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  • REPORTS: Police In Small Florida Town Of Eustis May Have Been Targeted For Attack With Rocket-Propelled Grenade Launcher

    Multiple media accounts coming out of North Central Florida say the Marion County Sheriff’s Office learned of a plot to attack the Eustis Police Department today with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

    The alleged plot apparently was foiled over the weekend. A news conference reportedly will be held at 2:30 p.m. EDT today. The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that two arrests have been made and that 22 weapons, black powder and drugs were found during a police action. The WFTV video below shows Eustis Police Chief Fred A.M. Cobb making early remarks.

    Eustis is a small city of about 19,000 in Lake County, which borders Marion County. The city’s website says the police department has 45 sworn officers and 15 additional employees. The Marion County Sheriff’s office is based in Ocala.

  • Bogus Offer To Take Over Avon Turns SEC Website Into Crime Scene

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Like A Ponzi-Board Scam

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

     

     

     

     

  • BULLETIN: Zeek Receiver Names More International Clawback Defendants

    breakingnews72BULLETIN: (Updated 8:41 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) Zeek Rewards’ receiver Kenneth D. Bell has filed an amended clawback lawsuit that names 10 more defendants with addresses in the British Virgin Islands.

    Bell earlier sued five individuals with BVI addresses.

    One of the new defendants is alleged to have received more than $2.036 million from the Zeek Ponzi- and pyramid scheme. The development means that at least two BVI addressees now are alleged to have received more than $2 million each from the fraud.

    The 10 new alleged “winners” and sums:

    • Vernon Lettsome of Road Town, Tortola, $2,036,742.37 directly and through his shell company, VI Computer & Business Services, under one or more usernames, including “vicabs” and “vicabs1.”
    • Trevor Potter, no specific town listed, $293,221.85, under one or more usernames, including “tpo01.”
    • Simon Potter, no specific town listed, $230,570.611. under one or more usernames, including “potter.”
    • Esther Potter, no specific town listed, $187,990.96, under one or more usernames, including “LurenaPotter7.”
    • Elcina Frett, no specific town listed, $148,000.22, under one or more usernames, including “frette.”
    • Hercules Fraser, no specific town listed, $67, 201.35, under one or more usernames, including “reindeer01.”
    • Kishma Reefe, no specific town listed, $55,149.26, under one or more usernames, including “wq.”
    • Ruth Matthew, Road Town,Tortola, $136,277.95, under one or more usernames, including “ram01.”
    • Wesley Legair, Road Town, Tortola, $117,079.49, under one or more usernames, including “gkozy1.”
    • Sophia Richards, Road Town, Tortola, $96,238.79, under one or more usernames, including “sophiarich2.”

    In February, Bell named these five BVI addressees as clawback defendants:

    • Agnita Solomon, Road Town, Tortola, $2,057,355.61, under one or more usernames, including “ASolomon.”
    • Marguerite D. Hodge, $115,776.29, under one or more usernames, including “mdh01.” (In the amended complaint, Hodge’s addresses is listed as East End, Tortola. No specific town was listed in the original complaint.)
    • Susan Forbes, Tortola, $603,288.30, under one or more usernames, including “ladysue.”
    • Marcus Drigo, Road Town,Tortola, $70,262.52, under one or more usernames, including “mjblues.”
    • Patrice Harewood, Road Town, Tortola, $59,940.74, under one or more usernames, including “Susielee.”

    Each of the defendants named in February’s original complaint remains a defendant in the amended complaint. The amended complaint was docketed today in U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.

    Bell has sued international winners with addresses in the BVI, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom, Norway, Brazil, Israel, France, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands.

    Through a class-action complaint, he has sued more than 9,000 individuals with U.S. addresses.

    NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

     

  • DEVELOPING STORY: Did Colombian Narcotics Cartel Use TelexFree To Wash Cash?

    breakingnews72Headline Updated 12:15 p.m. EDT Published reports in the Dominican Republic say authorities there are trying to determine if a man arrested in a Colombian money-laundering case involving the Clan Úsuaga narcotics cartel also was involved in TelexFree.

    Early reports are sketchy. Dominican media have identified the man as Jorge Mercedes Cedeño, describing him as an evangelical pastor in the Dominican Republic. Whether he had a specific church affiliation is unclear, but media reports say Colombian authorities believe churches in both Colombia and the Dominican Republic were used to wash cocaine cash.

    All in all, four people with alleged ties to the cartel were arrested in Colombia this week. At least one of them is a woman.

