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  • FEDS: Florida Scammer Who Swindled Investment Clients And Tried To Arrange Murders Of Witness And Business Partners Sentenced To 30 Years In Federal Prison

    breakingnews72A 60-year-old Florida man who swindled retirees and ran a “sham investment firm” known as Yorkshire Financial Services with his now-deceased brother has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison.

    Paul S. Kruse of Jacksonville plotted at least three murders after the scam was exposed, including the murder of a personal assistant who’d observed his dirty dealings, contacted the FBI and became a government witness.

    If Kruse survives the prison sentence, his release will occur when he is approximately 90 years old.

    After his brother’s 2012 suicide in the wake of the Yorkshire collapse, Kruse hired hit men to kill the personal assistant “to both prevent her from testifying and avenge his brother’s death,” the Justice Department said today.

    “Kruse also hired the hit men to rob and kill two former business partners, who Kruse contended had cheated him,” the Justice Department said.

    The hit men, however, were “undercover federal agents,” the Justice Department said.

    Kruse laid out the plot while being detained prior to trial, the Justice Department said.

    From a statement by the Justice Department (italics added):

    According to court documents, beginning in 2010, Kruse and his brother conspired to recruit and defraud a number of clients to whom they provided financial advisory services. As part of the scheme, Kruse established a sham investment firm called Yorkshire Financial Services. He and his brother convinced their clients, a number of whom were retirees, to move their savings to Yorkshire. Kruse and his brother deceptively told clients that Yorkshire had been in business for more than 30 years, had a staff of experienced securities traders, and traded in a combination of stocks, bonds and currencies appropriate for individual retirement accounts (IRAs). In reality, Kruse did not invest the investors’ funds. Rather, he spent the investors’ money on luxury cars, home improvements and personal items and made hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash withdrawals. As a result of the scheme, Kruse stole $931,844 from 21 victims.

    Senior U.S. District Judge Harvey E. Schlesinger late yesterday ordered Kruse jailed for three decades. Kruse further was ordered to pay restitution of $897,960 and serve five years’ supervised probation upon his prison release.

    The case was investigated by the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

  • BULLETIN: James Timothy Turner, Purported ‘President’ Of Purported ‘Republic for the united States of America’ (RuSA), Sentenced To 18 Years In Federal Prison

    breakingnews72James Timothy “Tim” Turner, a purported “sovereign citizen” and the purported “President” of a shadow government known as the “Republic for the united States of America” (RuSA), has been sentenced to 18 years in federal prison in a bizarre tax scam in which he was convicted of conspiring to defraud the IRS and teaching others to do so.

    In a particularly bizarre display of magical thinking, Turner and three other purported “Guardian Elders” sent “demands to all 50 governors in the United States in March 2010 ordering each governor to resign within three days to be replaced by a ‘sovereign’ leader or be ‘removed,’” the Justice Department said.

    Investigations by the FBI and IRS soon began, the agency said.

    “This lengthy prison sentence shows that tax defiers like Turner who use bogus tax schemes and file retaliatory liens against government officials will be punished,” said Kathryn Keneally, assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

    Added Acting U.S. Attorney Sandra J. Stewart of the Middle District of Alabama: “This sentence should send a message that if you attempt to use retaliatory tax liens and fraudulent tax schemes as weapons against the United States and its citizens you will be punished.”

    A top IRS official, meanwhile, said Turner espoused a “false ideology.”

    “Turner influenced others with his false ideology by aggressively promoting obstruction of the IRS,” said Richard Weber,  chief of IRS-Criminal Investigation. “In truth, Turner’s own defiance of IRS and his attempts to lead others through the same labyrinth of lies and distortions led to his downfall as shown by the significant sentence he must now serve.”

    From a statement by the Justice Department (italics added):

    In March 2013, following a five-day jury trial, Turner was convicted on 10 counts in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama. Based on the evidence introduced at trial and in court filings, Turner, the self-proclaimed “president” of the sovereign citizen group Republic for the united States of America (RuSA), traveled the country in 2008 and 2009 conducting seminars teaching attendees how to defraud the IRS by preparing and submitting fictitious bonds to the U.S. government in payment of federal taxes, mortgages, and other debt. The evidence at trial revealed the bonds are fictitious and worthless but witnesses testified that Turner used special paper, financial terminology and elaborate borders in an effort to make them look authentic and more likely to succeed in defrauding the recipient. Turner was convicted of sending a $300 million fictitious bond in his own name and of aiding and abetting others in sending fifteen other fictitious bonds to the Treasury Department to pay taxes and other debts.

