and condition will not be released at this time.

    The suspect is not believed to have attempted to enter the area of Congressman Maurice Hinchey’s office, as has been reported in some media outlets.

    Orange County District Attorney Francis Phillips and City of Middletown Police Chief Ramon Bethencourt will be conducting a press conference near the front steps of Middletown City Hall at 12:00pm today.

    In December, a gunman opened fire at a courthouse in rural Minnesota, shooting the Cook County prosecutor.

  • Receiver In Jeremy Johnson/IWorks Fraud Case Issues Devastating Report; Incredible Number Of Firms Referenced In 79-Page Court Update; ‘Dozens Of Companies Used As Conduits To Re-Route Revenue And To Commingle And Hide Funds,’ Document Claims

    EDITOR’S NOTE: Jeremy Johnson and associated companies were accused civilly by the FTC in December 2010 of orchestrating a massive fraud scheme involving hundreds of millions of dollars. At the moment, Johnson, 35, faces a single criminal charge of mail fraud. He denies wrongdoing on both the criminal and civil fronts and has painted himself a victim of an evil government and a court-appointed receiver run amok.

    About three weeks prior to the release of the court-appointed receiver’s report that is the subject of the story below, the government signaled that new criminal charges will be forthcoming and that those charges will apply to Johnson and unnamed “others” within his business web.

    “The United States’ criminal investigation is expected to continue for some months,” prosecutors said in a Jan. 12 court filing.

    A devastating 79-page report filed Friday by the court-appointed receiver in the Jeremy Johnson/IWorks case paints a picture of an incredibly elaborate domestic and international fraud scheme — one that only grew as the government moved in.

    The issuance of the report by receiver Robb Evans occurred against the backdrop of an ongoing advertising campaign — apparently conducted by a person or persons within Johnson’s camp — that plants the seed that Evans is presiding over a fraudulent company. The ad campaign, which is taking place on Google’s network, initially started on a web domain whose root was formed in part with the receiver’s first and last names, followed by the word “fraud.” (See Dec. 22 editorial.)

    That campaign appears to have been moved to a different domain that does not use Evans’ name to form its root, but instead marries the words “receiver” and “fraud” and asks, “Are you a victim of Robb Evans?”

    “We want to hear from you!” the ad exclaims.

    Evans is one of the financial analysts who helped unravel the infamous BCCI banking scandal in the 1990s. His bona fides are firmly established in the courts, and he has been a receiver or fiduciary in numerous cases.

    Receiver’s Feb. 3 Update To The Court

    Scores of business entities effectively were used as chess pieces to stymie investigators, keep the money wheels of key Johnson associates greased and disguise and conceal the ownership of assets, according to the report.

    At least six people with business and/or personal ties to Johnson either have invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination or informed the receiver that they would if asked questions about certain transactions, according to the report.

    Included among this group were Johnson’s parents, a CPA, a notary public, a former banker and a man who’d served jail time for a previous felony conviction, according to the report.

    Among the former convict’s duties was to open domestic bank or trading accounts at the prompting of other Johnson business associates, according to the report.

    Through the efforts of yet another Johnson business associate, millions of dollars ended up in places such as Cyprus and Andorra, a small principality in southwest Europe bordered by France and Spain. The associate claimed to have conducted a “world tour” to open bank accounts, according to the report.

    Here is how Evans, referring to both an earlier report to U.S. District Judge Roger L. Hunt  and the new report issued last week, described his actions to date in reverse-engineering the alleged fraud. (Italics/emphasis added):

    “This process thus far has included an analysis and review of more than 265 bank accounts and other records from 35 financial institutions and 25 other businesses. In addition to 115 affiliated entities and shell companies of the Receivership Defendants as reported in the Receiver’s first report, the Receiver also discovered at least another 65 entities that were involved in moving funds and concealing the assets of Receivership Defendants.”

