Felmina Alliance, another in a long line of HYIP “programs” pushed on the Ponzi boards by serial huckster “Ken Russo,” appears to be DOA. “Ken Russo” also is known as “DRdave.” His record in promoting scams, pooh-poohing or ignoring regulatory actions and engaging in willful blindness may be unparalleled.
Regulators in the United States and Canada issued an Investor Alert against Felmina Alliance earlier this year.
The server for Felmina Alliance now has been throwing an error message for days. Other recent “Russo” disasters include NewGNI, an apparent knockoff scam of an earlier scam known simply as GNI (Gold Nugget Invest), Zeek Rewards and Profitable Sunrise. On the TalkGold Ponzi forum as “DRdave,” “Ken Russo” was promoting Zeek and NewGNI simultaneously.
NewGNI appears to have collapsed in February.
Previous “Ken Russo” scams include AdSurfDaily, a $119 million Ponzi scheme; Club Asteria, a venture that traded on the name of the World Bank and listed a serial-cash gifter and former ASD Ponzi promoter as one of its managers; and MPB Today, a “program” that claimed a one-time purchase of $200 in groceries could lead to free food and gasoline for life.
MPB Today operator Gary Calhoun is awaiting sentencing in Florida on a racketeering charge. ASD operator Andy Bowdoin is serving a federal prison sentence for wire fraud after being sued for racketeering by some of his own members. Club Asteria, which falsely planted the seeds it was endorsed by actor Will Smith and the American Red Cross, suspended interest payments long ago. Club Asteria also traded on the name of slain human-rights champion Mahatma Gandhi.
Club Asteria misspelled Gandhi’s name in promos.
“Ken Russo” dubbed Zeek an “AMAZING PROGRAM” in May 2012. Three months later the SEC dubbed it a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid fraud. The original GNI collapsed in 2010 into a sea of incongruity, amid reports the operators were seeking a “crystal clear vision of our financial vortex.”
In April 2013, the SEC said ProfitableSunrise was conducting an international fraud scheme and may have gathered tens of millions of dollars through a mail drop and a series of offshore accounts.
Records strongly suggest that Felmina Alliance was using an address of 50 Street, Global Plaza Tower, 19th Floor, Suite H, Panama City, Panama. That address also shows up in court filings by the SEC in the Profitable Sunrise action.
The website of “NewGNI” has not resolved to a server for days. The “program” is believed to have been a knockoff of a predecessor scam known as “GNI” or GoldNuggetInvest, which collapsed in early 2010 after being promoted by members of the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme.
The collapse of the original GNI was about as bizarre as they come in HYIP land. Critics were told to concentrate on earthquake relief in Haiti, rather than questioning the HYIP scheme. GNI’s collapse purportedly occurred after its operators sought “a crystal clear vision of our financial vortex.“
Among the pitchmen for both GNI and NewGNI was Ponzi-board legend “Ken Russo,” also known as “DRdave.” Earlier, “Ken Russo” had promoted the $119 million ASD scheme. He later turned to ClubAsteria, which was trading on the name of the World Bank to reel in suckers. ClubAsteria promos came under the lens of CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator. “Ken Russo” also emerged as a pitchman for Zeek Rewards, which the SEC described in August 2012 as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme operating from North Carolina.
Among “Ken Russo’s” latest ventures is “Profitable Sunrise,” now the subject of a cease-and-desist order from North Carolina regulators.
Profitable Sunrise purportedly is operated by Roman Novak. The “program” is being targeted at people of faith, some of whom appear to be defending it by weaving impossible tales. Any number of Ponzi-board taunts have been aimed at the Securities Division of North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, even as ProfitableSunrise advertises a risk-free, preposterous return of 2.7 percent a day in its bizarrely named “Long Haul” program with a purported Easter holiday payoff.
“lol @ NC officials,” says one post at MoneyMakerGroup. Another compares Marshall’s office to “Deputy Barney Fife,” an iconic TV character played by Don Knotts in the Andy Griffith Show.
Even after the government of Belize issued a warning against GNI in 2009, scammers continued to promote it — virtually to the very day it collapsed and took an unspecified sum with it. The collapse triggered a bizarre series of conspiracy theories.
GNI was operating concurrently with a now-collapsed scam bizarrely known as “Cash Tanker,” an “opportunity” aimed at Christians. Cash Tanker used an image of Jesus Christ in its promos and purported to pay 2 percent a day.
From YouTube sales pitch for BidsThatGive by Randy Jeffers. (Children's faces masked by PP Blog.)
EDITOR’S NOTE: It is true that far too many of the world’s children live in poverty. It also is true that children may become the objects of criminals who engage in human trafficking and that children are exploited in the sex trades. It is equally true that legitimate charities exist to combat these horrific situations and that one MLM “program” after another has tried in recent times to tug at the human heart and “marry” their “programs” to a purported cause. If you desire to improve the human condition for the masses of children, it likely is best to donate directly to a legitimate charitable organization, rather than joining a get-rich-quick scheme that says it is doing good work behind the scenes.
