PatrickPretty.com

Tag: CONSOB

  • UPDATE: Club Asteria, Cherry Shares, ‘JustBeenPaid’ Promoter ’10BucksUp’ Falsely Claims PP Blog Posts As ‘ISPY’ On MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi Forum; HYIP Apologist Taunts U.S. Law Enforcement In Bizarre Post

    The bizarre descent into chaos of a failing “program” that claimed to be moving to “offshore” servers and once made its participants swear they were not government spies or media lackeys has gotten stranger yet.

    Poster “10BucksUp,” who’s now flogging the JustBeenPaid “program,” falsely claimed on the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum today that the PP Blog posts on MoneyMakerGroup as “ISPY” and published a link to the Blog on the forum to discredit him.

    The PP Blog is not “ISPY” and does not post on MoneyMakerGroup under any identity. Nor does the Blog communicate with “ISPY” in any fashion, know his (or her) identity or encourage  “ISPY” directly or indirectly to post links to the Blog. The Blog has never encouraged any member of MoneyMakerGroup — or any other Ponzi scheme forum — to post links to the Blog.

    It is somewhat common for posters on Ponzi boards, including so-called “naysayers,” to post links to the Blog’s coverage of schemes-in-progress or schemes gone bust. It also is somewhat common for Ponzi board promoters to exhibit paranoia about the Blog’s reporting and even claim the Blog is part of a U.S. government operation.

    Prior to asserting that “ISPY” was the PP Blog, “10BucksUp” accused ISPY of threatening him. ISPY denied threatening “10BucksUp.”

    “10BucksUp” rose to Ponzi forum prominence as a pitchman and apologist for ClubAsteria, which became the subject of a probe by the Italian securities regulator CONSOB in May, had its PayPal account frozen, slashed weekly payouts to members and then eliminated the payouts.

    Meanwhile, “10BucksUp” also acknowledged today that he was a member of the collapsed Cherry Shares HYIP. In June, Cherry Shares was referenced in freeze and trade orders brought by The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), the securities regulator for the province of Quebec in Canada.

    The acknowledgement by “10BucksUp” of his Cherry Shares involvement means that he was participating in a second “program” that had come under government scrutiny — but nevertheless plowed headlong into JustBeenPaid.

    Earlier this month, “10BucksUp” advised members of JustBeenPaid that late-entry members were engaging in hurtful and “drastic measures” if they filed disputes with AlertPay. Among other things, JustBeenPaid has asserted it is a “private association.”

    The AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf made the same claim prior to its collapse in June 2009. AVG was one of the so-called AdSurfDaily clones — each of which launched (and collapsed) after the August 2008 seizure by the U.S. Secret Service of tens of millions of dollars in a Ponzi scheme investigation.

    Today’s false MoneyMakerGroup claims about the PP Blog also occurred against the backdrop of a securities fraud case brought by the SEC against Jody Dunn, an alleged pitchman for Imperia Invest IBC. Imperia Invest also was promoted on MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold, and the SEC charged that Dunn had promoted it blindly and relied on claims made by the purported opportunity, rather than conducting any actual due diligence.

    Millions of dollars directed at Imperia Invest went missing, the SEC charged.

    “You want to arrest me? [G]o ahead,” 10BucksUp wrote on MoneyMakerGroup today. “Send a Secret Service/US Seal/intergalactic commando force in my little 3rd world village. Afterall, that is what some Americans think of us right? We all should live under your whims, at what you dictate as legal and not illegal. And then when somebody else invoke that ‘power’ against you, you cry ‘dont tread on me’ or ‘taxed enough already[.”]

    “Go ahead with your crusade, Mr ISPY/Patrick Pretty/Twerp,” 10BuckUp continued. “Clean up the world of garbages like us. There are millions of us. I hope you can finish up in your lifetime.”

    10BucksUp did not say whether he believed U.S. and other world citizens unwise to the ways of the Ponzi pitchman should simply remain silent after they recognize they’ve been scammed and permit fraudsters to steal their money. Nor did he say whether he believed the U.S. government was making a mistake in prosecuting fraudsters who have disappeared with tens of millions of dollars in recent cases such as Legisi and Pathway to Prosperity — in an era of terrorism and economic uncertainty.