    And here is one of the receiver’s conclusions:

    “There can be no commercially reasonable explanation for the number of entities and individuals through which funds were routed and re-routed. The only plausible explanation is that these funds are assets of Jeremy Johnson and some of the individuals were paid to shield those assets.”

    There can be no doubt that the report will raise alarm bells in the U.S. Congress and official Washington because of the security implications of an alleged fraud scheme in which proceeds also made their way into a troubled Utah bank already reeling from the recession and stress on real-estate prices. The bank later failed, but not until Johnson allegedly had acquired a 19 percent stake in part through alleged nominee purchases of stock by relatives and “structured” transactions designed to ward off the FDIC.

    Among other things, the report by Evans ties both Johnson and SunFirst Bank of St. George to the poker scandal playing out in New York amid Ponzi allegations. Johnson allegedly paid a bribe to John Campos, a former SunFirst banker indicted in the poker case, according to the report.

    What allegedly happened at Sun First Bank, however, was only one of the events addressed in the report.

    Read the receiver’s Feb. 3, 2012, report.

    Prosecutors Say New Criminal Charges Coming

    In a separate court filing in Nevada last month, federal prosecutors advised Hunt that the government is “conducting an extensive criminal investigation for the purpose of superseding the original indictment with a more comprehensive indictment charging Johnson, iWorks, Inc., and others with a widespread pattern of federal criminal violations.”

    The others were not named in the prosecution filing.

    Johnson currently is facing a single count of mail fraud, in addition to the FTC’s civil charges.

    Separately, the FTC said in court filings last month that Johnson had engaged in an improper subpoena blitz in the civil case while discovery was stayed by the Nevada federal court.

    Johnson, according to the FTC, sent a subpoena to the private, D.C. metro-area residence of FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. The subpoena, which was quashed, demanded that Leibowitz appear in St. George at 9 a.m. on Jan. 27 to be deposed.

    Johnson also improperly sought to subpoena FTC commissioner Julie Brill, demanding that she appear in St. George  to attend a deposition a few days after Leibowitz, according to the FTC’s filing. That subpoena also was quashed.

    Like all FTC commissioners, Leibowitz and Brill are Presidential appointees. Neither is required to jump on cue from Johnson. Discovery will continue when the stay is lifted on a schedule the court — rather than Johnson — sets.

    See earlier editorial that lists some of the domain names that use the names of the FTC or FTC officials in forming all or parts of their roots. The domains allegedly were acquired by Johnson or persons in his camp. At least one domain that used the name of the FDIC was formed, according to court filings: EvilFDIC.

    Among the many domains that use the FTC’s name is CorruptFTC, along with at least three domains formed with the proper names of FTC staff attorneys.

    Each of the domains allegedly was acquired before the receiver filed his Feb. 3 report.

     

  • Illinois Forex Ponzi Schemers Get Combined Prison Sentences Of Nearly 30 Years; Feds Identify More Than 1,000 Victims Of $17 Million Swindle In Which $1 Million Went To ‘Strip Club And Restaurants’

    Charles G. Martin has been sentenced to 17 years in federal prison — and fellow Forex Ponzi schemer John E. Walsh has been sentenced to more than 12 years — in a case in which investors’ money went to pay for strippers, fine meals, fine hotels, a piano, high-end electronics, artwork, jewelry, flashy cars and private jets, prosecutors said.

    Martin, 46, formerly resided in Glencoe, Ill., and Malibu, Calif. Walsh, 63, lived in Lake Forest, Ill.

    More than 1,000 investors “worldwide” got sucked into the scheme, which gathered more than $17 million. The fraud gained a head of steam even though Martin previously had been in trouble with the National Futures Association and had been barred from being a principal in a commodities firm, prosecutors said.

    Martin and Walsh were principals of an entity known as One World Capital Group LLC.

    “One World’s trading platform operated as a front to placate customers whose margin funds were being systematically misappropriated by them,” the office of U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald of the Northern District of Illinois said.

    After investigators peeled back layers of the One World onion, they found that tax evasion had occurred, in addition to wire fraud and securities fraud, prosecutors said.