** __________________________________________ **
UPDATED 6:57 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) WARNING: The following development in MLM La-La Land may be harmful to your gag reflex.
Zeek Rewards, the U.S.-based MLM “program” that wraps itself in the American flag, collects sums of up to $10,000 from participants, plants the seed affiliates can earn a return of between 1 percent and 2 percent a day while insisting it is offering neither securities nor an investment program, has a payout scheme similar to the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme and securities swindle, is married to a penny-auction site known as Zeekler that has told successful bidders for sums of U.S. cash that they can receive their money via offshore payment processors and preemptively denies it is a pyramid scheme, has some emerging, U.S.-based competition.
The name of the “program” is “BidsThatGive” — and it unabashedly tugs at heartstrings while at once asking prospects to imagine themselves behind the wheel of a grand automobile and feeling good because they also could become a “Contributor” for $10 a month, a “Guardian” for $50 a month, a “Benefactor” for $100 a month” or a Global Ambassador” for $250 a month and pile up mountains of cash while they’re displaying a social conscience.
Two of the core aims of the “program,” according to a nine-minute video promo running on YouTube, are to help impoverished children and children who’d been exploited and became “sex slave[s].” The prelaunch of BidsThatGive appears to have been timed to coincide with the Independence Day holiday period in the United States.
One of the assertions in a the YouTube video is that the “rewards” the company provides include “an orphanage and a school, church or hospital built in your name.” All of this apparently is possible because BidsThatGive has a “global business model” and employes a “concept” known as “PPSC,” which stands for Private Profit Sharing Company.
But before we get to the uber bizarre, let’s address the run-of-the-mill bizarre in this latest entry in MLM La-La Land.
BidsThatGive is a little bit Andy Bowdoin. Indeed, the emerging penny-auction company with an MLM-style compensation plan, claims it’s not an MLM program and tells prospects they’re “probably not going to sleep at night” once they understand the profit potential. Bowdoin, the infamous AdSurfDaily Ponzi schemer, told prospects that ASD was not a “network marketing company” and used largely the same line about all the sleepless nights excited prospects would experience.
Meanwhile, BidsThatGive is a little bit like AdViewGlobal (AVG), a collapsed 1-percent-a-day Ponzi autosurf federal prosecutors said in April 2012 had ASD ties. AVG once claimed that one of its desires was to save the rainforest through charitable contributions. BidsThatGive also resembles ClubAsteria, which offered outsize weekly returns ranging from 3 percent to 8 percent and told prospects that its charitable arm would provide relief to victims of the devastating earthquake in Japan last year. ClubAsteria also purported to provide aid to children and claimed its mission was to elevate the word’s poor out of poverty.
And BidsThatGive also resembles DataNetworkAffiliates (DNA), which tied itself to the U.S. AMBER Alert system for rescuing abducted children and said its “token system” could help prevent child poverty.
“Help DNA Feed A Million. OVER 1000 AN HOUR DIE. The DNA Token System Can Prevent This!” the company exclaimed.
Among other things, DNA used a YouTube video to trade on the name of Adam Walsh, the 6-year-old who was abducted and murdered in Florida in 1981. Adam’s father, John Walsh, became a prolific advocate for children and later became the host of the “America’s Most Wanted” television series.
DNA, which was associated with longtime MLM huckster Phil Piccolo, appears not to have helped a single abducted child or a single child living in poverty. Affiliates, though, tried to plant the seed that the DNA “program” was backed by Oprah Winfrey and Donald Trump. When DNA’s CEO resigned suddenly in 2010, the company waited nearly a week to announce the departure — and then misspelled the former CEO’s name.
BidsThatGive Operator
Randy Jeffers, an MLM aficionado, is the purported operator of BidsThatGive, according to promo videos on YouTube. Jeffers also presides over a nonprofit entity known as “Liberty Kidz,” which says its “[v]ision is to empower a child to be all that he or she is created to be, by providing homes, help and hope for discouraged, displaced and distressed children of the world.”
A similarly named Jeffers’ entity known as Liberty International LLC filed for bankruptcy in August 2010, listing about $1.94 million in debt and $641 in assets, according to federal records. The assets consisted of the balance of a business checking account.
What follows are comments from Jeffers in the nine-minute sales pitch for BidsThatGive on YouTube (italics added):
You know, there are so many terrible things that happen to children all over the world. Right now a little boy is dying of hunger, a little girl just got sold by her mother and is being forced into life as a sex slave.