    The combined haul of the Legisi, Pathway to Prosperity and ASD “opportunities” was about $250 million, according to court filings. Separately, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) said last year that Genius Funds, a collapsed HYIP, had gathered $400 million.

    Like Club Asteria, JustBeenPaid and Cherry Shares, Legisi, Pathway To Prosperity, ASD, AVG and Genius Funds were promoted on the Ponzi boards.

    FINRA specifically warned last year that HYIP fraud schemes spread on the Internet through social media and forums.

    “10BucksUp” said today that he used a “a free, blogger blog” to promote Club Asteria. Blogger is part of Google’s Blogspot platform.

    “Now everybody knows ISPY = Patrick Pretty,” 10BucksUp falsely asserted today.

    MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold are referenced in U.S. federal court filings as places from which Ponzi and fraud schemes are promoted.

  • Image Of Famed Actor And Grammy-Winner Will Smith Appears In Club Asteria House Organ Just Above ‘JOIN NOW’ Button; No Immediate Comment From His Publicist

    "ABOUT US" and "JOIN NOW" buttons — each punctuated with exclamation points — appear below this image of actor Will Smith in Club Asteria's September 2011 house organ. The PP Blog has cropped this screen shot not to show Smith's face, but his face appears in the Club Asteria promo.

    UPDATED 1:47 P.M. EDT (U.S.A. OCT. 29, 2011.)  An image of famed actor and rapper Will Smith appears in Club Asteria’s September house organ, an online glossy used by the firm to recruit affiliates across the world. It was unclear if Smith had knowledge of the promo or had authorized Club Asteria to use his likeness.

    A link to the publication featuring the image of Smith appeared on the TalkGold Ponzi forum yesterday. TalkGold is referenced in federal court filings as a place from which international fraud schemes are promoted.

    Smith’s publicists at the 42West agency in Los Angeles had no immediate comment on the promo when contacted today by the PP Blog, which provided a link to the Club Asteria publication. The entertainer’s image appears on Page 7 of the September gusher.

    Buttons using the words “LEARN MORE!”  “ABOUT US! and “JOIN NOW!” appear a short distance below the image of Smith. But readers who press the buttons do not receive information about Smith. Rather, the buttons forward to Club Asteria’s website. The “JOIN NOW” button, for instance, takes readers to Club Asteria’s registration page.

    The presence of the image of Smith, the wording and design of the page and the positioning of the buttons lead to questions about whether the “Independence Day” and “Men in Black” star had endorsed the purported Club Asteria opportunity or whether Club Asteria was trying to create the impression among readers that he was a spokesman for the company.

    In May, Club Asteria promotions were banned in Italy by the Italian securities regulator CONSOB. The agency has published its orders and findings on Club Asteria affiliate websites in Italy.

    It is common for shady promoters of multilevel-marketing (MLM) “opportunities” to plant the seed in promos that a particular product or service is endorsed by a celebrity when no actual endorsement exists.

    A headline of “Will Smith Inspires the World With Enthusiasm for Life, Work & People!” appears above the image of Smith in the Club Asteria promo.

    A deck below the headline uses these words, “An Interview With Will Smith,” suggesting that Club Asteria itself had a direct connection to him. In a short blurb below the deck, readers are told that the “interview” and “discussion” with Smith will inform them about the wisdom he gained “throughout his journey to success” and that Smith will explain “the importance of extraordinary dreams.”

    A button to a video —  apparently one that appeared on YouTube and is being reframed inside the house organ — appears below the image of Smith. When clicked, the video loads footage of an interview with Smith conducted by 60 Minutes reporter Steve Kroft (NOTE: This paragraph was edited on Oct. 29, 2011, to reflect that Kroft, not Scott Pelley, conducted the 60 Minutes’ interview.) As the video proceeds, it loads footage of Smith being interviewed by broadcaster Charlie Rose. It then works in footage of a Smith interview on NBC’s Today show and a Smith interview on the “Ellen” show. Footage from other shows also are spliced into the video.

    Club Asteria reportedly recruited more than 300,000 members in a worldwide promotional blitz that traded on the name of the World Bank. Hundreds — if not thousands — of promos for the firm claimed Club Asteria was a program that provided a weekly return on investment of between 3 percent and 10 percent. The offers were targeted at the world’s poor, with Club Asteria positioned as a company that could lift them out of poverty.

