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FBI Asks For Help In Unraveling Connecticut Ponzi; Seeks Information On Michael Goldberg

The FBI has asked people who have information on Michael Goldberg, who ran a business in Wethersfield, Conn., known as Acquisitions Unlimited Group (AUG), “to immediately contact the FBI at (203) 777-6311.” Goldberg, 38, was arrested today on charges he had operated a $20 million Ponzi scheme over a period of 12 years from his…

Nov 23, 2009
BULLETIN: Tom Petters’ Ponzi Case Goes To Jury

The fate of Minnesota businessman Tom Petters is in the hands of a jury. Petters was accused last year of operating a $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme.Â Testimony in the case lasted a little more than three weeks. Federal prosecutors blamed the alleged Ponzi on Petters, saying he presided over a colossal fraud that featured phantom…

Nov 23, 2009
BREAKING NEWS: Feds Say Rothstein Law Firm Had $8 Million In Revenue, But Paid $18 Million In Salaries

UPDATED 1:52 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) The Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler (RRA) law firm recorded $8 million in receivables during an unspecified year, but paid out $18 million in salaries to its employees, according to an amended forfeiture complaint filed today in the Scott Rothstein Ponzi scheme case. Ponzi proceeds of $10 million were used to close…

Nov 23, 2009
Yet Another Senior Citizen Guilty In Ponzi Scheme That Targeted Fellow Seniors; Crime Was ‘Ruthlessly’ Executed, NJ Attorney General Anne Milgram Says

A New Jersey financial adviser who created a sham company and operated it for 17 years has pleaded guilty to five felony counts of mail fraud, federal prosecutors said. Separately, state prosecutors announced a guilty plea to a felony charge of money-laundering. Maxwell B. Smith, 69, of Fairhaven, operated a Ponzi scheme that consumed more…

Nov 23, 2009
BLACK COMEDY EMERGES: Petition To Disbar Ponzi Figure Rothstein Arrives At Florida Supreme Court; Lawyer’s Victims Portrayed Unsympathetically In Some Media Accounts; Reporters Dredge Up Old SLAPP Lawsuit

UPDATED 9 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) The alleged Ponzi scheme operated by Fort Lauderdale attorney Scott Rothstein is the stuff from which lawyer jokes are made. It is enough to make the Atticus Finch wing of the trade long for the days in which being a lawyer meant you were special — and being special meant…

Nov 22, 2009
‘3 Hebrew Boys’ Guilty In $82 Million Ponzi/Affinity Fraud Scheme; Company Operated In Fashion Similar To AdViewGlobal Autosurf, Imploring Members To Maintain Secrecy

In yet another case that may cause widespread unease in the autosurf world, three men accused of defrauding participants in a bogus debt-relief “ministry” have been found guilty of 174 counts of mail fraud, money-laundering and transporting stolen goods. Parts of the case against “3 Hebrew Boys” were remarkably similar to events engulfing the AdSurfDaily…

Nov 21, 2009
BEYOND BIZARRE: California Man Arrested For Soliciting Teen To Spit In His Face For Cash; Police Say Crime Began On MySpace And Ended In A Sting Operation

UPDATED 4:27 P.M. ET (FEB. 8, 2012 U.S.A.) Charles Hersel informed the PP Blog today that he has been acquitted of the charges. The AP is confirming the acquittal. Here, below, our earlier story . . . A California man was arrested on charges he paid a teenager $31 to spit in his face, authorities…

Nov 20, 2009
BREAKING NEWS: Louisiana Man Indicted In Alleged $20 Million Ponzi Scheme Targeting Senior Citizens; Prosecutors Allege Witness Tampering, Obstruction

UPDATED 9:44 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) A Louisiana man has been charged in a 64-count indictment with operating a $20 million Ponzi scheme that fleeced retirees, federal prosecutors said today. So many fraud counts were filed against Matthew B. Pizzolato that he faces more than 1,100 years in prison if convicted of all of them. As…

Nov 20, 2009
BREAKING NEWS: Judge Suggests ASD Forfeiture Could Occur Before Christmas; Finds Bowdoin ‘Knowingly And Voluntarily’ Released Claims To $65.8 Million

Will the August 2008 forfeiture case against $65.8 million in the personal bank accounts of AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin end before Christmas? A federal judge suggested today that it might. Bowdoin, 74, knew what he was doing when he submitted in January 2009 to the forfeiture of the cash and “knowingly and voluntarily” agreed never…

Nov 20, 2009
BREAKING NEWS: Bowdoin Family Knew About December Forfeiture Complaint A Month Prior To Launch Of AdViewGlobal; AdSurfDaily-Connected Assets Seized In December ’08 Case Prepped For Sale

Even though Andy Bowdoin and his family knew in January 2009 that the government intended to seize the Tallahassee home of his stepson George Harris and an $800,000 building purchased with cash in ASD’s home city of Quincy, Fla., the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf proceeded with its launch in February 2009, according to an analysis of…

Nov 20, 2009
BREAKING NEWS: Prosecutors Allege Ponzi Murder Plot; Jeffrey Lane Mowen Accused Of Soliciting Prisoner To Kill Witnesses In Multimillion-Dollar Case Against Him

EDITOR’S NOTE: In August, a poster here who defended autosurf Ponzi schemes demanded readers to “show me one time where the [U.S. government] has even started a lawsuit or ‘gone after’ a company off shore.” The post concerned the AdVentures4U (ADV4U) autosurf, which, like a number of autosurfs, claimed legal ties to Panama. Promoters said…

Nov 19, 2009

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