    From a May 12 Tweet by Colombian National Police:

    TelexFree may be the largest combined Ponzi- and pyramid scheme in the history of MLM/networking-marketing. It may have gathered on the order of $1.8 billion in about two years of operation. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security both are involved in a U.S.-based probe of TelexFree, and TelexFree also is under investigation in Colombia and the Dominican Republic.

    A TelexFree-related raid carried out last year by Dominican police occurred in the area of San Pedro de Macoris. That’s the same area in which Cedeño reportedly conducted his apparent ministry.

    The PP Blog reported on May 9 that a court filing in the TelexFree bankruptcy case references “reports related to Colombian investigation.” Although the nature of the Colombian probe is not spelled out in the filing, one individual from Colombia appears to have filed a claim for $3 million.

    TelexFree’s penetration of the Dominican Republic appears to have been staggering. One document in the bankruptcy case consists of 2,329 pages — a list of potential Dominican creditors. With about 55 potential creditors listed per page, the document suggests that TelexFree could have on the order of 128,000 creditors in that nation alone. Any number of individuals may have multiple TelexFree accounts.

    Here’s the lede in a May 13 story in Dominican Today that reports on the arrests in Colombia and local concerns over a possible TelexFree tie (italics added/verbatim):

    Santo Domingo.- The Justice Ministry’s Anti-money Laundering Unit on Wednesday reviewed computer files looking for evidence that a Colombian cartel used a local evangelical church to launder money is the same on that swindled hundreds of Dominican out of millions of dollars in the Telexfree scandal last year.

    Unit director Germán Miranda said they don’t rule out that the “pastor” Jorge Mercedes Cedeño, arrested in Colombia along with others, is the same being sought in connection with the Telexfree case since last year.

     

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Hi Friend

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Zeek Clawback Defense

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

     

  • In TelexFree Trustee’s Probe, Advisers Turn To Cross-Border Zeek Case For Guidance

    Billing records in the TelexFree bankruptcy case show that advisers to court-appointed Trustee Stephen B. Darr held an hour-long teleconference with McGuireWoods, counsel to Zeek Rewards’ receiver Kenneth D. Bell.

    This appears to mark the first time that Zeek’s name has surfaced in TelexFree-related court matters. The two cross-border MLM/network-marketing fraud schemes allegedly gathered a combined sum approaching $3 billion. Each scheme operated for only about two years.

    The conference took place on Nov. 6, 2014. Precisely what was discussed was not disclosed, although the records suggest Darr’s advisers were studying the claims form used in the Zeek Ponzi- and pyramid case. Participants included Mesirow Financial Consulting LLC and McGuireWoods.

    Mesirow, which provides accounting and financial services, has assisted Darr in the mammoth job of reverse-engineering the alleged $1.8 billion TelexFree cross-border fraud scheme. McGuireWoods has provided litigation counsel to Bell, who has sued Zeek vendors and thousands of individual participants who allegedly profited from the $897 million cross-border scheme shut down by the SEC in August 2012.

    McGuireWoods is not providing legal counsel to Darr. That duty has been undertaken by Murphy & King (M&K.) Still, there may be lessons to be learned from the Zeek litigation. On Nov. 7, 2014, a day after the conference, two of Darr’s advisers at Mesirow noted “research regarding MLM payment schemes and Zeek rewards” in billing records.

    Separate records in the Zeek-related cases show that Bell had studied litigation flowing from the $119 million AdSurfDaily cross-border Ponzi scheme broken up by the U.S. Secret Service in 2008. Bell has raised concerns about “serial” MLMers/network marketers moving from one fraud scheme to another.

    Such schemes raise the prospect of a black market and back-alley deals infecting the legitimate commerce stream. It has been a concern in the TelexFree, Zeek and ASD cases. The screen shot below is taken from Mesirow’s first interim application for payment for assisting Darr in his TelexFree probe.

    telexfreepayments

    Mesirow’s billings notes make several mentions of M&K, Darr’s legal counsel. One of them, dated Jan. 15, 2015, noted a discussion “regarding promoter to promoter payments.”

    In court filings, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said an undercover agent joined TelexFree by paying a promoter directly.

    TelexFree In Colombia

    Billing notes by Mesirow say the firm analyzed “reports related to Colombian investigation” and that Mesirow is aware of a “Colombian creditor claiming $3MM.” In September 2014, the PP Blog reported that TelexFree President James Merrill claimed at a 2013 TelexFree event in California that Colombia “feared” network marketing.

    The California TelexFree event may create a tie with Zeek, the Blog reported in April 2014.

    In 2010, the U.S. government established ties between a Colombian MLM “program” known as D.M.G. Group to money-laundering in the United States to conceal narcotics profits.

