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  • UPDATE: Prosecutors Ask For 50-Year Prison Sentence For Peregrine’s Russell Wasendorf, Saying He Stole More Than $215 Million And Presided Over Fraud For 2 Decades

    Russell Wasendorf Sr.
    Russell Wasendorf Sr.

    The fraud at Peregrine Financial Group Inc. began at least sometime between 1993 and 1994 with an unlawful $250,000 transaction involving customer funds and grew to consume more than $215 million, federal prosecutors said while asking a federal judge to put Russell Wasendorf Sr. behind bars for 50 years.

    Wasendorf, 64, tried to kill himself with carbon monoxide in July 2012, after the monumental fraud was exposed. But he recovered, and pleaded guilty in September to mail fraud, embezzlement and making false statements to regulators. The company was placed in bankruptcy, with Wasendorf’s fraud destroying jobs in Iowa and making the U.S. heartland town of Cedar Falls the scene of an outrageous financial crime that devastated clients.

    Prosecutors in the Northern District of Iowa now say an early backer of Wasendorf identified as “J.C.” wanted to pull out his capital contribution in 1993 or 1994, but Wasendorf already was in over his head. To buy out J.C. and keep the Peregrine scheme afloat, Wasendorf “stole the required capital — at least $250,000 — from PFG’s customer segregated funds,” according to prosecutors.

    “Moreover,” prosecutors said,  “in order for the fraud to be effective and sustainable for years, defendant routinely created and used false certifications and forged documents to deceive his customers, his accounting department, his fellow corporate officers, an outside auditor, and multiple regulatory agencies whose core function was to detect and prevent exactly the type of criminal activity defendant perpetrated.”

    To evade detection by his employees, Wasendorf used “blunt authority to establish rules and procedures at PFG so that he was the only one to examine actual” statements from U.S. Bank.

    Chief U.S. District Judge Linda R. Reade is scheduled to sentence Wasendorf Jan. 31.

    PFG conducted business online as PFGBest at PFGBest.com. At one time, the website featured a photo of PFG’s glistening headquarters building in rural Cedar Falls. The site now redirects to the site of the PFG bankruptcy trustee.

  • UPDATE: Leaming — Again: After Earlier Claiming He’d Been Targeted For ‘DEATH,’ AdSurfDaily Figure And Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Now Claims’ He’s Been Subjected To ‘POISON’ And ‘TORTURE’

    AdSurfDaily figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming now claims he's been subjected to "POISON" and "TORTURE."
    AdSurfDaily figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming now claims he’s been subjected to “POISON” and “TORTURE.”

    In 2009, AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming claimed a city in Washington state targeted him for “DEATH” and threatened to kill him by “HUNTING” him down “in screaming packs and mobs” and using “several armed street gangs” that served as police, according to records.

    Leaming, now 57, further claimed the Pierce County city of Puyallup engaged in terrorism by controlling “multiple electronic broadcast media” and employing police who used “chemical and biological weapons,” “machine guns” and “explosives.”

    In November 2011, prosecutors said Leaming was found in Spanaway, Wash., with two federal fugitives from Arkansas. Those fugitives now have been convicted of mail fraud for a multimillion-dollar, home-based business caper. Court filings by Timothy Shawn Donavan, 64, and Sharon Jeannette Henningsen, 68, suggest they also were sovereign citizens.

    After Leaming’s arrest with Donavan and Henningsen, federal prosecutors in the Western District of Washington said an FBI terrorism Task Force found evidence that Leaming had filed false liens against at least five public officials involved in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi case filed by the U.S. Secret Service in 2008.

    Leaming allegedly also filed bogus liens or assisted in filing liens against a former cabinet official in the administration of President George W. Bush, the head of a credit union and at least two U.S. prison officials. In 2012, while detained, Leaming sued President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder, advancing a Birther conspiracy theory.

    A federal judge tossed that lawsuit. Court filings by Leaming now suggest he intends to sue Holder anew, this time in the District of Columbia as opposed to the Western District of Washington.

    But Leaming also has another active lawsuit against Holder and others in the Western District of Washington. A complaint by Leaming dated yesterday asserts he has been subjected to “POISON” and “TORTURE” during his ongoing detention at the SeaTac federal detention center near Seattle.

