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Tag: Anne Marie Borrego

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: American Red Cross Sends ‘Cease-And-Desist’ Letter To Asteria Foundation

    URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: The American Red Cross, which opened a probe last week into the potential misuse of its name and logo by the Asteria Philanthropic Foundation, has sent the foundation a letter to cease and desist.

    Anne Marie Borrego, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross in Washington, D.C., said this morning that the letter went out yesterday. The Asteria Philanthropic Foundation, also known as the Asteria Foundation, uses a Hong Kong street address and has issued at least one undated “press release” that uses a dateline of Reston, Va.

    The foundation is linked to Club Asteria, a purported earnings “program” that traded on the name of the World Bank and became a darling of the Ponzi boards earlier this year before suspending cashouts.

    The Red Cross logo and name appeared in Club Asteria’s October 2011 house organ, which the firm uses for recruiting. The Red Cross name and logo also appears on the Asteria foundation’s .org domain.

    Claims about Club Asteria caught the attention of CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator, in May. Officials in Virginia last week said that neither Club Asteria nor Asteria Corp. was registered to sell securities in the state. Asteria Corp. is Club Asteria’s apparent parent company.

    Virginia officials declined to say whether a state-level probe into the activities of Club Asteria was under way.

    A 2008 promo for AdSurfDaily features an image of Hank Needham, a purported Club Asteria principal. ASD later was implicated by the U.S. Secret Service in an alleged Ponzi scheme involving at least $110 million.

    Club Asteria was widely promoted on Ponzi boards such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup. Promoters later turned their attention to “programs” such as Centurion Wealth Circle and JustBeenPaid, which is trading on the names and images of Warren Buffett, Oprah Winfrey, Benjamin Franklin and “Mr. Spock” of the Star Trek movie and televison series.

    Last month, Club Asteria removed an image of actor Will Smith from its house organ. This month, the company is trading on a quote from Mahatma Gandhi, the slain champion of freedom in India. A “JOIN OUR MISSION” button was placed inside a quote from Gandhi, whose name was misspelled in the publication.

    See earlier story.

  • BULLETIN: General Counsel’s Office Of American Red Cross Investigating Potential Case Of Brand Leeching By Club Asteria After Red Cross Logo Appears On Purported ‘Philanthropic’ Site And Inside Club Asteria’s October House Organ

    BULLETIN: The Office of the General Counsel of the American Red Cross in Washington, D.C., has opened a probe into the potential misuse of the Red Cross logo and name by Club Asteria and an entity known as the Asteria Philanthropic Foundation or the Asteria Foundation.

    Depending on how the investigation evolves in the coming days, Club Asteria could be on the receiving end of a cease-and-desist order, said Red Cross spokeswoman Anne Marie Borrego.

    “The case has been sent to the Office of General Counsel,” Borrego said.

    The Red Cross logo appears on a domain known as Asteria-Foundation.org. Meanwhile, the Red Cross logo also appears on the inside front cover (Page 2) of Club Asteria’s October house organ, which the purported business “opportunity” uses as a recruitment tool.

    “So far, no one has been able to confirm a [Club Asteria] link to the Red Cross,” Borrego said.

    Club Asteria claims in the electronic publication that the Red Cross is a “partner.”

    Last month, Club Asteria produced a story in the house organ that used an image of actor Will Smith. Club Asteria later removed both the image of Smith and a purported “interview” with him, reconfiguring the publication to remove any reference to the “Independence Day” star.

    Prior to the removal, the image of Smith was directly above a Club Asteria “JOIN NOW” button.

    There appears to be no entry for the Asteria Philanthropic Foundation in a database maintained by the IRS, even though the Asteria-Foundation.org domain makes this claim — using the copyright symbol as opposed to a lowercase “c.”

    “The Asteria Foundation is a charitable, tax-exempt 501©(3) organization. Contributions are tax deductible in accordance with IRS rules and regulations.”

    An undated “press release” on the site with a dateline of Reston, Va., claims the foundation “was launched today and signals a crucial step in the organization’s fight against poverty around the world.”

    The undated release quotes Club Asteria’s Andrea Lucas. (Verbatim from release; indent added by PP Blog.)

    “Funds raised by Club Asteria are donated by The Asteria Foundation to a variety of different organizations that have the same goal and vision as we do,” said Club Asteria Founder Andrea Lucas. “Basically, we want to eliminate poverty around the world by getting funds into the hands of those who need them the most.”

    Separately, the Asteria-Foundation.org domain claims the foundation uses a Hong Kong address, but a fax number associated with the entity uses an area code in Virginia.

    Earlier this year, Club Asteria encouraged members to spend money on the firm’s purported services and to work harder on recruiting as a means of helping earthquake victims in Japan.

    Borrego said today that people who wanted to donate money to the Red Cross could do so directly at the Red Cross website.

    Questionable entities trading on the name of the Red Cross “happens all the time” because of the power of the Red Cross name, Borrego said.

    In May, CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator, opened a probe into claims made about Club Asteria. Club Asteria acknowledged that its PayPal account had been frozen, later saying the firm was experiencing a cash crunch.

    Club Asteria blamed members for the developments. The purported “opportunity” was widely promoted on boards associated with Ponzi schemes.

    Authorities in Virginia were checking this afternoon to determine if Club Asteria was registered to sell securities, the PP Blog has learned. Ponzi forum posters claimed Club Asteria paid out up to 10 percent a week before suspending cashouts earlier this year.

    The Asteria-Foundation.org website was registered on May 19, 2011.

    In the face of thousands of affiliate claims that Club Asteria was a “passive” investment program that provided a weekly payout, Club Asteria denied it was an issuer of securities.