Right now, children are being physically abused, and then there’s so many children that are just left by themselves and there’s no one there to love or care for them. I don’t know why bad things happen to innocent little children, but they do. But here’s what I do know: All of us can do something about it.
You see, that’s our No. 1 purpose. This company was founded to be a true partnership between those children, the children’s charities that it supports and its affiliates who make it all happen.
A ‘Founding Member’
One of the founding members of BidsThatGive is Glen Woodfin, according to 6:56 promo video dated July 2 and running on YouTube.
Woodfin describes himself in the video as an American who once moved to Brazil to be with his “multimillionaire” fiance who had 90 employees. Enjoying the “good life” on the beach while sitting around drinking “coconut milk” was fun for a while, but ultimately led to a desire to become more productive and to develop an online skill set. Woodfin ultimately discovered he had a talent for search engine optimization and that clients were interested in those services.
Glen Woodfin, who says he's done SEO for a Presidential candidate, does a little dance in his Bids That Give sales pitch on YouTube.
His SEO skills ultimately became so good that “I was hired by somebody running for President . . .,” according to Woodfin, who narrates the video. He did not identify the candidate.
Woodfin, however, goes to to explain that he was fortunate to know author and White House adviser Doug Wead, who wrote “All The President’s Children,” a New York Times Bestseller. (Wead’s Wikipedia entry says he advised GOP Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.)
Apparently in the market for SEO advice, Wead turned to Woodfin, according to the video.
“He said, ‘Glen, we’ve got one of the Presidential children about to get married in three weeks, and we don’t have a website up. Can we get in there and get to the top of the search engines with it?’” Woodfin recalled.
That Presidential child, according to Woodfin, was Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former President Bill Clinton and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Over the weekend Chelsea Clinton got married, Woodfin said, his SEO techniques on Wead’s behalf put a site known as ChelseaClintonWeddingWatch.com at the top of the rankings. (Chelsea Clinton was married on July 31, 2010.)
When NBC News anchor Lester Holt was interviewing Wead, Woodfin said, Holt mentioned the website Woodfin had put at the top of the rankings, apparently attributing the feat to Wead.
Neither BidsThatGive nor Jeffers is mentioned in the first three minutes of the Woodfin video. But at roughly the 3:03 mark, Woodfin announces, “I’m going in business with a gentleman named Randy Jeffers. Randy Jeffers started the No. 1, fastest-growing MLM of all time, called Destiny. They put in 1 million distributors in 18 months.”
Woodfin goes on to say that Jeffers recently called him and offered him a “founder’s membership” in BidsThatGive.
“While he’s talking, the hair start[s] standing up on my arm, and I got thrilled,” Woodfin recalled. “As a matter of fact, every time I get off the phone with him now, I’m just, ‘Thank you for putting this together.’ It’s based on penny auctions . . .”
It’s not known whether Woodfin contacted the White House, Wead, Clinton and Holt as a courtesy to let them know he’d be using their names in a YouTube pitch for Jeffers’ BidsThatGive. What is known is that namedropping is common in the MLM sphere — often without the knowledge of those whose names are dropped.
Although the Woodfin pitch did not imply that any of the celebrities or institutions mentioned in the pitch endorsed BidsThatGive, the implication was clear that BidsThatGive prospects who joined under Woodfin would gain access to an SEO expert who’d worked for a Presidential candidate and knew a Presidential adviser.
Neither the Jeffers’ video nor the Woodfin video referenced the Liberty International LLC 23-month-old bankruptcy filing. Nor did either video address any of the potential problems BidsThatGive could encounter from regulators.
Like the Zeek Rewards’ business model, the BidsThatGive model resembles that of ASD. In 2008, the U.S. Secret Service seized more than $80 million from ASD-related bank accounts, including $65.8 million in the personal accounts of Andy Bowdoin.
Court records showed that ASD was trading on the name of then-President George W. Bush. Analysts saw it as a transparent bid to sanitize the “opportunity” by trying to link it to the White House.
Major politicians from both sides of the aisle have seen their names used in promos for “opportunities” that proved to be Ponzi schemes.
Former President Clinton’s name and image were used by the Mantria Corp. Ponzi scheme. Clinton is a Democrat.
UPDATE: The website of TheBizVideos.com has gone missing, taking with it sales promos for JSS Tripler and other purported “opportunities” in the wake of an action by the Italian securities regulator CONSOB. The site, which appears to use nameservers in New York, is returning a “Server not found” error in Firefox. When pinged, it returns an “Unknown error: 1214” message.
It is at least the second website with a direct or indirect tie to JSS Tripler to have gone missing in recent days. A site styled JSS-Tripler.com, which was hosted in Utah, went missing last week under mysterious circumstances.
Precisely why the sites have gone dark is unclear. Also unclear is who caused the sites to disappear.