    In October 2012, federal prosecutors alleged that Leaming “was instrumental in founding the ‘County Rangers,’ the sovereign group’s armed enforcement wing. Members of the County Rangers were issued realistic-looking badges and credentials were required to possess firearms as part of their duties, and held themselves out as law enforcement agents.”

    Leaming already is a convicted felon from a case that alleged he had no license and yet piloted an aircraft. When he was arrested in November 2011 in the company of Donavan and Henningsen, several firearms were found in Leaming’s residence, including an “AK-47 style assault rifle with a bayonet,” prosecutors said.

    He later was charged with unlawful possession of firearms as a convicted felon.

    When agents executed a search warrant, they found “numerous boxes of correspondence and legal paperwork documenting other apparent fraud schemes,” prosecutors said.

  • On Date Of Obama Inauguration, ‘Program’ Promo Turns President Into Pitchman For ‘Ultimate Power Profits’

    ultimatepowerprofitspresUPDATED 11:08 A.M. ET (U.S.A.) On a day Americans cherish as a great symbol of the continuation of Democracy, images of their President are being used to create the impression he has endorsed a “program” HYIP hucksters sought to popularize in the aftermath of the August 2012 collapse of the Zeek Rewards “program” amid SEC allegations that Zeek was just another massive Internet scam.

    “Just join their team and you will receive all the help you need to grow your own business,” an animated Obama tells prospects in a video promoting Ultimate Power Profits. “By doing so, your earnings will increase. There is no hidden agenda. They showed me how their system worked and I was impressed. It is a fully legal and U.S.-patented system they use to make money.”

    Obama’s image previously was used in affiliate promos for MPBToday, a purported MLM “grocery” program whose operator was arrested on a racketeering charge in Florida last month. A building that housed MPB Today’s operations is the subject of a federal forfeiture action in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida. The forfeiture case was filed July 31, 2012.

    Less than three weeks later — on Aug. 17, 2012 — the SEC alleged Zeek was a $600 million Ponzi and pyramid scheme. Zeek and MPBToday are known to have promoters in common, including serial Ponzi scheme pitchman “Ken Russo,” also known as “DRdave.”

    On Aug. 18, only a day after the SEC’s Zeek action late on Friday afternoon, the PPBlog began to receive spam about the UltimatePowerProfits “program.” (See Comments thread below this story. The Blog established a Ponzi-forum tie between Zeek and Ultimate Power Profits.)

    On Aug. 20, the office of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper — which also had been investigating Zeek — issued a warning on “reload scams” in the wake of the SEC’s Zeek action.

    Ultimate Power Profits is not the first “program” to make a claim about a “U.S. patent.” The JSS/JBP scam, which purported to pay an annualized return of 730 percent and purportedly was operated by former AdSurfDaily Ponzi-scheme pitchman Frederick Mann, also made a claim about a U.S. patent.

    It is not uncommon for HYIP scams and MLM frauds to plant the seed that a “program” is endorsed by an agency of the U.S. government or a U.S. politician. ASD’s Andy Bowdoin was accused in 2008 of trading on the name of George W. Bush, then the President of the United States and Obama’s predecessor.

    Images of former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were used in the massive Mantria “green” Ponzi scheme in 2009.

    In 2012, JSS/JBP came under the lens of CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator. Some promoters, however, didn’t miss a beat. (Compare the images in the screen shots below. The first is from a promo for an emerging “program” known as RicanAdFunds; the second is from a promo for Zeek; the third is from a promo for JSS/JBP.)

    1.

    ricanfundschapmansmall

    2.

    chapmanzeek

    3.

    jss-triplersmall1

  • IN MEMORY: Stan Musial, 1920-2013

    Stan Musial receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom as two other recipients -- Former President George H.W. Bush and basketball star and human-rights advocate Bill Russell -- look on. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza.)
    Stan Musial receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom as two other recipients — Former President George H.W. Bush and basketball star and human-rights advocate Bill Russell — look on. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza.)

