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Tag: Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho

TelexFree’s Sann Rodrigues Pushing ‘WowApp’ For ‘Every Day Gains,’ Promo Says

Accused securities and immigration fraudster Sann Rodrigues of TelexFree now is pushing WowApp, according to this promo.

2ND UPDATE 2:22 P.M. EDT U.S.A. “WowApp,” which has a Facebook page that thanks the “deaf community” for joining, now is being pushed by TelexFree figure and alleged immigration fraudster Sann Rodrigues, according to a web promo.

WowApp says it is a communications platform. It further says it is based in Hong Kong and urges members to “Use your WowCoins to contribute to a cause of your choice or cash them out.”

WowCoins purportedly have a value of 1 U.S. cent.

A post pitching WowApp on the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum claims “You Can Cashout To Paypal,BankWire Or CC / Donate To 2000 Charities In 110 Countries!”

“CEO Thomas C. Knobel Founder Nobel (company) Released WOWAPP!” the Oct. 30, 2015, MoneyMakerGroup post says.

WowApp is part of YouWowMe Limited of Hong Kong, according to its website.

From the WowApp Terms and Conditions (italics added):

In an effort to earn your loyalty and repeat business, YouWowMe offers you a 10% reward back (“Self-Earnings”) on all of your paid calls using the Service. Immediately following completion of each paid call, the Self-Earnings are credited to your WowApp Account as “WowCoins”, our own special currency. Starting from 100 Wow’s (or its equivalent $1.00), you may use Self-Earnings which are credited to your YouWowMe Account to place additional paid calls. Because you have this option of using your “WowCoins” to make future paid calls using WowApp, for which you will receive an additional 10% reward, our maximum reward for these call offering is 11.11% (“max self-earnings”).

Translated by Google Translate from Portuguese to English, The WowApp promo credited to Rodrigues reads, “It’s free. It is simple and gives every day gains! This application works better than whatapp and the coolest is that it generates every day gains. I believe this is the future. Free things that generate in earnings. USE EVERY DAY!”

Rodrigues has a history of hitching his wagon to “programs” that pitch communications devices.

The SEC, which charged Rodrigues with securities fraud in the TelexFree Ponzi- and pyramid case in 2014 and later linked him to alleged DFRF Enterprises Ponzi-schemer Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho, did not respond immediately to a request for comment. (Update 2:04 p.m. The SEC declined to comment.)

Rodrigues also is charged criminally in a separate case that alleges he engaged in visa fraud to enter the United States from his native Brazil.

NOTE: Our thanks to a reader.

May 6, 2016
SEC, Trustee, Defense Attorneys Mum On Possible Deeper Ties Between TelexFree And DFRF Schemes

Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho in a YouTube promo for the alleged DFRF Ponzi- and pyramid scheme.

The SEC declined Friday to say whether two individuals named prospective defendants in a massive class-action lawsuit brought by the Trustee in the 2014 TelexFree bankruptcy case were the same two persons charged with securities fraud last year by the agency in the DFRF Enterprises/Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho Ponzi- and pyramid-scheme case.

On June 30, 2015, Gaspar C. Jesus, 54, of Malden, Mass., and Eduardo N. Da Silva, 40, of Orlando, Fla., were among the nine named civil defendants in the DFRF/Filho case. Jesus allegedly received $56,000 from DFRF; Da Silva allegedly received $221,000.

Filho, also charged criminally, “orchestrated” the DFRF scheme with the “assistance” of Jesus, Da Silva and others, the SEC alleged at the time. The agency also has referred to Da Silva as simply “Silva.”

Promoters who move from one online investment fraud scheme to another and help scammers grease HYIP Ponzi wheels have posed a longtime problem. Both TelexFree and DFRF largely were aimed at Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking communities, the SEC has alleged.

And that’s not all they had in common. Investors in both MLM-style “programs,” according to court filings, sometimes paid their sponsors directly, rather than paying the companies.

“The amount of checks and cash that the individual defendants collected directly from investors is currently unknown,” the agency said about DFRF and how money entered the system last year.

Such mechanics can led to secret deal-making and the siphoning of funds by insiders, creating smaller frauds inside of larger ones.

