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Tag: ASD

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Ohio Calls Nanci Jo Frazer’s Focus Up Ministries ‘Front’ For Profitable Sunrise HYIP Fraud Scheme; State Says It Believes Frazer Was An AdSurfDaily Pitchwoman With History Of Promoting Fraud Schemes Such As Zeek Rewards And Profit Clicking

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (Fourth update 9:10 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) In court papers, the state of Ohio has called Nanci Jo Frazer’s Focus Up Ministries a “front” for the Profitable Sunrise HYIP scheme and alleges that Focus Up changed its name to Defining Vision Ministries Inc. in June 2013 — two months after the SEC brought the Profitable Sunrise fraud action in federal court in Atlanta.

Records suggest Nanci Jo Frazer also is known as Nancy Jo Frazer. The Ohio court documents list the “Nancy” spelling. Other documents list the “Nanci” spelling.

A judge in Williams County, Ohio, has ordered Frazer, Focus Up and other entities associated with Frazer to “[i]mmediately cease all activities on behalf of any charitable organization/trust in the state of Ohio,” to preserve assets and to return assets that already may have been dissipated.

The judge also ordered Frazer and others to cease selling unregistered securities. Meanwhile, the judge ordered three Ohio banks to take eight accounts linked to Frazer and others into “actual and/or constructive possession.” Frazer resides in Bryan, Ohio.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and the Ohio Department of Commerce said today that the state has brought civil fraud charges against Frazer, Focus Up, Defining Vision and others. Documents say the state believes Frazer was a pitchwoman for the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme and other “programs,” including Zeek Rewards and Profit Clicking.

“This case involves a worldwide pyramid scheme that defrauded Ohioans and others out of millions of dollars,” DeWine said. “These individuals brought the scheme to Ohio by promising outrageous returns and telling investors that their donations and investments would help charities. We will continue to work closely with the Department of Commerce to hold the defendants accountable for their actions.”

Also charged were David Frazer, Frazer’s husband, and Albert Rosebrock, a member of Frazer’s NJF Global Group. Rosebrock also was alleged by Ohio to be an AdSurfDaily and Zeek affiliate.

Purported Profitable Sunrise operator “Roman Novak” is called “John Doe” in Ohio’s complaint, leading to continuing questions about whether “Novak” actually exists. In April, the SEC said that Profitable Sunrise pitchmen may not even have known with whom they were doing business. Profitable Sunrise purported to pay up to 2.7 percent interest a day. The SEC said it was using a “mail drop” in England and offshore bank accounts potentially to scam tens of millions of dollars.

Frazer’s group may have driven $30 million to the scam, according to court files.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that Rosebrock is blaming the SEC for the collapse of Profitable Sunrise.

From a statement by Ohio prosecutors (italics added):

Profitable Sunrise is an international pyramid scheme recently shut down by federal and international authorities. Profitable Sunrise claimed to be a Christian company that would use investment proceeds to help charities and provide investors with large returns. According to the state’s complaint, the Frazers, of Bryan, and Rosebrock, of Sherwood, used Focus Up Ministries’ status as a charity to solicit donations and investments into Profitable Sunrise. They also claimed that invested funds would compound at 1.6 to 2.7 percent daily, growing at annual rates of 5,000 to more than 75,000 percent.

The complaint also alleges that the defendants used funds donated to Focus Up Ministries for personal expenses and other unlawful purposes. These included financing for personal business ventures, the purchase of a big screen television, no-interest personal loans, and compensation for agents who solicited on behalf of the Profitable Sunrise pyramid scheme. The complaint contains counts of misrepresentation, deceptive acts and practices, conversion, falsification, securities fraud, and unlicensed sale of securities, among other violations.

The SEC has described Zeek Rewards as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid fraud. AdSurfDaily was a $119 million Ponzi scheme, according to the U.S. Secret Service. Meanwhile, ProfitClicking is a “program” linked to Frederick Mann, the purported operator of JSSTripler/JustBeenPaid, which has come under regulatory scrutiny in Italy and the Philippines.

If Frazer was a pitchwoman for ASD, Zeek and ProfitClicking/JSS/JBP, it would mean she was pushing Profitable Sunrise after various well-publicized regulatory or law-enforcement actions against those “programs,” which purported to pay interest of between 1 percent and 2 percent a day. (ASD = 1 percent/day; Zeek = 1.5 percent/day; ProfitClicking/JSS/JBP = 2 percent/day.)

Beyond that, it would mean Frazer pushed the purported 2.7 percent a day Profitable Sunrise “Long Haul” plan, even though agencies filed various actions against the “lower-paying” programs with which she allegedly was involved previously.

Some HYIP promoters move from one fraud scheme to another, while engaging in willful blindness. ASD is known to have had ties to the “sovereign citizens” movement. Mann, of ProfitClicking/JSS/JBP, once used a website to drive traffic to videos featuring Francis Schaeffer Cox, a purported “sovereign citizen” and “militia” man implicated in a murder plot against public officials in Alaska.

Jul 9, 2013
Notes/Analysis On TelexFree: A Little Like AdSurfDaily/AdViewGlobal, TextCashNetwork, Zeek Rewards, Profitable Sunrise And World Marketing Direct Selling

TelexFree affiliates have shared a photo of President James M. Merrill posing in front of an office building in Massachusetts. The photo, however, is not proof of TelexFree’s legitimacy and raises questions about whether the company was trying to plant the seed it had a massive physical presence in the United States.

UPDATED 10:22 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The purported TelexFree “opportunity” is under investigation by multiple agencies in Brazil, its purported base of operations despite competing claims the company is headquartered in the United States. The notes below concern TelexFree’s U.S. presence and positioning. They are presented in no particular order of importance. TelexFree says it is in the communications business.

TelexFree has a footprint in Massachusetts at 225 Cedar Hill Street, Suite 200, Marlborough. It is a shared office facility. Ads for the building suggest a conference room with video capabilities can be rented by the hour. One suggested use of the room is for attorneys to rent it to conduct depositions. Some attorneys practicing in the state and federal courts use the building as a business address.

Other lessees include the Massachusetts Library System (MLS), which describes itself as “state-supported collaborative” to foster “cooperation, communication, innovation, and sharing among member libraries of all types.” MLS uses Suite 229, according to its website.

