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Tag: BRING THE BACON HOME

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Achieve Community’s Kristi Johnson Charged Criminally

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 owed victim-investors at least $51 million in purported investment returns, yet Johnson, her conspirators and TAC had available only 4% or approximately $2.6 million,” the office of Acting U.S. Attorney Jill Westmoreland Rose of the Western District of North Carolina said.

The SEC charged Johnson, 60, civilly in February 2015 with operating a combined Ponzi- and pyramid scheme that allegedly had gathered at least $3.8 million. She resided in Aurora, Colo., the agency said. The securities regulator also charged Troy A. Barnes, 52, of Riverview, Mich.

Barnes disclosed in February that he was a target of a federal criminal investigation. A charge sheet (known as an “information”) filed by prosecutors yesterday against Johnson described an alleged co-conspirator as “CC#1.” The information also suggested there were other co-conspirators “known and unknown to the United States Attorney.”

These individuals were not named.

The conspiracy prosecution brought by the Secret Service and federal prosecutors appears to have upped the Ponzi dollar sum to $6.8 million. Prosecutors said Achieve “defrauded more than 10,000 investor victims” worldwide.

Prosecutors called Achieve a “sham internet company.” The case against Johnson was brought in the venue — the Western District of North Carolina — that is the center of action in the 2012 Zeek Rewards’ Ponzi- and pyramid scheme.

Achieve and Zeek are known to have had promoters in common. Both schemes instructed prospects and recruits not to call the respective programs “investment” programs in bids to skirt securities laws. Such disingenuousness dates back to at least 2008 and the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme, also broken up by the Secret Service.

Here’s how prosecutors described the alleged verbal gymnastics of Achieve and its bids to dupe investors, payment processors and law enforcement (italics/bolding added):

According to court filings, as the scheme grew in size and scope, Johnson and her conspirators concealed the true nature of the scheme through multiple misrepresentations. According to court records, when the conspirators became concerned that the use of the term “investment” would draw scrutiny from regulators, they instructed victim-investors that “We ARE NOT an INVESTMENT program, please don’t use that term when you speak or post about our re-purchase strategy.”

According to court records, Johnson and her conspirators also lied about the company’s “business model” to the third-party payment processors which processed TAC’s money transactions. When one payment processor concluded that TAC was operating a Ponzi scheme and terminated TAC as a client, court records show that Johnson and her conspirators falsely told victim investors that it was because the payment processor was unable to handle the large amount of money TAC paid to its investors.

As indicated in court documents, the investment scheme began to crumble when payment processors stopped processing the Ponzi payments to victim-investors. By the time the scheme collapsed in February 2015, the conspirators owed victim-investors at least $51 million in purported investment returns, yet Johnson, her conspirators and TAC had available only 4% or approximately $2.6 million.

Prosecutors said “a signed plea agreement was also filed [Thursday], and Johnson is expected to appear before a U.S. Magistrate judge in the coming days to formally accept the plea. The wire fraud charge carries a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. As part of her plea agreement, Johnson has agreed to pay restitution, the amount of which will be determined by the Court.”

In January 2015, Achieve promoter Rodney Blackburn produced an ad that featured nearly six minutes of continuous footage from the website of the SEC. The ad suggested the SEC did not have jurisdiction over “programs” such as Achieve and “Unison Wealth.” At the time, the SEC declined to comment on the Blackburn promo.

Blackburn promoted several recent Ponzi-board scams that tanked. Included among them were “Daily-Earnings,” plus “Moore Fund” and “Trinity Lines” and “Rockfeller Asset Management Limited” and “Bring The Bacon Home” and “Automatic Mobile Cash.”

Zeek receiver Kenneth D. Bell has raised the issue of MLMers proceeding from one fraud scheme to another.

In December 2014, the PP Blog reported that Achieve boosters were parroting each other and circulating a promo that read, “We are not investing in a stock or buying shares in a company. We are using our God given universal right to spend our money the way we want. We choose not to sell out to the banking system for their tiny little 1% annual return.”

Prosecutors described Achieve’s purported 700 percent return as “bogus.” The SEC described Achieve as a “pure Ponzi and pyramid scheme” whose revenue “has consisted entirely of investor-contributed funds.”

Claims of that a “triple algorithm” made such outsized returns possible also were bogus, authorities said.

From an Achieve promo playing on YouTube. Masking by PP Blog.