    U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall ordered restitution of more than $16.9 million.

    Customers who provided money did not realize they were getting scammed out of the gate, prosecutors said. New money went to cover existing shortfalls in One World’s trading account, and tremendous sums were diverted to fuel extravagant lifestyles.

    “Credit card and bank records show that Martin spent more than $1 million at a strip club and restaurants, nearly $1 million at elite hotels and another $1 million renting flight time on private jets,” prosecutors said.  “He purchased a fleet of luxury vehicles, donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to celebrity charity events, and hired personal security guards to accompany him in public.”

    Walsh also frittered away investors’ funds to live the high life, using his One World “credit card to charge personal expenses, including more than $140,000 of jewelry,” prosecutors said.  “He also used $70,000 in One World funds for country club expenses and $1,425,000 to purchase a second home in Lake Forest.”

    About $500,000 from investors was diverted to finance a movie “that had listed Martin as a contributing producer,” prosecutors said.

    The FBI and the IRS handled the criminal probe, and the CFTC and NFA assisted, prosecutors said.

    In December 2007, the CFTC obtained a trading halt and asset freeze. At the time of the freeze, One World had only $677,932 in assets and unpaid customer liabilities of more than $17.6 million, prosecutors said.

    U.S. law enforcement has been counting victims of some individual fraud schemes in the thousands — or even the tens of thousands. The cases present unique logistical challenges because of their size and international reach.

    In some scams, criminals have used dozens of shell companies and bank accounts to funnel money, hide it or spirit it away. Reverse-engineering a single scheme can take years.

  • Georgia Police Chief Says Foreboding Maps Part Of Nightmarish Encounter With ‘Sovereign Citizen’; See The Video On WSB-TV Channel 2

    Chief Timothy Shaw. Source: Temple Police Department website.

    The police chief in the small town of Temple, Ga., told WSB-TV that his department’s encounter with a purported “sovereign citizen” issued a traffic ticket in November has turned into a nightmare.

    Chief Timothy Shaw did not identify the recipient of the ticket, but told the station that a judge has issued a protective order.

    From WSB-TV Channel 2, quoting the chief:

    “I received Mapquest driving directions that he had pulled up, from his personal residence to my personal residence. Also his personal residence to my mother and father’s personal residence in Florida.”

    Other worrisome events that sprouted from the traffic encounter ensued, the chief told the station.

    Read a Feb. 6 USA Today story that reports the “FBI is being inundated with calls from local government officials asking for assistance in dealing with anti-government extremists.”

  • FBI Seeks Arrest Of Fugitive Oregon Couple Accused In Alleged Internet Scam; Billboard Campaign Underway As Agency Offers Reward Of Up To $5,000

    Rick Devan Hendrix and Sarah Candace Deswert-Hendrix. Source: FBI.

    Rick Devan Hendrix and Sarah Candace Deswert-Hendrix disappeared while on pretrial release after their 2005 arrests for mail fraud and wire fraud in an alleged Internet auction scam in which victims were bilked out of more than $300,000, the FBI said.

    Hendrix, 56, and Deswert-Hendrix, 30, now are the subjects of a billboard campaign in Oregon, and the FBI is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to their arrest and conviction.

    The couple is accused of taking photos of merchandise, posting the items for sale online, gathering the money — and leaving customers from Oregon, Washington state and California holding the bag.

    Assisting the FBI in the probe are the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Marshals Service.

    Hendrix is described as a white male, 6’2” in height and weighing 220 pounds. He has blue eyes, and brown, graying hair.

    Deswert-Hendrix is described as a white female, 5’10” in height and weighing 180 pounds. She has hazel eyes and brown hair.

    “Investigators believe Rick Hendrix, at least, may now be living in the Beaverton area,” the FBI said.

    Beaverton is situated in Washington County, Ore., about seven miles west of Portland.

    Persons with information are asked to call the FBI at 503-224-4181.