TelexFree operates as an MLM. One of the problems in the MLM sphere is that purported “opportunities” and their promoters have been known to dupe participants by leasing virtual office space to create the illusion of scale or of a massive physical presence. Such was the case with a Florida entity associated with AdViewGlobal, an AdSurfDaily knockoff scam that purported to pay 1 percent a day. As the PP Blog reported on May 31, 2009 (italics added):

Research suggests a company with which AVG has a close association is headquartered in a modern office building in the United States. The building was constructed in 2003. Office functions and conferencing can be rented by the hour. Two large airports are nearby, and a major Interstate highway is situated one mile from the building.

It is a virtual certainty that AVG, which purported to operate from Uruguay, actually was operating from the U.S. states of Florida and Arizona and using a series of business entities to launder the proceeds of its fraud scheme. AVG disappeared mysteriously in June 2009.

On Dec. 14, 2011, the PP Blog reported that Text Cash Network (TCN) — another purported MLM “opportunity” — was using a virtual office in Boca Raton, Fla., in a bid to create the illusion of scale. TCN promoters published photos of a glistening building with TCN’s name affixed near the crown of the building. The Boca Raton Police Department, however, said the firm’s name did not appear on the building.

Although the PP Blog is unaware of any bids to Photoshop TelexFree’s name on a large office building, affiliates have shared photos of TelexFree President James M. Merrill posing in front of the large Massachusetts building. So there can be no confusion, TelexFree does not own the building. TelexFree affiliates/prospects should not rely on the photo of the building as proof of the legitimacy of the company. The photo itself raises questions about whether Merrill and TelexFree were trying to create the illusion of scale. Even though the answer could be no, the negative inferences that can be drawn from the photo contribute to MLM’s reputation for serial disingenuousness.

TelexFree also has a presence in the state of Nevada. Records show that an entity known as TelexFree LLC is listed as “Domestic Limited-Liability Company” situated in Las Vegas. Listed managers include Carlos N. Wanzeler, Carlos Costa and James M. Merrill. TelexFree operates in Massachusetts with an “Inc.” version of the name — i.e., TelexFree Inc., having undergone a name change in February 2012 from Common Cents Communications Inc. In Massachusetts, James Merrill is listed as the registered agent, president, secretary and director of the firm, with Carlos Wanzeler listed as treasuer and director. Unlike the Nevada “LLC” version of TelexFree, Carlos Costa appears not to hold a title in the Massachusetts “Inc.” entity.

The footprints in the United States are important in the sense that they establish a business presence in the country should TelexFree become the subject of U.S. investigations akin to what is happening now in Brazil, where pyramid-scheme and securities concerns have been raised. Along those lines, records of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) appear not to list TelexFree — despite the fact affiliates in the United States have claimed members acquire “stock” from TelexFree that can be sold through TelexFree and that affiliates purchase “contracts” from TelexFree.

One YouTube video viewed by the PP Blog shows a TelexFree affiliate purportedly cashing out his stock through his TelexFree back office. The affiliate appears to be speaking in U.S. English, citing the date as March 19, 2013. In the video, the affiliate describes his pitch as a “quick withdrawal video” — i.e., proof that TelexFree is legitimate because it pays.

“OK,” the narrator intones. “I’m going to sell all my stock.” The video shows a tab labeled “Stock” and a subtab styled “Repurchase” in the back office.

The narrator then clicks on a series of graphics styled “REPURCHASE” and tells the audience that he wants to show it all the “stock that I have that converts to actual money.” He then proceeds to a “Withdraw” subtab under a “Statement” tab. These actions eventually expose a screen that shows an “AVAILABLE BALANCE” of $927.61 for withdrawal.

For a brief moment, the acronym “BT&T” flashes on the screen, suggesting the TelexFree affiliate is seeking to have his earnings from stock sales relayed through North Carolina-based Branch Banking & Trust. The interesting thing about that is that the alleged $600 million Zeek Rewards Ponzi- and pyramid scheme claimed it had a banking relationship with BB&T.

In May 2012 — on Memorial Day — Zeek mysteriously announced it was ending its relationship with BB&T. It was unclear from the TelexFree affiliate’s video whether he was a BB&T customer or whether TelexFree was. What is clear is that the SEC moved against Zeek in August 2012, accusing the company of securities fraud and selling unregistered securities as investment contracts. The U.S. Secret Service said it also was investigating Zeek.

In this TelexFree promo running on YouTube, the acronym BB&T flashes on the screen in a TelexFree affiliate’s back office.

Among the problems with HYIP schemes is that banks can become conduits through which illicit proceeds are routed or stockpiled. Zeek used at least 15 domestic and foreign financial institutions to pull off its fraud, according to court filings.

Because HYIPs offer commissions to members who recruit other members along with “investment returns,” legitimate financial institutions can come into possession of money tainted by fraud.

Like Zeek (and AdViewGlobal and AdSurfDaily), TelexFree has a presence on well-known forums listed in U.S. court records as places from which Ponzi schemes are promoted.

TelexFree shares some of the characteristics of fraud schemes such as Zeek, AdViewGlobal, AdSurfDaily, Profitable Sunrise and others. ASD, AVG and Zeek, for instance, had a purported “advertising” element. So does TelexFree.

TelexFree affiliates claim they get paid for posting ads online for the purported “opportunity.” Zeek affiliates made the same claim.

It is highly likely that Zeek and TelexFree have promoters in common, a situation that potentially is problematic, given that some affiliates may have used money from Zeek to join TelexFree — and the court-appointed receiver in the Zeek case is pursuing clawbacks against “winners.” In short, some of the winnings could have been spent in TelexFree.

An online promo for Zeek in July 2012 claimed North Carolina-based Zeek had 100,000 affiliates in Brazil alone. TelexFree affiliates are claiming that their “opportunity” now has hundreds of thousands of affiliates, which suggests TelexFree has achieved Zeek-like scale. Whether it enjoys Zeek-like, money-pulling power on the order of $600 million is unclear.

What is clear is that TelexFree, like Zeek before it, is spreading in part through the posting of promos on classified-ad or similar sites across the United States. Profitable Sunrise, another HYIP, spread in similar fashion. Dozens of U.S. states issued Investor Alerts or cease-and-desist orders against Profitable Sunrise, which the SEC accused of fraud in April 2013.