    The evidence at trial also established that Turner taught people how to file retaliatory liens against government officials who interfered with the processing of fictitious bonds. Turner filed a purported $17.6 billion maritime lien in Montgomery County, Ala., Probate Court against another individual. This investigation began after Turner and three other self-proclaimed “Guardian Elders” sent demands to all 50 governors in the United States in March 2010 ordering each governor to resign within three days to be replaced by a “sovereign” leader or be “removed.” The FBI immediately began investigating Turner and IRS- Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) joined the investigation soon thereafter.

  • Receiver Estimates That $290 Million In Fraudulent Transfers Occurred At Zeek; Clawback Litigation May Begin In Third Quarter; U.S. Domestic And ‘Foreign Winners’ Will Be Pursued; Victims Already Have Filed Claims Seeking $287 Million — With More Expected To Follow Before Sept. 5 Deadline

    breakingnews72The court-appointed receiver in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi-scheme case is reporting “significant progress” in securing assets for return to victims and says the estate has gathered approximately $325.1 million since the receivership began in August 2012.

    As of 5 p.m. on July 29, Zeek victims had filed claims seeking about $287 million. The claims portal accessible though the receivership website will close Sept. 5, meaning the number could grow even higher — potentially by the tens of millions.

    An estimated $290 million in fraudulent transfers occurred at Zeek, and receiver Kenneth D. Bell says he intends to file clawback litigation against both Zeek’s U.S. domestic and “foreign winners,” beginning as early as this quarter.

    Bell advised the court that, on June 28, he deposited about $2.5 million seized by the U.S. Secret Service from Solid Trust Pay, one of Zeek’s ewallet providers. Another $3.6 million from NxPay is expected to be deposited soon — “and the Receiver is working with [the Secret Service] to investigate and secure additional Receivership assets that NxPay identified and are being held by its payment processor, LST Financial, Inc.”

    Moreover, Bell said, the receivership — working with the Secret Service — recovered about $5 million from ePaymentAmerica and about $800,000 from PlasticCash.

    Meanwhile, a “foreign account” that may contain $9.5 million still is under investigation by the receivership, and two other foreign accounts that may hold Zeek assets were discovered in the second quarter, Bell said. Those accounts also are under investigation.

    Zeek operated as part of Rex Venture Group LLC of North Carolina. Court filings suggest that Zeek money flowed through at least 16 domestic and foreign accounts, not including the accounts of individual participants. Those accounts may number in the thousands.

    Bell said he also may have claims against certain Zeek “third party-advisors, vendors and other service providers that knew or should have known” about Zeek’s inappropriate activities “and yet faciliated those activities for their own gain.”

    Senior U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen of the Western District of North Carolina is presiding over the Zeek case, which was brought by the SEC last year.

  • Gary Calhoun, MPB Today MLM Operator, Jailed In Florida

    Gary Calhoun's July 30, 2013, booking photo: Source: Escambia County Sheriff's Office.
    Gary Calhoun’s July 30, 2013, booking photo: Source: Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.

    UPDATED 5:52 P.M. EDT (JULY 31, U.S.A.) Gary Calhoun, the operator of the MPB Today MLM program who was charged in December with racketeering under Florida state law, is listed as a prisoner at the Escambia County Jail.

    Today was Calhoun’s sentencing date. The length of his sentence was not immediately clear. [July 31 UPDATE: Court docket updated July 31 to reflect three-year sentence in state prison, followed by 10 years’ probation. This note appears on the docket:

    “DURING PROBATION THE DEFT. MUST OBTAIN PRIOR APPROVAL FROM HIS PROBATION OFFICER BEFORE ACCEPTING ANY EMPLOYMENT OR STARTING, PURCHASING OR IN ANY OTHER MANNER ASSOCIATING WITH A BUSINESS. THE PURPOSE OF THIS REQUIREMENT IS TO ENSURE THAT DEFT. DOES NOT IN ANY WAY ASSOCIATE HIMSELF WITH A MULTI-LEVEL MARKETING BUSINESS THAT COULD BE CONVERTED INTO A PYRAMID SCHEME OR OTHER ENTITY USED FOR ILLEGITIMATE PURPOSES.”]

    Calhoun is 57.

    One year ago tomorrow, federal prosecutors in the Northern District of Florida filed a forfeiture complaint against certain property linked to MPB Today and a companion grocery-delivery business known as Southeastern Delivery in Pensacola. The complaint, according to records, was brought to enforce laws against access-device fraud and fraud in connection with identification documents.

