Jan Schlichtmann is famous in legal circles. If you’ve never heard of him, perhaps you’ve heard of the actor who played him on the big screen: John Travolta.
The film title was “A Civil Action,” with Travolta starring alongside Robert Duvall. The movie was based on the best-selling novel by Jonathan Harr.
UPDATED 1:22 P.M. ET U.S.A. There are reports in Brazil that a prosecutor who worked on a TelexFree action in that country has been found dead inside her apartment.
She has been identified as Nicole Gonzales Colombo Arnoldi, 35, of the state of Acre. The government of Acre has issued a statement of sympathy (in Portuguese) on the death. Arnoldi died yesterday, according to the statement. No cause was listed, and TelexFree was not referenced in the statement.
Brazil and the United States have shared information on the TelexFree case. The office of U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz of the District of Massachusetts did not respond immediately this morning to a request for comment on the tragic news from Brazil.
Whether the United States would send a delegation to Brazil for funeral services was not immediately known.
ac24horas.com is reporting (in Portuguese) that police are investigating the possibility of suicide by pistol, though no definitive conclusion has been reached.
In Brazil, the TelexFree probe was conducted in an atmosphere that led to threats against judges and prosecutors. As the PP Blog reported in December 2013, there were disturbing reports in Brazilian media that someone with a Facebook account used it to claim falsely that a prosecutor involved in the local TelexFree pyramid-scheme probe had been murdered. The bogus report was supplemented by photos of a mutilated body purported to be that of the prosecutor.
Investigators in Brazil treated the matter as an effort to intimidate the prosecutor, according to media accounts in Portuguese.
TelexFree was a cross-border MLM fraud that generated more than $3 billion in economic activity, according to a report by the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee in the United States. Arnoldi’s death occurred just four days after a U.S. Bankruptcy judge ruled the “program” a Ponzi- and pyramid scheme.
Chief Judge Melvin S. Hoffman of the District of Massachusetts made the ruling on Thanksgiving Eve in the United States.
Giropb.com.br is reporting that Arnoldi recently was involved in the investigation of a lynching in the city of Bujari, Brazil.
UPDATE 1:22 P.M. ET U.S.A. This photo of Arnoldi, via Twitter, is from @portal_serido, with credit to TV Globo.
Robert L. Dear. Source: Colorado Springs Police Department.
This is Robert L. Dear, the alleged mass shooter at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs yesterday. He is suspected of murdering officer Garrett Swasey of the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) Police Department. He also is suspected of shooting 12 people in total, killing Swasey and two others.
President Obama said this morning that the incident terrorized an entire community.
The last thing Americans should have to do, over the holidays or any day, is comfort the families of people killed by gun violence — people who woke up in the morning and bid their loved ones goodbye with no idea it would be for the last time.
And yet, two days after Thanksgiving, that’s what we are forced to do again.
We don’t yet know what this particular gunman’s so-called motive was for shooting twelve people, or for terrorizing an entire community, when he opened fire with an assault weapon and took hostages at a Planned Parenthood center in Colorado. What we do know is that he killed a cop in the line of duty, along with two of the citizens that police officer was trying to protect. We know that law enforcement saved lives, as so many of them do every day, all across America. And we know that more Americans and their families had fear forced upon them.
This is not normal. We can’t let it become normal. If we truly care about this — if we’re going to offer up our thoughts and prayers again, for God knows how many times, with a truly clean conscience — then we have to do something about the easy accessibility of weapons of war on our streets to people who have no business wielding them. Period. Enough is enough.
May God bless Officer Garrett Swasey and the Americans he tried to save — and may He grant the rest of us the courage to do the same thing.
Swasey was 44, a six-year veteran of the campus police department. He was assisting the Colorado Springs Police Department, the university said.
CNN interviewed a witness who’d allegedly encountered Dear while the murderous event unfolded.
From CNN (italics added):
“Five seconds we stared right at each other … and in those five seconds, bullet holes passed through my window,” he said.