On April 4, 2016, TelexFree Trustee Stephen B. Darr asked Chief Bankruptcy Judge Melvin S. Hoffman for permission to amend a defendant class-action case to include dozens of additional defendants alleged to be “winners” in the scheme.

Among the proposed additional defendants were “Gaspar Jesus” of Lynn, Mass., and “Eduardo N. Silva” of Orlando, Fla.

As noted above, the SEC declined to say whether the individuals were the same ones named in the DFRF/Filho case.

Jonathan Shapiro, a Boston defense attorney representing Gaspar C. Jesus in the DFRF/Filho case, said on Friday he “cannot confirm that the person named in the [TelexFree] bankruptcy matter is the same person I represent in the DFRF matter.”

On Saturday, Martin R. Rosenthal, a Boston attorney representing Eduardo N. Da Silva in the DFRF/Filho case, said he had “no comment” on whether his client was the same individual named in the Trustee’s proposed amended class action.

Darr has alleged Eduardo N. Silva received more than $2.4 million from TelexFree. Gaspar Jesus was alleged by Darr to have received $882,936. The Trustee did not return a request for comment on whether the individuals were the same ones named in the SEC’s fraud case against DFRF and Filho.

The SEC previously tied DFRF/Filho to TelexFree defendant Sann Rodrigues.

Both DFRF and TelexFree spread in part on YouTube.

The surname “Filho” also is referenced among the alleged “winners” in Darr’s proposed amended class action, though not specifically Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho.

Apr 24, 2016
SEC, Lawyer Clash Over Representation Of TelexFree Figure Sann Rodrigues; Lamborghini Once Owned By Accused DFRF Enterprises’ Ponzi Schemer Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho Was Used To Pay Sann’s Legal Fees

Small world between accused scammers: In court filings, the SEC says it has traced the ownership of a 2008 Lamborghini owned by TelexFree figure Sann Rodrigues and determined the car once was owned by accused DFRF Enterprises’ Ponzi schemer Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho. This, according to an SEC exhibit, was the check Filho used to purchase the vehicle and, apparently, a 2006 Ferrari. Source: Federal court files. Masking by PP Blog.

3RD UPDATE 9:36 AM EDT MARCH 17 U.S.A. This one features highly questionable dealings between an alleged MLM securities fraudster (TelexFree’s Sann Rodrigues) and an alleged Ponzi schemer (Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho of DFRF Enterprises). Filho also has been linked to the alleged 2010 Finanzas Forex/Evolution Market Group Ponzi scheme, a Ponzi-board “program” that allegedly had ties to the narcotics trade.

Suffice to say, this developing story has a lot of moving parts. Here’s our distillation:

On March 14, the SEC alleged that Rodrigues — whose assets are frozen — had transferred two expensive cars to Florida attorney Robert Eckard. Eckard is representing Rodrigues in the SEC’s civil case against him and other TelexFree figures and also in the Justice Department’s criminal case against him for immigration fraud.

The transfers potentially created a conflict of interest for Eckard, given that Rodrigues currently is jailed for civil contempt for violating the asset freeze and has not purged that contempt, according to the SEC. Getting out of hock with the court will cost the huckster at least $334,000, perhaps more. Rodrigues claims he cannot pay and that the court should free him and put him on a payment plan.

U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton of Massachusetts is hearing the case.

Why didn’t Rodrigues apply the two cars to purge the contempt?

Well, according to the SEC, the cars — a 2008 Lamborghini Gallardo and a 2012 Fisker Karma — were transferred to Eckard after the agency moved for contempt against Rodrigues in August 2015.

The SEC further suggested in its filings that Eckard paid far below book value for the cars. In the case of the used Lamborghini, the SEC said, the lawyer paid only $30,000 for a car that months earlier had sold for five times that sum.

Eckard paid only $20,000 for the Fisker Karma, which months earlier had sold for three times that sum, the SEC said. Fisker Karma is an electric luxury vehicle whose operator declared bankruptcy..

Reached by the PP Blog today, Eckard pointed to court filings in which he says Rodrigues — strapped for cash because of the freeze — paid him with cars, rather than cash. And, the lawyer contended, no conflict existed and the SEC had cleared the cars from the asset freeze.

Because Rodrigues paid with cars, not cash, it created an unusual situation with vehicle taxes, Eckard said. He added that he consulted with authorities in Pasco County and with the Florida Department of Revenue when transferring the cars to his name.