    Club Asteria was widely promoted on forums associated with Ponzi schemes and the sale of unregistered securities. Members said Club Asteria first slashed weekly payouts to members in the spring and then eliminated them. Club Asteria announced in May that its PayPal account had been frozen, a development it blamed on members.

    In various promos prior to the PayPal freeze, Club Asteria affiliates preemptively denied Club Asteria was operating a Ponzi scheme. Club Asteria managing member Andrea Lucas, whom the World Bank said in March once held a staff position at the bank, last worked for the bank in 1986 — 25 years ago.

    Lucas was described in promos for Club Asteria as a former “Director,” chairman and vice president of the World Bank. Images of Hank Needham, another Club Asteria principal, appeared in 2008 promos for AdSurfDaily.

    In August of that year, the U.S. Secret Service seized tens of millions of dollars from the personal bank accounts of ASD President Andy Bowdoin, alleging that he was presiding over an international Ponzi scheme.

    Bowdoin was arrested on criminal charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities in December 2010. His trial is pending. Like Club Asteria, ASD also was promoted on Ponzi boards such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup, which is listed in federal court filings as a place from which the alleged Pathway To Prosperity and Legisi Ponzi schemes were promoted.

    ASD, Pathway To Prosperity and Legisi created tens of thousands of victims globally and fraudulently obtained a combined total of about $250 million, according to court filings.

  • Is Ponzi Legend ‘Ken Russo,’ AKA ‘DRdave,’ Now Performing PR Work For Club Asteria In Wake Of Negative Findings By Italian Regulator? Infamous Forum Pitchman Who Claims To Have Received Thousands Of Dollars Via Wire From Firm Posts 854-Word Club Asteria Puff Piece On TalkGold

    Club Asteria promoter "Ken Russo," aka "DRdave," posted this purported $1,311 payment from Club Asteria June 2 on the TalkGold Ponzi forum.

    Club Asteria updated its news website yesterday for the first time since July 21, a period of more than a month. But the Virginia-based company did not address a new order issued Monday by the Italian regulator CONSOB in its three-month-long investigation into how Club Asteria was promoted in Italy.

    And neither did Club Asteria promoter “Ken Russo,” who simply copied the entire 854-word puff piece Club Asteria posted on its news website yesterday and pasted it into the Club Asteria thread at the TalkGold Ponzi scheme and criminals’ forum.

    Whether “Ken Russo” understands that legitimate companies would be aghast if their affiliates trolled for business and performed PR outreach on known Ponzi forums linked to international fraud schemes that have gathered huge sums of money is unclear. What is clear is that “Ken Russo” is using TalkGold as a cheerleading outlet for Club Asteria — even as he uses it to cheer for other schemes.

    Whether Club Asteria will take any sort of action against “Ken Russo” for trolling for business on TalkGold or reproducing 854-word Club Asteria PR pieces verbatim on a known Ponzi forum is not known. “Ken Russo” is hardly the only known Ponzi pimp who has led cheers for Club Asteria on the Ponzi boards, and Club Asteria has benefited from the Ponzi board cheerleading though a series of “I got paid” posts and reports that the firm’s membership roster had swelled into the hundreds of thousands.

    Club Asteria now is conceding that it is having trouble launching a suite of new products — and that the delay in launching the suite could extend for another 60 days. Club Asteria buried the news about the specific length of the delay in the fourth paragraph of the puff piece “Ken Russo” regurgitated on TalkGold, after congratulating itself in the first paragraph for its diligence in implementing a new scheme and assuring members “how anxious and excited we all are to see all these new items being produced, tested and the logistics worked out so they can be introduced to our members.”

    “Ken Russo” posts as “DRdave” at TalkGold, which is referenced in U.S. court filings as a place from which Ponzi schemes are promoted. He is a figure who elicits nearly constant criticism from the antiscam community for turning a blind eye to fraud schemes while seeking to create plausible deniability of any personal responsibility for permitting fraud to mushroom globally by accepting claims made by “opportunity” sponsors at face value and not questioning obvious incongruities.

    If an “opportunity” claims a unique ability to pay spectacular, higher-than-market returns with an accompanying, unverifiable claim that external income streams enable the returns — often in the mind-blowing region of hundreds of percent on an annual basis — “Ken Russo” accepts the claim at face value and parrots it.