To gain an early sense of the scale TelexFree may be achieving in the United States, the PP Blog typed into Google the term “TelexFree” and the names of several U.S. states known to have taken actions against Profitable Sunrise. This revealed URLs such as “TelexFreeOhio” and “telexfreetexas.blogspot.com,” for two examples. It also showcased classified-ad (or similar) sites on which TelexFree promos are running or have run.

Finally, the state of Massachussets was the venue from which the prosecutions of the infamous World Marketing Direct Selling (WMDS) and OneUniverseOnline (1UOL) pyramid-schemes were brought in federal court. Those fraud schemes were targeted at Cambodian-Americans. The state does not take kindly to affinity fraud. In March, Massachusetts securities regulators charged a man in an alleged fraud bid against the Kenyan community.

Among the claims of the MLM hucksters pitching WMDS and 1UOL was that members could purchase an income. Some TelexFree affiliates are making similar claims.

The WMDS and 1UOL frauds became infamous as the source of death threats, including one against a federal prosecutor.

Media outlets in Brazil have reported that death threats have surfaced over the TelexFree scheme.

For the reasons cited above and more, it would be surprising if things end well in the United States for TelexFree, which has Zeek and ASD-like signatures of MLM disasters waiting to happen.

Jul 4, 2013
Judge Calls Ponzi Schemer Who Raised Conspiracy Theory His Attorney Was Working With The Government A Liar, Sentences Him To 16 Years In Federal Prison

Anthony Vassallo pulled a page from Ponzi schemer Andy Bowdoin’s playbook when he advanced a conspiracy theory that his own defense counsel was working with the government to sell him down the river.

It didn’t work for Bowdoin, the 78-year old recidivist securities fraudster now serving a 78-month prison term after claiming he’d been “hoodwinked” by his lawyer.

Now, a similar claim hasn’t worked for Vassallo, 34. He is one of the purveyors of the Equity Investments Management & Trading (EIMT) Ponzi scheme in California, a crime that served up a heaping helping of the bizarre. Three individuals who led an alleged shakedown bid to recover money for investors were charged criminally in 2009, amid allegations they posed as federal agents.

The Sacramento Bee reported that Vassallo pleaded guilty to wire fraud on Feb. 1. After that, he tried to change his plea, claiming that government prosecutors and agents and a defense attorney “ganged up on him to extract a guilty plea to a crime he didn’t commit.”

But U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. called Vassallo a “liar” in court on Friday, sentencing him to 16 years in federal prison, prosecutors said.

“This lengthy sentence is justice served, though it is small comfort to the victims of Vassallo’s crimes, many of whom lost their homes, health, and retirements to this fraud,” said U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner of the Eastern District of California. “This case was unusual in its scope, but not in the nature of the fraudulent conduct.”

EIMT gathered more than $80 million before it began to unravel in late 2008, prosecutors said.

With EIMT foundering, “Vassallo continued to recruit new investments,” prosecutors said. “One investor transferred $250,000 to Vassallo’s account less than two weeks before Vassallo admitted to a group of investors that he had ceased trading and their money had been lost.”

“This was a classic Ponzi scheme, where you rob Peter to pay Paul,” said José M. Martínez, IRS-Criminal Investigation special agent in charge. “Eventually, you run out of Peters and Pauls.”

Jun 23, 2013
Zeekers Share Their Conspiracy Theories At Newspaper Site
The Dispatch of Lexington, N.C., published a story June 7 to update readers on Zeek Rewards-related litigation — specifically the date of a hearing on a motion by certain Zeek members (alleged net winners) to dissolve the receivership. (See link to story/Comments below.) As of this morning, about 27 comments appear below the story. The comments appear to be from Zeek supporters. Zeek was based in Lexington.

Zeek, the SEC said in August 2012, was a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid fraud that duped investors into believing they were receiving a legitimate return averaging about 1.5 percent a day. Zeek’s business model was similar to AdSurfDaily, a Florida-based Ponzi scheme that collapsed in 2008. Federal prosecutors said ASD had gathered about $119 million.

ASD became infamous not only for its purported payout of 1 percent a day, but also for the extremely strange behavior of some of its supporters. Curtis Richmond, one of the scheme’s cheerleaders, was a purported “sovereign” being once sued successfully under the federal racketeering statute for his role in various bizarre plots advanced by a purported “Indian” tribe in Utah known derisively as the “Arby’s Indians.” (The “tribe” once held a meeting in an Arby’s restaurant.) Among other things, the “tribe” issued arrest warrants for public officials and litigation opponents and used the address of a Utah doughnut shop as the address of its purported “Supreme Court.”

Richmond accused the judge presiding over the ASD case of dozens of felonies, saying she was guilty of “TREASON.” Moreover, Richmond claimed the judge’s supervising judge was conspiring with the judge to deny ASD members justice. For these claims (and more), Richmond was accorded the title of “hero” on the “Surf’s Up” forum, an ASD cheerleading site set up after the U.S. Secret Service raided ASD in August 2008. Among the Surf’s Up faithful was Terralynn Hoy, who later presided over at least one conference call for Zeek. (See this PP Blog Comments thread from June 2012. Props to GlimDropper of RealScam.com.)

Many highly peculiar narratives were advanced by ASD supporters. One of them held that the U.S. government took about $80 million seized in the ASD case and plowed it into a secret fund through which it almost immediately generated $1 billion in interest that the United States used to pay for black ops. Another held that all commerce is lawful as long as the parties agree that it is lawful, a position that would legalize slavery. Yet another held that the ASD judge was on the take and “brain dead” if she ruled against ASD. Still another held that undercover agents who joined ASD to get the lay of the land had a duty to inform ASD management.

On Surf’s Up, an ASD supporter claimed that a “militia” should storm Washington with guns. Another claimed a federal prosecutor should be placed in a medieval torture rack. Beyond that, a purported “prayer” was circulated that called for federal prosecutors to be struck dead.

Given that ASD operator Andy Bowdoin once described himself (from a stage in Las Vegas) as a Christian “money magnet” and later claimed that the Secret Service was “Satan” and compared the agency to the 9/11 terrorists who killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, it’s no surprise that it became next-to-impossible to keep track of all of the ASD conspiracy theories.

What is surprising is that any number of Zeekers seem willing to buy into the same sort of mind-numbing mind-set.

