An evidence exhibit filed by the FTC in federal court in San Francisco shows screen shots of claims made online by Wellness Support Network Inc. The agency now has sued the California company, alleging deceptive trade practices and false advertising in the marketing of products purported to treat and prevent diabetes.
Included in the 25-page evidence exhibit are 22 screen shots that capture text, images and claims made about the Wellness products. Within the exhibits are images of purported customers who provided testimonials, along with a text claim that “Nobel Prize winning technology validates WSN Diabetic Pack ingredients!”
The FTC’s action against Wellness is the most recent false-advertising case in which the agency visited websites and took screen shots of claims made on the sites. Court filings also show that the FTC is copying videos produced by Internet marketers, and using the videos to bolster fraud cases.
Court filings in the Wellness case suggest the firm was under investigation for months before the FTC brought the action.
This is a screen shot from an evidence exhibit in the FTC case against Wellness. The FTC exhibit included 22 screen shots of claims made online.
Named defendants in the case were Wellness and its principals, Robert Held and Robyn Held.
In early September, federal prosecutors informed U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer that an official website had been established to inform victims of the alleged AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme about the remissions and restitution process.
The government’s filing, which lists the URL of the website — http://www.adsurfdailyremission.com/ — is a public record. It has been on Collyer’s docket since Sept. 2. It is signed by three federal prosecutors, including Ronald C. Machen Jr., the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.
What the filing means is that the government has formally notified Collyer that it has done what it said it would do all along: Arrange for ASD victims to receive restitution from seized funds through a formal process known as remission.
The remissions website is operated by Rust Consulting Inc., which is under contract with the government to handle the remissions and restitution process.
The PP Blog has seen reports and received inquiries from readers about a company known as Anshell Financial Services LLC (AFS). Among other things, AFS claims to be able to “expedite” the process of recovery. It also claims it has “established an efficient business relationship” with Rust, the official claims administrator.
Not so fast, says Rust.
“Rust Consulting, Inc. is an independent claims administrator that has been retained by the U.S. Secret Service to assist in processing Remission Forms,” Rust said. “Neither the U.S. Secret Service nor Rust Consulting, Inc. are in any way affiliated with or endorse AnShell Financial Services.”
AFS published a document on its website that says it will charge a recovery fee to assist ASD, Golden Panda and LaFuenteDinero members. The document was called a “retainer agreement.”
“The fee for these services is a retainer of the lesser of 10% of your investment or $1,000 against 10% of the recovered investment,” AFS said. The company also noted in an email to victims that it may be “intimidating and unpleasant” to work with the government.
There is no need to pay any company to recover money seized by the Secret Service in the ASD case. Contrary to claims made by some ASD members, the government has said all along that it intends to form a restitution pool from the seized assets. It has hired Rust to administer the process and the pool.
As things stand today, the pool is not fully funded because of appeals filed by ASD President Andy Bowdoin. The government is 3-0 in the forfeiture litigation so far, and 1-0 in the appeals process — with a Bowdoin appeal remaining to be decided.
Among the bizarre claims circulated by some ASD members is that prosecutors placed approximately $80 million seized in the case in interest-bearing accounts that generated $1 billion or more in revenue.
Some ASD members claimed prosecutors were partying with the money and had stolen at least some of it. Others claimed Collyer was conspiring with another federal judge to deny ASD members justice.
Even as some ASD members were making one bizarre claim after another, others added to strange nature of the case by claiming there were no “witnesses” and no “evidence” against ASD in the case.
These claims were made despite the fact Collyer conducted an evidentiary hearing in open court over a two-day period in the fall of 2008. ASD members attended the hearing and even testified. Evidence was tested and witnesses examined by both the government and the ASD side.
Some of the evidence against ASD has been in the public record since Aug. 5, 2008. Regardless, dozens of members continued to insist there was no evidence against the company.
In November 2008, Collyer ruled that ASD had not demonstrated it was a lawful business and not a Ponzi scheme.
Bowdoin later signed a proffer letter and acknowledged the government’s material allegations all were true. He met with prosecutors over a period of at least four days, and gave information against his interest because he believed that cooperation possibly could help him avoid a prison sentence, according to Bowdoin’s own court filings.
In January 2009, Bowdoin submitted to the forfeiture. In March 2009, he said through a letter released on the now-defunct Surf’s Up forum that he changed his mind after consulting with a “group” of members. Bowdoin tried to renew his claims to the money, but the effort failed after a months-long court battle.