    MPB Today had a presence on the Ponzi boards and was one of the stranger MLMs in recent years, with promoters claiming a one-time purchase of $200 could result in free groceries and gasoline for life. Some promoters claimed the “program” was backed by the U.S. government. Others claimed MPB Today was backed by Walmart. At least one promoter bizarrely tried to sell the “program” by positioning President Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, a former member of Walmart’s board of directors, as Nazis.

    Despite claims that MPB Today was partnered with Walmart, another promotion read as such: If you “hate Walmart and have written a 603 page manifesto on how Walmart is trying to take over the world and steal your soul,” you should “stop making that pipe bomb and read how you can avoid Walmart and still make bank” with MPB Today, according to the pitch.

    Some MPB Today affiliates licensed themselves to videotape commercials for MPB Today inside Walmart stores.

    In April, a Florida judge ordered Calhoun “TO HAVE NO CONTACT OR RECEIVE ANY INCOME FROM ANY MLM,” according to the docket of the case.

    In 2006, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Calhoun was associated with an entity known as Trim International (MyTrim.com) and illegally marketing a product known as “TCR Cell Rejuvenator.” The agency said the product was unlawfully positioned as a treatment for “Neurodegenerative diseases: Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, axonal and other neuropathies, Down’s and other syndromes.”

    TCR Cell Rejuvenator also was positioned as a treatment for “recurrent Herpes, common cold and flu,” amid MyTrim claims it could be used “to treat patients with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cancer and other infectious diseases and neurological disorders,” according to the FDA.

    Meta tags on the site also referenced “prostate cancer,” the FDA said.

  • CHICAGO TRIBUNE: Judge To Purported ‘Sovereign’: ‘I Hesitate To Rank Your Statements In Order Of Just How Bizarre They Are’

    americaatrisk4Back in February, U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton of the Western District of Washington told AdSurfDaily story figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming that “all the fancy legal-sounding things” Leaming had “read on the internet are make-believe.”

    Another way to put that is, “Garbage in, garbage out” — or, in shorthand, GIGO.

    Leighton’s observations appeared in an eve-of-trial order exempting federal prosecutors from responding to certain “gobbledygook” Leaming had filed as part of his self-argued defense on charges of filing bogus liens, possessing weapons as a convicted felon and harboring two federal fugitives from Arkansas wanted in a home-business fraud scheme separate from the $119 million ASD Ponzi scheme broken up by the U.S. Secret Service in 2008.

    Leaming, 57, was convicted. In April, several weeks after his trial and conviction, Leaming sent Leighton a purported “Invoice” that claimed the judge owed him 208,000 ounces of “fine silver,” according to the docket of the case.

    It is against this backdrop that purported “sovereign citizen” Cherron Marie Phillips is going on trial in Chicago on charges of filing bogus liens against Former U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald and other court officials, including federal judges.

    Like Leighton in Tacoma to “sovereign” defendant Leaming, U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur in Chicago made some remarks to “sovereign” defendant Phillips on the eve of her trial.

    From the Tribune (italics added):

    “I hesitate to rank your statements in order of just how bizarre they are,” said veteran U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur, who at one point attempted to explain to Phillips the meaning of the phrase, “garbage in, garbage out.” As Phillips continued to press him on his allegiance to the Constitution, Shadur finally cut her off.

    Phillips earlier had rejected Shadur’s advice not to represent herself, according to the paper.

    Leaming, who had a previous felony conviction for piloting an aircraft without a license, was sentenced to eight years in federal prison. Among the targets of his false liens were a federal judge, at least two federal prosecutors and the Secret Service agent who led the ASD Ponzi investigation.

    Purported “sovereigns” in multiple states have engaged in acts that have been described as “paper terrorism” designed to hamstring judges, prosecutors and litigation opponents.

    ASD operator Andy Bowdoin was sentenced last year to 78 months in federal prison. He is 78.

  • Tennessee Man Allegedly Talking To Jailed Memphis ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Charged By U.S. Secret Service With Threatening To Kill President Obama

    A man having a phone conversation with a jailed Tennessee “sovereign citizen” and frustrated she could not make bond had “a plan,” the U.S. Secret Service said in a July 25 affidavit for an arrest warrant.

    That plan, according to the affidavit, was to “burn” President Obama, “kill” him and “murk” the President and the “Justice Department.”

    “Murk” is “street slang for murder,” the Secret Service advised a U.S. Magistrate Judge.