Achieve offered a 700 percent ROI, according to the SEC and federal prosecutors.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

Jun 19, 2015
COLORADO: ‘Achieve Community’ Subject Of ‘Order To Show Cause’

UPDATED 6:17 A.M. EDT APRIL 21 U.S.A. The Colorado Division of Securities has directed an “Order to Show Cause” to “Achieve Community,” alleged in February 2015 by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to be a combined Ponzi- and pyramid scheme that gathered at least $3.8 million.

Colorado’s order cites a “Division Case No.” of “XY 15-CD-08.” This may mean the Division has filed a crease-and-desist order against Achieve. Details were not immediately clear, but a hearing was scheduled for April 17.

“We do expect to issue orders in Achieve community this week,” said Lillian Alves, Colorado’s Deputy Securities Commissioner.

And, she noted, “We plan on doing a statement later this week.”

Based on information on Colorado’s website, the Show Cause order applies to “The Achieve Community; Achieve International, LLC; Work with Troy Barnes, Inc.; Kristine Johnson ( Also known as Kristi Johnson).”

Johnson, of Colorado, and Barnes, of Michigan, were the alleged operators of Achieve Community.

Achieve was known to be under investigation by the Division, Colorado’s state-level securities regulator. On Feb. 18, the Division said that “[t]he factual basis of our investigation parallels that of the SEC case.”

The SEC complaint described Achieve Community as a “pure Ponzi and pyramid scheme” whose revenue “has consisted entirely of investor-contributed funds.”

Achieve International, an entity named a relief defendant in the SEC’s case, has been tied by the SEC to Johnson. At noted above, Achieve International likewise is cited in Colorado’s state-level proceeding.

The action at the state level shows that scams using an MLM or network-marketing business model also may face local trouble — in addition to the trouble they encounter through actions filed by federal agencies such as the SEC.

Some Achieve Community promoters pushed multiple HYIP schemes simultaneously. Some of them, including “Bring The Bacon Home” and “Trinity Lines,” appear already to have gone belly-up. RockFeller.biz, also pushed by some Achieve Community hucksters, may be experiencing payout delays, a source told the PP Blog last week.

Payout delays typically are a sign of doom in the HYIP sphere.

Americans and other peoples of the world who push HYIP schemes may be helping criminal networks gain size — and therefore the ability to steal larger and larger sums of money.

Some Americans are known to have pushed “UFunClub,” a scheme now under investigation in Thailand. Arrests have been made overseas in the UFunClub case, and the dollar volume involved may be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The PP Blog reported yesterday that a veiled reference to UFunClub was made last week in a conference call for a “program” known as “SVM Global Initiative.” This may suggest the two cross-border “programs” have promoters in common.

Some of the language on the SVM call was reminiscent of language used by “sovereign citizens,” groups of individuals that — though perhaps loosely connected — may push scams and engage in antigovernment extremism.

Apr 20, 2015
‘Bacon’ Crumbles — And Yet Props Up MAPS

EDITOR’S NOTE: The interconnectivity of fraud schemes is one of the core dangers of the HYIP sphere. Stolen proceeds continually cycle between and among scams, making banks and payment vendors virtual warehouses for cross-border criminals and their serial enablers. The problem may be intensifying. More and more HYIP schemes appear to be using script kits — essentially prefabricated websites — in which emerging schemes simply plug in their information and graphics. These kits allow schemes to show ads for other schemes, including competitive schemes.

Simply put, modern scams are driving business to other modern scams.

As the story below illustrates, the cycle may not be broken even if a particular scheme suspends payouts.

**____________________**

“Bring The Bacon Home,” a Ponzi-board “program” popularized in part by Achieve Community hucksters, reportedly has crumbled.

The circumstance surrounding the collapse, however, demonstrates that BTBH is contributing to ongoing harm. Indeed, the “program” continues to publish ads for other HYIP schemes, including “MyAdvertisingPays.”

MAPS, as it is known, is referenced in a prospective class-action complaint filed against multiple TelexFree figures and financial vendors in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in December 2014.

TelexFree was alleged by the SEC last year to have been a combined pyramid and Ponzi scheme. The trustee in the TelexFree bankruptcy case says the cross-border “program” may have gathered as much as $1.8 billion.

TelexFree and MAPS are known to have had promoters in common. It was learned last month that Shaun Smith, an alleged “winner” in the Zeek Rewards scheme broken up by the SEC in 2012, also is promoting MAPS.