    On Talk Gold, “Ken Russo” made a claim about Club Asteria that projects to an annual payout of more than 200 percent. Other promoters have claimed Club Asteria had the capacity to pay out more than 500 percent annually — all while claiming Club Asteria also paid affiliate commissions to recruiters. The confluence of payout schemes — combined with the lack of any verifiable information on Club Asteria’s sales figures and income streams and the highly public presence of known Ponzi scheme promoters — strongly suggest that Club Asteria was conducting a global Ponzi scheme

    “Ken Russo” previously has claimed on TalkGold to have received thousands of dollars in compensation via wire from Club Asteria, including payments received after Club Asteria’s PayPal account was frozen in May and after CONSOB opened its probe during the same month. Some Club Asteria members, including “Ken Russo,” have claimed they were paid through AlertPay, a payment processor based in Canada.

    The full effect of Monday’s order by CONSOB remains unclear because a reliable English translation was not immediately available. The PP Blog has asked both CONSOB and Italy’s Embassy to the United States to provide one, owing to the virality Club Asteria achieved worldwide and the presence of thousands of Club Asteria promos in English. TalkGold features a 137-page thread in English on Club Asteria.

    Neither CONSOB nor the Embassy has declined the Blog’s request, which may signal that an official translation could be released in the coming days. CONSOB raised concerns in May that Club Asteria was being promoted illegally in Italy on websites, forums and social-media outlets such as Facebook.

    Club Asteria said in June that it was experiencing a cash crunch and that its revenue had plunged “dramatically,” blaming members for events and comparing the situation to a  bank run. Club Asteria first slashed members’ weekly cashouts from an apparent norm of between 3 percent and 4 percent a week, and then suspended cashouts altogether.

    Some Club Asteria members claimed that the company paid out up to 10 percent a week, and scores of promoters globally are believed to have offered prospects inducements to join, including the partial reimbursement of sign-up fees. Many — if not most — of those members likely locked in losses for both themselves and their downlines by offering the inducements because their costs could not be retired after Club Asteria itself suspended cashouts.

    It is common on the Ponzi boards for posters to offer inducements as a lure to attract prospects to join schemes of all stripes. When “Ken Russo” was promoting the purported MPB Today “grocery” program on the Ponzi boards last year, he advertised that one of his downline members was offering prospects cash rebates of $50 to join MPB Today.

    An untold number of Club Asteria promoters offered similar inducements to their prospects while encouraging new enrollees to do the same, a situation that could have caused Club Asteria’s coffers to fill with cash. It is not known if Club Asteria affiliates who pledged to partially reimburse their recruits sign-up fees have honored their pledges in the aftermath of the firm’s decision to suspend weekly cashouts.

    What is known is that the Club Asteria offer was targeted at the world’s poor — and that the firm may have gained penetration in 150 or more nations. Italy is believed to be the first nation to publicly ban Club Asteria promoters.

    Club Asteria promoter "Ken Russo," aka "DRdave," posted this purported payment of $5,462.80 from AutoXTen July 13 on TalkGold

    When not regurgitating Club Asteria fluff on TalkGold, “Ken Russo” is helping an “opportunity” known as AutoXTen gain a head of steam on TalkGold. On July 13, “Ken Russo” claimed on TalkGold to have received a payment of “$5462.80” via AlertPay for “AutoXTen.”

    “Thanks AutoXTen!” “Ken Russo wrote, posting as “DRdave.” Join us today! Just $10 to get started!!”

    AutoXTen has been linked to Jeff Long, a pitchman for both the Data Network Affiliates (DNA) and Narc That Car MLM schemes last year. DNA, in turn, was linked to serial MLM pitchman Phil Piccolo, known online as the “one-man Internet crime wave.”

    Both DNA and Narc That Car carded an “F” grade from the Better Business Bureau, the BBB’s lowest score. Some promoters then attacked the BBB.

    Long now says the AutoXTen scheme is appropriate for churches — a claim DNA made about its scheme.

    “Ken Russo” also is promoting Centurion Wealth Circle, an AlertPay-enabled scheme whose earlier cycler scheme collapsed. Centurion, which also was widely promoted on Ponzi boards such as TalkGold, now is attempting to revive itself by incorporating a new cycler known as “The Tornado.”