“I did not pay anything for the vehicle, but was required to put an amount down for tax purposes, since it was not a gift,” Eckard advised Gorton about the Lamborghini.

The Fisker Karma was accepted from Rodrigues as payment for legal fees and proved to be a lemon with bad electrical parts and bad tires, Eckard contended.

Eckard is moving to strike the SEC’s assertions from the court docket.

Both Rodrigues and Filho are Brazilian by birth and Florida residents. How they came together remains unclear.

The SEC linked Rodrigues to Filho last year.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

UPDATE 3:53 P.M. EDT U.S.A. MARCH 22: Looks as though Rodrigues will be released from jail, after coming up with a plan to purge the contempt. This matter is separate from the SEC’s securities-fraud case against him filed in April 2014.

Mar 16, 2016
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: SEC Charges Alleged Zeek Promoter Trudy Gilmond

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (5th Update 9:15 p.m. ET U.S.A.) The SEC has gone to federal court in the Western District of North Carolina and charged Zeek Rewards’ figure Trudy Gilmond with securities fraud, selling unregistered securities and failure to register as a broker-dealer.

Among the allegations: Gilmond knew Zeek was under investigation in 2012 and cashed out without telling investors the “program’s” days likely were numbered. She also is accused of joining with Zeek’s principals in playing word games to sanitize the fraud.

Gilmond, 45, of Vermont, is the first individual Zeek promoter charged in an alleged Ponzi- and pyramid scheme said to have gathered more than $850 million. She previously had been sued by court-appointed receiver Kenneth D. Bell as an alleged “winner” in the scheme.

The Zeek receivership estate was awarded a judgment of more than $2.1 million against Gilmond, who previously promoted the collapsed Regenesis 2X2 scheme investigated by the U.S. Secret Service in 2009.

In its complaint, the SEC said Gilmond is a “self-described network marketer who has participated in numerous MLM programs, operating under the trade name ‘Team Fired Up’ to attract followers and new recruits to join her ‘downline’ in those MLM programs (several of which ultimately collapsed in a fashion similar to ZeekRewards).”

Zeek’s former COO Dawn Wright-Olivares, an SEC civil defendant who also has been charged criminally, recruited Gilmond, the SEC charged.

Bell has raised the issue of MLMers or direct marketers moving from one fraud scheme to another. Gilmond now joins MLM promoter Matthew John Gagnon as a roving huckster pursued by both a receiver and the SEC. Gagnon also was pursued by criminal authorities.

It perhaps never has been more dangerous for hucksters to move from scheme to scheme to scheme. Serial promoters Faith Sloan and Sann Rodrigues were charged by the SEC in the TelexFree Ponzi- and pyramid case and also are being pursued by class-action attorneys. Rodrigues, who once claimed God invented MLM and “binary,” also has been hit with criminal charges of immigration fraud.

The SEC later tied Rodrigues to Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho, an alleged fraudster from DFRF Enterprises who previously was tied to the infamous EMG/Finanzas Forex Ponzi scheme.

With respect to Gilmond, the SEC described her as “one of the most successful and prolific promoters of ZeekRewards. From at least September 2011 until ZeekRewards was shut down in August 2012, Gilmond worked closely with the company founders and served as a senior ‘field liaison’ to promote the scheme, persuading scores of unsophisticated retail investors to buy ZeekRewards securities upon the promise of profit sharing. Gilmond reaped more than $1.7 million in transaction-based commissions and bogus profit-sharing for her recruiting efforts.”

Some of the specific allegations against Gilmond in the SEC complaint (italics added/editing performed):

Based on Gilmond’s efforts and the misstatements on the website, many of Gilmond’s team members ultimately purchased the ZeekRewards securities, earning Gilmond substantial commissions.

As a field liaison, Gilmond had access to portions of ZeekRewards’ internal electronic investor database so that she could make adjustments to individual accounts to address her affiliates’ concerns or complaints. Among other things, Gilmond had the ability to adjust the number of “points” earned and could assign downline recruits to certain affiliates, both of which impacted the measure of profit sharing or commissions paid to those affiliates. In addition, Gilmond developed close ties with Wright-Olivares and other ZeekRewards insiders, which gave her unique access and insight not available to a typical investor.