“He was looking directly at my face; he was aiming at my head. I could see it in his eyes … cold stone face.”
As the bullets ripped through his windshield, he started bleeding in the mouth and face, and assumed he’d been shot. He sped out of the parking lot.
It can be a small world. The PP Blog previously has written about John Suthers, Colorado’s former Attorney General and the one-time U.S.Attorney for the state. Suthers now is the mayor of Colorado Springs, meaning he is the local comforter-in-chief when there is a community-wide tragedy.
There was fear yesterday that Dear might have brought explosive devices with him.
Here’s what Suthers’ office says today, via Twitter:
#CentennialBlShooting#CSPD confirms Items brought to scene by suspect have been secured & processed. Items no longer a threat.
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Melvin S. Hoffman of the District of Massachusetts has ruled TelexFree a Ponzi and pyramid scheme. It is the first such ruling by a U.S. Court and was issued on Thanksgiving Eve.
From a filing by the receiver in the Steve Chen/USFIA case.
“Initially, Defendant Steve Chen aka Li Chen (“Chen”) was not present at the Company Offices. Shortly after the Receiver arrived and the U.S. Marshals secured the Company Offices, Chen arrived. He was wearing a security guard uniform and carried a loaded gun, which was not concealed. The U.S. Marshals seized the weapon and also found $46,150 in cash in Chen’s car. The funds are being held by the Receiver.” — Thomas Seaman, receiver in the USFIA pyramid-scheme case filed by the SEC, Nov. 13, 2015
UPDATED 1:24 P.M. ET NOV. 21 U.S.A. Back in September, the SEC civilly charged Steve Chen, USFIA Inc. and other entities with operating a “worldwide pyramid scheme” from Arcadia in Greater Los Angeles. Chen since has invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself, hinting at an underlying criminal probe.
The amber-themed USFIA scheme pushed a purported cryptocurrency known as “gemcoins” and was alleged to have gathered on the order of $32 million. Thomas Seaman was appointed receiver.
Seaman now alleges in court filings that he entered with the U.S. Marshals Service the two-story office USFIA was using at 135 E. Live Oak [Ave.] in Arcadia to take “control and possession of the premises.” The Arcadia Police Department also assisted.
Chen was not initially present at the office when the takeover began, but up to 50 other individuals were, including 32 Chen employees, according to a Nov. 1 report by Seaman. The alleged scammer showed up “shortly” thereafter.
In this setting involving dozens of employees and office subtenants, federal agents, police officers, the receiver and presumably receivership staff, two very strange things happened.
Chen, according to the receiver, arrived “wearing a security guard uniform and carried a loaded gun, which was not concealed.”
And, according to Seaman, “The U.S. Marshals seized the weapon and also found $46,150 in cash in Chen’s car. The funds are being held by the Receiver.”
Ponzi and pyramid narratives often are strange to the point of being unnerving. With USFIA so far, we have the alleged presence of a purported financial titan hauling around a large wad of cash during an active investigation and, yes, allegedly appearing at headquarters with a “loaded gun” with dozens of people in the area.
Why Chen allegedly was wearing the uniform of a security guard was not explained in the report, but Seaman did note he also discovered “a weapons safe with ammunition, and owner’s manuals for two rifles (but not the [rifles] themselves)” in the company offices.
BehindMLM.com reported in September that some USFIA investors were worried about threats involving firearms.
Like Krista L. Freitag, the receiver in the WCM777 Ponzi- and pyramid scheme also operating from Greater Los Angeles and also targeting Asian population groups and other peoples who may lack command of English, Seaman suddenly finds himself in the real-estate business.
From the receiver’s report (italics added/formatting not precise/light editing performed):
2. Hills Garden Hotel
In the days following his appointment, the Receiver also took possession of the Hills Garden Hotel located on Ostrem Boulevard in Rancho Cucamonga. The 112 unit hotel was formerly a Days Inn, but had recently lost its flag with Days Inn. The Receiver is in financial control of the hotel and manages the hotel with the assistance of the on-site employees, many of whom had been employed by the hotel for many years prior to its purchase by the Receivership Entities on August 1, 2015. The Receiver confirmed that adequate insurance for the hotel is in place. It appears the hotel was going to be used by Defendants to conduct fundraising activities.
