PatrickPretty.com

Tag: Eli Weinstein

  • THIS AFTERNOON: 9 Visitors From 6 Countries Arrive At PP Blog Within 5 Minutes; All Pull Exact Same September 2010 Story About MPB Today Multilevel Marketing Program, Then Vanish

    In a highly unusual — and statistically improbable occurrence — nine visitors from six countries arrived on the PP Blog within five minutes today and sought unsuccessfully to pull the exact same story on the MPB Today multilevel marketing program. With the apparent aid of a script, all of the visitors also attempted unsuccessfully to pull a story about an alleged Ponzi caper in New Jersey.

    The MPB Today story was nearly six months old, and the New Jersey story was nearly seven months old. The visitors left as quickly as they came, and appear not to have sought to pull any other stories.  Although it is common for individual visitors to pull “old” stories, it is decidedly uncommon for multiple visitors to attempt to pull the same “old” stories from the Blog’s archives of nearly 1,100 stories virtually simultaneously.

    Because the pattern suddenly ceased and no other individual reader outside the subset of “sudden” visitors sought to pull the same stories, it does not appear likely that the URLs for the stories appeared on a common website today through which visitors all sought to load the same pages virtually simultaneously.

    Readers routinely post links to the PP Blog on forums. But as the forum posts age and are buried by new posts, the Blog receives fewer and fewer visits from the older links.

    MPB Today is based in Florida. It purportedly operates a “grocery” program, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture said last year that it was investigating certain claims made about the firm.

    The circumstances and motives surrounding the visits were not immediately clear. The Blog recorded visits from IPs in the United States, Russia, Brazil, Spain, Thailand and South Korea. Logs suggest a script of some sort was used, and that the visitors sought to pull an MPB Today story that was published Sept. 25.

    Logs also suggest that the same visitors sought to pull  a story that appeared Aug. 12 about Eli Weinstein. Weinstein was charged in an alleged Ponzi caper that may involve $200 million or more.

    The PP Blog’s Weinstein story included a reference to Nevin Shapiro, who was arrested in New Jersey in April 2010 on charges of running an $880 million Ponzi scheme involving a bogus wholesale grocery business.

    In October and November, the PP Blog experienced sustained DDoS attacks. During one three-hour window, the Blog received more than 6 million “hits.” The attacks were reported to law enforcement, and coincided with the Blog’s reporting on MPB Today and Ponzi scheme and criminals’ forums.

    The PP Blog also has been subjected to email spoofing, virtually relentless spamming, YouTube attacks, threats of “war” and threats to start “fires” because of its reporting about the alleged ASD Ponzi scheme, and a false registration to a “program” in which the Blog was referred to as “Rat Bastard.” The “Rat Bastard” reference appears to have been associated with a cash-gifting program.

  • BULLETIN: $200 Million Ponzi And Affinty-Fraud Scheme Alleged By Feds In New Jersey; Eli Weinstein Arrested By FBI

    UPDATED 2:40 P.M. EDT (U.S.A) The Newark Star-Ledger and the Asbury Park Press are reporting that New Jersey real-estate developer Eli Weinstein has been arrested by the FBI in a Ponzi and affinity-fraud case that may involve $200 million or more.

    Both newspapers had photographers on the scene as the arrest was made this morning.

    2:40 P.M. UPDATE: Weinstein is 35. He lives in Lakewood, N.J. Federal prosecutors, led by U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman, have issued a statement that describes the case as a Ponzi and affinity-fraud scheme targeting orthodox believers of the Jewish faith.

    “Weinstein is charged with offering an array of lucrative investment opportunities that served the single purpose of fattening his wallet,” Fishman said. “It is always offensive when someone steals from others to finance his own luxurious lifestyle, but it is especially galling to exploit a community with whom one shares an inherent trust.”

    A veteran FBI agent said the scheme was contemptible.

    “Based on the allegations in the criminal complaint – lies, threats, deliberate misrepresentations, and even counterfeit checks, it is clear to us that the defendants in this matter exploited the close community ties of the Orthodox Jewish Community for one goal: to steal money through an elaborate real estate and Ponzi scheme,” said Michael B. Ward, special agent in charge of the Newark division.

    “This investigation highlights the need for consumers to do their own homework before entering into any business arrangements and not simply take the word of the other partners,” Ward continued. “If something seems too good to be true, it almost always is.”

    Ward credited the IRS for assisting in the probe, saying its role was important in unmasking the scheme.

    “At its most basic level, this is a case about greed and the abuse of trust,” Ward said. “The subjects in this case did not utilize overly sophisticated fraud schemes, but rather took advantage of trusted relationships to persuade victims to invest in their staged real estate ventures, which were often supported by false and forged documents.”

    Also charged in the case was Vladimir Siforov, 43, of Manalapan, N.J. He “remains at large,” prosecutors said.

    Read the breaking-news coverage at the Star-Ledger site at NJ.com.

    Read the Asbury Park Press coverage at APP.com.

    Weinstein’s New Jersey Ponzi arrest was the second in the state in recent months to allegedly involve a spectacular sum of money.

    Nevin J. Shapiro, 41, of Miami Beach, Fla., was arrested in New Jersey in April on charges of running an $880 million Ponzi scheme involving a bogus wholesale grocery business.

    The alleged Weinstein and Shapiro schemes combined may involve more than $1 billion.