Having worked closely with the company founders and insiders to promote the scheme in her role as a senior field liaison, and given her prior experience with similar MLM programs that ultimately collapsed, Gilmond knew or should have known that the ZeekRewards scheme’s outsize returns (averaging 1.5% per day) were too good to be true and could not be sustained.

Gilmond also helped conceal from investors and regulators the true nature of the ZeekRewards scheme. To that end, Wright-Olivares and others directed, and Gilmond helped implement, several superficial or nominal changes to certain ZeekRewards features. This included removing any references on the website to the terms “investment” and “ROI”; substituting a daily award percentage that in the aggregate approximated 125% every 90 days rather than “guaranteeing” a 125% return; and requiring investors to give away VIP bids to foster the illusion of contributing efforts to the enterprise.

Aware that ZeekRewards was under investigation by several law enforcement agencies and that the business was in serious trouble in 2012, Gilmond and others withdrew substantial sums of money from the scheme before it was shut down, without advising investors that the scheme was likely to collapse.

Read the SEC statement and complaint against Gilmond.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

Dec 8, 2015
As Was Case With DFRF Enterprises And Rojo Filho, YouTube Promos Played Role In Criminal Ponzi Prosecution Of The Achieve Community’s Troy Barnes

From a 2014 YouTube promo for The Achieve Community. Authorship is unclear.

Still promoting your securities scam on YouTube?

As the PP Blog reported on Oct. 3, YouTube promos for the alleged DFRF Enterprises’ Ponzi scheme were cited in two of three wire-fraud counts against accused operator Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho. Filho, allegedly at the helm of a fraud that gathered tens of millions of dollars, has been in federal custody since his July 21 arrest in Boca Raton, Fla.

The office of U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz of the District of Massachusetts is prosecuting the Filho criminal case, and the SEC simultaneously is prosecuting a civil case. The SEC has warned for years about securities scams spreading on social media.

It turns out that YouTube videos also are playing a role in the criminal prosecution for wire fraud and wire-fraud conspiracy of Troy Barnes of The Achieve Community — or TAC. That prosecution was announced Nov. 3 by the office of U.S. Attorney Jill Westmoreland Rose of the Western District of North Carolina.

Among other things, the indictment against Barnes alleges that “YouTube communications” played a role in duping Achieve participants and therefore constituted part of a wire-fraud conspiracy.

Barnes, 53, resided in Riverview, Mich. He is free on bond, pending trial. In addition to the conspiracy count against him, Barnes also faces three counts of wire fraud for three transactions in 2014 involving the purchase of Achieve “positions” by victims, according to the indictment.

“By the time the scheme collapsed in February 2015, the conspirators had defrauded over 10,000 investors in the Charlotte-area and worldwide, and owed victim-investors at least $51 million in purported investment returns, yet only had available approximately $2.6 million,” prosecutors said. “According to court records, over the course of the scheme, Barnes used over $140,000 of the victims’ money for his own enrichment.”

Barnes co-conspirator was Kristi Johnson, 60, who resided in Aurora, Colo., prosecutors said. She has already pleaded guilty to wire-fraud conspiracy and is scheduled for sentencing Nov. 19, before U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn Jr.

Achieve offered a 700 percent ROI, according to the SEC and federal prosecutors. Barnes and Johnson also face a civil action by the SEC.

In December 2014, the PP Blog reported that Achieve boosters parroting each other were circulating a YouTube 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.”

Said Rose’s office on Tuesday: “According to court filings, as the scheme grew in size and scope, Barnes and his 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.'”

Scammers from AdSurfDaily in 2008 tried the same tactic. It backfired, as it later would do with Achieve and other “programs,” including Zeek Rewards.

Among other things, Achieve claimed $50 turned into $400. The U.S. Secret Service brought the Achieve criminal case and the ASD prosecution. ASD was a 1-percent-a-day “program.”

The PP Blog’s Achieve coverage received a mention Nov. 3 in the Charlotte Observer. See the Blog’s archive of Achieve Community references.

UPDATE 7:22 P.M. ET U.S.A. Scheduled for sentencing Nov. 19, Kristi Johnson today asked the court for a sentencing delay. Specifics were filed under seal. This is from a motion on the public record (italics added):

1. Pursuant to Local Rule of Criminal Procedure 55.1, Ms. Johnson respectfully requests this Court to seal the Joint Motion to Continue Sentencing because it contains sensitive information regarding a criminal investigation.