Bowdoin next tried to have Collyer removed from the case, another effort that failed. He has blamed lawyers from both sides of the case for his legal predicament, and claimed his continuing fight was inspired by a former Miss America.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The PP Blog previously wrote about a promo by an MPB Today affiliate that sought to recruit prospects by depicting President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as Nazis. The PP Blog is reporting today that at least two versions of the affiliate’s anti-Obama script appear to have existed, including one that used the word “monkeys” in the context of the Obama presidency. It is possible that the second script was actually a work-in-progress that was edited over time and later resulted in the publication of a single video, and was not a script unto itself.
PHOTO CREDIT: United Nations, U.S. Department of State, Oct. 26, 2010: Secretary Clinton addresses a meeting of the UN Security Council marking the 10th anniversary of landmark Council resolution 1325 on women in peace and security.
Before the PP Blog was knocked offline Saturday by a DDoS attack that delivered more than 6.1 million hits in a compressed time frame, the Blog was continuing its research into several stories. One of them involved a bizarre political attack on President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The attack came in the form of an animated sales promo for the purported MPB Today “grocery” program. We earlier published frames from the video, which was taken offline last month after the Blog wrote about it.
Research now suggests there were at least two scripts for the promo or a single script that was a work-in-progress that resulted in a finished video.
At least one finished video was published on GoAnimate.com, a video service. The video depicted Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as Nazis, with Obama as a left-handed-saluting Nazi who cowered to Clinton, and Clinton as a drunken, whining Nazi who knocked out Michelle Obama after barging into the Oval Office. The phrase “Brown-noser” was used in this video which, incredibly, was a sales pitch designed to recruit MPB Today members.
“Brown-noser,” of course, is a loaded phrase — not that depicting the President as a cowering Nazi, the First Lady as an embarrassment to the nation and the Secretary of State as the Nazi-In-Chief is any less objectionable.
MPB Today affiliates routinely mention Walmart in their promos. Perhaps it was lost on the author of the anti-Obama screed that Clinton, a former First Lady and formerly a duly elected member of the U.S. Senate — the same body from which Obama emerged — was the first woman ever appointed to Walmart’s board of directors. Her appointment occurred in 1986, nearly a quarter of a century ago. Clinton no longer serves on Walmart’s board.
Hillary Clinton also was a serious contender for the Presidency of the United States. She is held in high regard by tens of millions of Americans, including Americans who disagree with her political philosophy. Clinton is only the second woman ever to serve as U.S. Secretary of State. Only two Republicans cast votes against Clinton’s nomination as Secretary; the overall vote in January 2009 was 94-2.
Although it is unclear if the second script resulted in a finished video that later was removed, the script is published online and is available in Google search results. If anything, it is even more objectionable than the script that resulted in the published video.
Here is the script, as published on Google. (Italics and carriage returns added):
SCENE0:
SCENE1: michelle_obama O’ Barry Baby, since we’ve joined MPB TODAY your popularity has increased in the polls! Who runs these polls, monkeys??
SCENE2: michelle_obama obama It’s true, Shell Bell.. and I’ve even been asked to be a greeter at Walmart since I’m there so much using my $200 giftcards.
SCENE3: michelle_obama obama And I just love those $300 commission checks, too! Me too, Babe, me too…
SCENE4: michelle_obama obama I’m so relieved we’ve totally eliminated our grocery bill! You’re relieved? Now I’ll finally get some real dog food instead of just Sasha’s scraps
SCENE5: obama michelle_obama Pardon me, Honey… it must be all those beans I ate at Sam’s Club today. Wheww, somebody open a window, I can’t breathe.
SCENE6: michelle_obama obama Hmm, I should prolly call my Food Stamp worker now that I’ve joined MPB
SCENE7: michelle_obama obama I only had to spend $200 to join, but I borrowed the money so don’t worry, honey.
SCENE8: obama michelle_obama You what?? You borrowed the money to join MPB Today? From whom?? Oh no, here it comes…
SCENE9: obama michelle_obama Uhh, from Hilary, Here she comes now…
SCENE10: obama michelle_obama hillary Hail Hil, what’s wrong with you??
SCENE11: obama hillary michelle_obama I couldn’t find 2 people to join me in MPB Today, now I’m going to lose my money! I feel so woozy, like I got clunked in the head, what just happened??
SCENE12: hillary obama michelle_obama Maybe it’s time to lose the pantsuit from Big Lots and start shopping at Walmart, like I do. Then maybe people will join you in MPB. What a freakin’ drama queen That’s it, I’m outta here
SCENE14: hillary obama Listen, I pledge to help you get your 2 people but even if I can’t you’ll still get your groceries?