  • UPDATE: JSS Tripler 2 (T2) Pulls An Andy Bowdoin; T2’s ‘Dave’ Comes Back For Second Bite Of Ponzi Apple To Chorus Of Forum Cheers

    Although accused Ponzi schemer and AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin appears not to be among the promoters of JSS Tripler (T2), T2 appears to be relying on a Bowdoin-like playbook in announcing a restart after having earlier suspended payouts.

    The bizarre international spectacle created by JSS Tripler 2 (T2) is continuing — and gets stranger and more insidious by the day.  The purported “opportunity,” which is trading on the name of a murky entity known as JSS Tripler and apparently cloning its Ponzi business model, has announced a restart after weeks of existing in a state of suspended animation purportedly caused by the freezing of a one-time T2 business partner’s AlertPay account.

    T2 now claims it has regained access to the frozen AlertPay funds.

    A week or so prior to T2’s purported restart, promoters of JSS Tripler, the purported “opportunity” upon which T2 based its name,  became  the subject of a securities investigation in Europe. Ponzi-forum hucksters — some of whom are promoting both T2 and JSS Tripler — scoffed at the CONSOB probe and flooded the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum with “I got paid” posts.

    It is axiomatic that all successful Ponzi schemes pay. That an “opportunity” pays is not evidence that no underlying criminality exists.  The timing of T2’s restart — indeed, the restart occurred after the Italian regulator CONSOB announced that JSS Tripler promoters were being scrutinized — demonstrates that the serial hucksters driving T2 are turning a blind eye to the serious issues being raised in Europe.

    The development is hardly unprecedented, given that core groups of scammers who populate the Ponzi boards and simultaneously maintain their own fraud sites thumbed their noses after law-enforcement moved against “opportunities” such as Pathway To Prosperity, Legisi, Gold Quest International, Imperia Invest IBC and others, including AdSurfDaily.

    Like its namesake JSS Tripler, T2 advertises a return rate of 2 percent a day, twice that of ASD. In 2008, the U.S. Secret Service called ASD an international Ponzi scheme. Tens of millions of dollars were seized from bank accounts, and ASD operator Andy Bowdoin later was arrested on charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities.

    At least $110 million found its way into ASD or related coffers, prosecutors said. Several million dollars were moved into Canada just prior to the seizure of ASD-related assets in August 2008, according to court filings.

    In early 2007, according to prosecutors, ASD suffered a Ponzi collapse that in part was blamed on “Russian” hackers. Bowdoin claimed the hackers stole $1 million, but he never filed a police report.

    Like T2 did between at least December 2011 and February of this year, ASD existed in a state of suspended animation for months in 2007. Bowdoin eventually restarted the “opportunity” under a different name and different website — ASDCashGenerator, as opposed to AdSurfDaily — and began the process of picking pockets anew, federal prosecutors said.

    Unlike ASD, T2 did not claim its payout problems were caused by Russian hackers. Instead, the “opportunity” claimed a onetime business partner known as “Chris,” purportedly living in England, was to blame.

    Like ASD, however, T2 claimed it was changing names, morphing from JSS Tripler 2 to T2MoneyKlub. The name change was explained to be part of an overall restart plan in which T2 would create revenue streams by building prefabricated websites and offering them for sale at a tremendous profit. The plan, which appeared to be exceptionally forward-looking while making preposterous assumptions, presented fallacies of logic such as these:

    • That T2, operating with an in-house skeleton crew and volunteer members, no declared base of operations and no compliance arm despite reaching into dozens of countries each with a unique set of laws, could at once be a web-service provider while managing a “program” that promised a return rate of 2 percent a day or 730 percent a year on top of recruitment-commission payments.
    • That web-service customers would pay a premium for sites built by a murky entity whose operators simultaneously were offering investors returns that would make Bernard Madoff blush.
    • That the fees generated by the sale of websites at a future point uncertain somehow could sustain a scheme that promised to pay out twice as much as ASD, whose operator already was under indictment on Ponzi-related charges and had advertised the same sort of payment schemes.
    • That there would be any reason at all for T2 to continue to offer an investment program that advertised a ludicrous return if its purported sale of websites could result in handsome, self-sustaining profits for the web-service venture. (Longtime PP Blog readers will recall that the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf claimed at one time that it, too, was morphing into a company that would offer web services as a means of propping up an initial investment scheme. AVG, like ASD, promised to pay out half of what T2 claims. AVG disappeared in June 2009, only weeks after its morphing announcement.)