Zeek receiver Kenneth D. Bell is suing Smith and more than 9,000 other alleged “winners,” amid claims they are in possession of proceeds that flowed from a Ponzi scheme.

Despite the reported collapse of BTBH, it continues not only to publish ads for MAPS, but other schemes.

BTBH, which had claimed $40 turned into $1,800, encountered a failed launch in January. The “program” then embarked on a self-styled “relaunch,” but that, too, appears now to have failed — leaving investors holding the bag.

Before Achieve Community collapsed under the weight of an SEC investigation announced in February in which the agency alleged Achieve was a combined Ponzi- and pyramid scheme that had gathered $3.8 million, any number of Achieve promoters also were promoting other cross-border scams.

Another of the scams currently advertised on BTBH is “MooreFund,” as the screen shot below demonstrates. MooreFund also was promoted by Achieve members.

As the PP Blog reported on Feb. 24 (italics added):

Like Achieve, MooreFund has a presence on well-known Ponzi-scheme forums such as MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold. The “program” purports to offer four investment plans. These promise absurd daily interest rates of between 1.5 percent and 3 percent, with “compounding” available on three of the four plans and tiered recruitment commissions offered on all four.

MooreFund, in turn, was promoted online alongside a “binary options” scheme known as SpotFN that recently became the subject of a cease-and-desist order in Missouri.

See April 12 report on BTBH at BehindMLM.com.

Apr 12, 2015
UPDATE: ‘Automatic Mobile Cash’ Tanks

“Automatic Mobile Cash,” pushed on YouTube by “Achieve Community” hucksters Rodney Blackburn and Mike Chitty, has tanked, according to chatter on the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum.

MMG poster “im the man,” citing information from SolidTrustPay, claimed yesterday that SolidTrustPay had blocked AMC’s ability “to accept deposits or make withdraws.” Other information in the 16-page, 226-post MMG thread suggests AMC was making selective payouts through SolidTrustPay and Payza at the beginning of March.

Blackburn and Chitty were representatives of something called the “Legendary Income Solutions Team” or LIST, often mixing promos for Achieve Community with appeals for viewers to get on board the LIST train and enroll in various HYIP schemes. YouTube appears to have banned Chitty. Blackburn deleted a number of his pitches for HYIP fraud schemes, and now is suggesting he’s returned to his roots in traditional MLM.

The PP Blog reported last week that Blackburn was touting a “tea” known as “laso,” amid claims it “mitigates” HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

On Feb. 18, the SEC described Achieve Community as a pyramid- and Ponzi scheme that had gathered more than $3.8 million. A federal judge granted an asset freeze. Criminal investigations into Achieve Community reportedly also are under way.

Chitty claimed AMC paid a “dividend.” Blackburn claimed his good friend Chitty was making “3,000 a month” from AMC.

“That’s some ridiculous money,” he said.

In addition, Blackburn published various “earnings” extrapolations for AMC. One claimed that the purchase of 100 “packages” for $2,500 from AMC turned into $73,000 in a year.

In January, Blackburn dared the SEC to investigate Achieve Community and other programs he was pushing. Whether he’ll dare the Federal Trade Commission or the Food and Drug Administration to investigate the laso health claims was not immediately clear.

The laso tea is one of the offerings of an MLM “program” known as “Total Life Changes.”

After Blackburn’s SEC dare, a “program” known as “TrinityLines” that traded on the name of God and allusions to Scripture went missing.

Blackburn also was promoting “MooreFund,” an obvious fraud purportedly operating from the United Kingdom. He also threw in with “Rockfeller,” an obvious fraud trading on the name of the famous Rockefeller family.

“BRING THE BACON HOME” and “Unison Wealth” also were in the stable. The “bacon” program now has carded at least its second failed launch, and reportedly has a plan to launch again tomorrow. Unison Wealth, meanwhile, appears to have developed problems.

Mar 10, 2015
In Wake Of Asset-Seizure Claim, Videos By ‘Achieve Community’ Huckster Rodney Blackburn Go Missing From You Tube
With “Achieve Community” members posting on Facebook over the long President’s Day weekend claims attributed to co-founder Troy Barnes that he was under criminal investigation and assets had been seized, something seemed a bit odd on YouTube: Search results appeared to demote Rodney Blackburn in listings when the term “Achieve Community” was entered into the form.

Mass deletions by Blackburn (see below) of Achieve-related content almost certainly explain the apparent SEO erosion. Blackburn, though, hasn’t completely run away from Achieve. A couple of the huckster’s productions remain, including one dated Saturday in which he throws Achieve’s Kristi Johnson under the bus.