SCENE15: obama hillary All you’ll have to do is pay shipping on the groceries, Hil, no big deal… right? I suppose not but I feel like such a loser. cough cough… let’s not even go there.
SCENE16: obama hillary You’re no loser, Hil, and besides… no one loses with MPB Today, not even you… OMG, What a Brown-noser
SCENE17: obama hillary O’ I’m so relieved, now I can go home and tell Bill. Just go home, PLEASE just go home…
SCENE19: [URL Deleted By PP Blog] Brought To You by: [Deleted By PP Blog]
SCENE18: Join MPB Today With a Real Mentor, Not Merely a Marketer… Big Difference!
SCENE20: Join MPB Today With a Real Mentor, Not Merely a Marketer… Big Difference!
The script.
Apparently the self-described “Real Mentor” believed it prudent for business purposes to offend as many Americans and citizens of the world as possible in the bizarre bid to glean affiliate checks and Walmart gift cards from MPB Today, an MLM program.
The second script makes no reference to Nazis, but does include a reference to “monkeys.” Hillary Clinton was called “Hitlary” in the script that resulted in the published video. The Secretary is merely “Hillary” in the second script. The “Brown-noser” line is common to both scripts.
And what do the Obamas eat? Well, “dog food,” according to the script. Apparently this is a step up from the table “scraps” the family dog left unconsumed.
The script also references the federal Food Stamp program, apparently painting at least one of the Obamas as in need of the services provided by the USDA-operated program and a caseworker.
President Obama apparently was positioned as a Walmart “greeter” in the script.
The word “bizarre” does not even begin to cover the scripts or the finished video that emerged. We are left wondering if someone made the calculation that the use of the word “monkeys” would be just too caustic for the finished product, but that the Nazi depiction would strike just the right chord to stimulate money to change hands. Regardless, the phrase “Brown-noser” appears to have been included in both scripts — and we’d fully expect the producer to argue that the phrase was just a throw-away line, that it was in no way designed as code to remind MPB Today prospects that Obama does not have the same bloodlines as, say, the 43 Presidents who preceded him.
That any version of the promo emerged in a bid to attract prospects to MPB Today is a matter for great introspection. At the moment, we can’t think of a single thing that tops it in terms of unrestrained gall, xenophobia and pure idiocy.
In the often bizarre world of MLM, we’ve apparently reached the point that a “real mentor” puts the President of the United States in a Walmart greeter’s attire, places him on Food Stamps, depicts him (or his family) as aspiring to eat dog food, uses animated images of a dog to reinforce the poisonous stereotypes, lashes out against the First Lady and the Secretary of State — and then urges others to sign up for a “grocery” program and do the same.
That MPB Today has not spoken out against this is only one of many reasons people should choose not to do business with the firm.
The PP Blog was brought down Saturday by a DDoS attack that flooded its servers with more than 6.1 million “hits” during a three-hour window. The Blog was shut down for security reasons, and federal law-enforcement agencies have been made aware of the attack.
We were made aware of the nature of the attack this morning. Software engineers initially described the event as “suspicious,” saying the Blog suddenly had received an “immense” amount of traffic.
Our heartfelt appreciation is extended to readers who contacted us and expressed their concern and their support for the Blog’s editorial mission during the outage.
BULLETIN: In a case that could send shockwaves across the culture of promoting scams and accepting payments from scams, a New York woman who turned a blind eye to Richard Piccoli’s long-running Ponzi scheme in New York state has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for misprision of a felony and willful failure to file tax returns.
Kathleen Fuoco, 60, of West Seneca, N.Y., pleaded guilty to the charges in June. She was sentenced today in Buffalo. Piccoli, 83, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year. He became infamous in the Buffalo region for targeting people of faith in the scheme.
Fuoco knew Piccoli was operating a scam, but did not report him, prosecutors said in June. Her failure to report the scheme brought about the misprision charge and also resulted in an agreement with prosecutors in which a financial judgment of $25 million would be placed against Fuoco, the total amount of restitution due victims.
Piccoli operated a firm known as Gen-See Capital Corp., and directly targeted Christians and senior citizens.
“Our seniors and clergy are absolutely pleased with Gen-See’s Re-Investment Program,†Piccoli said, according to marketing materials gathered by investigators as evidence in the case.
The Piccoli prosecution was brought after an undercover sting by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the IRS.
After Fuoco’s guilty plea in June, U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul said “the public should know that if you attempt to defraud any hard working citizen or turn a blind eye while someone else is committing fraud, you will be caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.â€
Hochul built on his earlier remarks after Fuoco’s sentencing today.