    Stan Musial, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame and a recipient of America’s highest civilian honor — the Presidential Medal of Freedom — died yesterday in Ladue, Mo. He was 92. The St. Louis Cardinals announced the death on the team website at 7:45 p.m. ET.

    “We have lost the most beloved member of the Cardinals family,” said William DeWitt Jr., chairman of the Cardinals.  “Stan Musial was the greatest player in Cardinals history and one of the best players in the history of baseball.”

    President Obama awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Musial in 2011.

    “Stan matched his hustle with humility,” Obama said on Feb. 15, 2011. “He retired with 17 records — even as he missed a season in his prime to serve his country in the Navy. He was the first player to make — get this — $100,000. Even more shocking, he asked for a pay cut when he didn’t perform up to his own expectations. You can imagine that happening today. Stan remains, to this day, an icon, untarnished; a beloved pillar of the community; a gentleman you’d want your kids to emulate.”

    Musial called it the honor of his life. Part of the soundtrack of Obama’s remarks about Musial is dubbed with the sound of Musial playing the harmonica.

    “Again, a true gentleman on and off the field,” baseball great and American icon Willie Mays told MLB.com. “I never heard anybody say a bad word about him, ever.”

    Sportscaster Bob Costas once remarked that Musial was noted for his lack of flamboyance. It was a compliment of the highest order, given that baseball and other professional sports sometimes produce players that are louder than the crowd.

    Musial, a slugger who played in the majors from 1941 through 1963 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot, was from the hard-working town of Donora, Pa., near the hard-working larger town of Pittsburgh. He was a role model to children nationally. The Cardinals described Musial as “unpretentious, untroubled, friendly and folksy,” saying he was “baseball’s perfect knight and the greatest, most beloved player in team history.”

    Stan Musial was famous in America for more than seven decades — famous for his batting stance, famous for his results at the plate, famous for long balls and scorching line drives, famous for having an off year and taking a $20,000 pay cut, famous for playing the harmonica, famous for remaining a regular Joe despite his fame, famous for community work.

    And Stan Musial was famous for marrying his high school sweetheart and remaining married to her for 71 years. Lilian Musial died last year. She was 91, and had met her future husband at a baseball game in 1934, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was President of the United States. Barack Obama was two in 1963, when Musial had his last at-bat in the majors during the administration of President John F. Kennedy.

    Stan Musial, 1920-2013. Husband. Father. Baseball player. “Stan the Man” to millions of fans. Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient.

    American icon.

  • Bizarre Events Unfold At Florida Bankruptcy Proceeding For RoboVault; Purported ‘Sovereign’ Claims To Derive Authority From ‘The Pope’

    recommendedreading1EDITOR’S NOTE: This story in the Sun Sentinel was recommended by a reader. Indeed, Florida is serving up another strange one. To set the stage, RoboVault is a secure storage facility in Fort Lauderdale that allegedly is wasting away because its former owner, Marvin Chaney, somehow came to believe the facility is storing “sovereign bonds” worth billions of dollars and that RoboVault will get a cut when they are sold. The building now is under control of a bankruptcy trustee, who allegedly has been exposed to nuisancing.

    A purported “sovereign” has entered the fray, reportedly claiming he has “superior jurisdiction” to the judge. James McBride, the purported “sovereign,” asserts he is “Postmaster General of North America” and reportedly claims his authority flows from the Pope in Rome.

    Various “sovereigns” — including AdSurfDaily Ponzi story figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming — have referred to themselves as “postmaster.” McBride has done the same thing . . .

    On Jan. 17, the Sun Sentinel led with this headline: “Wild RoboVault court hearing leaves one man in handcuffs, 2 others facing possible jail time.”

    From the Sun Sentinel:

    McBride, who claims to derive his authority from the Vatican, sent letters to the judge and trustee demanding the bankruptcy case be dropped. He previously has been profiled in media accounts as a “sovereign separatist,” someone who believes he is not subject to state and federal laws.

    Read the story in the Sun Sentinel.