2. Public dissemination of the Joint Motion to Continue Sentencing may interfere with the administration of justice. Therefore, there is good cause for the Court to seal said motion.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

Nov 5, 2015
Banks Should Have Googled Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho, Attorney Tells Bloomberg Business

The lede in a story this morning by Neil Weinberg of Bloomberg Business:

“The U.S. requires banks to know their customers. Looks like several big ones, including Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co., may have missed getting acquainted with Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho.”

Here’s a link to the story, titled “Ponzi Suspect’s 17 Accounts Raise Questions Over Bank Safeguards.”

The PP Blog first wrote about Filho in May 2010 in the context of the deeply disturbing Evolution Market Group/ FinanzasForex scheme. Money was linked to the narcotics trade.

As we reported more than five years ago (italics added):

Research by the PP Blog suggests the purported investment program was so sordid that promoters even claimed some of the funds were being used for the “humanitarian” purpose of assisting kidnapping victims in Colombia. In a sickening display of marketing theatrics, a claim was made that investors could “adopt” kidnapping victims for a payment of $1,000 and that the company would set aside $500 in corporate funds for each victim so that their families could have bright futures if the victims ultimately were released by their captors.

The HYIP scheme allegedly was associated with an entity known as Evolution Market Group (EMG), which purportedly had a Forex component known as FinanzasForex. Investigators alleged in January that there were schemes within schemes in a tangled web of domestic and international deception that featured dozens of bank accounts, shell companies and various fronts for money-laundering enterprises, including companies purportedly in businesses such as real estate and car washes.

The scheme was so corrupt, according to court filings, that some investors were told that, in order to leave the program whole, they had to recruit new investors, have the new investors pay them directly — and use the proceeds from the new investors to “recover” their initial outlays.

“If the banks had just Googled this guy, they would have known enough to stay away,” Evans Carter, a Framingham, Massachusetts-based attorney, told Bloomberg.

Filho’s name later would surface in the preposterous DFRF Enterprises’ scheme that has led to civil and criminal charges against him. The SEC has linked Filho to TelexFree figure Sann Rodrigues. Those ties may prove to be more troubling as the litigation winds its way through the courts.

See BehindMLM.com story dated today: “Sann Rodrigues laundered assets through DFRF Enterprises.”

Oct 8, 2015
2 Of 3 Wire-Fraud Counts Against DFRF’s Filho Pertain To YouTube Videos; Feds Busy With Search Warrants

Daniel Filho in a YouTube pitch for DFRF.

EDITOR’S NOTE: See related story yesterday.

Pitching your HYIP fraud scheme on YouTube and deceiving your audience en masse? You might need a good attorney: Two of the three wire-fraud counts against alleged DFRF Enterprises operator Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho pertain to YouTube pitches.

One, allegedly uploaded on Oct. 20, 2014, is titled “Primeiro Evento DFRF.” The other, allegedly uploaded on May 9, 2015, is titled “DFRF Entrevista Stock Market Registration and Card With CEO Daniel Filho.” The third wire-fraud count involves “a wire transfer of $1.8 million from an Eastern Bank account ending in 7206, in the name of DFRF Enterprises, LLC, to a Citibank account ending in 4458, in the name of DFRF Enterprises, LLC,” according to an indictment returned Aug. 5.

The video below has the same title of second one referenced in the indictment, but may be a copy:

Some HYIP promoters may not know that making false claims on YouTube can result in criminal charges of wire fraud and potentially decades in prison. Filho is alleged to have been at the helm of a $23 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme.

From the Filho indictment.

Other records show criminal investigators have been busy executing search warrants — no fewer than six of them, including ones that suggest there could be criminal actions coming against one or more others.

These warrants, according to docket entries, involve at least three mobile phones with numbers in the regions of Orlando and Tallahassee, Fla., and San Francisco. The Feds also have sought “GPS Location information” for a “Rolls Royce Ghost,” plus information on AOL and .com (dotcom) email addresses with DFRF links.