It is titled, “Achieve Is Done But We are Not!” The length is 6:24. In the video, Blackburn claims to be “really in shock right now on how everything has played out.”

He further claims he had a falling out with Johnson in the recent past. “I didn’t want to bring that information out because I wanted Achieve to work just as much as each and every one of you,” he said.

This falling out, Blackburn suggests, happened within four days of a Dec. 10 conference call Blackburn co-hosted with Mike Chitty. Johnson, the purported business partner of Barnes in Achieve, was a guest on the call. (Someone who goes by “washable jones” and appears not to be keen on HYIP hucksters posted a recording of the call on YouTube.)

Blackburn and Chitty are Achieve members associated with a sponsor’s group known as the Legendary Income Solutions Team (LIST). On the Dec. 10 call, Blackburn claimed LIST had “over 2,000 people within our marketing team that is supporting Achieve. So, that’s just our little part of the 13,000 people who are in Achieve.”

If “supporting” means “joining,” this means that LIST members alone had plowed at least $100,000 into Achieve and that they constituted 15 percent of Achieve’s membership, something that would have provided Blackburn and Chitty plenty of incentive to keep insisting prosperity for the masses was right around the corner if members would simply not abandon ship when payouts stopped in early November.

It’s not that they stood to gain commissions through Achieve, which claims everybody was on the same team for the common good and promoted a common affiliate link. In Blackburn’s case, what he stood to gain was a payout on the claimed 221 Achieve positions he held. These positions weren’t going to pay if new people did not register and if both existing and new members didn’t keep reinvesting “earnings.”

Blackburn’s expected payout, according to one of his videos, was ballparked at $90,000. And he’d already cashed out $16,000, he said. Registrations for LIST were a second benefit. From there, the LIST “leaders” could plow the marks into other Ponzi-board scams, some of which do pay commissions on top of preposterous interest payments.

The minimum buy-in at Achieve was $50. Much higher buy-ins were possible, with some Achieve members likely spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars and expecting a minimum return of 800 percent, more through the Achieve-endorsed process of plowing “earnings” back into the scheme.

Johnson was a guest on the Dec. 10 call co-hosted by Achieve/LIST members Blackburn and Chitty.

Johnson ostensibly went on the show to lead cheers for Achieve in the aftermath of the payout suspension in November. In that strange network-marketing way, Johnson’s guest spot also gave Blackburn a chance to shine. Rodney, unlike other Achievers, could summon the master and, in some ways, use her to dial down the pressure he might have felt if LIST was responsible for bringing 2,000 people into the “program.”

Most disturbing about the call was the revelation that an elderly woman with an 86-year-old husband who was ill had joined Achieve. She was described by Chitty as “exactly the type of person that the Achieve Community is built around and for . . .”

Blackburn also implied during the call that he was an Achieve insider, telling listeners that Johnson told him things they didn’t get to hear. He also suggested that LIST sponsorship group could do a better job performing customer service than Achieve itself.

These things could not have been music to the ears of Johnson.

It’s now clear that several Achieve promos by Blackburn have gone missing from YouTube, including one in which he recorded six minutes of footage from the website of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission while planting the seed the agency had no jurisdiction over “programs” such as Achieve

On this President’s Day it is unclear if the SEC is investigating Achieve. The agency last month declined to comment on Blackburn’s video. Achieve is reported to be under investigation by state authorities in Colorado and Michigan.

Blackburn’s now-missing SEC challenge was titled, “Network Marketing & MLM Programs Are Getting Better!!!” It returns the message shown below.

Also missing is a video posted in mid-December in which Blackburn appeared to apologize to Achieve Community members for not being supportive enough of Johnson and Achieve “admins” on a Facebook site who were clashing with or deleting individuals who raised concerns about Achieve. It was titled, “Rodney Apology Achieve Community.”