What’s known about TheBizVideos.com is that it hosted JSS sales promos linked to alleged JSS Tripler promoter Andrea Viz and a website known as vizconsigli.com. (See CONSOB reference from last month.)
Whether JSS Tripler plans to help its affiliates mount a defense in Italy or any other country that may open a probe is unknown. Individual JSS Tripler promoters could find themselves holding the bag for both financial losses tied to their JSS Tripler participation and legal bills. Ponzi-forum posters flogging JSS Tripler have largely ignored the CONSOB action.
Separately, JustBeenPaid — the purported operator of JSS Tripler — has changed information on its website that references a “patent.”
The site previously made this specious claim: “JustBeenPaid! (JBP) and its related programs, including JSS-Tripler, are licensed under United States Patent 6,578,010.”
JustBeenPaid, however, now makes this equally specious (and even more bizarre) claim: “JustBeenPaid! (JBP) and its related programs operate in accordance with United States Patent 6,578,010 (now public domain).”
Precisely when and why the change was made is unclear, but the site was offline last night briefly in the the United States. JBP purportedly is operated by Frederick Mann, who claimed in 2008 to have been a promoter of AdSurfDaily. The U.S. Secret Service described ASD as a massive international Ponzi scheme.
Some JSSTripler promoters also have been linked to ClubAsteria, a purported “opportunity” that caused promoters to come under the CONSOB lens last year.
As things stand on the JustBeenPaid domain, how a securities scheme operates “in accordance with” a U.S. patent is left to the imagination. The JSS Tripler-related CONSOB probe is about securities and securities licensing, not about patents and inventions.
Prior to going offline, the BizVideos site made this claim. (Emphasis added.)
“TheBizVideos is 100% free and is designed for those who want toadvertise (sic) a business and then using the video, but without limitations.“
Certain images will not load today on the website of JustBeenPaid, a "program" tied to JSS Tripler.
EDITOR’S NOTE: HYIP critics long have pointed out that many Internet-based schemes have members in common and that the interconnectivity of certain schemes creates a condition in which fraud proceeds circulate from scheme to scheme to scheme. Such fraud schemes can mushroom to involve tens of thousands — or even hundreds of thousands — of participants.
The logistical challenges of reverse-engineering such schemes are enormous — and it’s often the case the combined international hauls of the schemes also are enormous.
A man referenced in a JSS Tripler-related action by CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator, appears to have lost access to his U.S.-based website — and appears also to have been a pitchman for Text Cash Network, a U.S.-based “opportunity” linked to serial hucksters Joe Reid and Phil Piccolo.
TextCashNetwork purports to be an international text-advertising business involving cell phones. The “opportunity,” though, is decidedly murky. Affiliates have described Text Cash Network vaguely as “a new division of a five year old communications company owned 100% by The Johnson Group.” Other promoters have claimed it was owned by the “Johnson & Johnson Group,” a possible bid to leech off the brand of the famous pharmaceutical and consumer-products company.
TCN Promotional Tie To JSS Tripler
On Jan. 23, CONSOB announced the JSS Tripler-related action. Included in CONSOB’s statement were references to an individual named Mauro Messina and a website styled gruppounitoworld.com.
That website, which appears to have been hosted in the United States, now beams this message: “I’m sorry, but this account has been suspended.” No reason for the suspension was provided.
The message appears even though the domain registration is good through June 30, 2012, according to registration data.
The name Mauro Messina also appears on an affiliate site for Text Cash Network. The affiliate ID on the Text Cash Network site is “gruppounito” — the first 11 letters of the now-suspended site referenced in the CONSOB probe. (See comment from PP Blog reader Tony here. Kudos, Tony.)
Driven by a relentless hypefest, Text Cash Network or TCN launched late last year — with Reid leading the cheerleading as he had done previously for Data Network Affiliates (DNA), a Piccolo-associated entity that mixed and matched itself with One World One Website (OWOW), another Piccolo-associated entity.
Both DNA and OWOW appear to be defunct corporations, but appear also to maintain a web presence that in part has been used to drive traffic to TCN. Strangely, the DNA website now is publishing a “STOP SOPA” graphic, referring to antipiracy legislation in the United States that became part of well-publicized opposition campaigns by Google and Wikipedia (among others).
DNA, which claimed it was a data company with a cell-phone arm and appears never to have delivered on either count, has a history of brand leeching and divining ties to causes, including the U.S. AMBER Alert program and child poverty. Among other things, DNA — despite the fact its Nevada corporate registration is listed as “Dissolved,” asks prospects to “Help DNA Feed A Million[:] OVER 1000 AN HOUR DIE.”
It also purports that children are “The Heart Of D.N.A.,” even though the corporation is defunct and DNA received an “F” grade in 2010 from the BBB and is the subject of a BBB alert. After apparently abandoning its purported data and cell-phone arms by July 2010, DNA claimed it was morphing into the land-mine business of offshore “resorts” and “mortgage reduction.”