    On July 13, ClubAsteria promoter "Ken Russo," aka "DRdave," posted these purported payments from Centurion Wealth Circle totaling $276 on TalkGold.

    On July 11, two days before he reported a payment of “$5462.80” from Long’s AutoXTen scheme, “Ken Russo” reported on TalkGold (as “DRdave”) that he had received three Centurion payments totaling $276.

    This claim followed on the heels of claims by “Ken Russo” (as “DRdave”) that he had received $2,032 from Club Asteria between late May and late June.

    The claims raise the prospect that multiple schemes, including Club Asteria, AutoXTen and Centurion, have come into possession and redistributed money from other fraud schemes promoted on the Ponzi boards.

    And because “Ken Russo” is hardly alone in his Ponzi forum efforts to promote Club Asteria and any number of schemes in addition to Club Asteria, it raises the prospect that every single one of the schemes is shuffling fraud proceeds back and forth.

    “Ken Russo,” for example, could have used proceeds from any number of schemes to join Club Asteria and any number of emerging schemes — with his downline members doing the same thing.

  • UPDATE: CONSOB, Italy’s Securities Regulator, Issues New Order In Probe Related To Club Asteria; Findings And Effect Not Immediately Clear; Google Translation Software Calls CONSOB A ‘Bag’; Yahoo Calls Club A ‘Starfish’; PP Blog Awaits Official Government Translation

    Dear Readers,

    The PP Blog became aware last night that CONSOB, Italy’s equivalent of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), had issued a new order on Monday in its investigation into certain claims made online in Italy about the purported Club Asteria business “opportunity.”

    Club Asteria has been widely promoted online as a “passive” investment program that provides a weekly return that projects to yearly gains in the hundreds of percentage points. The firm, which claims to be a revenue-sharing program, is based in Virginia. Its offer is targeted at the world’s poor.

    The CONSOB order, which addresses concerns first raised by the agency during the spring about how citizens of Italy were approached in online solicitations to join Club Asteria, was signed by CONSOB President Giuseppe Vegas on Aug. 22 and announced yesterday.

    The PP Blog has a copy of the order. What it does not have is a reliable translation from Italian to English.

    Italy first raised issues about Club Asteria in May. It is believed to be the first nation to have done so publicly, and Club Asteria may have sales affiliates in 150 or more countries worldwide. The Italian probe — coupled with claims about Club Asteria in other languages or in butchered or even highly polished, stylized English — led to questions about whether Club Asteria and tens of thousands of affiliates were selling unregistered securities on a global scale — with Club Asteria being the beneficiary of an unlawful offering.

    Because Google’s translation tool leaves a lot to be desired — and because the CONSOB order potentially affects thousands of Club Asteria members and was released in Italian — the PP Blog contacted CONSOB by email at 5:49 a.m. (EDT, U.S.A.) today to see if an official English translation was available and to clarify certain CONSOB findings. The Blog addressed CONSOB in English — and is uncertain if its email was received in Italy and understood.

    It’s easy to imagine an Italian reporter who did not speak English and needed the SEC to provide a document in Italian or an SEC employee to answer questions in Italian encountering the same information hurdles.

    At 1:08 p.m. (EDT, U.S.A.) today — approximately seven hours after asking CONSOB for assistance and lacking confidence that its email to CONSOB in Italy had been received and understood — the PP Blog contacted Italy’s U.S. Embassy in Washington by phone. The Blog asked the Embassy’s assistance in translating the new CONSOB order from Italian to English, and the Embassy provided an email address through which the Blog could submit a request for journalistic assistance through the Embassy. At 1:55 p.m. (EDT, U.S.A.), the Blog emailed the Embassy with the CONSOB order as it exists in Italian, and also supplied a link to the CONSOB webpage at which the agency’s order is published. The Blog is awaiting the Embassy’s response.

    An English translation by Google of the CONSOB order is available, but it is highly confusing, if not tortured. CONSOB, for instance, is described in the translation as “THE NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR THE SOCIETY AND THE BAG.” A translation available through Yahoo is no better; it refers to Club Asteria as “Club Starfish.”