The SEC, among other agencies, has been warning for years about scams spreading on YouTube and other social media. Here is one such warning.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

Oct 3, 2015
BRIEF: DFRF’s Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho Indicted; Feds Establish Victims’ Page

Arrested and jailed in July, alleged Ponzi schemer Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho earlier was tooling around in this gold Lamborghini. From a YouTube video. Highlights by PP Blog.

Federal criminal prosecutors in the office of U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz of the District of Massachusetts have moved to stay discovery in the SEC’s civil case against DFRF Enterprises and alleged Ponzi- and pyramid-scheme operator Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho.

Initially charged in July 2015 via criminal complaint with wire fraud, Filho was indicted by a grand jury on Aug. 5 and charged with three counts of wire fraud. Prosecutors have established a page here and are soliciting information from potential victims.

In essence, criminal prosecutors are arguing that a stay is warranted as a means of assuring Filho does not use the relaxed discovery standards in the civil action to gain an unfair advantage in the criminal case.

As of yesterday, Filho did not have counsel in either the civil case or the criminal case, prosecutors said.

They also thumb-nailed the criminal allegations. From prosecutors’ motion to intervene in the civil case (italics added):

The investment pitch that Filho and others gave was, in sum and substance, as follows: By sending DFRF as little as $1,000—or as much as an individual wanted to invest—and becoming a DFRF “member,” potential investors could share in the large profits DFRF was generating through highly profitable gold-mining operations in Africa. Investor money would first be sent to a private bank in Switzerland, where the money would be “leveraged” or increased. DFRF would then invest “member” money in the gold-mining operations, resulting in even greater profits, of approximately, or up to, 15% per month. “Members’” investments would be 100% insured and they could get their principal investment returned anytime they wanted.

According to the Indictment, many of the representations that Filho and others working at his direction made were false and misleading. For example, DFRF never transmitted any investor money to a private Swiss bank and never transmitted any investor money to gold-mining operations in Africa. The Indictment also alleges that Filho concealed his scheme in various ways, such as distributing debit cards, which “members” could purportedly use to withdraw funds, but which did not actually work. In Ponzi-scheme-like fashion, Filho also recycled money provided by some investors to pay other investors who were expecting their principal or returns thereon.

Investigators have tied Filho to Sann Rodrigues, a figure in the TelexFree pyramid- and Ponzi case.

Criminal prosecutors successfully intervened in the SEC’s civil case against TelexFree, believed to be one of the largest pyramid- and Ponzi schemes in U.S. history and to have gathered on the order of $1.8 billion through the firm’s MLM program.

Though allegedly smaller than TelexFree with an estimated haul of about $23 million, DFRF allegedly targeted some of the same affinity groups targeted by TelexFree.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

Oct 2, 2015
Filho Listed As Inmate At Federal Detention Center

Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho exits a gold Lamborghini in the area of Pine Street in Orlando, Fla. Source: DFRF promo on YouTube, c. March 2015.

UPDATED 8:41 A.M. EDT U.S.A. DFRF Enterprises’ and Platinum Trade Bancorp figure Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho this morning is listed as an inmate at FDC Miami, a federal detention facility.

His inmate registration number is 08217-104 and he is listed in federal Bureau of Prison records as “Daniel F Rojo Filho.” Some apparent DFRF apologists reportedly have claimed in recent days that Filho, 47, had been released from federal custody and that the DFRF “program” alleged to have gathered nearly $23 million would resume business as usual.

Filho was arrested July 21 in Boca Raton, Fla., on a warrant from federal court in Massachusetts. He is accused of wire fraud in his alleged operation of DFRF, which the SEC has described as a pyramid- and Ponzi scheme that targeted “Spanish and Portuguese-speaking communities in Massachusetts, Florida, and elsewhere in the U.S.”

Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho. Source: DFRF promo on YouTube.

Filho is expected to be taken to Massachusetts by the U.S. Marshals Service to face the charge there. It is unclear whether a bail sum has been set for the accused scammer. He is a citizen of Brazil, according to U.S. court filings.

Scheduling details are unknown. The FBI is leading the criminal probe, with the SEC heading up the civil investigation. DFRF is alleged to have gathered on the order of $23 million fraudulently, putting investors who may speak Spanish or Portuguese in harm’s way.

Records at the Federal Election Commission show a 2012 donation from Filho to the reelection campaign of President Obama. Those records list his then-employer as Platinum Trade Bancorp.