“The best defense for investors is to conduct your own due diligence and research,” he said. “When unscrupulous defendants take advantage of others through fraud, however, my office stands ready to bring the full force of law to punish the crime.â€
Misprision of felony is a charge that serial promoters of online scams such as autosurfs, HYIPs and 2×2 matrix cyclers potentially could face. The schemes proliferate in no small measure because promoters who play dumb to the fraud create the conditions that make it possible for the “programs” to go “viral” on the Internet.
Some promoters help fuel scheme after scheme after scheme, perhaps saying later that they were surprised the programs proved to be fraudulent.
Such bids to create plausible deniability have been unmasked by the U.S. Secret Service in a number of investigations since 2008. In some cases, the agency has used undercover identities to join the schemes and later advised federal judges that the agents were instructed by members of the schemes to avoid using certain phrases in sales pitches to minimize the chance of getting caught.
In certain undercover operations, the Secret Service revealed it had agents in rooms or venues from which scammers were delivering sales pitches to an audience. Some schemers have been kept under surveillance for weeks by agents.
Court documents in the alleged AdSurfDaily (Florida) and INetGlobal (Minnesota) Ponzi schemes — and in the alleged Regenesis 2×2 (Washington state) Ponzi scheme — show that agents moved from location to location and even city to city to build evidence against Ponzi schemers.
Meanwhile, court documents show that undercover Secret Service operatives and their state law-enforcement colleagues even have posed as interested investors and walked right through the front doors of offices operated by suspected fraudsters.
Court filings in the alleged Legisi Ponzi scheme brought by the SEC show that the behavior of the alleged schemer changed after he came to understand he was under investigation — a development that allegedly led to even greater chicanery to hide the scheme.
President Obama formed the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force in November 2009. He later became the subject of an attack ad by an affiliate of the purported MPB Today "grocery" MLM.
UPDATED 10:56 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The ASA Monitor Ponzi and criminals’ forum now is redirecting to a website operated by CashX.com, a Canadian payment processor that hawks MasterCard debit cards and says it permits customers to withdrawn money to Liberty Reserve.
Liberty Reserve is a Ponzi-friendly payment processor purportedly headquartered in Costa Rica after earlier operating from Panama.
Meanwhile, confessed Ponzi schemer Arthur Nadel — who briefly went on the lam from Florida in early 2009 as his $390 million scheme was disintegrating and became known as one of the original “mini-Madoffs” — has been sentenced by a federal judge in New York to 14 years in prison.
It is effectively a life sentence for Nadel, who is 77 and one of several senior citizens implicated in U.S. Ponzi schemes.
At the same time, a former clergyman from Indiana who told congregants it was their “Christian responsibility” to become pitchmen for his then-undiscovered bond scheme has been convicted of nine counts of securities fraud.
Vaughn Reeves, 66, is scheduled to be sentenced next month. The jury deliberated only four hours before returning the verdict against Reeves, himself a senior citizen. Congregants believed they were helping raise money for church-building projects, but it was a scam that led to foreclosure proceedings against eight places of worship. (See link to AP report below.)
Claims made by Reeves are similar to claims made by the Data Network Affiliates (DNA) MLM program, which told members that churches had the “MORAL OBLIGATION” to help bring business to the Florida-based firm and qualify for commissions ten levels deep. DNA purports to be in the license-plate data collection business, claiming it can help law enforcement and the AMBER Alert program recover abducted children.
Incongruously, DNA also purports to sell a “protective spray” that shields cameras from taking photographs of license plates. Equally incongruously, the company said that it could offer a free cell phone with unlimited talk and text for $10 a month. The company later backtracked on the claim, bizarrely saying it studied pricing structures only after announcing it had become the world’s low-price leader while acknowledging it hadn’t vetted its purported vendor for the service.
DNA figure Phil Piccolo later threatened to sue critics. Earlier, Dean Blechman, who said he was the company’s CEO before resigning in February, threatened to sue critics. DNA withheld the announcement of Blechman’s departure for nearly a week and then misspelled his name. DNA also described Blechman as the “future” CEO, even though Blechman had described himself as the current CEO.
Blechman complained to the PP Blog about “bizarre” events at DNA.
ASA Monitor, which is referenced in court filings as a place from which the alleged Pathway To Prosperity (P2P) Ponzi scheme was pitched and was a site from which the purported “grocery” MLM operated by Florida-based MPB Today was pitched, suddenly announced on Oct. 12 that it was closing.
Like MPB Today, DNA also was pitched from Ponzi and criminals’ forums.