    Club Asteria, which trades on the name of the World Bank and has blamed members for its PR problems and a freeze of its PayPal account, has not updated its news webpage since July 21. Members across the globe have been left in an information vacuum for weeks, while the firm directs attention to its glossy “e-Magazine” and asks members to “Imagine the Possibilities with Club Asteria.”

    The PP Blog hopes to publish a comprehensive report about CONSOB’s findings after it hears back from the Embassy.

    For now, the Blog is reporting that suspension orders against two websites CONSOB identified in May as Club Asteria troublespots apparently continue to be in effect and that the sites are serving PDFs in Italian of the Italian allegations.

    Posters on Ponzi scheme forums well-known to U.S. law enforcement claim that Club Asteria has more than 300,000 members globally — and Club Asteria sales pitches on the Ponzi forums and websites independent of the forums are almost incomprehensibly reckless.

    Some members have claimed that a monthly payment of $19.95 to Club Asteria produces a “passive” income of $20,800 a year. In other words, more or less pay Club Asteria a yearly total of $240 in 12 easy installments of $20 a month. Do nothing else unless you want to sponsor new members to make even more money. Receive  nearly $21,000 annually — forever.

    The offers are targeted at the world’s poor.

    Whether the impoverished people of the world made any meaningful money after becoming pitchmen for Club Asteria remains far from clear. What is clear — if the “I Got Paid” posts on Ponzi forums are reliable — is that well-known Ponzi pitchmen cleaned up by recruiting members for Club Asteria.

    In July 2010, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued a warning about HYIP schemes popularized in web forums and through social-media outlets. FINRA called the HYIP sphere a “bizarre substratum of the Internet.”

    Just a month before, in June 2010, the United States and six other member-nations of the International Mass Marketing Fraud Working Group (IMMFWG) issued a warning about global marketing fraud.

    It is known that some promoters race from online scheme to online scheme.

    A photograph of Hank Needham, a Club Asteria principal, appears online in a 2008 sales pitch for the alleged $110 million AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme. Like Club Asteria, ASD was based in the United States — and also was promoted on the Ponzi boards.

    ASD President Andy Bowdoin was arrested by the U.S. Secret Service in December 2010 after his indictment on felony charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities online.

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Club Asteria Promoters Blocked By CONSOB, Italian Equivalent Of SEC; Agency Issues Suspension Order; Is ‘Opportunity’ Described As ‘Passive’ Investment Being Targeted At Deaf?

    BULLETIN: UPDATED 7:35 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (CONSOB), the Italian equivalent of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, is conducting a probe into claims made about Club Asteria and has issued a 90-day suspension order that bars promoters from trading in Italy.

    Club Asteria is based in Virginia. Members say it also conducts business from Hong Kong.

    Promoters in Italy positioned Club Asteria as an investment company that “guaranteed” returns, CONSOB said in preliminary findings.

    CONSOB’s action is detailed in Resolution No. 17790.

    “Asteria Corporation presents itself as a company that ‘started as a U.S. financial company, with the aim of offering . . . humanitarian, educational and financial support in the poorest countries in the world, proposing an investment program with the slogan: ‘How to Invest € 15 After a year and earn 1200 Euros a month and a half for ever!’” the Italian regulator said. (Italian-to-English conversion by Google Translate.)

    The translation uses the phrase “sign language,” giving rise to questions about whether Club Asteria members were targeting the deaf. Investors were encouraged to use PayPal to join.

    Club Asteria reported a problem with its PayPal account last month, claiming promoters had misrepresented the company. A website apparently operated by promoters in Italy appears to have been stripped of content.

    It was not immediately clear if CONSOB removed the content or caused it to be removed from a domain name that ended with an .it extension. The website now carries this message:

    “Il sito à momentaneamente chiuso” — or “The site is temporarily closed.”

    CONSOB said there also were “several” Italian forums in which Club Asteria and the possibility of getting “easy money” from monthly payments were discussed. Word about Club Asteria also was spreading through social-media sites such as Facebook, the regulator said.

    ClubAsteria has been promoted in English on the TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup forums, both of which are referenced in U.S. court filings as places from which Ponzi schemes are promoted.

    Scores of Club Asteria promoters — not just in Italy — have positioned the firm as a seller of a “passive” investment program that pays $400 a week based on a payment of $19.95 a month.

    Such claims also were made in Italy, CONSOB said.