    “We gonna [***k] his [**s] up,” the man said, according to the affidavit.

    Precisely who constituted “we” remains unclear.

    What is clear is that Darrin Young, also known as Darrin Fleming, has been arrested on a charge of threatening the President’s life.

    The purported “sovereign” with whom allegedly Young was conversing on July 11 was identified as Tabitha Gentry, a prisoner at the Shelby County Jail. She was charged earlier this year with aggravated assault against two police officers, evading arrest and theft of property over $250,000, amid allegations she illegally had taken over a Memphis mansion and began “squatting” there.

    Young, 39, used the identity of Unas Sebhet Re El in an earlier interaction with Memphis police, according to the affidavit. That interaction also involved Gentry and played out after a traffic stop, according to the affidavit.

    Gentry used the name Al Cora Bay during the stop and claimed to be “indigenous,” according to the affidavit.

    Gentry is a purported “Moorish” national, a group of “sovereigns” that may consist largely of African-Americans. (See some background on the purported “Moorish” movement at the website of the Southern Poverty Law Center.)

    See story on the arrest of Young at WREG.com, News Channel 3 in Memphis. See May 8, 2013, PP Blog story that references Gentry and other purported “sovereigns.”

    Earlier this month, the FBI cautioned law-enforcement agencies statewide in Tennessee to be prepared for encounters with “sovereign citizens.”

    Investigators in Shelby County reported the July 11 conversation and forwarded a recording to the Secret Service, which opened a probe that led to Young’s arrest.

     

  • Judge Approves Settlements With Zeek Receiver, Says Agreements Are In ‘Best Interests Of The Zeek Victims’

    “The Court has reviewed Receiver’s brief and proposed settlement and finds that the proposed settlement is fair and equitable and is in the best interests of the Zeek victims.” — Senior U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen, July 26, 2013

    breakingnews72UPDATED 9:43 P.M. EDT U.S.A. If you’re from the camp that claims Zeek Rewards victimized no one, a federal judge set you straight today.

    Senior U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen of the Western District of North Carolina has approved a motion by the court-appointed receiver to settle with certain Zeek winners at discounts. The judge deemed the agreements “fair and equitable” and “in the best interest of the Zeek victims.”

    Mullen’s order applies to at least 136 winners who entered successful prelitigation settlement negotiations with receiver Kenneth D. Bell, who said the agreements provided immediate and concrete benefits to the receivership estate.  The order is expected to cause about $1.8 million to flow into the Zeek estate over time, some of it immediately. Bell listed the “Settlement as % of Winnings” at 56.12 percent in a June 28 filing.

    Bell is marshaling Zeek assets for return to victims.

    Zeek “winners” of $1,000 or more who bypassed the springtime opportunity to settle now face the prospect of clawback litigation beginning sometime this summer. Records show that even some winners of less than $1,000 settled with Bell

    In August 2012, the SEC described Zeek as a $600 million pyramid and Ponzi scheme. The purported Zeek “opportunity” operated through Rex Venture Group LLC, a North Carolina MLM firm.

    Rex and Rex/Zeek operator Paul R. Burks duped members into believing that payouts averaging about 1.5 percent a day were legitimate, the SEC alleged.

    Zeek’s business model was similar to AdSurfDaily, which the U.S. Secret Service and federal prosecutors described as a $119 million Ponzi scheme operating from Florida. The Secret Service raided ASD in 2008.

    The Zeek scam created hundreds of thousands of victims, according to Bell. In April, he warned winners of ill-gotten gains that the time for court action is drawing closer.

    See June 29 PP Blog story and Comments thread.

    NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

  • First Reports Of Alleged Massive Ponzi Scheme In Greater Cincinnati: ‘Tens If Not Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars,’ Complaint In Hamilton County Says

    From a civil complaint by investors against Glen Galemmo.
    From a civil complaint by investors against Glen Galemmo.

    If the alleged Profitable Sunrise scheme were not bad enough in the Greater Toledo region of Northwest Ohio, there now are reports of a separate massive scheme in the Greater Cincinnati region of Southwest Ohio.

    Investors have gone to court to accuse Glen Galemmo of East Walnut Hills of operating an elaborate scam that may have consumed “tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars,” according to a complaint in Hamilton County.

    Galemmo was at the helm of several entities, including Queen City Investment Fund and Galemmo Investment Group, investors said.

    See July 24 story in the Cincinnati Business Courier. The paper today followed up with this story, which reports one the the defendants in the case “was a pastor at a Cincinnati-area church.”