  • BULLETIN: AdSurfDaily Figure And Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Kenneth Wayne Leaming Now Seeks To File Another Lawsuit

    Kenneth Wayne Leaming
    Kenneth Wayne Leaming

    BULLETIN: (UPDATED 12:35 P.M. ET U.S.A.) AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming has reached out from jail again in a bid to sue the government and officeholders.

    Leaming, 57, is detained in the SeaTac federal-detention facility near Seattle on charges of filing false liens against at least five public officials involved in the ASD Ponzi case and other crimes. He was arrested by an FBI terrorism Task Force in November 2011. Since his arrest, Leaming has filed lawsuits against President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington and a county sheriff in Arkansas.

    Filings in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia — the venue from which the ASD Ponzi prosecution was brought — now show that Leaming is seeking to sue Holder anew, along with a federal prison official in Washington state. Leaming originally sued Holder and Obama in a different venue.

    His new claims make Holder a prospective defendant in the D.C. District Court and make new claims against the Attorney General.

    The case is docketed as “unassigned” to a specific judge, but U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer — an alleged target of one of Leaming’s false liens and the presiding judge in the ASD case — has issued an order that requires Leaming to submit certain paperwork to the court before the case can proceed. The January docket for the D.C. district suggests that Collyer’s duties this month have included the initial responses to complaints brought by individuals desiring to sue members of government.

    Leaming does not appear to be making an ASD-related claim in his most recent case. Even so, it is possible that Collyer would remove herself from any Leaming-related process moving forward because of the FBI allegations he filed a false lien against her in Washington state.

    In the new filing in the D.C. District, Leaming appears to be trying to make a damages claim against a SeaTac prison official while simultaneously making a claim against Holder. The earlier case against Holder and Obama was tossed in the Western District of Washington months ago. Following a Birther conspiracy theory, it alleged that Obama was not born in the United States and thus was inelegible to be President — and that Holder was a bogus Attorney General because he’d been appointed by a bogus President.

    Leaming now is demanding damages paid in “United States Silver Eagle Dollars,” amid allegations he was denied access to a law library. In his earlier case against Holder and Obama, he demanded payment in gold in silver.

  • UPDATE: Hearing For Gary Calhoun, MPB Today Operator, Reset For Feb. 4

    Gary Calhoun.
    Gary Calhoun.

    UPDATE: A hearing for Gary Calhoun set for yesterday in Florida’s Escambia County Circuit Court on a state-level racketeering charge has been rescheduled for Feb. 4, according to the docket of the case.

    Calhoun, 56, of Pensacola, was arrested last month on the racketeering charge. He is the operator of the MPB Today MLM “program” and a companion grocery-delivery business known as Southeastern Delivery. MPB Today’s website has been offline for weeks.

    In July, federal prosecutors filed a forfeiture complaint for a property at 8812 Grow Drive, also known as Grow Road, in Pensacola. The property is the business address of Southeastern Delivery and also the address of a Calhoun-controlled entity known as WL Property Holdings LLC. The property also is the address of MPB Today.

    The affidavit in the federal forfeiture case was filed under seal. But the forfeiture case, according to prosecution filings, was brought to enforce 18 USC § 1028 and 18 USC § 1029, statutes dealing with access-device fraud and fraud in connection with identification documents. The complaint also references the federal wire-fraud and conspiracy statutes.

  • UPDATE: PP Blog Now Starting To Get Bizarre Spam Related To BannersBroker ‘Program’

    americaatrisk4UPDATED 7:06 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) The PP Blog today began to receive bizarre spam related to the purported BannersBroker “program,” a Ponzi-forum darling.

    Senders from separate IPs who deemed themselves “Banners Broker” transmitted spam at 5:27 p.m. (ET) and 5:29 p.m. today. (UPDATE: 7:06 P.M. Actually, the 5:27 spammer deemed himself/herself “Banners Broker” and the 5:29 spammer deemed himself/herself  “Banners Brokers.”)

    One of the spams appeared to make the assertion that the PP Blog was created specifically in response to the Banners Broker “program” and that the Blog is in cahoots with at least two other sites to make Banners Broker look bad. The same would-be spam, which appeared to originate in the United Kingdom, also appeared to advance an argument that individuals should not question the Banners Broker “program.”