3. Other Real Properties
The Receiver also took possession of the following real properties:
A 36-unit apartment building located in Alhambra . . . A mansion located in Bradbury that was not used as a residence and appears to have been used for fundraising and investor relations. The home is apparently called the “Clubhouse.” . . . A single family home and a condominium, both located in Arcadia. Finally, the Receiver has also identified several other single family homes purchased with funds from the Receivership Entities and vested in other individuals or entities. The Receiver is further investigating and evaluating potential claims to recover these assets.
Meanwhile, the receiver says he has found two new large Mercedes vans, five diamonds located in Chen’s desk, a “bag of 1,160 Chinese New Year cards each containing a $5 bill” and “several designer (Chanel, Louis Vuitton, etc.) women’s bags, some of which appear to have authentic receipts. There is also an inventory of ornamental jewelry, none of which is characterized as either precious or semi-precious in nature.”
And what about gemcoins and claims of fabulous mineral wealth?
“Although the Receiver’s investigation is ongoing, at this point there is no indication of any legitimate Gemcoin or other viable business,” Seaman advised U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner. “There is also no indication the Receivership Entities had any significant sources of income other than monies raised from investors. Rather, based on documents located at the company headquarters and gathered from other sources, it does not appear that the assets described in online and written marketing materials actually exist. Instead of mines located around the world, millions of dollars in precious gems, and houses and cars available to be awarded to investors, the Receiver has found only costume jewelry and bins filled with rings of nominal value.”
Like alleged Ponzi-schemer Ming Xu at WCM777, Chen appears to have been involved in one way or another with dozens of business entities foreign and domestic.
Seaman has identified these to date, with his investigation ongoing:
Aborell Realty Advisors LLC
Aborell Realty Corporation
AFG Holding Company
Ahome Real Estate USA LLC
Alhambra Gardens LLC
Ally Investors LLC
Ameritra Inc.
Amkey Global
Ammine Inc.
Apollo Investors LP
Chenne Corporation
China-US Consultation Association
First Investment Holding Company
Great Wall Mountain LLC
Hills Garden Hotel Inc.
Hills Garden Hotel LLC
International Gemstone Mining Association
L’BE Group
LH Investment LLC
One World Currency Fund
Quail Ranch Golf Club LLC
Steamfont Capital Investment Group LLC
Steamfont Investment Group LLC
The New World Currency Fund
To Quang Duan
US Fovictor Jewel Investment LLC
US-China Consultation Association Liaison/Consulting Services
Weimar International Group Inc.
In California these days, Ponzi- and pyramid-schemers running offering frauds in which cash is siphoned and used to prop up a network of interrelated businesses may be targeting you if you have money or the dream of having money. And you may be particular target if you’re of Asian or Hispanic descent and if English is not your first language, making such schemes a form of affinity fraud.
The schemes may use shell companies and create a thicket of entities through which money may be laundered.
On Oct. 19, the PP Blog received traffic from 76 countries. This graphic reflects the Top 10 on that date and suggests high global interest in a criminal probe involving Payza and Obopay.
On the past four Mondays — Oct. 26, Nov. 2, Nov. 9 and Nov. 16 — the PP Blog averaged viewership from 32 countries, according to a compilation of data from Jetpack summarized by the Blog. These numbers are typical. On any given day, viewers from between 25 and 40 countries arrive here.
But on Oct. 19 — also a Monday and the day the Blog reported that a criminal investigation involving the Payza and Obopay payment processors was under way — the Blog’s viewership shot up to 76 countries. That’s nearly 40 percent of the nations in the world. Viewers from other countries followed Payza- and Obopay-related content in subsequent days, suggesting that people in an even higher percentage of the world’s nations are concerned about the probe.