The ASA Monitor closure announcement coincided with a flap in which an ASA forum moderator sought to muzzle critics of the MPB Today program, which is being targeted at Christians, foreclosure subjects, Food Stamp recipients, senior citizens, people of color and members of the alleged AdSurfDaily (ASD) Ponzi scheme.
ASD also operated from Florida before the U.S. Secret Service seized tens of millions of dollars in August 2008, amid allegations of wire fraud and money-laundering. Robert Hodgins, an international fugitive wanted by Interpol in a narcotics-trafficking and money-laundering case filed after an undercover probe by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Connecticut, provided debit cards to ASD, members said.
Nadel’s scheme, meanwhile, operated in the Sarasota area.
“Through his massive Ponzi scheme, Arthur Nadel greased his own pockets and financed his lavish lifestyle, using money his clients relied on him to invest,” said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of the Southern District of New York.
“He cheated his elderly and unwitting victims out of their retirement savings and consigned others to poverty,” Bharara said. “The message of [yesterday’s] sentence should be loud and clear — we will continue to work with our partners at the FBI to find the perpetrators of financial fraud and use every resource we have to bring them to justice.”
U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl ordered Nadel to forfeit $162 million, five airplanes, a helicopter and real estate in Florida, North Carolina and Georgia.
The prosecution of Nadel was brought in coordination with President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder traveled to Florida earlier this year to warn fraudsters that the United States was serious about putting scammers in prison.
By September, an affiliate of MPB Today had created a video in which Obama was depicted as a left-handed saluting Nazi who cowered to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was depicted as a drunk. First Lady Michelle Obama, the mother of two daughters, was depicted as having experienced an embarrassing gas attack in the Oval Office after sampling beans at a Sam’s Club store.
Clinton, depicted in the sales promo as “Hitlary,” knocked out Michelle Obama after barging into the Oval Office bawling and carrying a bottle of wine. Clinton, the mother of one, was the first woman ever appointed to the Walmart board of directors.
Some MPB Today affiliates have claimed Walmart is affiliated with MPB Today and that the government backs the MLM program, which appears to have accounts at at least two banks in the Pensacola area. One of the banks is operating under a consent agreement with the FDIC.
This video promo from June 2009 hawks "My Premier Biz," a site now associated with the MPB Today "grocery" program. My Premier Biz was pitched on Ponzi forums more than a year before promos for MPB Today began to appear on the Ponzi forums. MyPremierBiz was a purported opportunity for distributors to pay up to $3,456 to have wellness products associated with MPB Today operator Gary Calhoun placed in retail stores.
A website known as MyPremierBiz.com was hyped on Ponzi boards last year and videos were produced to drive traffic to a confusing “opportunity” that included both a straight-line and a 2×2 matrix cycler and a hard-to-decipher sales and compensation program.
Affiliate links were created for the program, which was purported on the MoneyMakerGroup forum to gather between $312 and $3,456 from distributors to place “Pro Packs” — cases of wellness products — in retail stores. The more a prospect sent in to acquire purported retail space for “Pro Packs,” the more he or she purportedly would earn. As of yesterday, some of the links redirected to the website of the purported MPB Today “grocery” program, research shows.
The product line-up for the MyPremierBiz opportunity is associated with products offered by Gary Calhoun of MPB Today. One promoter on a Ponzi board claimed MyPremierBiz had lined up “outlets” that are “independent nutrition and health food stores, specialty wellness shops, holistic or independent pharmacies, spas, salons, etc.
“We have a certain number right now, but NOT ENOUGH members to cover the sales! Talk about a GROUND-FLOOR OPPORTUNITY!” the affiliate exclaimed. “As this gets rolling, you will be a part of a small, elite nucleus of people who will have THOUSANDS of STORES in your downline within 12-36 months!”
Incongruously, a video on YouTube displayed photos of several retail outlets, but included a disclaimer in tiny type that “Stores shown are for example only and are not affiliated with our company.”
The root of the domain — MyPremierBiz.com — displayed this message this morning: “MPB Today is off-line for site maintenance.” However, other URLs at the site served pages, including a page that included a link for the MPB Today “grocery” program. The fate of the “Pro Packs” offer first advertised last year was not immediately clear.
The development strongly suggests that MPB Today, which itself is being promoted on the Ponzi boards, had a predecessor site more than a year ago that also was pitched from the Ponzi boards. Receipt of any revenue from Ponzi schemes or criminal business opportunities is potentially catastrophic for MPB Today because the company could be paying members with proceeds from other online schemes.