    An earlier spam — one that appeared to originate in Poland with a different email address but largely the same user name and same URL to a website that appears to sell purported Banners Broker sales aids — took a potshot at a Blogger named Finch. (The later spam described in the paragraph above also took a potshot at Rod Cook, the “MLM Watchdog.“)

    The PP Blog’s first reference to Banners Broker was published on June 17, 2012, when the Blog reported that a site that claimed it sold “customers” to Zeek Rewards members also was pushing traffic to Banners Broker and JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, the bizarre, 730-percent-a-year “program” purportedly operated by Frederick Mann.

    Mann also was a pitchman for the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme. JSS/JBP, which later morphed into a “program” known as ProfitClicking, may have ties to the sovereign-citizens movement.

    In August 2012, the SEC called Zeek Rewards a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid fraud. Zeek, JSS/JBP, ProfitClicking and Banners Broker all were promoted from the Ponzi boards and had members in common, which leads to questions about whether the schemes and their financial vendors came into possession of funds tainted by multiple fraud schemes.

    The commonality of the “programs” also leads to questions about whether satellite companies are developing “leads” programs and purported sales aids to benefit from securities-fraud schemes before they are detected.

    The spammer at 5:27 p.m. today asserted that he (or she) was sure companies such as Banners Broker “will fight back through the legal system and get [Blogs critical of such programs] shut down.”

    In July, less than a month before the collapse of Zeek, Zeek figure Robert Craddock sought to shut down the website of Zeek critic K. Chang. It became the “Most Important” story of the year on the PP Blog.

    Banners Broker uses at least two of the payment processors used by Zeek: Payza and SolidTrustPay.

     

     

     

  • Man From Colorado Town Of Fairplay Ran ‘Gold Coin’ Fraud Scheme, Prosecutors Say

    ponziblotterJames P. Burg, formerly of Fairplay, Colo., ripped off his customers for gold coins and, in at least one instance, “used one customer’s payment for coins to refund funds to another customer,” federal prosecutors said.

    The scam fetched more than $2.4 million and operated through three websites, prosecutors said.

    Burg, 61, became the subject of an investigation carried out by the FBI, the IRS and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the office of U.S. Attorney John Walsh of the District of Colorado said.

    He has been charged with six counts of wire fraud, four counts of money laundering, four counts of willful failure to file tax returns and nine counts of mail fraud.

    “The U.S. Postal Inspection Service has no shortage of investment investigations and this is another example of greed overcoming honest business practices,” said Adam Behnen, inspector in charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

    From a statement by prosecutors (italics added):

    As part of the scheme, Burg represented that he was the chief executive officer of a company known as Superior Discount Coins (SDC) and that SDC was in the business of selling coins. Burg also conducted business using a company known as Gold Run Investments (GRI) and represented that GRI was in the business of selling coins. At times, Burg operated GRI using the alias “Tim Burke.” Burg advertised and solicited customers through radio advertisements and over the Internet using websites he controlled, including; www.superiordiscountcoins.com, www.yourcoinbroker.com, and www.goldruninvestments.net.

    Burg misrepresented and promised customers that if they ordered coins from SDC or GRI and paid him for those coins, he would deliver the coins to them or to accounts designated by them. He sent and caused to be sent to customers that ordered coins from SDC or GRI invoices stating amounts of money owed for the coins and, in some cases, providing information about a bank account to which the customers should transfer their money to purchase the coins.

    The money Burg received from customers was not used to purchase coins for such customers, but instead he converted the money to his own use and benefit. Burg refused to refund money to customers in several instances where the customers requested a return of their money after he failed to deliver coins as originally promised. To prevent the scheme’s detection, Burg sometimes filled customers’ orders for coins only after such customers threatened to take legal action or report him to law enforcement authorities. Burg used one customer’s payment for coins to refund funds to another customer.

    “Fraud schemes are often described as a house of cards and will eventually fall apart exposing the individuals responsible,” said Stephen Boyd, special agent in charge, IRS-Criminal Investigation, Denver Field Office

    See 9News.com report from 2011:

  • FBI Offers Up To $10,000 Reward For Info Leading To Capture Of Accused Ponzi Schemer And International Fugitive Peter Heckman

    These photos of Petyer Heckman were taken in 2009, the FBI says.
    These photos of Peter Heckman were taken in 2009, the FBI says.