    The IRS is reported to be investigating the Cincinnati case. Details remain sketchy.

    The SEC and Ohio regulators are investigating the Profitable Sunrise case, amid allegations that the scheme traded on faith and was pushed in part by Nancy Jo Frazer and her purported ministries and charitable enterprises in the area of Bryan, Ohio. At least 35 regulatory agencies in the United States and Canada issued Investor Alerts or cease-and-desist orders against Profitable Sunrise, which purportedly was operated by “Roman Novak” through a global network of pitchmen.

  • Purported Alabama ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Jailed On Felony Charge; Sheriff Says She Filed False Document Against Obama Cabinet Official

    Mary Whiteside Quillen is jailed in Alabama, amid allegations she filed bogus instruments against public officials, including U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.
    Mary Whiteside Quillen is jailed in Alabama, amid allegations she filed bogus instruments against public officials, including U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.

    It appears to have taken less than five months for a purported “sovereign citizen” to begin a harassment campaign against Jacob J. Lew, who became U.S. Treasury Secretary after being confirmed by the Senate on Feb. 27, 2013.

    Alabama authorities say they’ve arrested Mary Whiteside Quillen, 65, of Weaver. She is accused of recording “several frivolous documents, on July 23, against government officials in a lien.”

    Lew was “specifically named in one document,” the office of Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin said.

    The crime is a felony, the sheriff’s office said.

    “These types of false recordings have the potential to ruin public officials’ lives,” said Entrekin. “We will not allow this to happen in Etowah County and will prosecute these individuals to the fullest extent of the law.”

    Bond for Quillen was set at $100,000 cash, officials said.

    From a statement by Entrekin’s office (italics added):

    A similar incident took place in June with the arrests of Everett Leon Stout, 71, of St. Clair County, and Miriam Clare Shultz, 66, of Marshall County.  Stout and Shultz were each charged with two counts of offering a false instrument for record. Stout and Shultz recorded false documents against a circuit clerk, municipal prosecutor, federal judge and federal probation officer.   

    “These individuals’ actions align with the ideology and beliefs of sovereign citizens,” says Sheriff Entrekin. “Sovereign citizens believe that both state and federal government entities are unlawful.”

    When these individuals, who claim to be sovereign citizens, come into contact with local law enforcement they often are driving without state-required licenses, either for their vehicles or themselves.  Members of the group also inundate public officials, including local law enforcement officers, with frivolous liens, false claims and sometimes threats of violence.”

    Entrekin’s office recommends website visitors to read this report from the FBI.

    Assisting in the Etowah County probe were the U.S. Marshal’s Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force and the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, the sheriff’s office said.

  • REPORTS: Prosecutor In TelexFree Case Threatened With Death

    cautionflagThere are reports in Brazilian media that a prosecutor in the state of Acre has received death threats over her role in the TelexFree investigation and is receiving police protection.

    TelexFree, which has a U.S. arm in Massachusetts, purports to be in the communications business. The MLM company is under investigation in multiple states in Brazil, amid pyramid-scheme concerns.

    Here is a link to a Google-translated version (from Portuguese to English) of one story in Brazil about the reported death threats.

    Here is a link to the original story not translated into English.

    Some Americans have claimed that a payment of $15,125 to TelexFree results in an income of at least $1,100 a week for a year.

    Death threats and threats in general are not unprecedented in the pyramid-scheme world. In the World Marketing Direct Selling (WMDS) and OneUniverseOnline (1UOL) cases brought in Massachusetts in 2005, accused schemer James Bunchan discussed a plot to murder a federal prosecutor and 12 witnesses. He was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison after being convicted of the pyramid charges and an additional 25 years after being convicted in the murder plot.

    The pyramid scheme was targeted at Cambodian-Americans who had little command of English.

    In other news, federal prosecutors in Miami today announced the arrests of Daniel Carrasco, 54, and Federico Martin Gioja, 45, both of Miramar, Fla. The men were accused of falsely trading on the name of the Univision television network, targeting Spanish-speaking prospects and using a “phone room in Argentina to extract money from consumers, using lies and extortion.”

    “These defendants specifically targeted Spanish-speaking victims, pretending to be affiliated with Univision, to sell their products from their phone room in Argentina, when in fact, they had absolutely no connection to Univision, and their companies did not deliver the products consumers ordered,” said U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida.  “We are committed to investigating and prosecuting such fraudsters, both domestic and international, whose schemes defraud consumers.”

    If the customers of Carrasco and Gioja complained, prosecutors said, the “Argentinian phone room telemarketers called and falsely threatened consumers with arrest, deportation or fines on their gas and electric bills.”