    Also like ASD, T2 preemptively denied it was a Ponzi scheme, despite an absurd confluence of payment schemes in which T2 claimed an ability to pay an annualized return of 730 percent on top of recruitment commissions.

    As previously noted, T2’s advertised return rate was double that of ASD, which prosecutors said had no meaningful revenue streams beyond payments by members. Those payments simply were recycled and returned to other ASD members in the form of classic Ponzi payouts.

    Even though T2 — like ASD — purported to be changing its name, the name change appears to have hit a snag. T2 initially announced it would emerge as T2MoneyKlub on Feb. 1. That didn’t happen, according to Ponzi-forum chatter, because T2 did not have an AlertPay account in its new name.

    T2, according to chatter, then defaulted back to its original name, a circumstance that apparently means the purported “opportunity” can both receive and send money, shelve its new name for the time being and reposition itself under its “old” name to reach into the pockets of new investors.

    “Dave,” the purported operator of T2, according to Ponzi-forum chatter, once was a member of JSS Tripler, one of the entities referenced in the CONSOB action. It appears as though “Dave” was unmoved by the CONSOB action, so much so that he restarted JSS Tripler 2 even though claims about namesake JSS Tripler are under scrutiny and the already-radioactive name easily could become even more radioactive in the weeks ahead.

    T2 payouts will come from “AlertPay, SolidTrustPay and LibertyReserve,” Dave announced on the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum, posting as “Peakr8.” All three of the named processors have reputation for being friendly to fraud schemes. Both AlertPay and SolidTrustPay are referenced in court files in the ASD Ponzi case.

    MoneyMakerGroup member “jieroz” quickly fired up an “I got paid” post for T2 today, saying the $25 payment had come from AlertPay.

    Veteran huckster “strosdegoz” quickly congratulated “jieroz.”

    “Congrats, that was fast … As usual . . .” strosdegoz blathered.

    A poster purportedly from India and using the handle “hemsagar” also joined in the cheers.

    “WTG! WTG!” he exclaimed in approval.

    A link under the approving post of “hemsagar” led to a “benefactor” promotion in which he claims he’ll pay people to join T2 by sending them money through AlertPay.

    Amid the cheerleading in the MoneyMakerGroup T2 thread, “Dave,” posting as “Peakr8,” announced he was taking a trip to “Cambodia.” This trip apparently follows on the heels of a trip “Dave” purportedly had taken earlier from England to Thailand during a period in which T2 was not paying members.

    “Dave” conceded that T2’s restart had resulted in problems at T2’s in-house cheerleading forum.

    “I know there are bugs, but we will stamp on em one by one when I get back from Cambodia,” Dave posted on MoneyMakerGroup as “Peakr8.”

    Below that post, another post from “hemsagar” appears. Although his brief MoneyMakerGroup bio at the left of the post claims he is from India, his post about the bugs in the T2 forum makes this claim:

    “Its back up here in the Ukraine.”

    Whether “hemsagar” is a citizen of India now living in Ukraine is unclear.

    Serial huckster “strosdegoz” later proclaimed “we need to pump up” the T2 forum and “also . . . every place else.

    “I have to do my dozens of forums too,” strosdegoz acknowledged.

    Regulators have warned the public repeatedly that scams involving hundreds of millions of dollars are spreading virally on the Internet through forums and social-media sites. Pathway to Prosperity, which was pushed on the Ponzi forums, eventually made its way to 120 countries, according to court filings.