All of these Achieve-themed videos by Blackburn appear to have been removed.
- Achieve Community Update 1 10 2015 By The LIST Marketing Team
- Network Marketing & MLM Programs Are Getting Better!!!
- Achieve Community Update 1/ 4 /2015
- LIST – Achieve Community Update and More!!!
- Rodney Apology Achieve Community
- Achieve Community Update 12-5-14 2014
- Achieve Community Update 12-2-14 Part 2
- Achieve Community Update 12-2-2014 Relaunch is Here! No be patient…
- Achieve Community Update 12 1 14 2014
- Achieve Community Update 11 21 2014
- Achieve Community Relaunch is Coming
- Achieve Update 11-12-2014
- Achieve Community – Believe…
- Achieve Community Are You Ready?
- Achieve Community Update 10 22 2014
- Achieve Community What’s Possible? Paid out $138,000 this week!
- Achieve Community Update- $102,000 Paid Out This Week!!!
- Achieve Community~ Chuck made Money! $8,000!!!
- Achieve Community Come Experience Achieve
- Achieve Community- How to Repurchase Positions and Why…
- The Achieve Community- How Does It Work?
Meanwhile, there have been deletions of certain LIST content and content from other “programs” pushed by Blackburn, including Unison Wealth. Blackburn pitches for Ponzi-board programs such as “Rockfeller,” “Automatic Mobile Cash,” “Bring The Bacon Home” and “Trinity Lines” remain.
Feb 16, 2015
‘Achieve Community’ Huckster Rodney Blackburn In New Ponzi-Board HYIP Scam: Rockfeller Asset Management Limited

“Achieve Community” figure Rodney Blackburn now is promoting Rockfeller.biz, a “program” that purports to pay up to 5 percent a day. The pitch implies a tie to the Rockefeller family. The PP Blog this evening sought comment from former U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller through the Council on Foreign Relations. The Blog is waiting to hear back.

UPDATED 9:54 P.M. ET U.S.A. It’s called “Rockfeller.” Like the massive TelexFree scam in Massachusetts, it is using the address of a Regus office center — only this time the facility is in London.

A Ponzi-board scheme similar to Rockfeller — Profitable Sunrise — may have swindled tens of millions of dollars before disappearing two years ago. While Profitable Sunrise claimed a daily payout of up to 2.7 percent. Rockfeller says it pays up to 5 percent daily.

Note that the scheme’s name is very similar to the name of Rockefeller, the famous American family of financiers and politicians. Scams routinely trade on the names of famous entities or people, sometimes using slight variations of the names.

Speaking in hushed tones in a 9:33 YouTube pitch for Rockfeller today, Rodney Blackburn suggests the “program” is operated by the Rockefeller family.

“Guys, this is a very top-notch, high-quality company,” Blackburn says in a video titled “Rockfeller Asset Management Limited – Review Earn Daily!!!”

“No, I have not talked to the owners of this company. I’m assuming that they’re not going to let me talk to the Rockefellers,” Blackburn says.

The PP Blog this evening sought comment from Sen. Jay Rockefeller through the Council on Foreign Relations. Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, is the former chairman of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He retired last month from the Senate and joined the Council on Foreign Relations as a distinguished fellow.

One of his interests is cybersecurity.

The PP Blog is waiting to hear back on its request for comment on the Rockfeller “program.”

Blackburn is promoting multiple schemes with a presence on well-known Ponzi-scheme forums such as MoneyMakerGroup. These include “Achieve Community,” currently the subject of an investigation by the Colorado Division of Securities.

Other “programs” promoted by Blackburn include “BRING THE BACON HOME,” purportedly operating through “Sherilyn” of “Singapore,” and “Trinity Lines,” which is trading on the name of God.

Blackburn also is promoting “Unison Wealth” and other schemes.

Feb 9, 2015
UPDATE: ‘Bacon’ Program Pushed By ‘Achieve Community’ Hucksters Reportedly Put On Hold By ‘Admin’; Second Program May Be DOA After Purported Payza Freeze
“BRING THE BACON HOME” purportedly is operated by an “admin” who is a “young trustworthy girl from Singapore,” according to a Ponzi-board post. If this graphic is to believed, the “program” will produce a happy marriage and bring you children — along with a palm-tree-lined oceanfront mansion near a convenient airport, a big car, lots of U.S. cash and delicious, oversized fruit.

UPDATED 6:20 A.M. ET U.S.A. “BRING THE BACON HOME,” a bizarre Ponzi-board “program” purportedly operated by “Sherilyn” from “Singapore” and pushed on YouTube by Achieve Community hucksters Rodney Blackburn and Mike Chitty, reportedly collapsed during a so-called Beta launch this week and has been put on hold.

The “program” purportedly turns $40 into $1,800. Achieve Community purportedly turns $50 into $400, although it has been dogged by problems for more than two months and now is the subject of an investigation by the Colorado Division of Securities.