    As the PP Blog reported on Nov. 24, 2010 (italics added):

    DMG’s membership ranks swelled to more than 400,000, with the scheme capturing hundreds of millions of dollars. The pyramid collapsed in 2008 — but not before [David] Murcia and others had set up an international money-laundering operation that routed narcotics proceeds through Mexico and concealed the criminality in real estate and other holdings in the United States, prosecutors said.

    “The so-called ‘Bernie Madoff of Colombia’ now stands convicted of money-laundering in Manhattan federal court,” said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara” [of the Southern District of New York].

    TelexFree In Brazil

    Mesirow’s billing notes also reference an ongoing investigation in Brazil into TelexFree activities through an affiliate known as Ympactus.

    The shutdown by Brazilian authorities of Ympactus in the summer of 2013 “was the first of many indication that the Debtors were operating an unsustainable pyramid scheme,” Mesirow said.

    It noted in the fee application that it has been in “regular contact” with U.S. government officials and “representatives of the Brazilian government.”

    In its first billing, Mesirow said it has assisted Darr in recovering more than $17 million since the firm was formally appointed to assist the trustee on July 14, 2014. Mesirow is seeking about $1.6 million in fees for more than 2,962 hours of work, plus reimbursement of expenses of $20,942.

    Read the Mesirow application and billing notes, which reference TelexFree figures such as Merrill, Carlos Wanzeler, Carlos Costa, accountant Joe Craft and MLM Attorney Gerald Nehra.

    M&K, legal counsel to Darr, also has submitted a billing application with notes that reference Zeek Rewards. M&K, like Mesirow, joined with the trustee in July 2014. M&K is seeking more than $1.3 million, saying it has expended more than 2,784 hours. It also is seeking reimbursement of expenses of $36,116.

    One M&K reference to Zeek mentions a “Review [of] Zeek Rewards settlement pleadings with net winners and insiders.” Another references a conference “regarding Zeek Rewards application to TelexFree case and practical implications.” Yet another references a “Review [of] Zeek Rewards docket re: how to treat inter-promoter activity.”

    Still another note says this: “Research potential claims against Nehra.”

    There are other Zeek references, plus references to other Ponzi cases.

  • Masonic Fraternal Police Department ‘Fictitious,’ Sheriff’s Dept. Says

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Immediate Suspicion And Confusion In Real Law-Enforcement Community

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

    From the advisory (italics/bolding added):

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    breakingnews72URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (10th Update 10:59 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) Zeek Rewards’ receiver Kenneth D. Bell has filed clawback lawsuits against alleged “winners” with addresses in Brazil, Israel, France, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands.

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

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

    Brazil

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Israel

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    France

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

    Sweden

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

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

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

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

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

    Denmark

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

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

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

    Germany

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

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

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

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

    Ireland

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

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

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

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

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

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

    The Netherlands

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

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

    NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

     

     

     

     

     

  • British Columbia Securities Commission Issues Investor Alert On DFRF Enterprises Or Other ‘Companies Associated With Daniel Fernandez Rojo Filho’

    breakingnews72URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (Updated 6:30 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) The British Columbia Securities Commission has issued an Investor Alert on “DFRF Enterprises LLC, DFRF Enterprises Ltd., or other companies associated with Daniel Fernandez Rojo Filho.”

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

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

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

    From the Investor Alert (italics added):

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

    Other claims being made by Filho include:

    • investors’ principal is guaranteed and safe
    • investor funds are held offshore
    • he manages $144 billion in assets
    • the company is extracting ten tonnes of gold per month from its mining properties in Mali, Africa
    • 25% of the profits are donated to social and humanitarian causes
    • existing members who refer new members are paid commissions of 10%

    Several of these claims are characteristic of investment fraud. The BCSC urges investors/members, sales agents, or members of the public who have been approached or have information about DFRF Enterprises LLC, DFRF Enterprises Ltd or Daniel Filho to contact the BCSC inquiries line at 604-899-6854 or 1-800-373-6393 (toll free).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Such a presentation leads to questions about whether DFRF is a hybrid mixture of a “traditional” HYIP, a prime-bank scheme and a shiny-object scheme.

     

  • Ripple Labs’ Settlement Agreement With Feds References Alleged Transaction With Roger Ver, American Expat Known As ‘Bitcoin Jesus’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

  • CLAIM: UFunClub Opponents Are Like Zombies From ‘The Walking Dead’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    As for the American UFunClub/UToken Dominators?

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

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

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

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

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

    Why?

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

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

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

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