Like DNA, TCN purports that it has or will engage in philanthropic pursuits.
CONSOB’s Jan. 23 announcement also referenced an entity known as “Ricochet Riches” and a dotcom by the same name. On the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum yesterday, a cheerleader for JSS Tripler 2 or T2 — an enterprise that appears to have appropriated the name of JSS Tripler — published an “I got paid” post for T2.
Below the post was a link to Ricochet Riches.
Incongruities that challenge description and involve both JSS Tripler and JSS Tripler 2 are occurring all over the Ponzi boards. Both JSS Tripler and JSS Tripler 2 have promoters in common. Regardless, Ponzi-board posters are pooh-poohing the CONSOB action or ignoring it — even as they champion other opportunities referenced in the CONSOB action, including Ricochet Riches.
A JSS Tripler/Club Asteria Tie
CONSOB last year took action against promoters of Club Asteria, another Ponzi-forum darling. “Andrea Viz,” another JSS Tripler promoter referenced in the CONSOB action, also has been linked to Club Asteria.
The Club Asteria promo appears on a domain styled vizconsigli.com, which is referenced in the CONSOB announcement about JSS Tripler. That domain, too, appears to be based in the United States.
Hank Neeedham, one of Club Asteria’s purported principals, formerly was a pitchman for AdSurfDaily, which the U.S. Secret Service described as an online Ponzi scheme involving at least $110 million.
Frederick Mann, the purported operator of JSS Tripler, also was an ASD pitchman, according to a 2008 promo that appeared online during the same period in which Needham — who simultaneously was promoting cash-gifting schemes — also was promoting ASD.
Over the weekend, JustBeenPaid, the entity that purportedly operates JSS Tripler through Mann, appears to have encountered website problems that are affecting its ability to publish certain graphics.
There is at least one Ponzi-forum report today about JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler problems:
“. . . sites all messed up chat room no mods no admins little odd,” a MoneyMakerGroup poster claimed.
The JustBeenPaid site includes information attributed to Mann on AdVentures4You (ADV4U), a “program” that collapsed in 2009 amid reports its operator had been threatened.
In the remarks, Mann asserted that he made a pile of money through ADV4U prior to its collapse.
“The biggest difference between JSS-Tripler and AV4U is that JSS-Tripler is indefinitely sustainable, while AV4U had a design flaw that ensured its eventual failure,” according to the remarks attributed to Mann.
Prior to its killing, this post yesterday by Ponzi-forum huckster "strosdegoz" showed a DNS propagation map for JSS Tripler 2 (T2) when a link in the post was clicked. The page that loaded showed that T2 was accessible via wire in the United States. The post vanished without explanation in less than an hour.
“strosdegoz,” the serial Ponzi-board pitchman who claims to have a presence on at least 35 forums or websites that promote “programs” that advertise preposterous returns, has killed a MoneyMakerGroup post he created that showed JSS Tripler 2 (T2) is accessible via wire in the United States.
The original post, which appears to have been created because some T2 members were complaining they could not access the T2 site, was replaced with a single word: “Edit.” A note below the substituted one-word post explained it had been “edited by strosdegoz.”
Prior to its killing, the post had included a link to this DNS tracking service. When that link was clicked, it showed that the JSSTripler2 domain is accessible in the United States. It also showed T2 is accessible in Italy. (More on the potential importance of T2’s reach into Italy below.)
“strosdegoz” did not explain his decision to kill his post and the link. Nor did he say whether he was properly registered to sell securities to U.S. or Italian citizens. Nor did he say whether T2 was properly registered to do so.
T2 was known to be accessible in the United States even before “strosdegoz” killed the link that showed multiple points of contact on U.S. soil from the East Coast and the West Coast and places in between. Still, the DNS map provided a compelling visual of how scammers from all parts of the world can reach into the United States (and other countries) and recruit the unknowing into the murkiest of investment enterprises.
T2, which preemptively denies it is a Ponzi scheme despite advertising returns that dwarf the return rates of Bernard Madoff, purports to pay a return of 2 percent a day, a figure that computes to an annualized return of 730 percent. The “opportunity” claimed for weeks that it had suspended member cashouts, blaming the development on an AlertPay account freeze.
AlertPay is a processor based in Canada.
But T2 now says is has regained access to the frozen funds, a development that led to a flood of “I got paid” posts on MoneyMakerGroup, which is listed in U.S. federal court filings as a place from which Ponzi schemes are promoted.
After having posted the DNS tracking link and later deleting it, “strosdegoz” — also known as “manolo” — virtually simultaneously posted an “I got paid” post for T2 at MoneyMakerGroup.
“I got paid today already,” the post read. “Fast as usual.”