Separately, MPB Today Inc. has canceled its Florida incorporation, according to documents on file in the state. The company now is known simply as “MPB Today” — without the “Inc.” designation — according to a filing dated Sept. 24. MPB Today is operating as a fictitious entity owned by Le330 Inc., another entity associated with MPB Today operator Gary Calhoun.
Whether MPB Today Inc. actually ever was incorporated in Florida is unclear. A filing by the firm in July suggests the fictitious entity assigned itself a corporate designation under Le330’s designation. Checks recently received by MPB Today members no longer have the “Inc.” designation. Earlier images of checks posted online by affiliates included the “Inc.” designation. New checks simply list “Mpb Today” as the account-holder.
Like promos for MPB Today, promos for MyPremierBiz were filled with hype and began with a proposition.
In March 2009, a poster at MoneyMakerGroup wrote, “Would you spend $312, ONE-TIME ONLY, to EARN at least $360 in PROFIT, from Retail Store sales, year after year?”
MPB Today uses a similar pitch to plant that seed that a $200, “one-time” purchase can lead to free groceries for life.
MyPremierBiz was positioned last year as “a new division of a six-year-old company that is turning heads both on and off the internet,” according to a promoter writing on the MoneyMakerGroup forum. MoneyMakerGroup is referenced in court filings in the Pathway To Prosperity (P2P) case, amid allegations that P2P was an international Ponzi scheme that fleeced more than 40,000 participants across the globe.
Writing about MyPremierBiz on MoneyMakerGroup in June 2009, a promoter said that “I am the #2 person in the company. I’m building the TOP Team and I want you to have the same success. Together, I KNOW we can do it!
“We have SO MANY ways you can get paid and I am going to get you off to an INCREDIBLE START with my MPB Team Build,” the promoter continued. “Here’s what I will do for you. I’ll put two people under you and that will get you off to a ROCKET START! If you join MPB, you will pay $11.50 for the annual website fee, plus $20 for your first monthly order, plus a little shipping for that order, and you can also purchase your way right into our 2 x 2 matrix for only $50 (just one part of our comp plan, but a VERY exciting and rewarding part). So your total expense, to get started is only $89. And you will now be part of several PASSIVE RESIDUAL Compensation Components, and you will be earning a check the very NEXT week!”
One of the Ponzi-forum references to MyPremierBiz included a tie-in to a program known as “Froggy Apps,” which purported to be a downloads service.
“FROGGY APPS are HERE!” a pitchman roared on the MoneyMakerGroup forum on July 9, 2009. “APPS are just getting started. People are downloading them at an ASTOUNDING rate, and iPhones, and other ‘Smart Phones’ are selling at a PHENOMENAL CLIP!”
Links to the MyPremierBiz promos placed in the MoneyMakerGroup forum during the summer of 2009 redirect to the current MPB Today grocery program. So do links to the FroggyApps program.
All three websites — MyPremierBiz.com, MPBToday.com and FroggyApps.com — are registered behind proxies. When the PP Blog visited the FroggyApps site, it was redirected to the MPB Today site.
Not all affiliate links formed under the MyPremierBiz domain, however, appear to resolve to an MPB Today affiliate site. The PP Blog clicked on an old MyPremierBiz affiliate link yesterday, and was sent to a page that said, “The page or associate name was not found on this server. Please click the link below to continue.”
So, you want to plant the seed that your business “opportunity” is backed by a famous company or that the company approves of your use of its trade name in a domain name you registered?
Eight defendants in a fraud case filed by the FTC have been hit with a judgment of $29.5 million in a settlement with the agency. A ninth defendant was hit with a judgment of $741,900.
The case mixed financial fraud in the form of unauthorized charges being drawn from customers’ bank and credit-card accounts — and misuse of Google’s name to sanitize the scam, the FTC said.
The defendants were forced to give up assets that totaled about $3.5 million: cash, two cars, interests in a Harley Davidson motorcycle, a boat and a gun collection “in partial satisfaction of the judgment,” the FTC said.
Among those hit with the $29.5 million judgment were Jonathan Eborn; Michael McLain Miller; Tony Norton; Infusion Media Inc.; West Coast Internet Media Inc.; Two Warnings LLC; Two Part Investments LLC; and Platinum Teleservices Inc.
Stephanie Burnside was hit with the $741,900 judgment.
None of the defendants is able to pay the judgments, which will be suspended unless it is determined that they “have misrepresented their financial condition,” the FTC said.
A big part of the case was “bogus” claims of ties to Google, the FTC said. The agency brought the action last year as part of “Operation Short Change,” which was targeted at “scammers taking advantage of the economic downturn to bilk vulnerable consumers through a variety of schemes.”