The Blog is reporting today that Payza’s name again has appeared in a filing by the court-appointed receiver in the 2012 Zeek Rewards’ Ponzi- and pyramid scheme case. The filing was dated yesterday and includes these lines (italics added):
The Receiver Team continues to investigate and pursue outstanding funds from Payza, Payment World, Solid Trust Pay, and Cyberprofit and is working with various government agencies and McGuireWoods Consulting in pursuit of these assets.
Millions of dollars tied to U.S.-based Zeek may be in Moldova, according to receiver Kenneth D. Bell. Moldova is a neighbor to Ukraine, a world hot spot described by the Financial Times as “war torn.”
Payza, its predecessor AlertPay and SolidTrustPay are Ponzi-forum darlings operating in an era of almost unimaginable cross-border fraud that frequently has an MLM or direct-sales component. The numbers are truly staggering — so high that agencies such as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the FBI have become involved in investigations.
Money moves across borders in a flash these days, including the borders of nations under terrorist threat. Perhaps especially in the HYIP sphere, the aims of the “program” operators and the identities of the recipients of the cash may be particularly murky.
Though uncharged, AlertPay and SolidTrustPay both are referenced in the P2P case, as well as the AdSurfDaily case from 2008. Ponzi forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup also are referenced in U.S. filings.
Zeek’s penny auction traded on themes of liberty and wealth, but was actually a cross-border fraud scheme that fleeced investors of hundreds of millions of dollars, prosecutors say.
A North Carolina lawyer for a Michigan MLM law firm and MLM attorneys Gerald Nehra and Richard Waak advised a federal judge yesterday that a settlement was possible among her clients and the court-appointed receiver in the Zeek Rewards’ Ponzi- and pyramid-scheme case.
Receiver Kenneth D. Bell sued the lawyers and the firm in September, alleging legal malpractice, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment and constructive trust.
In an uncontested motion to extend the time to answer Bell’s complaint, attorney Amanda A. Mingo advised Senior U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen that the “parties are discussing details of a settlement and expect to reach an agreement shortly.
“If no agreement is reached by the end of November, Defendants will file responsive pleadings,” Mingo wrote.
A settlement with Nehra, Waak and the firm would mark the second such accord Bell has struck with well-known MLM lawyers and firms that performed work for Zeek, a “program” believed to have gathered $897 million in about two years while creating hundreds of thousands of victims across the world and triggering lawsuits against scores of pitchmen for return of gains alleged to be ill-gotten.
Nehra, a figure in the 2008 AdSurfDaily Ponzi-scheme story who opined ASD was not a Ponzi scheme, later became a figure in both the Zeek and TelexFree stories.
As the PP Blog reported nearly a year ago, AdClickXpress (ACX) was a continuation of an absurd scam that began years ago as JSSTripler/JustBeenPaid, with antigovernment zealot and “sovereign citizen” sympathizer Frederick Mann at the helm.
Just in time for the 2015 holiday season, there are reports that ACX has suspended payouts or is making selective payouts. In HYIP Ponzi Land, this is consistent with “Black December,” the collapse of a “program” because too many people are trying to withdraw or the operator just decides to keep all the Ponzi cash.
“I have not be able to withdraw,” a self-identified ACX membeer told the PP Blog today. “They keep changing their withdrawal policy and now we are all [convinced] it is a scam.”
From the PP Blog on Nov. 29, 2014 (italics added):
By the Terms alone, ACX makes co-conspirators of its members. And after this artifice is carried out, it divines a construction by which it will penalize “significantly” and unilaterally calculate damages purportedly caused by those same members who’d dare post “negative information . . . even if it’s absolutely true.”
Separately, there are unconfirmed reports on MoneyMakerGroup that Frederick Mann, the purported operator of JSS/JPB and the de facto inspiration behind the follow-up scams, has died. Mann, a former pitchmen for the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme, once directed traffic to videos featuring Francis Schaeffer Cox, the now-convicted Alaska “sovereign citizen” and militia man implicated in a plot to murder public officials.