Only days earlier, T2 purportedly was paying no one. Its explanation of an AlertPay freeze was a virtual concession that the enterprise was insolvent and could not pull from other resources to meet its obligations. “Opportunities” such as T2 pretend liabilities do not exist or conceal insolvency by treating liabilities as assets. Any significant interruption of cash flow can create a crisis that potentially affects thousands or even tens of thousands of participants.
Both the edited DNS post and the “I got paid” post below it had a time stamp of 7:11 p.m. (The original DNS post had a time stamp of 6:21 p.m; the edit occurred at 7:11 p.m., according to the time stamp, and the follow-up “I got paid” post also was time-stamped at 7:11 p.m.)
T2 Reaches Into Italy As Promoters Of Namesake ‘Opportunity’ JSS Tripler Are Under The Lens
T2 purportedly created its name by appropriating the name of JSS Tripler, another “program” that advertises a return of 2 percent a day. JSS Tripler promoters have come under the lens of CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator.
Like T2, JSS Tripler is accessible in the United States — with no corresponding evidence that the program itself as well as its promoters have any registrations as issuers of securities or broker-dealers.
JSS Tripler promoters have pooh-poohed the CONSOB action, preferring instead to flood the Ponzi forums with “I got paid” posts.
Compellingly, the DNS link “strosdegoz” posted at MoneyMakerGroup yesterday for T2 — JSS Tripler’s purported namesake — showed that T2 is accessible in Rome, the capital of Italy. CONSOB is headquartered in Rome.
Club Asteria, another Ponzi-forum darling, came under the CONSOB lens last year — even as “strosdegoz” was leading Club Asteria cheers. The Club Asteria “program,” which traded on the name of the World Bank, first slashed weekly payouts and then eliminated them — amid reports of a PayPal freeze.
Some Club Asteria cheerleaders claimed the “program” provided a “passive” return of up to 10 percent a week. “Ken Russo,” one of “strosdegoz’” fellow cheerleaders on the Ponzi forums, posted purported Club Asteria payment proofs totaling in the thousands of dollars.
Even as accused AdSurfDaily Ponzi schemer Andy Bowdoin was pimping a murky “program” known as “OneX” while awaiting his September 2012 criminal trial that potentially could land him in prison for 125 years if found guilty on all counts, “strosdegoz” also emerged as a OneX pitchman.
Among other things, Bowdoin is accused of selling unregistered securities to U.S. residents. He also is accused of using wires that run through the United States to sell prospects into the massive ASD scam, along with securities fraud.
As “strosdegoz” was hawking T2 and OneX by wire, he turned his attention to a “program” called “HugeYield.”
T2 purportedly is operated by “Dave,” now said to be venturing to Cambodia after previously venturing from England to Thailand during the purported AlertPay freeze. “Dave” posts on MoneyMakerGroup as Peakr8.
JSS Tripler, meanwhile, is purported to be in the stable of “JustBeenPaid,” a “program” purportedly operated by onetime ASD promoter Frederick Mann.
Like its Ponzi-forum cousin Legisi — which became the subject of an undercover operation by U.S. law enforcement that resulted in fraud charges — JSS Tripler makes members affirm they are not government spies or media lackeys.
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Your time soon may be up if you’re flogging the absurd HYIP known as JSS Tripler.
CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator, has opened a probe into the activities of multiple promoters amid concerns the purported “program” is being offered to Italian citizens unlawfully as a security. JSS Tripler is an arm of “JustBeenPaid,” a Ponzi-forum darling that has been serving up a heavy dose of the bizarre for months.
The agency has issued a 90-day suspension order.
Details of the CONSOB probe and the precise number of investigative targets were not immediately clear to the PP Blog, owing to the lack of a quality Italian-to-English translation. But the websites of multiple entities or individuals who appear to be JSS Tripler affiliates are referenced by CONSOB in a 90-day order dated Jan. 20 and made public Jan. 23.
JSS Tripler’s name also is referenced in the order.
If a JSS Tripler-related domain cited in the translation is accurate, the domain appears to be hosted in the United States.
Among the bizarre claims associated with JSS Tripler promoters were that the company was moving to “offshore” servers and performing a restart.
Some JSS Tripler affiliates identify Frederick Mann as the honcho-in-chief. In May 2008, Mann positioned ASD as a “cash cow,” claiming he pocketed $6,000, according to records. Last year, the purported JustBeenPaid “opportunity” was trading on celebrity names such as Warren Buffett, Oprah Winfrey — and even fictional space man “Mr. Spock.”
Here is the CONSOB announcement — via an English translation by Google Translate.
Another “program” apparently named “System Explosion” also is referenced in the CONSOB suspension order. The domain for that program, which appears to be an HYIP or arbitrage program of some sort, also appears to be hosted in the United States.