Federal officials made the announcement today, even as members of an online “opportunity” known as MPB Today were claiming the purported grocery MLM was backed by the government and Walmart. Some MPB Today affiliates have used Walmart’s name in domain names. Meanwhile, affiliates also have used Walmart’s branding materials and even have recorded commercials for MPB Today on Walmart property.
Such dogs did not hunt in the case against in which bogus claims were made about Google, according to court filings.
In June 2009, the FTC advised a federal judge that “The defendants’ use of the term ‘Google’ in the defendants’ business names, product names, and Internet domain names and the defendants’ use of logos that are identical to or confusingly similar to the logo of Google Inc. and its Internet search engine create a false aura of legitimacy by suggesting that the defendants are affiliated with Google.”
Not even a disclaimer in small type by some of the defendants that there was no actual affiliation with Google spared them from the astronomical judgment, according to court filings.
The defendants did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement agreements.
Images of two checks purportedly from the MPB Today MLM program are published on a .org website. The checks show Whitney National Bank of Pensacola as MPB Today's bank. Previous checks from the company showed the name of Gulf Coast Community Bank of Pensacola as the bank for both MPB Today and its purported parent company, Southeastern Delivery.
An MPB Today affiliate’s site on a .org domain is publishing images of checks that suggest the purported “grocery” MLM in Pensacola either has switched banks or is using a second bank.
The checks are dated Oct. 8 and bear the name of Whitney National Bank of Pensacola. Previous images of checks published by MPB Today affiliates showed the name of Gulf Coast Community Bank, a Pensacola bank that has been operating under a consent agreement with the FDIC since January.
The checks purportedly drawn on Whitney show the name “Mpb Today” as the account-holder. Previous images of checks published online by MPB Today affiliates showed the names of “MPB Today Inc.” and “Southeastern Delivery LLC.”
Southeastern is the purported parent company of MPB Today. Why the checks dated in October and purportedly drawn on Whitney did not use the “Inc.” designation was not immediately clear. Also unclear is why MPB checks published online by affiliates included three different names as bank account-holders: Mpb Today, MPB Today Inc. and Southeastern Delivery LLC.
If MPB Today has switched banks at midstream, it may signal a change in the status quo. Changes in the status quo often are key markers of scams. Changes in MLM compensation plans also may signal a change in the status quo. MPB Today now says it is paying bonuses to certain members of the firm’s 2×2 cycler matrix.
Some MPB Today affiliates have received Walmart gift cards as part of their compensation, while others have received Walmart “In Store Credit Cards” and prepaid Visa cards branded in Walmart’s name. Whether the varying payment methods represent changes in the status quo is unclear.
Separately, a video on YouTube shows a 32-inch television set being delivered by UPS to a residence believed to be in Las Vegas. A narrator in in the video says the TV was paid for with a Walmart gift card “kind of, indirectly.”
The video captures the actual delivery of the TV, showing the face of the UPS driver and also capturing his voice. Whether the UPS driver understood he was being videotaped for a commercial for MPB Today was unclear.
This marks at least the second time that video promos for the MPB Today program have captured the faces and voices of people who may not have understood that they were being filmed for commercials for the “grocery” program. An earlier video by a separate MPB Today affiliate captured the voice of a teller at an FDIC-insured bank, the face of a Walmart employee and the faces of employees of a taco store.
At least one other video for MPB Today has shown a TV purchased with proceeds from the “grocery” program — in this case, a 46-inch model manufactured by Samsung.
This check, published on a Blog, shows the name of Southeastern Delivery.
A UPS van drives off after after delivering a 32-inch television to an address believed to be in Las Vegas. A narrator in the video said the TV "kind of, indirectly" was paid for with a Walmart gift card from the MPB Today grocery MLM.The TV purportedly paid for with a gift card from the "grocery" program.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The SEC has been particularly active in Florida in recent weeks. Now, the agency once again has gone to federal court to allege a spectacular fraud involving people and companies in the Sunshine State. This one involves more than $1 billion and is linked to the Tom Petters’ Ponzi case in Minnesota.
Two Florida men and their companies assisted convicted Ponzi schemer Tom Petters in keeping his $3.65 billion fraud afloat by hatching a scheme-within-a-scheme that assured hedge-fund investors that their money was safe, the SEC said in a lawsuit.
The scheme occurred prior to the filing of criminal charges against Petters in 2008, according to court documents. Petters, who also faces an SEC lawsuit, was convicted of running the Ponzi scheme last year. In April, he was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison.