Back in February 2015, the SEC brought a Ponzi- and pyramid action against the alleged operators of “Wings Network,” alleging a cross-border MLM fraud that had gathered tens of millions of dollars.
The SEC announced today that it had obtained final judgments by default against alleged operators Tropikgadget FZE and Tropikgadget Unipessoal LDA, collectively Tropikgadget, both of Portugal. A federal judge “ordered Tropikgadget to pay disgorgement of $25,213,990, representing profits gained as a result of the conduct alleged by the Commission, plus prejudgment interest of $961,742, and a third-tier civil penalty of $725,000,” the SEC said.
At the same time, the agency said, relief defendants who’d received ill-gotten gains from the fraud were assessed liability of more than $9 million. These include Portugal-based entities known as “Compasswinner” ($8,125,235) and Happy SGPS SA ($1,102,711).
Litigation against individual operators and promoters continues, the agency said.
Like many securities-fraud schemes, Wings Network used social media to lure in the masses, the agency said.
“After establishing a network of lead promoters, recruitment of new members surged through the use of social media such as Facebook and YouTube,” the SEC said earlier this year. “The promoters used Facebook to publicize ‘business meetings’ that took place at hotels and other locations in Connecticut, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Texas, Georgia, and Utah. The promoters also set up storefronts or ‘training centers’ to lure investors into attending Wings Network presentations. For example, one promoter used a storefront in downtown Philadelphia to make presentations to prospective investors, and another promoter rented office space in Pompano Beach, Fla., and spread the word in the local Latino community to attract prospective investors to come in and hear presentations.”
SWIU.edu call itself Southwestern University and claims it is showing its front gate for its “main campus,” but it’s actually a gate at Eastern Connecticut State University.
UPDATED 4:06 P.M. ET U.S.A. Campus police departments at Southwestern University, Eastern Connecticut State University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Texas Tech University had no immediate comment today on a developing story that may be flowing from the bizarre WCM777 Ponzi scheme allegedly operated by SEC defendant Phil Ming Xu, also known as Dr. Phil Ming Xu.
In addition to pushing WCM777, Xu pushed something called the “Joseph Global Institute” alongside a former reputed member of the Mafia named “Dr. Bruno Caporrimo.” Joseph Global purportedly was a California University in Pasadena that offered a “College of Engineering,” a “College of Health, ” a “College of Media Arts” and a “College of Business.”
Everything about Joseph Global appears to have been bogus
On Saturday, the PP Blog reported that an entity that is calling itself “Southwestern University” and purports to have a campus in Georgetown, Texas, claimed it had taken over Joseph Global. This entity, which appears to have no affiliation with the actual Southwestern University in Georgetown, is using SWIU.edu as a URL. The actual Southwestern University uses Southwestern.edu.
Not only does SWIU appear fraudulently to be trading on the name of Southwestern University, it appears also to have ripped off images from the websites of Eastern Connecticut State University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Texas Tech to create a veneer of legitimacy.
At the SWIU site, for example, what is described as a photo of the “USA Main Campus Front Gate” appears actually be be a photo from the website of Eastern Connecticut showing its entryway.
Another photo at SWIU purports to be that of the “Main Library,” but it appears to be a photo from Wisconsin-Madison. Still-another SWIU photo depicts a statue of a man with a horse. This appears to be a photo of the statue of Will Rogers and “Soapsuds” at Texas Tech. There may be other misappropriated photos at the SWIU site.
Though SWIU calls itself “Southwestern University,” it developed today that an entity perhaps based in Singapore that calls itself the “WOW School of Excellence” is pointing visitors toward an entity dubbed SWIU — for “Southwestern International University.”
The reference at the WOW School site appears to be a reference to the SWIU domain, despite the fact the SWIU domain calls itself “Southwestern University” as opposed to “Southwestern International University.”
The WOW school website purports to train students in “cryptocurrency.” At the same time, it suggests it operates a “School of Business (School of Excellence in Digital Currencies for Asian Students.”)