    The scheme had a take of more than $70 million and created at least 40,000 victims, according to court filings.

    ASD may have created a similar number of victims, according to court filings. Legisi and Imperia Invest IBC also created victims by the thousands, investigators said.

    Included in the Imperia victims’ count were thousands of people with hearing impairments, investigators said.

  • DISTURBING: JSS Tripler-Related Domain Listed In CONSOB Action Is Based In United States — But Suddenly Starts Redirecting To ‘JustBeenPaid’ Site In The Netherlands; Claim That ‘We’re Not Located In Any Unfriendly Political Jurisdictions’ Exposed As Rank Deception

    On Jan. 23, CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator, made public an action against promoters of JSS Tripler, a “program” that advertises an annualized return of 730 percent. The claim alone would be enough to make Bernard Madoff or Charles Ponzi himself blush.

    Or projectile-vomit.

    But if the CONSOB action were not trouble enough, one of the JSS Tripler-related domains listed in the agency’s action is hosted in Utah, according to domain records. The domain, which forms its root with a hyphen splitting the proper name of JSS Tripler — i.e., JSS-Tripler.com — continued to serve pages from Utah for several days after CONSOB’s Jan. 23 announcement. The domain, for instance, published daily updates on the number of days JSS Tripler itself purportedly had been in action.

    Among the graphics on the Utah-hosted landing page was an image of a JSS Tripler pitchwoman who appeared to be Asian in descent. Assuming the woman actually exists, her nationality remains a mystery. At a time uncertain between Feb. 2 and Feb. 3, however, the site stopped serving content and instead began to redirect to a JustBeenPaid subdomain styled “marketing” that is hosted in the Netherlands.

    Whether a U.S. resident or citizen of another country who reached across international borders applied the redirection is unclear. What is clear is that the United States could join Italy in exercising  jurisdiction over JSS Tripler and its promoters if it chose to do so. The site also is accessible through individual U.S. states, meaning regulators at the state level also could exercise jurisdiction.

    A state’s choice to exercise jurisdiction over the sale of unregistered securities is hardly unusual in the HYIP sphere. Florida, for example, exercised jurisdiction over AdSurfDaily and operator Andy Bowdoin. North Dakota exercised jurisdiction over Pathway to Prosperity and operator Nicholas Smirnow. Oregon exercised jurisdiction over an abomination known as “I Need Cash,” a cycler operated by Kristopher K. Keeney.

    JustBeenPaid and Frederick Mann, a murky figure who once claimed to be an ASD promoter, are the purported operators of JSS Tripler. The Netherlands subdomain shows an image of a man at the top of the page. That man is described on the site as “Louis Paquette, JBP Affiliate Sales & Marketing Director.”

    The redirection, which occurs in Utah, according to server data, is virtually immediate — meaning that the previous content and photo of the woman of Asian descent no longer load and that the traffic is switched to the Netherlands page that shows the purported image of Paquette.

    Among other things, this development raises questions about who caused the Utah server to redirect to the Netherlands domain and precisely why the change was made on the heels of the CONSOB action. Whether JustBeenPaid or JSS Tripler themselves had control over the Utah domain is unknown.

    At a minimum, though, the presence of the Utah domain may be evidence that JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler not only sold unregistered securities to U.S. citizens, but did so from inside the United States with a U.S. promoter or a promoter from another country with access to the Utah server at the helm. And because the redirect to the JustBeenPaid subdomain in the Netherlands occurs from inside the United States, it exposes a JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler lie that the “opportunity” protects itself and promoters from investigation and/or prosecution.

    Even if the redirection were not occurring in the United States, the CONSOB action destroys the myth that the “opportunity” is outside the reach of law enforcement.  So does the simple fact that any regulator in the world could take action against the “opportunity” and its promoters. Indeed,  the cross-border nature of the scheme puts investors in virtually all jurisdictions at risk. Individual promoters could be targeted for investigation/prosecution in multiple jurisdictions — and if actions such as those begin to occur, the access of Just BeenPaid/JSS Tripler to cash sources could dry up.