Calling it a “betrayal” that had cost investors more than $1 billion, Robert Khuzami, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, said the Florida men parlayed the losses of others into gains for themselves.
“From 2004 through at least as late June 2008, the defendants funneled money into the Petters Ponzi scheme by selling interests in the Palm Beach Funds to investors throughout the United States,” the SEC charged. “Investors in the Palm Beach Funds included individuals, foundations, family trusts and other hedge funds. The Funds invested all investor contributions into the Petters Ponzi scheme. Of the approximately $3.65 billion invested in the Petters Ponzi scheme at the time of its collapse, the Palm Beach Funds accounted for more than $1 billion.”
Florida has been plagued by Ponzi schemes and fraud schemes. In January, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder ventured to the state to introduce President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force.
Holder announced the Task Force at a speech in the Palm Beach area, using the event at the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches to drive home the message that Ponzi schemers, mortgage fraudsters and financial criminals are going to have many sleepless nights in the months ahead.
“To those who see the victimization of others as an avenue to wealth, take notice,†Holder warned. “If you fabricate a financial statement, if you propagate an investment scheme, if you are complicit in an act of financial fraud, you are writing your ticket to jail.â€
A domain that redirects to an MPB Today affiliate site provided by the MLM company implies that the firm offers "rebates" to prospects who join. This screen shot shows the page that loads if prospects visit the "rebates" domain. The "rebates" domain that causes this page to load does not explain how MPB Today prospects can secure a rebate after joining.
UPDATED 11:47 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) An affiliate domain linked to the MPB Today “grocery” program implies the company offers “rebates” to prospects who join the MLM company. The domain redirects to an MPB Today-provided affiliate site, which includes an email address for the promoter. The promoter’s email address is associated with yet another domain — one whose registration data lists the name of a company in Miami that purports to provide services for “cardholders.”
Florida records show that the “cardholders’” firm — an LLC — was administratively dissolved by the state last month for failure to file an annual report. Other records show that the defunct company uses the address of a UPS store as its address.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said last month that it was investigating claims made about the MPB Today program, which has been targeted at Food Stamp recipients. USDA had no immediate comment this morning on the domain that implies MPB Today offers rebates.
Two words appear in this domain name prior to the word "rebates." If prospects click on the URL in Google search results, they are redirected to an MPB Today affiliate site.
Both domains — the one that implies MPB Today offers rebates and redirects to the MPB Today-provided affiliate’s page and the one associated with the “cardholders’” firm — are associated with the name of the MPB Today promoter. The domain that implies MPB Today offers rebates was registered on July 7, 2007, meaning it was in operation even before MPB Today and its purported parent company, Southeastern Delivery of Pensacola, were in operation.
The domain that implies rebates are available and redirects to the MPB Today affiliate’s website does so immediately, and there appears to be no content that explains how one can get a rebate when joining the MPB Today MLM program, which operates a 2×2 matrix cycler. MPB Today does not promote a rebate program on its website.
Why an affiliate would imply that it does is unclear.
Second Reference To MPB Today ‘Rebates’
An MPB Today “rebates” program also was advertised last week by a separate promoter — “Ken Russo” — on the ASA Monitor Ponzi and criminals’ forum. ASA announced it was closing only days after “Ken Russo” solicited prospects to send him a private message using the forum’s software to arrange to receive a rebate of $50 from a member of his MPB Today “team.”
If any rebate transactions for MPB Today occurred as a result of the “Ken Russo” promo on ASA Monitor, they would have done so out of public view because private messages are not displayed to the forum’s readership at large. The ASA promo leads to a question about whether the forum was facilitating private MPB Today rebate transactions for “Ken Russo” during a period in which USDA was investigating claims about the firm.
Meanwhile, the domain that implies MPB Today offers rebates and redirects to theMPB Today-provided affiliate’s site leads to a question about why affiliates apparently are seeking to lure prospects with cash payouts or the hint of cash payouts for joining the program.
At the same time, the domain has been associated with yet another domain that purports to offer entrepreneurial “success.” The “success” website promotes six numbered “Projects.”
A link for “Project 6” redirects to yet-another website that promotes MPB Today. This website features a check- and Walmart card-waving video, but does not reference rebates. A woman who appears in the video identifies herself as a member of the “MPB Power Team.”
“Come on board and get your own checks and your own gift cards,” the woman said.
An evidence exhibit filed by the FTC in federal court in San Francisco shows screen shots of claims made online by Wellness Support Network Inc. The agency now has sued the California company, alleging deceptive trade practices and false advertising in the marketing of products purported to treat and prevent diabetes.