“Our courses are currently affiliated with Southwestern International University (SWIU) and WOW Digital Academy,” the site claims.
WCM777 was a scam targeted in part at Asian communities. At the moment, any number of purported cryptocurrency schemes are targeting Asians and other population groups.
The SWIU website purports to be that of a Christian university led by individuals who hold doctorates in various academic disciplines. Videos for the Joseph Global Institute positioned Xu as the “dean” and Caporrimo as the “chancellor.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: The story about Phil Ming Xu’s asserted cooperation with the government appears below the subhead. We’ll lead with the news of extension of the claims deadline for WCM777 victims.
If you’re a victim of the World Capital Market/WCM777 Ponzi- and pyramid scam shut down by the SEC last year, you now have until Dec. 24 — Christmas Eve — to file your claim.
The original claims deadline had been Nov. 9. On Oct. 26, court-appointed receiver Krista L. Freitag asked for an extension. U.S. District Judge John F. Walter of the Central District of California granted the request on the same day, extending the deadline until Dec. 24 and empowering the receiver to take other actions “to increase the number of investor claims submitted,” according to the court docket.
Among other things, the WCM777 case demonstrates the logistical challenges posed by cross-border fraud schemes operating over the Internet and involving cash transactions and potentially thousands of domestic and international bank accounts, including at least 100 linked to accused WCM777 Ponzi schemer Phil Ming Xu alone. Victims from multiple countries piled up potentially by the tens of thousands. Not all of them spoke the same language and, as in similar scams, not all of them paid WCM777 directly. Rather, they paid their “upline” sponsor, making the task of following the money and filing a claim more difficult. (See March 15, 2015, PP Blog story: “WCM777: More Theft And Money Laundering MLM-Style.”
Phil Ming Xu Says He Cooperated With Government
The opening of a Phil Ming Xu declaration originally filed under seal in April 2014. The seal was lifted at the request of an investor and after federal prosecutors did not object.
Messina is alleged to have come into possession of $5 million in proceeds from the WCM777 fraud, some of which allegedly was directed to International Market Ventures, a company operated by Gary Messina, his nephew. Gary Messina formerly worked as the chief information officer for the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, an arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Messina has been ordered to return the $5 million, and IMV — the recipient of a transfer from Messina — is on the hook for $941,505 of it.
The effort to lift the seal on Ming Xu’s April 2014 filings began more than a year later, on Aug. 21, 2015, with a filing by an alleged victim of Xu from Daly City, Calif. This individual asserted he’d wired $2,000 to HSBC Bank in Hong Kong as his initial investment in WCM, a company that “represented itself as a leader in China based business and finance.”
Walter lifted the seal in an order dated Sept. 14, after the office of U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker of the Central District of California did not object. Precisely what Decker’s office is investigating remains unclear, although tens of millions of dollars are alleged to have flowed through WCM and related entities.
How dangerous is the world of HYIP Ponzis? Well, the Press Democrat of Santa Rosa, Calif., reported in January 2015 that investigators believe a murder might be tied to WCM777 and a companion scam known as Kingdom777.
Ming Xu also was concerned about being harmed, according to his now-unsealed motion from April 2014 to file under seal. He did not list a source of harm, but with so much money and so many tentacles involved, it could be anybody — from a person down the street to a person overseas.
From the motion (italics added):
“Xu is making this request because public disclosure of his cooperation with the government, including the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California and the Securities and Exchange Commission, could jeopardize potential criminal investigations and the use of proactive covert operations. If Xu’s cooperation was disclosed, potential subjects of the ongoing investigations may take certain steps to hide evidence and proceeds of criminal activity, flee the jurisdiction or potentially harm Xu or his family.”
As for what Ming Xu said in his actual declaration docketed in May 2014 and now public . . .
If you were pushing WCM777 during hotel pitchfests and in your church and continue to have doubt WCM777 was a Ponzi scheme, put those doubts to rest. The huckster conceded the Ponzi in his declaration, while alleging Messina also knew it was a Ponzi.