Among the payment processors listed on the JSS Tripler-related domain and the System Explosion domain are AlertPay, SolidTrustPay and LibertyReserve.
An ad for JustBeenPaid appears on the SystemExplosion domain. When clicked, it appears to route to a subdomain of the JustBeenPaid domain, which beams this bizarre and vacuous message:
“JustBeenPaid! (JBP) and Its (sic) related programs are Licenced (sic) under United States Patent 6,578,010.”
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, however, is not the agency that regulates securities programs and purported business opportunities, even if JustBeenPaid could demonstrate that some sort of patent exists. As a practical matter, it is virtually impossible to conceive that market regulators in any country could be thwarted from opening probes based on claims that a system was patented.
If anything, such a claim in the context of programs that purport to pay a return may only intensify regulatory scrutiny. CONSOB, for instance, referenced JSS Tripler’s purported returns of 2 percent a day.
JSS Tripler is not to be confused with JSS Tripler 2 (T2), an equally bizarre “program” that appears to be a knockoff on the name of JustBeenPaid’s JSS Tripler arm. T2 also uses AlertPay.
Like JSS Tripler, T2 also was promoted on Ponzi forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup.
Veteran Ponzi-board huckster “strosdegoz,” also known as “manolo,” now is flogging a new “program” known as “Huge Yield.” There already is an unconfirmed report that HugeYield has suffered a DDoS attack.
“strosdegoz” emerged last year as a regular shill for Club Asteria, the purported Virginia-based program that became a Ponzi-forum darling and later announced its PayPal account had been suspended. Claims about ClubAsteria came under investigation by CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator, and the American Red Cross later clashed with the purported “program,” which traded on the name of the relief agency.
As time moved on, “strosdegoz” later joined accused Ponzi schemer Andy Bowdoin of AdSurfDaily in flogging a mysterious “program” known as “OneX.” There is a report today that Bowdoin either canceled or postponed his latest OneX pitch because a fellow pitchman identified as “Alan” has “pneumonia and is not able to do anything right now.”
The pneumonia announcement was attributed to an email sent by Bowdoin, who is accused of orchestrating an international Ponzi scheme involving at least $110 million through ASD. His criminal trial is set for September 2012.
Huge Yield purports that $120 can turn into $1,000. The following HugeYield claims are verbatim:
“A Traditional SPICED UP follow your sponsor 2×2 that will surprise anyone online TODAY! HugeYield has changed the way marketing a tradition 2×2 is done. We have added a safety net to ensure that all members progress through the program and make their ultimate goal, The $1000.00 Payout!”
In the website’s FAQs section, a question about what payment processors HugeYield accepts is answered in this verbatim fashion:
“We accepts payments and pays all commissions through Alertpay,liberty reserve and solid trust pay,perfect Money and Okpay.”
Whether “”strosdegoz/manolo” is concerned about HugeYield’s apparent lack of grammar and usage skills is unclear.
“strosdegoz/manolo” is pitching HugeYield on MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold. In addition to ClubAsteria and OneX, he has pitched Centurion Wealth Circle and “The Tornado.”
Both MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold are identified in federal court filings as places from which international Ponzi schemes are promoted.
In this June 2008 video, Hank Needham — later to emerge as a Club Asteria principal — counts out a stack of £20 British notes delivered in a cash-gifting scheme. Using the pronoun "we" without defining who "we" was, Needham told viewers that "we" intended to open a cash-gifting "school." About three years later, Club Asteria positioned itself as an online "education" leader. In a March 2008 cash-gifting video, Needham was featured counting out a small stack of U.S. $100 bills. What was needed, Needham coached, was "training" on how to post cash-gifting videos on the Internet. Prosecutors say cash-gifting is illegal. The BBB calls it a pyramid scheme. In May 2011, CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator, blocked promos for Club Asteria in Italy. Needham has called himself a Club Asteria owner, and Club Asteria had described him as the director of sales and marketing “responsible for establishing Country, Regional and Network Team Leaders."
In this post, we included a March 2008 Dailymotion video of Hank Needham — later to emerge as one of Club Asteria’s purported owners — hawking a cash gifting scheme in which five $100 bills (U.S.) spilled out of an envelope tucked inside an envelope delivered by overnight courier DHL. (Please note that March 2008 video also appears on a separate site. The date notation on that site is May 2008.)
Another cash-gifting video from Needham — this one dated June 2008 — has surfaced. In the June 2008 video, Needham is holding an envelope from FedEx, another overnight courier. “Now, we have another [envelope] — I won’t really go through the courier — I don’t think we’re supposed to use this courier anymore,” Needham tells viewers, after making sure they notice what he describes as a “little pile of cash that’s accumulating” to his left.