DFRF began selling “memberships” last year, the SEC said on July 2.

“DFRF promoted the investment opportunity through online videos in which Filho falsely claimed that the company had registered with the SEC and its stock would be publicly traded. As DFRF’s marketing reach widened, membership sales dramatically increased from under $100,000 in June 2014 to more than $4 million in March 2015 alone.”

Filho has piled up an assortment of expensive automobiles by siphoning millions of dollars from DFRF investors, according to the SEC. At least one of them is a gold Lamborghini that was seen cruising the streets of Boca Raton earlier this year.

In 2010, Filho was a figure in the Evolution Marketing Group/Finanzas Forex Ponzi case. Some of the money was tied to the narcotics trade.

The “Fernandes” part of his name sometimes has been spelled “Fernandez.”

Jul 30, 2015
Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho, Accused In Alleged DFRF Enterprises Ponzi Scheme, Made Donation To 2012 Obama Campaign: What Is Platinum Trade Bancorp?

Federal Election Commission records list this donation from Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho to the 2012 reelection campaign of President Obama. Filho’s employer is listed as Platinum Trade Bancorp. Red highlight/redaction by PP Blog.

In 2012, Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho, purportedly an employee of an entity known as Platinum Trade Bancorp and using the address of a mansion in Boca Raton, Fla., made a $250 campaign contribution to Obama for America, according to Federal Election Commission records.

The PP Blog is declining to publish the address of the 6,742-square-foot (est.) waterfront property, which appears not to have been owned by Filho. Records suggest the six-bedroom home has at least 6,200 square feet with air-conditioning and a separate quarters for domestic staff.

It sold for $2.025 million in August 2013, but Filho was listed neither as buyer nor seller. If he ever lived in the mansion, it appears he was a tenant, not an owner.

The donation to President Obama’s reelection campaign in Filho’s name (and listing the address of the Boca Raton mansion) was recorded on Oct. 16, 2012, just three weeks before the Nov. 6 general election that returned Obama to the White House for four more years. Obama is a Democrat.

Filho, now implicated criminally and civilly by the FBI and the SEC in the alleged DFRF Enterprises Ponzi- and pyramid scheme that traded on an international gold-mining theme, is not a U.S. citizen, according to court filings. Rather, he is a citizen of Brazil.

Campaign donations by “foreign nationals” are illegal under U.S. law. There is an exception for U.S. residents who have a green card “indicating his or her lawful admittance for permanent residence in the United States,” according to the FEC.

It is unclear whether Filho has a green card and is in the country lawfully. Federal prosecutors in Massachusetts described him July 22 as an Orlando resident and fugitive arrested the day before “coming out of a restaurant in Boca Raton.”

Sann Rodrigues, a defendant in the epic TelexFree Ponzi- and pyramid case and an alleged Filho business associate, was arrested in May 2015 on a charge of immigration fraud. Like Filho, Rodrigues is a citizen of Brazil. Prosecutors said Rodrigues lied to get a green card.

Both men have listed addresses in Florida and Massachusetts and have been implicated in alleged frauds targeted at people who speak Portuguese or Spanish.

FEC records show that the donation in Filho’s name lists him as “Chairman of the Board” of Platinum Trade Bancorp. Where the purported business was based is unclear. No such company appears to exist in Florida.

The name of the purported firm, however, is similar to the name of Platinum Swiss Trust, a company the SEC said played a role in the DFRF fraud.

Platinum Swiss Trust, the SEC alleged, is a “purported Swiss private bank that is not actually authorized to conduct banking activities in Switzerland.” It purportedly is associated with Heriberto C. Perez Valdes, 46, of Miami. Valdes is a DFRF codefendant in the SEC’s civil case.

DFRF, the agency said, advanced a story that it has a $3.1 billion line of credit with Platinum Swiss Trust and used investors money to “leverage the credit line and generate a total return of 600%.”

Darren Covar, a Florida immigration attorney who appeared with Filho and others in a DFRF promo, is listed in FEC records as a contributor to Democratic causes. He has not been accused of wrongdoing.