At The Dispatch site, apparent Zeek supporters are claiming that:
- the “SEC messed us all up.”
- the court-appointed receiver “should be on trial.”
- “someone paid these guys off with MINIMAL evidence!”
- “Gestapo/KGB/SS tactics” are being used against Zeek by people in the “Executive Branch.”
- the government is “not allowing anyone to [grow] economically.”
Friends, a 1.5-percent-a-day “program” pushed on well-known fraud forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup is a scam. Period. The SEC acted in the best interest of Zeek investors — and in the best interest of the people of the United States who are sick and tired of seeing their country used as a playground for HYIP scammers or worse. The security condition created by “programs” such as Zeek, Profitable Sunrise, JSSTripler/JustBeenPaid and others is untenable.

Kenneth D. Bell, the court-appointed receiver for Zeek, has been doing a commendable job amid extremely trying circumstances. (In terms of the number of victims, Zeek may be the largest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history.) Bell is a former federal prosecutor known for having once successfully prosecuted a Hezbollah terrorist cell operating in the United States. He was appointed by a federal judge who is a former Naval officer. Claiming Bell should be put on trial is pure idiocy. So is clinging to a belief that the government somehow has outlawed the growth of business in the United States.

No one got “paid off” to do anything against Zeek — and the evidence that Zeek had an insurmountable mountain of unfunded liabilities and was paying members with money from other members is overwhelming.

Claims about Gestapo, KGB and SS tactics also were made by ASD members. Dwight Owen Schweitzer, later of Zeek, sued the United States (with fellow ASD and Zeek member Todd Disner). Among other things, Schweitzer and Disner claimed they were “unaware of any remission payments having been made” through the government-sponsored restitution program — this despite the fact the government had returned tens of millions of dollars to ASD investors and had issued news releases repeatedly about the program.

For good measure, Schweitzer and Disner also claimed that undercover agents who joined ASD “should have reported their own violations of the ASD terms of service” to ASD management. The pair made this bizarre claim long after ASD lost in the District Court and in the U.S. Court of Appeals. Amazingly, the claim also was made after prosecutors pointed out that some ASD members were recruiting for ASD even though they knew it was a Ponzi scheme and that Andy Bowdoin’s silent partner in ASD was his sponsor in the 12DailyPro Ponzi scheme broken up by the SEC in February 2006 — months before ASD launched and years before Zeek launched.

So, if you’re inclined to call accused Ponzi schemer and Zeek operator Paul R. Burks a genius while ranting against the government, you are according that title to a man who appears to have learned nothing from the ASD and 12DailyPro (and Legisi and PhoenixSurf and CEP and Imperia Invest IBC) prosecutions. If you are unhappy that the government’s Zeek action froze money you were counting on — well, that’s understandable. At the same time, however, there is a good chance you don’t understand the context of your own unhappiness. Zeek and Burks are to blame, not the SEC and the receiver.

If you joined another Zeek-like “program” after the SEC action, the best that can be said is that you are slow to learn. The worst is that you are a budding “Ken Russo,” perhaps the most intransigent Ponzi-board scammer in the Western Hemisphere. Zeek member “Ken Russo” sells people into Ponzi misery for a fee.

Repeatedly.

What ASD and Zeek both appeared to be was a bid to dupe investors into believing that, if 12DailyPro’s return of 12 percent a day for 12 days for thousands of members was impossible, the “smaller” daily returns of ASD (1 percent) and Zeek (1.5 percent) for between 90 and 150 days for hundreds of thousands of members somehow were more plausible.

Read story and Comments thread in The Dispatch. While you’re doing so, remember that Zeek once auctioned sums of U.S. currency (while wrapping itself in the American flag) and told successful bidders they could pick up their cash via offshore payment processors that enable fraud schemes like JSSTripler/JustBeenPaid and its 2-percent-a-day “program” globally.
Jun 21, 2013
Raymond Leo Jarlik Bell, 70-Year-Old Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Linked To AdSurfDaily Figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming, Sentenced To More Than 8 Years In Federal Prison

Raymond Leo Jarlik Bell, a 70-year-old purported “sovereign citizen” linked to AdSurfDaily figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming, has been sentenced to 97 months in federal prison for a tax scam.

In July 2011, federal agents found records of bogus liens filed by Leaming against public officials while executing a search warrant at Jarlik Bell’s residence in Yelm, Wash., according to court records. Bell was under investigation for his tax scam at the time the records were found. Leaming, 57, later was charged with filing bogus liens, harboring federal fugitives from Arkansas in Washington state and being a felon in possession of firearms, including a “street sweeper” shotgun and an assault rife.

Leaming was sentenced in May to eight years in federal prison. David Carroll Stephenson, another Leaming associate and purported “sovereign citizen” from Washington state, was sentenced in May to 10 years for filing bogus liens against two U.S. prison officials. Stephenson, 57, already was serving time for a tax scam when those liens were filed.

Jarlik Bell’s scam centered on filing for false tax refunds “using a scheme known as OID fraud,” prosecutors said.

OID fraud may include claims that the U.S. government maintains secret accounts for citizens and that such accounts can be tapped to receive tax “refunds” in the tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time if paperwork is filed in a certain manner.

“No matter what the promoter calls it, a scheme to file bogus tax returns claiming outrageous tax ‘refunds’ that don’t belong to you, is just fraud,” said Kenneth J. Hines, special agent in charge of IRS Criminal Investigation in Seattle.

“This defendant held himself out as a tax expert with contacts at the IRS – when both the IRS and a federal judge told him repeatedly that his conduct was criminal,” said U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan of the Western District of Washington. “Mr. Jarlik Bell believed he was above the law, and aggressively promoted and spread his scheme to others looking to duck their fair share and steal tax dollars through fraudulent refunds.”

From a statement by prosecutors (italics added):

In 2006, BELL obtained a tax refund in excess of $30,000 using the scheme. Numerous others who were advised by JARLIK BELL also filed for and received fraudulent refunds they did not deserve. One woman received a tax refund of more than $590,000. In 2005, JARLIK BELL was ordered by U.S. District Judge Robert J. Bryan to stop promoting fraudulent tax schemes. Less than three years later, he was back promoting another massive tax fraud among friends, family and strangers.

Ute Christine Jarlik Bell, Jarlik Bell’s wife, also is a purported “sovereign citizen” and tax scammer, prosecutors said. She is scheduled to be sentenced tomorrow on four counts of filing false, fictitious and fraudulent claims.