    A claim by a MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi-forum promoter that Just BeenPaid/JSS Tripler has paid out more than $10 million to investors may demonstrate the vast reach of the “opportunity” and its ability to tap funding sources while siphoning undisclosed sums for itself. Just BeenPaid/JSS Tripler may be no Madoff, but $10 million still is a massive sum, one that should raise eyebrows in the worldwide law-enforcement community.

    Content accessible from the Netherlands-based JustBeenPaid subdomain — marketing.justbeenpaid.com — raises other troubling concerns. This statement (next paragraph) appears at the bottom of a “login” page in the JustBeenPaid root domain. The statement is accessible through the “marketing” subdomain. (Indent/italics added):

    Secure Offshore Servers
    — Our servers are in a strategic location.
    We pay special attention to security.
    Our servers are organized so upgrading and expansion are very easy.

    Offshore Business
    — Our business operations are geographically decentralized.
    We don’t have any central office.
    We’re not located in any “unfriendly political jurisdictions.”

    As a practical matter, the mere fact the page is accessible through a redirect that occurs in the United States may destroy any claims that JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler protects members against “unfriendly political jurisdictions.” Any transaction that occurred or occurs through the Utah domain necessarily involves wires in the United States.

    Regardless of the domain or email address through which business is conducted, any U.S.-based promoter of JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler is using wires inside the United States, a situation that brings wire fraud into play — in addition to the securities issues.

    A more troubling question, perhaps, is why JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler even would have the need to make such a claim if its international business is above-board. The same enterprise also claims to have a U.S. patent, a specious claim in the context of securities because the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office does not regulate the securities markets of the United States or any other country.

    Is JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler The BCCI Of The HYIP World?

    In the early 1990s, a corrupt international banking enterprise known as Bank of Credit and Commerce International created a worldwide financial scandal. The bank perhaps was best known by its acronym — BCCI — and purportedly was designed to be “offshore everywhere.”

    JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler is making the same sorts of claims associated with BCCI, a spectacularly bright red flag if ever there was one.

    But if that bright red flag were not enough, other content accessible through the “marketing” subdomain of JustBeenPaid sends signals that positively glow of danger. Indeed, a “Member Agreement” link accessible through the site includes this language. (Indent/italics added):

    6. I affirm that I am not an employee or official of any government agency, nor am I acting on behalf of or collecting information for or on behalf of any government agency.

    7. I affirm that I am not an employee, by contract or otherwise, of any media or research company, and I am not reading any of the JBP pages in order to collect information for someone else.

    Any political jurisdiction in any part of the world easily could construe those words as an invitation extended by JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler to investors to join an international conspiracy engaging in organized crime and mass-marketing fraud.

    The same type of claim became an element of the Legisi HYIP prosecution in the United States. The Legisi prosecution, which ultimately involved the SEC, began as an undercover operation between the U.S. government and the state government of Michigan.

    Even more land mines emerge when one considers that JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler  is being promoted on Ponzi boards such as MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold, both of which are referenced in U.S. federal court files as places from which Ponzi schemes are promoted.

    Veteran forum and social-network hucksters are promoting JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler, including promoters linked to the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme case in the United States and CONSOB’s earlier action involving Club Asteria, another Ponzi forum darling.

    Depending upon how the universe lines up, JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler could find itself starving for cash in very short order. It is a program that is thumbing its nose at law enforcement across the globe — and its willfully blind promoters could find themselves named in individual actions just about anywhere.

    It is the very definition of an international financial conspiracy of the most dangerous sort, a sort of emerging BCCI of the HYIP world.

    BEFORE

    This is the top of the page at the JSS-Tripler.com domain as it existed on Jan. 30, 2012.

    AFTER

    This is the top of the "marketing" subdomain of JustBeenPaid.com as it exists today. Prospects who visit the Utah-based JSS-Tripler domain referenced in the "BEFORE" screen shot above now are redirected to the Netherlands-based "marketing" subdomain of JustBeenPaid. The switch occurs in Utah, according to server data.