FEC records lists Covar as having made $2,800 in 2012 contributions, though none to Obama. These contributions consisted of $300 to the Democratic Executive Committee of Florida, and $2,500 to the Kristen Jacobs for Congress campaign. Jacobs, a Democrat running for seat in the U.S. House, lost the race to Democrat Lois Frankel, the former mayor of West Palm Beach and the former minority leader of Florida’s state house.

Whether bail has been set for Filho is unclear. The U.S. Attorney’s office in Massachusetts did not return an inquiry on the matter.

Filho made an appearance in federal court in the Southern District of Florida yesterday. Miami defense attorney David A. Howard made a “temporary” appearance for him, according to the docket of the case.

Howard did not immediately return an inquiry for comment on Filho’s bail status.

Court records suggest he is in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and will be returned from Florida to face the DFRF-related criminal charge of wire fraud in federal court in Massachusetts.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

Jul 29, 2015
DFRF Asset Freeze Affects Accounts At At Least 13 Banks; Judge Orders Repatriation, Blocks Flow Of New Money

UPDATED 6:55 A.M. EDT JULY 30 U.S.A. In the SEC’s civil case against DFRF Enterprises, a federal judge in Massachusetts has issued an order that freezes accounts at at least 13 banks and enjoins DFRF from soliciting or accepting any more money or opening any new accounts.

Dated July 28, the order by Chief U.S. District Judge Patti B. Saris also directs DFRF to “take such steps as are necessary to repatriate and deposit into the registry of the Court any and all funds or other assets that were obtained directly or indirectly from any investors in connection with the activities described in the Complaint and that are presently located outside of the United States.”

At the same time, the order prohibits DFRF from withdrawing, paying, dissipating, selling, encumbering, assigning and transferring assets wherever such assets may exist or diminishing their value “in any way.” The order further prohibits DFRF from charging on or drawing from any credit arrangements it may have.

In short, the order lays to waste claims from DFRF and certain individual promoters that the purported opportunity would simply conduct business outside the United States — despite the gravity of the pyramid- and Ponzi allegations the SEC filed last month and the arrest in Florida last week of accused operator Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho.

The order applies to DFRF, Filho and six promoters charged by the SEC June 30. The case was announced July 2. The SEC’s case is ongoing, and the order is not limited to the 13 identified banks.

The 13 identified in the order are Bank of America, Central Florida Educators Federal Credit Union, Citibank, Citizens Bank, Eastern Bank, First Bank of Puerto Rico, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Regions Bank, Santander Bank, Suncoast Credit Union, SunTrust Bank, TD Bank and Wells Fargo Bank.

It was not immediately clear whether any of the banks halted DFRF-related account activity prior to the SEC action. The identities of the individual account-holders also was unclear.

In its complaint last month, the SEC tied Filho to TelexFree figure Sann Rodrigues, a defendant in the agency’s April 2014 civil case that alleged TelexFree was a massive Ponzi- and pyramid scheme.

The PP Blog highly recommends that persons interested in the DFRF case visit the website of the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida to read up on the 2010 Evolution Market Group/Finanzas Forex case.

Then visit the website of the remissions administrator in the EMG/Finanzas case. You will find that accounts linked to Filho were seized in that case and that a gold theme and expensive automobiles — elements in the DFRF case — also were elements in the EMG/Finanzas case.

You’ll also find that some of the money tied up in the EMG/Finanzas case also was linked to the narcotics business.

Also see this story, published May 16, 2010, by the PP Blog: KABOOM! Agents Tie Alleged ‘Evolution Market Group’ Ponzi And HYIP Fraud Scheme To Narcotics Case In Arizona; Tens Of Millions Of Dollars Seized; Firms Promoted On ASA Monitor, TalkGold Forums

Also see this story, published March 25, 2011, by the PP Blog: URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: German Cardona Soler, Figure Associated With International Forex Scam Pushed On TalkGold And MoneyMakerGroup, Arrested By Spanish National Police; Agency Alleges $300 Million Ponzi

As was the case with TelexFree, the SEC said in court filings last month that some DFRF investors paid their sponsors directly, instead of paying DFRF.

“The amount of checks and cash that the individual defendants collected directly from investors is currently unknown,” the agency said last month.

Circuitous money flow is a core signature of an online securities scam. So are remarkable earnings tales, hotel pitchfests and sea cruises, all of which are elements in the TelexFree and DFRF cases.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

Jul 28, 2015