Jarlik Bell was convicted in March 2013 of five counts of filing false, fictitious and fraudulent claims, 15 counts of assisting in filing false tax returns, three counts of mail fraud, and one count of criminal contempt, prosecutors said.

U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton described Jarlik Bell’s scheme as “fraud at its core,” prosecutors said.

“You are hurting people intentionally, regardless of your adherence to [your beliefs],” prosecutors quoted Leighton as saying.

Leaming filed bogus liens against a federal judge, federal prosecutors and a U.S. Secret Service agent involved in the prosecution of the the ASD Ponzi scheme. The Secret Service has described ASD as a “criminal enterprise” that gathered about $119 million by duping people into believing that ASD’s purported payout of 1 percent a day came from legitimate means. ASD operator Andy Bowdoin, 78, is serving a 78-month prison term.

When Leaming was arrested in November 2011, investigators discovered he’d been harboring two federal fugitives from Arkansas charged with mail fraud in a separate home-business scheme that allegedly had gathered millions of dollars.

Leaming, who previously had sued President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder on a theory that Obama was not born in the United States and was an unlawful President who’d appointed Holder unlawfully, went on to claim that Leighton owed him 208,000 ounces of silver.

The lawsuit against Obama and Holder was tossed out of court by a federal judge.

Jun 17, 2013
BBC HOST: ‘We Have An Idiot On The Program Today’ — And It’s Alex Jones

Andrew Neil yesterday made the universal “[batspit] crazy” gesture after trying to interview Alex Jones of InfoWars.
HYIP apologists dating back (at least) to the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme in 2008 ($119 million) have bizarrely sought to defend their favorite scams by steering discussions off the track. Why talk about the recidivist securities felon who presided over ASD (Andy Bowdoin), for instance, when the “real menace” is the Bilderberg Group?

And, hey, since the United States is a participatory Democracy, why not further cloud the issues by launching petition drives designed to derail the prosecutions of major Ponzi schemes (such as AdSurfDaily and Zeek Rewards) and even filing bogus liens for billions of dollars against judges, prosecutors and investigators?

If you encounter an HYIP Ponzi scheme these days that perhaps purports to pay interest of 2 percent a day or more, it’s a safe bet you’ll encounter one conspiracy theorist after another on well-known fraud-scheme forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup — especially if the evilGUBment brings a criminal or civil action against the purported “opportunity.”

It was against this delusional backdrop that conspiracy theorist Alex Jones appeared on the BBC’s “Sunday Politics” program hosted by Andrew Neil. The subject was the annual meeting of the Bilderberg Group, sometimes known simply as the Bilderbergers.

One of the best moments of the program occurred near the end of the Jones segment, when Neil made the universal “[batspit] crazy” gesture after Jones shared a FEMA concentration-camp conspiracy theory and screamed that “you will not stop freedom! You will not stop the republic! Humanity is awakening!”

Neil declared, “We have an idiot on the program today.”

Among the bizarre claims of the AdSurfDaily apologists was that all commerce is lawful as long as the parties to a “contract” agree that it is lawful, a position that would legalize Ponzi schemes — and slavery and human trafficking and narcotics trafficking, for that matter. The U.S. Secret Service took down ASD, and promptly was called “Satan” by ASD operator Andy Bowdoin, now serving a 78-month prison sentence for wire fraud for his 1-percent-a-day scheme.

The SEC took down Zeek Rewards in August 2012, amid allegations it was conducting a $600 million, international Ponzi- and pyramid scheme by duping people into believing they were receiving a legitimate return that averaged about 1.5 percent a day. A federal judge appointed a receiver, who quickly was described as a felon by a Zeek litigant. (The Zeek receiver is a former federal prosecutor who once successfully prosecuted a Hezbollah terrorist cell operating in the United States.)

Back in 2008 and 2009, some of the ASD apologists accused a federal judge appointed by President George W. Bush of committing dozens of felonies and conspiring with a chief judge to deny ASD members justice.

Why HYIP scammers seem to embrace the conspiracy theories of Jones long has been left to the imagination. One thing that is clear is that ASD and Zeek combined allegedly gathered $719 million. Some recent HYIP scams such as Legisi ($72 million) and JSSTripler/JustBeenPaid (unknown take) have required participants to avow they were not with the “government.” Legisi specifically named the CIA, FBI, SEC, “Her Majesty’s Police,” the Intelligence Services of Great Britain and the Serious Fraud Office, among others.

Late last month, the United States — working with other countries — took down a major payment processor for fraud schemes. Its name was “Liberty Reserve.”

Jun 10, 2013
ULTIMATE INSULT? ‘ProfitClicking,’ A ‘JSSTripler’/’JustBeenPaid’ Reload Scam That Surfaced After Collapse Of Zeek Rewards, Now Called ‘ProfitCrapping’ On Ponzi Boards

Frederick Mann

A “program” the PP Blog reported may have ties to the so-called “sovereign citizens” movement appears to have wiped out investors and perhaps zeroed out the purported earnings of many of them, according to posts at the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi-scheme forum.

In fact, according to one post, the “ProfitClicking” program perhaps now can be best described as “Profitcrapping.”

ProfitClicking listed Liberty Reserve as one of its payment processors. On Tuesday, federal prosecutors in New York described Liberty Reserve as a massive criminal enterprise involved in the laundering of more than $6 billion. The effect of the Liberty Reserve action on Profit Clicking was not immediately clear.

What is clear is that ProfitClicking was a fraud from the start. The “program” traces its roots to JSSTripler/JustBeenPaid, which promised a daily payout of 2 percent and purportedly was operated by Frederick Mann, a one-time pitchman for the collapsed, 1-percent-a-day AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme. ProfitClicking surfaced after Mann purportedly retired suddenly in the days after the SEC took down Zeek Rewards in August 2012, amid allegations it had operated a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid fraud that had duped investors into believing it provided a legitimate payout averaging about 1.5 percent a day.

Prior to the emergence of ProfitClicking, Mann speculated that his JSS/JBP “program” could come under attack by American cruise missiles. He also has described U.S. government employees as “part of a criminal gang of robbers, thieves, murderers, liars, imposters.”

