Achieve Community

The last time the PP Blog covered something such as this was in February 2015. That’s when “Moore Fund,” a preposterous Ponzi-board “program” that later vanished with an unknown haul, was using a “Norton Secured” logo unauthorized by Symantec to fool the masses. Unfortunately, the masses included members of The Achieve Community, who’d already been ripped […]

“These frauds are easily duplicated, and at times, we find ourselves playing ‘whack-a-mole,’ chasing the same set of fraudsters who, after feeling a bit of heat, simply close down one scheme and quickly set up a new one under a different name.” — Andrew Ceresney, SEC Enforcement Division director, March 2, 2016 EDITOR’S NOTE: Type […]

BULLETIN: (8th Update 3:34 p.m. ET U.SA.) The SEC has gone to federal court in Minnesota, alleging that an enterprise known as “TeamVinh” that pushed something called “VPAKs” was operating a securities-fraud scheme targeted at MLMers. TeamVinh, which allegedly recruited more than 5,600 participants,  has a presence on the Ponzi boards, including MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold. Recent chatter suggests the […]

Truth In Advertising (TINA.org) reported yesterday that a website styled JeunesseReserve at a WordPress site had positioned the MLM juice offering Jeunesse Reserve as a product that will reverse the course of gangrene in patients with diabetes who are facing amputations. According to the product claim, a woman with diabetes had developed gangrene of the finger and no longer could […]

Unlike the boffo web-based schemes of TelexFree, Zeek Rewards and AdSurfDaily, the “Achieve Community” scam in which participants were told they’d glean returns of 700 percent did not perform well (relatively speaking) at the MLM Pyramid/Ponzi Scheme Box Office. Achieve’s haul topped out at about $6.8 million, with alleged unfunded liabilities in the range of $50 […]

BULLETIN: (2nd updated 8:54 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) The office of Acting U.S. Attorney Jill Westmoreland Rose of the Western District of North Carolina has published a webpage for victims of the “Achieve Community” scam. Victims are asked to “submit information concerning the amount of your losses to the U.S. Probation Office,” which is compiling a […]

UPDATED 9:08 A.M. EDT JULY 21 U.S.A. Matthew G. Pruden, an attorney with the Tin Fulton Walker & Owen law firm, is a defense lawyer in the June 2015 criminal case against “Achieve Community” figure Kristine Louise Johnson (Kristi Johnson), according to the docket of the case. North Carolina-based Tin Fulton Walker & Owen also […]

UPDATED 10:10 P.M. EDT U.S.A. His Achieve Community cycler colleague Kristi Johnson now charged both civilly and criminally, Troy A. Barnes is professing ignorance. In a June 22 letter to U.S. Magistrate Judge Craig B. Shaffer of the District of Colorado, Barnes offered reasons for missing a June 3 conference call with the court. The […]

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (13th Update 1:43 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) After an investigation by the U.S. Secret Service, Kristi Johnson (Kristine Louise Johnson) of the “Achieve Community” has been charged criminally with wire-fraud conspiracy and has agreed to plead guilty, federal prosecutors said. “By the time the scheme collapsed in February 2015, the conspirators […]

BULLETIN: (3rd Update 3:44 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) The Colorado Division of Securities has issued a cease-and-desist order to “Achieve Community” and accused the network-marketing “program” of securities fraud and selling unregistered securities while conducting “a pure Ponzi and pyramid scheme.” The order applies to Achieve, Achieve International LLC, Work with Troy Barnes Inc. and Achieve […]

Are “sovereign citizens” immersed in the “SVM Global Initiative” and “UFunClub” cross-border, network-marketing schemes? “Sovereign citizens” may have an irrational belief that laws do not apply to them. It is not unusual for them to be involved in financial fraud, and some “sovereigns” have been linked to MLM HYIP frauds and securities offering frauds. Individuals […]