    A German national who allegedly conducted a Ponzi scheme in Hawaii and then fled to Indonesia is the subject of an FBI manhunt.

    Peter Heckman, 63, ran a Ponzi scheme in which he promised investors “guaranteed returns of 10 to 15 percent for terms as short as two weeks,” the FBI said. The scam allegedly fetched at least $1.2 million, and Heckman was indicted on seven counts of wire fraud in 2007.

    But Heckman knew that he was under investigation and “fled Hawaii immediately prior to his indictment,” the FBI said, noting it now was offering a “reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to Heckman’s capture.”

    In 2010, the agency tracked him to Indonesia, where “he was operating a recording studio and had launched a record label producing albums for musical artists in the Philippines and Indonesia.”

    Heckman once operated a “failing recording studio” on the Hawaii island Kauai, the FBI said.

    From the FBI (italics added):

    Peter Heckman is 63 years old, 5’7” tall, 200 pounds, with gray hair and blue eyes. He is a German national who often uses the first name “Hans” and sometimes spells his last name “Heckmann” to mask his true identity while marketing his recording production services.

    Heckman’s Wanted poster notes he uses these aliases: Peter Hans Heckman, Peter Hans Heckmann, Peter Heckmann, Peter Heck, Hans Heckman, Hans Heckmann, Hans Peter Heckman, H.P. Heckman, H.P. Heckmann.

    “Anyone recognizing Heckman or having information as to his current location is asked to call the Honolulu FBI at 808-566-4300,” the agency said.

  • UPDATE: ASD’s Andy Bowdoin Incarcerated At Oklahoma City Federal Transfer Center

    Thomas Anderson "Andy" Bowdoin
    Thomas Anderson “Andy” Bowdoin

    Convicted 1-percent-a-day Ponzi schemer Andy Bowdoin is listed as an inmate at the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City, a development that likely means the 78-year-old  AdSurfDaily patriarch is on his way to a federal prison. Bowdoin, a Floridian, last year requested to be incarcerated in Florida. The PP Blog was unable to determine immediately if that request was granted.

    Bowdoin pleaded guilty to wire fraud in the ASD Ponzi case in May 2012. He admitted ASD was a Ponzi scheme that had gathered about $119 million and had never operated lawfully from its inception in 2006 through its collapse in 2008. Bowdoin initially was imprisoned in June 2012, after federal prosecutors proffered evidence that he continued to promote scams even after the seizure of more than $80 million in the ASD Ponzi case and even after he was charged criminally in December 2010.

    In August, Bowdoin was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison for his role in the ASD Ponzi.

    Federal prosecutors identified AdViewGlobal and “OneX” as two other scams in which Bowdoin participated after the collapse of ASD amid Ponzi allegations by the U.S. Secret Service in 2008. Like ASD, AdViewGlobal was a purported “program” that planted the seed its paid a daily return of 1 percent. OneX was a “program” Bowdoin said could fetch participants a quick return of $99,000, apparently after an initial outlay of $5.

    Bowdoin targeted former ASD members and “college students” in his OneX promos.

    In August, the SEC accused Zeek Rewards of operating a massive online Ponzi scheme that had gathered about $600 million. Similar to ASD, Zeek Rewards was a “program” that planted the seed it paid a return of 1.5 percent a day.

    The SEC has described its Zeek probe as ongoing. The Secret Service said in August that it also was investigating Zeek.

    Despite the fact Bowdoin was sued civilly, accused of racketeering and charged criminally with wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities for the ASD scam, any number of ASD members turned to promoting Zeek, which planted the seed it paid out even more than ASD.

    In August, the SEC accused Zeek of selling unregistered securities. Zeek operator Paul R. Burks, who is in his mid-60s, consented to a judgment in the civil case without admitting or denying the SEC allegations. Two prospective class-action lawsuits also were filed against Burks.

    Despite the legal entanglements of both Burks and Bowdoin and Bowdoin’s prison sentence, some MLMers immediately began promoting similar “programs.”