Taking the time to ensure JSS/JBP was operating legally was a concession to slavery, Mann contended. Fellow AdSurfDaily figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming, a purported sovereign convicted in a plot to file false liens for billions of dollars against U.S. government employees, later contended that he was being held as a slave against his will.

But even as Mann was sliming the U.S. government and calling its employees slavemasters, one of his JSS/JBP pitchmen was operating a site known as Vatican Assassins that contended “Majority Savage Blacks were never taught to behave in civil White Protestant culture and thus have been released upon us Reformation Bible-believing Whites to further destroy our once White Protestant and Baptist American culture founded upon the Reformation’s AV1611 English Bible and a White Protestant Presbyterian Constitution with its attached White Baptist-Calvinist Bill of Rights.”

Some analysts have speculated that the name “Frederick Mann” (emphasis by PP Blog) is longhand code for “free man.” Purported “sovereign citizens” sometimes calls themselves “free men of the land.”

Among other things, both JSS/JBP and ProfitClicking made members affirm they were not with the “government.” Mann declined to say where his “program” was operating from, a development that drew comparisons to the infamous BCCI banking scheme of the 1990s. BCCI, shorthand for Bank of Credit and Commerce International, purportedly was designed to be “offshore everywhere,”

Liberty Reserve also has drawn such comparisons. (Link is to May 28 article in Vanity Fair.)

Mann fell out of the Ponzi spotlight for a brief time after his purported retirement from JSS/JBP as ProfitClicking was gaining a head of steam.

He soon was back, however — this time as a pitchmen for a “program” known as ClickPaid.

The ClickPaid Terms — like the Terms of JSS/JBP and ProfitClicking — made members affirm they are not with the “government.”

On May 29, the PP Blog reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Republic of the Philippines had issued a warning on the JSSTripler/JustBeenPaid and ProfitClicking scams. JSS/JBP also came under investigation in Italy.

A Ponzi-board program known as “Profitable Sunrise” also experienced the same fate in Italy.

The U.S. SEC has described Profitable Sunrise as a murky “program” that may have collected tens of millions of dollars through offshore bank accounts. Profitable Sunrise had five HYIP plans, including one bizarrely dubbed the “Long Haul,” which purported to pay 2.7 percent a day — more than Zeek, more than ASD, more than JSS/JBP, more than ProfitClicking, more than ClickPaid.

A website linked to Mann once linked to videos featuring Francis Schaeffer Cox, a purported “sovereign” and “militia” man implicated in a murder plot against public officials in Alaska.

May 31, 2013
BULLETIN: ‘PerfectMoney,’ Fraud-Scheme Processor Purportedly Based In Panama, Says It Is Banning U.S. Customers

BULLETIN: On the heels of the apparent shutdown of Costa Rica-based Liberty Reserve as part of an international money-laundering investigation, “PerfectMoney” says it is banning users from the United States. Perfect Money purportedly operates from Panama. (More below.)

In an announcement dated today on its website, Perfect Money says that “due to changes in our policy we forbid new registrations from individuals or companies based in the United States of America. This includes US citizens residing overseas. If you fall under the above mentioned category, please do not register an account with us.”

How PerfectMoney intends to treat existing U.S. users was not immediately clear, and the firm did not explain why it suddenly had changed its policy. The company is favored by criminals and HYIP scammers and has a history of advertising on behalf of purported Forex “opportunities” that have been the subjects of sweeping court actions in the United States.

In January 2013, the Superintendency of the Securities Market of the Republic of Panama (SMV) warned that Perfect Money “has not been granted any kind of license by the SMV, nor has been authorized to carry on activities of intermediation, administration, or advisory in securities, financial instruments or forex, in or from the Republic of Panama, within the scope of the Securities Law.

“PERFECT MONEY FINANCE CORP. does not have [its] own offices in Panama, the office and its P.O. Box claim in its website [deleted by PP Blog], belong to the companies Azuero Business Center, Inc. and Panama Net Buy, which provides online shopping services,” SMV said.

In 2011, the PP Blog reported that an individual referenced as a Perfect Money contact person is referenced in federal court filings that tie money from the alleged EMG/Finanzas Forex fraud scheme to an international narcotics probe that led to the seizure of at least 59 bank accounts in the United States and the companion seizure of 294 bars of gold and at least seven luxury vehicles.

PerfectMoney’s name also is referenced in case filings from the SEC’s 2010 fraud complaint against Imperia Invest IBC, a scam purportedly operating offshore. Deaf people lost millions of dollars to Imperia, the SEC said.

A quick check today by the PPBlog showed dozens of HYIP sites that claim to accept PerfectMoney. Many of the same sites also claimed to accept LibertyReserve. How the “programs” — all of which advertise preposterous returns — will contend with the absence of LibertyReserve and the new restrictions imposed by PerfectMoney was not immediately clear.

Liberty Reserve operator Arthur Budovsky Belanchuk is reported to be under arrest in Spain as part of a probe by authorities in Costa Rica and the United States.

Based on U.S. court files and certain extrapolations, murky HYIPs may be raking in billions of dollars. In August 2012, the SEC alleged that the Zeek Rewards “program” gathered at least $600 million. Legisi, another HYIP scam, gathered at least $72 million before its 2008 collapse. Pathway To Prosperity appears to have churned at least $70 million prior to its 2010 collapse. The 2008 AdSurfDaily scheme gathered at least $119 million, according to federal prosecutors.

Zeek and ASD — at least — did business with AlertPay and SolidTrustPay, processors based in Canada.

In April 2013, the SEC alleged that a murky “program” known as Profitable Sunrise may have gathered tens of millions of dollars. Profitable Sunrise is the subject of regulatory actions or Investor Alerts in at least five countries: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy and New Zealand.

Profitable Sunrise pitchmen may not even have known for whom they were working to glean commissions, the SEC alleged.

There may be hundreds or perhaps thousands of HYIP scams operating online at any given point in time. Some of them — like Profitable Sunrise — even advertise they accept bank wires. HYIP scams often have promoters in common, a situation that sets the stage for banks to come into possession of funds tainted by a revolving door of fraud schemes.

In recent weeks, the PP Blog has reported on a number of reload scams aimed at victims of the Profitable Sunrise scheme. Virtually all of the schemes accepted PerfectMoney, LibertyReserve or both. Some also advertised they accepted SolidTrustPay and EgoPay.