From the declaration (italics added):
“Mr. Messina knew the $5 million transferred to him was proceeds of an illegal Ponzi scheme and is being investigated by SEC and knew I was sending him the money to avoid detection and seizure of the funds by the federal government. I transferred the $5 million to Mr. Messina’s IOLTA account because he warned me the government would seize the money as illegal proceeds of the Ponzi scheme. Mr. Messina told me on several occasions that WCM had serious criminal and civil liability issues, and that he expected federal agents to show up at our office in Pasadena, execute a search warrant, seize all the computers, and other business records of WCM’s business operations.”
Ming Xu continued (italics added):
On or about February 27, 2014, Mr. Messina sent me a document to sign stating that the transfer of the $5 million was a non-recourse loan payable in full in five years. I executed the loan document after being advised to do so by Mr. Messina. The money I transferred to Mr. Messina was not truly a loan and the two-line document purporting to be a loan agreement is false.
On or about March 20, 2014, I wrote and sent a letter to Mr. Messina, wherein I demanded return of the $5 million transferred from the ToPacific bank account into Mr. Messina’s IOLTA account for SEC settlement. Mr. Messina refused to return the monies.
I have subsequently learned that Mr. Messina has disbursed some of these funds to an entity, International Marketing Ventures, a company that is controlled and operated by Gary Messina, his nephew.
I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the foregoing is true and correct.
It is unclear if Ming Xu currently is cooperating with the government and how much his asserted cooperation in April 2014 helped in pursuit of the WCM777 case or other cases.
What is clear is that the WCM777 story has included a series of bizarre developments — everything from a pledge of love for the people of Peru written on the letterhead of a suspended California company and a recitation of the importance of “blood moons” to the appearance of a “Jesus sword” and the apparent involvement of a former CIA operative.
Strangest of all, though, may be the Ming Xu claim he was taking over a company linked to the film “Innocence of Muslims” as part of a bid to “transform nations” and “train a group of Josephs to bless the world.”
Who constituted the “Josephs” and how they would “bless the world” always has been unclear, as has the nature of the purported “training” they required. This particular segment of the WCM777 narrative is deeply strange in other ways. For example, a former reputed member of the Mafia named “Dr. Bruno Caporrimo” is part of the narrative and a purported Ming Xu associate.
So is a purported California university known as the “Joseph Global Institute” of which Ming Xu purportedly was “dean” and Caporrimo reportedly was “chancellor.” As the PP Blog reported last year, one promo for the institute appeared to rip off video footage from Liberty University, a well-known Christian college in Virginia.
‘Joseph Global Institute’ Narrative Evolves
Something that curiously calls itself “Southwestern University” even though it uses the four-letter acronym SWIU (at www.swiu.edu) now claims online that it has absorbed the Joseph Global Institute. Best we can tell, SWIU stands for “Spirituality Wisdom Inspiration Understanding” and appears not to be affiliated with Southwestern University of Georgetown, Texas, which uses www.southwestern.edu. SWIU purports to have a campus at 4040 Saltburn Drive in Georgetown, but the city does not have such a street, the Georgetown Police Department told the PP Blog today. (The city of Plano, nearly three hours from Georgetown, has a Saltburn Drive.)
The Joseph Global Institute previously planted the seed it was affiliated with Harvard.
Some people have blamed the “Innocence of Muslims” film for the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on U.S. outposts in Bengazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. The issue has dogged former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, now a Democratic candidate for President of the United States.
The WCM777 Ponzi-scheme story has proceeded through all sorts of tortured twists and turns, creating nonfiction that reads like fiction. Although it not unusual for bizarre narratives to accompany Ponzi schemes, the narratives surrounding WCM777 are particulary bizarre — and Americans should be concerned and follow developments closely.
Jan Schlichtmann is famous in legal circles. If you’ve never heard of him, perhaps you’ve heard of the actor who played him on the big screen: John Travolta.