  • UPDATE: Kenneth Wayne Leaming Pleads Not Guilty At Arraignment On New Federal Charges; AdSurfDaily Figure And Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Sent Back To Jail After Proceeding; Trial Date Set Next Month

    Kenneth Wayne Leaming

    AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming has pleaded not guilty to all six felony counts contained in a grand-jury indictment returned Jan. 26.

    U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen L. Strombom presided over Leaming’s arraignment at 1:30 p.m. PT in Tacoma, Wash.

    Leaming, 56, of Spanaway, Wash., remained in federal custody after the proceeding. His trial date on three counts of Retaliating Against a Federal Judge or Law Enforcement Office by False Claim and single counts of Concealing a Person from Arrest , Felon in Possession of a Firearm and False and Fictitious Instruments was set for March 20.

    Leaming has been detained near Seattle since his initial arrest in November 2011. Prosecutors said he was found with two federal fugitives from Arkansas and at least six weapons. The fugitives — Timothy Shawn Donavan, 63, and Sharon Jeannette Henningsen, 67 — now are listed as federal inmates at facilities in Texas.

    Donavan and Henningsen initially were freed on bond several days after their arrests with Leaming in Washingston state. After returning to Arkansas, trouble soon followed, and they were ordered back into federal custody for violating bond conditions.

    Leaming, who has a 2005 felony conviction for piloting an aircraft without a valid pilot’s certificate, is accused of filing false liens against several public officials, including at least five officials involved in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi case.

    He initially was detained in November on the false-liens charges. A grand jury later added the firearms charge, the concealment charge related to Donavan and Henningsen and the charge of false and fictitious instruments. That charge stemmed from the alleged issuance by Leaming of a bogus “bonded promissory note” with a purported face value of $1 million, according to the indictment.

  • Purported Texas ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Who Issued ‘Deadly Force’ Threat To Court And Later Had Shootout With Police Officer Sentenced To 35 Years In State Prison, Prosecutors Say

    “It’s okay to have beliefs, but you don’t commit crimes in the name of those beliefs. You don’t get to pull a gun on a police officer over a traffic ticket.” — Jim Hudson, Tarrant County prosecutor,” Feb. 1, 2012

    James Michael Tesi. Source: Office of Tarrant County District Attorney Joe Shannon Jr.

    In December 2010, purported “sovereign citizen” James Michael Tesi received two traffic tickets in the Dallas/Ft. Worth-area community of Colleyville, Texas.

    Tesi, 49, was speeding — and he had no driver’s license, Tarrant County prosecutors said.

    A court date was set two months later, but Tesi did not show up. A municipal judge issued an arrest warrant, prosecutors said.

    After missing his court date, Tesi “sent a legal-sounding document to the municipal court threatening ‘deadly force’ if anyone tried to arrest him on his property,” prosecutors said.

    On July 21, 2011, prosecutors said, a Colleyville police officer observed Tesi driving and tried to pull him over.

    Tesi, though, did not stop. Instead, he drove to his residence in Hurst and pulled into his garage, prosecutors said.

    The officer walked up Tesi’s driveway with his gun drawn and observed that Tesi had a handgun, prosecutors said.

    A shootout in which 15 shots were fired ensued. Tesi was hit twice, but survived with wounds to the face and leg. The officer was not hit, prosecutors said.

    Inside Tesi’s vehicle, police found a Tesi “affidavit” that “warned any officer who attempted to stop him that they had no jurisdiction over him and could face prosecution for harassing him,” prosecutors said.

    Tesi ultimately was charged under Texas law with aggravated assault of a public servant with a deadly weapon.

    The jury found him guilty on Tuesday, after deliberating for about two and a half hours. The penalty phase then began. On Wednesday, after less than two hours of deliberations, the jury sentenced Tesi to 35 years in state prison.