    The scheme was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Charges against the men include conspiracy, fraud and extortion.

  • From Profitable Sunrise To ‘Guaranteed50kIn30days’: ‘What Would You Do With $50,800? Or Better Yet, What Would You Do With A MILLION $$!’

    From a Jon Simmons' pitch for Guaranteed50XXXXXX.
    From a Jon Simmons’ pitch for Guaranteed50kIn30Days.

    After the Profitable Sunrise intercontinental affinity-fraud and pyramid-scheme aimed at Christians, Rev. Jon Simmons has cast his net with a 5X5 matrix “program” known as “Guaranteed50kIn30days” and is fishing for a “team,” a source tells the PP Blog.

    “Turn your $50 [into] a MILLION Dollars!” Simmons trawled.

    Simmons was a Profitable Sunrise colleague of Nanci Jo Frazer and NJF Global Group. Frazer and two of her purported ministries were charged with fraud earlier this month in Ohio. Simmons was not charged. Profitable Sunrise may have scammed tens of millions of dollars in a cross-border fraud, the SEC said in April. Frazer and team may have driven $30 million to the scam, Ohio authorities said.

    “What would you do with $50,800?” Simmons queried his audience about Guaranteed50kIn30days in an email, according to the source. “Or better yet, what would you do with a MILLION $$!”

    Precisely what was “guaranteed” about getting $50,000 in a month wasn’t made clear in the pitch, which references a web entity known as PrivateMillionairesClub.com.

    “Membership by Invitation Only,” the site says.

    Schemes pushed by self-identified Christians that trade on claims of being private and exclusive have generated headlines in recent months. Profitable Sunrise was such a scheme. Zeek Rewards, which the SEC described in August 2012 as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme, advertised itself as “private, invitation-only,” the agency said in court filings.

    Guaranteed50kIn30days says it’s located in Nebraska as part of B & B Communications Inc. and is associated with entities known as B & B Communications Philippines Inc. and B & B Communications Hong Kong Limited. Web properties, according to the company, also include BandBOnlineAds.com and 2x2SuccessTeam.com, with BandBeBookStore.com, ShowMeTheFreebies.com, BandBSuccessClub.com, FilipinoSavingsClub.com and FilipinoSavingsClub.net also in the fold.

    Frazer’s Profitable Sunrise team also targeted prospects in faraway lands. One of those lands — New Zealand — referenced Frazer’s group in a March 2013 warning about Profitable Sunrise. Ohio authorities have said they’d linked Frazer to “ProfitClicking,” a “program” that became the subject of actions in Italy and the Philippines.

    According to the information provided by the source, a July 16 Guaranteed50kIn30days email from Simmons began, “Jon Simmons here. This is WAY BETTER THAN SGR!”

    SGR appears to be a reference to a “program” known as “ShareGiveReceive.” Online promos for SGR position it as “A Ministry/Business . . . not operating like a regular business” and “A World Wide Community Of People Working For The Benefit Of All MAN Kind.”

    Guaranteed50kIn30days, however, apparently blows SGR away — in Simmons’ view.

    “This is Best program to come along in decades,” he told his email audience about Guaranteed50kIn30days. “We are talking real daily step by step training. A 30-day video training course that anyone can follow to be successful. True duplicating process.”

    Another part of the pitch reads, “Get paid weekly every Wednesday by check, or have it loaded onto your Payoneer card. Go Quick! We just officially launched last Monday, July 1, 2013! Amazing earnings in 1 week!!!”

    In the email, prospects were provided a link to a heart-tugging video featuring B&B co-founders Steve Borgman and Brian Barnhouse riding in an automobile and reflecting on their days spent living in rural poverty in Nebraska. Those painful days now are over, according to the video: Both men now are well-equipped on the vehicle front. Borgman owns “the biggest house in Gage County,” and Barnhouse resides in a home with a scenic river view.

    The video was filmed in the region of Wymore, Neb., which has a population of 1,656, according to a road sign shown in the video. (Despite the newfound financial success of the duo, the mournful background music in the video seems more appropriate for a funeral dirge).

    Simmons, according to his email pitch, also can provide help with getting “leads” for Guaranteed50kIn30days.

    “Do you need help recruiting?” he asks. “I found a solution! Ask me about a great lead system I found for only $25 (one-time, NOT monthly)! Get your 5 for $50K easily! You can also use this Lead Scraper for ANY business. Imagine… No more having to talk to friends and family!!”