These schemes included BiwakoBank Limited, SuperWithdraw, Whos12, Fairy Funds, Roxili, OptiEarn, AVVGlobal, ProForexUnion, MajestiCrown and TelexFree.

May 25, 2013
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: AdSurfDaily Figure And Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Kenneth Wayne Leaming Sentenced To 8 Years In Federal Prison

Kenneth Wayne Leaming

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (UPDATED 10:55 P.M. EDT U.S.A.) AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison. His former business associate and fellow purported “sovereign” David Carroll Stephenson has been sentenced to 10 years.

Stephenson already was serving prison time for a tax scam.

“These defendants tried to mask their crimes with the cloak of free speech and beliefs,” said U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan of the Western District of Washington. “They thought they were immune from the law or the justice system, but now their frauds aimed at taxpayers and public servants need to come to an end. A lengthy prison term is the best way to protect the public from their schemes.”

Stephenson, Durkan’s office said, received a sentence longer than the recommended guidelines.

U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton said that Stephenson “cannot, will not live his life without doing harm to others,” prosecutors said. “He is the master manipulator, the puppeteer . . . He is in my mind a very dangerous man.”

Leaming, the judge said, flaunts authority and “harasses law abiding people who have an obligation to the people to serve,” according to prosecutors.

Leaming, like Stephenson, is 57. Although it never was clear whether Leaming was a member of the $119 million ASD Ponzi scheme broken up by the U.S. Secret Service in 2008, it became crystal clear that he was trying to derail the prosecution by filing bogus liens against public officials involved in the ASD case and had worked with Stephenson to file fraudulent liens against two U.S. prison officials.

Prosecutors had asked for Leaming to be sentenced to 10 years.

When the FBI executed search warrants at Leaming’s Spanaway home in November 2011, they found six firearms — this despite the fact Leaming was a convicted felon banned from possessing guns. Leaming previously has been convicted of piloting an aircraft without a license.

One of the weapons Leaming possessed was described by prosecutors as a “street sweeper” style shotgun. He also had an “assault rifle,” according to prosecutors.

Leaming also was found to be harboring two federal fugitives from Arkansas wanted in a home-business caper separate from ASD.

During his criminal trial, Leaming was channeling deceased cop-killer Christopher Dorner in a veiled bid to intimidate law enforcement, prosecutors said. Dorner is the former member of the Los Angeles Police Department who promised warfare against cops in February. The Dorner story stunned the nation.

Leaming, according to the FBI, also has a history that includes discussing a plot by which he’d serve U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts with a purported writ at a school attended by Roberts’ young children.

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

The men (Stephenson and Leaming) identify themselves as members of the ‘Sovereign Citizen’ movement. ‘Sovereign Citizens’ profess a belief that both state and federal government entities are illegitimate. Members of this group often engaged in so-called “freedom driving,” i.e., driving about without state-required licenses, either for their vehicles or themselves. When contacted by local law enforcement, members of the group often bombard local officials (from the officer, to local judges, to mayors and other members of local government) with frivolous liens, false claims, and sometimes threats of violence. Many members of this same group had previously come to the attention of federal law enforcement for engaging in various fraudulent tax schemes, wire fraud schemes, and (occasionally) inappropriate communications with various members of federal law enforcement and the judiciary.

In asking for a ten year sentence for both men, prosecutors wrote to the court that only a long prison term would protect the public. About STEPHENSON they wrote, “This is not the case of a defendant who continues to run afoul of the law because of a substance abuse addiction or a history of childhood abuse. Rather, this is a defendant who simply chooses to remain defiant, despite court after court telling him that he must stop, and despite multiple stints in prison. At this point, removal from society is the only way in which the public can be kept safe from the defendant’s crimes.”

As for LEAMING, prosecutors provided information to the court about his repeatedly holding himself out to victims as a lawyer who could solve their problems, when in fact his actions may have damaged their case. About the crimes from the March 2013 conviction prosecutors wrote: “Defendant’s possession of firearms is particularly disturbing in light of several facts. First is obviously his disdain for government. Second is his possession of various items of police equipment, including numerous badges, light bars, and a Crown Victoria sedan modified to appear to be a police vehicle. Last but not least is Defendant’s repeated invocation of the shooting of government officials in Southern California by a disgruntled former police officer – which again appeared to be a veiled threat to engage in violence himself if he is prevented from pursuing his “‘petitions for redress,’” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo.

May 24, 2013
BULLETIN: Prosecutors Say AdSurfDaily Figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming Was Channeling Cop-Killer Christopher Dorner In Veiled Bid To Intimidate Law Enforcement

Kenneth Wayne Leaming

BULLETIN: Federal prosecutors in the Western District of Washington have asked Judge Ronald B. Leighton to sentence AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming to 10 years in federal prison, the maximum term under the law.

Leaming, 57, of Spanaway, Wash., was found guilty March 1 on charges of filing false liens against public officials involved in the ASD case and against federal prison officials, harboring two federal fugitives from Arkansas in a home-business caper separate from ASD, and possessing firearms as a convicted felon.

In a chilling sentencing memo today, prosecutors said Leaming — during his criminal trial beginning the week of Feb. 25 — was channeling deceased cop-killer Christopher Dorner in the courtroom. Although the memo did not reference Dorner by name, it was clear prosecutors were talking about the former Los Angeles police officer who threatened “unconventional and asymmetrical” warfare against police and went on a killing spree earlier in February that targeted police officers and their family members.

Dorner’s rampage resulted in the deaths of two officers and the daughter of an officer, sparking other violent confrontations and what has been described as one of the largest manhunts in LAPD history. Dorner himself died violently on Feb. 12. Leaming’s trial began about two weeks later.

“During the trial, Leaming repeatedly made statements referring to the (then recent) incident in Southern California, where a former police officer had started hunting down and murdering government officials the former officer felt had wronged him,” prosecutors said today. “Leaming would generally say something to the effect that it was better that he engaged in ‘seeking redress’ from government officials by way of liens and other paperwork, as opposed to emulating the former officer and using violence.

“This formulation was repeated often enough that the government believes it was a thinly-veiled threat,” prosecutors continued. “Leaming, in essence, engaged in ‘paper terrorism’ against government officials. By these repeated statements, Leaming seemed to be saying that if he was not permitted to engage in that conduct, he may as well resort to violent acts of terror instead.”