“BRING THE BACON HOME” appears to have enabled subscription purchases, but the early haul before the failed Beta is unclear. “Sherilyn” is quoted on the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum in a post dated Jan. 26 as saying, “Just buy the subs and let us do the ‘magic’ for now.”

“My Beta Bacon got Burnt,” one Ponzi-board wag ventured.

Separately, a “program” known as Cycles 24/7 that was advertised on the Achieve Community private forum last month may be dead. Cycles 24/7 initially collapsed at launch, but rebirthed itself — at least long enough to grab some cash.

Cycles 24/7 purportedly is operated by “Rick Fleming.” Like Achieve, Cycles 24/7 purported to turn $50 into $400.

On Jan. 24, a poster on MoneyMakerGroup claimed this about Cycles 24/7: “I have 45$ in payza balance, but admin say that his payza money Frozen, how i can withraw [sic] to egopay?”

The MoneyMakerGroup claim about Payza freezing Cycles 24/7 funds followed by two days a claim on the Blog at EgoPay.com that EgoPay had been hacked and that a “gap” in cash reserves existed.

Cycles 24/7 and “BRING THE BACON HOME” both listed EgoPay and Payza among their processors. Like Achieve Community, Cycles 24/7 is serving ads for other HYIPs.

One ad for “BRING THE BACON HOME” observed today by the PP Blog on the Cycles 24/7 site referenced “Unison Wealth,” yet another Ponzi-board “program” pushed by Achieve Community members.

The ad was titled “Bring Home The Bacon.” A text line read, “Did you miss Unison Wealth on the 1st day?” When clicked, the ad led to the “BRING THE BACON HOME” site.

Unison Wealth also is beaming ads for other HYIP schemes.

It is not unusual for one HYIP venture to try to prop up another through advertising or even to invest in other scams. Beginning in 2005, for instance, the CEP scam allegedly plowed money into at least 26 other schemes.

In 2012, after the collapse of the $897 million Zeek Rewards “program,” a venture known as Wealth Creation Alliance published ads for one HYIP scheme after another. The schemes typically are Ponzi schemes or pyramid schemes — or sometimes both. They engage in securities fraud and the sale of unregistered securities across national borders.

People who openly profess Christian beliefs or faith in God often are at once the marks and the purveyors of such schemes. AdSurfDaily Ponzi schemer Andy Bowdoin, an apparent advocate of The Prosperity Gospel who encouraged his MLM flock to envision money “flowing” to them, once declared himself a Christian “money magnet.”

Federal prosecutors tied Bowdoin to at least four fraud schemes, including at least two that surfaced after the collapse of ASD in 2008. He is now in federal prison.

One of Bowdoin’s schemes was called “One X.” “I believe that God has brought us OneX to provide the necessary funds to win this case,” Bowdoin claimed in 2011.

The “this case” to which he referred was the ASD Ponzi prosecution. Bowdoin lost on all fronts, eventually pleading guilty to wire fraud.

Bowdoin also was associated with a scam known as AdViewGlobal that once threatened to litigate against its own members for asking questions. AVG, as it was known, also created a private forum after its public scam outreach started to create problems.

Achieve Community recently has added a private forum.

Another current Ponzi-board HYIP scheme pushed by one or more Achieve Community promoters is called “Trinity Lines.” Among other things, Trinity Lines claims to be the purveyor of “high quality scriptural vignettes.” It also claims:
- “Although this opportunity is geared for those who appreciate the Scriptures, we welcome anybody to join our community.”
- “We at Trinity Lines do believe in God and believe in the power of ‘His Word’.
Though not writing about any specific MLM HYIP schemes, the associate pastor of an evangelical church in Massachusetts this week called “The Prosperity Gospel” a “pyramid scheme” and “a form of oppression.”

The column is titled, “Why the Prosperity Gospel Is the Worst Pyramid Scheme Ever.”

From the column by Nicholas McDonald at The Gospel Coalition (italics added):

Step One: A snazzy entrepreneur wants to make a lot of money. Said snazzy entrepreneur tells two little old ladies that if they sell his “Wow-What-A-Sham 3000,” they can make some dough to pay off their cat-sitting bills. That will cost them a startup investment of $401.76. And yes, Wow-What-A-Sham 3000 is a gimmick. But that’s okay, it’s not really about selling the product anyway; it’s about recruiting more salespeople.

McDonald is associate pastor at Carlisle Congregational Church, according to his bio line in the column.
Jan 29, 2015