As the June 2008 video proceeds, Needham removes cash that has been packed snugly in the FedEx envelope. It’s British pounds as opposed to U.S. currency this time — and this time the money has come from “Robin” (or Robyn?) in the “British Isles.” Unlike the March (and May) 2008 video in which “George,” presumably an American, is reported by Needham to have sent five large U.S. bills, “Robin,” presumably a Brit, has chosen to send 25 twenty-pound notes. Needham counts out all 25 bills, creating five rows with five bills in each row. Why Needham was reluctant the mention the name of FedEx was not made clear in the video. What was clear was the Needham wanted viewers to know that “we’re opening up a website called CashGiftingSchool.com.”
He did not define “we.” The “school” website, which appears to have been registered in April 2008 while Needham was pushing the AdSurfDaily scheme in addition to cash-gifting, now resolves to a page that beams ads. (It’s worth noting that Needham, in 2008, was wearing casual attire while hawking the cash-gifting “school,” apparently from his home. Flash forward three years to 2011: Club Asteria is positioning itself as an “education” leader and featuring Needham on video. He is wearing a crisp, black suit in the 2011 video — and the backdrop is a board room. A button promoting the 2011 Club Asteria video in which Needham is showcased in the black suit is labeled “ABOUT COURAGE.” The button appears in Club Asteria’s October 2011 recruitment house organ.)
Various Club Asteria-related entities have been trading on the names of various charities, including the American Red Cross. The Red Cross sent the purported Asteria Philanthropic Foundation a cease-and-desist letter 11 days ago, and the relief agency said yesterday that the foundation agreed to stop using the Red Cross logo and other materials. How long it will take the Asteria-themed enterprises to comply is unclear.
Needham’s image also appeared in 2008 promos for AdSurfDaily, an autosurf the U.S. Secret Service called an international Ponzi scheme.
The Attorney General
Before you take a look at the June 2008 Needham video — which appears to have been placed on Dailymotion just two months before the spectacular seizure by the U.S. Secret Service of tens of millions of dollars in the ASD Ponzi case — we’d like you to take a look at what the attorney general of Michigan says about cash gifting. Bill Schuette notes that purveyors can be charged with felonies. Mike Cox, Schuette’s predecessor as attorney general, said the same thing.
Needham does not mention the law in either of his videos; he’s too busy counting bills. He appears to be less than pleased that “Robin,” unlike “George” in the other video, packed the bills tightly. It is unclear in either video whether DHL or FedEx left the envelopes in a secure place before Needham retrieved them. In other words, had the envelopes been left on Needham’s doorstep, they could have been stolen, an outcome sure to have created an unpleasant situation for both the senders and Needham.
We’ve mentioned it before — and we’ll mention it again. In July 2010, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) described the HYIP sphere as a “bizarre substratum of the Internet.”
It was as good a description as any, and here is yet another case in point:
The MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum said today that it “temporarily” closed its thread for the “JustBeenPaid” Ponzi scheme owing to bickering between “10BucksUp” and “lolalola.” JustBeenPaid, which is trading on the names of Warren Buffett and Oprah Winfrey, makes users affirm they are not government spies and purportedly began a transition in August to “offshore” servers. Members have been grumbling for weeks.
“10BucksUp” rose to Ponzi forum prominence earlier this year through his efforts to promote the Club Asteria HYIP, which is trading on the names of the World Bank and the American Red Cross. “10BucksUp” also promoted the JustBeenPaid HYIP while discouraging members from filing chargebacks with AlertPay for the good of all JustBeenPaid investors.
“lolalola” now is hawking something called JSSTRIPLER2 or T2, which apparently is trading on the name of JustBeenPaid’s purported JSS Tripler arm.
Although “10BucksUp” insists the purported new program is merely a “copycat” of the JustBeenPaid program, “lolalola” claims that, “[F]rom what I understand from the Admin is they did not trademark the brand or do they hold a copyright on the name… so he is free to use it.”
In essence, two fraud programs now appear to be trading on the same name — but both “10BucksUp” and “lolalola” appear to be more concerned about clashing with each other than whether the schemes have (or are) stealing cash on a grand scale.
Or something like that . . .
“lolalola” is simultaneously promoting something called Zeek Rewards.
“10BucksUp” recently has promoted Club Asteria, JustBeenPaid, Ad2Million and Cherry Shares. All of the programs are in a state of decay or outright disappearance. Cherry Shares is cited in litigation in Canada, and Club Asteria is cited in litigation in Italy.
MoneyMakerGroup is listed in U.S. federal court filings as a place from which Ponzi schemes are promoted. So is TalkGold, another Ponzi forum.
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.
Felmina Alliance, another in a long line of HYIP “programs” pushed on the Ponzi boards by serial huckster “Ken Russo,” appears to be DOA. “Ken Russo” also is known as “DRdave.” His record in promoting scams, pooh-poohing or ignoring regulatory actions and engaging in willful blindness may be unparalleled.