And, prosecutors said today, Leaming has shown no remorse “for any of his actions, and fully intends to continue to pursue the same course of conduct . . .”

“[T]his is clear from the defense he presented at trial, and in his filings since trial,” prosecutors said.

As the PP Blog reported earlier this month, Leaming now says Leighton, the judge who presided over his trial, owes him 208,000 ounces of fine silver.

“Since his conviction, [Leaming] has continued to file numerous, typically incomprehensible and/or nonsensical filings in this and other courts,” prosecutors said in today’s sentencing memo. “These filings refer to various UCC instruments, typically claim the Court lacks jurisdiction over him based on a willful misunderstanding of the law, and claim that he is being held as a ‘slave.’ Leaming has attempted to sue at least one [Assistant U.S. Attorney] in the International Court of Justice, and filed numerous monetary claims (often claiming that he should be paid in silver) against [Bureau of Prisons] officials, agents, [Assistant U.S. Attorneys,] various judges, and the Ninth Circuit Clerk. He has also filed numerous pro se civil proceedings and appeals in the Circuit. Most recently, he filed complaints with the [Washington State Bar Association] against one of the [Assistant U.S. Attorneys], U.S. Attorney [Jenny A.] Durkan, and this Court.”

Durkan’s office prosecuted Leaming.

Leaming, according to court records, also unsuccessfully sought to sue President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder. Meanwhile, the Congressional Record strongly suggests that Leaming sought to make some sort of claim for purported damages against the United States.

Leaming also sought to claim spectacular sums from the United States in an unsuccessful lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

Prosecutors said today that Leaming “has exploited the ignorance of others for his personal gain for years, taking money from . . . people to ‘help’ them with their legal problems – but in reality he of course did no such thing.”

Leaming, they said, “has spent much of his adult life engaged in the unauthorized practice of law, in itself a felony offense under state law. In doing so, Defendant variously portrays himself as an expert in law enforcement and/or as some type of legal genius – a ‘lawyer’ but not an ‘attorney’ as he explained at some (rather bewildering) length during the trial. Both self-portrayals are complete and utter fictions.”

In 2010, Cornell University Law School, Justia.com and Oyez.org removed online profiles of Leaming after he advertised a fee structure of up to $250 an hour and encouraged prospects to “schedule a free introductory consultation.”

Investigators later identified Leaming as part of a “national” group of “sovereign citizens” operating in Washington state. At the time of his November 2011 arrest, Leaming was found with multiple firearms. Prosecutors said in October 2012 that he 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.”

Prosecutors noted today that Leaming possessed “various items of police equipment, including numerous badges, light bars, and a Crown Victoria sedan modified to appear to be a police vehicle.”

With respect to his ASD-related actions, prosecutors said this today:

“[Leaming] took money from the victims of a massive ponzi scheme prosecuted in Washington DC to ‘fix’ their problems. Of course, as the case agent testified, there was nothing to fix – the government recovered almost all of the lost money, and most victims were made whole. Defendant nonetheless took money from these hapless individuals, essentially to interfere with the ongoing prosecution.”

May 20, 2013
‘SOVEREIGN’ UPDATES: Devitoe Farmer Pleads Guilty In Tennessee ‘Quit Claims’ Caper; Kenneth Wayne Leaming Sends Bill To Federal Judge That Demands Payment In ‘Fine Silver’

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was updated at 9:37 a.m. EDT on May 13 and again on May 17 at 2:24 p.m. to reflect that Kenneth Wayne Leaming is demanding payment from a federal judge in ounces of silver, not dollars . . .

Devitoe Farmer, the purported Tennessee “sovereign citizen” indicted last year on charges of stealing government property in a “quit-claims” caper, has pleaded guilty to three counts of theft.

Meanwhile, Kenneth Wayne Leaming — the AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” in Washington state jailed after convictions for possessing firearms illegally and filing bogus claims against government officials involved in the prosecution of the ASD Ponzi scheme — now has sent a bill to the federal judge who presided over his criminal trial.

The bill demands payment of 208,000 ounces of “99.9% fine silver” from the judge.

First, the Farmer story . . .

“In the Mid-South, we have witnessed first-hand the potential threat posed by those claiming to be sovereign citizens,” said U.S. Attorney Edward L. Stanton III of the Western District of Tennessee.

Farmer, 46, apparently decided he wanted to own homes — and apparently came up with a paperwork confection in which he transferred three properties owned by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to himself.

From a statement by prosecutors (italics added):

According to an indictment filed on March 21, 2012, and facts of the case revealed during the plea hearing, Farmer took possession of three HUD-owned properties in the city of Memphis during February and April of 2011. His scheme was discovered when employees with a property management firm contracted by HUD to care for the properties discovered that Farmer had filed quit claim deeds to himself with the Shelby County Register of Deeds Office on the properties and placed tenants in them. HUD-contracted real estate agents also noticed that “for sale” signs had been removed from the properties and that locks had been changed.

One of the properties was rented to an individual, who supplied investigators with copies of the lease agreement made with Farmer. Another property was occupied by a relative of Farmer. When asked by Memphis Police Department officers for proof of his ownership of the properties, Farmer presented documents declaring that he was a sovereign citizen.

There have been some very strange events in the Memphis region, including the bizarre case of Tabitha Gentry. Gentry is accused of licensing herself to occupy an East Memphis mansion she did not own.

NewsOne.com has a report on Tabitha Gentry. The site reports that Gentry calls herself Abka Re Bey and claims to have taken over the mansion “in the name of Allah, the most high.”

Also see KSLA report on Gentry, a purported “Moorish American” who allegedly mouthed off to a judge after the eviction from the property and claimed lawyers are “Communists.”

KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana News Weather

Leaming Update

Leaming, 57, was found guilty in the Western District of Washington earlier this year of possessing firearms as a convicted felon and filing bogus liens for billions of dollars against public officials involved in the prosecution of the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme. One of the targets was a U.S. Secret Service agent.

Both before and after his conviction, Leaming filed blizzards of paperwork. Among his most recent filings is a claim that U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton owes him 208,000 ounces of fine silver. Leighton presided over Leaming’s criminal trial.

AdSurfSaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming now claims a federal judge owes him 208,000 ounces of fine silver. Source: Federal court files.

May 8, 2013