Tag: FDLE

  • BULLETIN: Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Shot And Killed In Florida After Pointing Pistol At SWAT Team Members, Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office Says

    americaatrisk4BULLETIN: Jeffrey Allen Wright, a purported “sovereign citizen” wanted on arrest warrants for counterfeiting, was shot and killed March 8 after pointing a pistol at a Sheriff’s SWAT Team in Navarre, Fla., the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office said.

    Wright, 55, had previous clashes with the Sheriff’s Office, the agency said.

    From a statement by the Sheriff’s Office (Italics added):

    The warrants for Wright’s arrest were for five counts of Counterfeiting, and five counts of Passing a Counterfeit Bill (both 3rd degree felonies). Wright has had confrontations in the past with the Sheriff’s Office, claiming that he is a “Sovereign Citizen” and denounced his United States Citizenship.

    Wright has also told the Sheriff’s Office that he does not acknowledge State Laws and that he doesn’t have to comply with law enforcement because their requests are “unlawful”. Due to Wright’s perception of law enforcement, numerous deputies went to his residence to facilitate the arrest. When Wright was encountered by deputies, Wright produced a black object from his pocket, appearing to be a firearm, and concealed it behind his back. Wright then fled into the garage area and went up the stairs to the second floor. Wright then began to barricade the stairway so that deputies could not approach.

    Wright then discharged a firearm one time. Wright made statements that he was “not a U.S. citizen, but a sovereign citizen, and that he would not be a servant of the king”. Wright also stated that if any deputies came up the stairwell, they would “not come back down”. Wright also stated that if deputies “if you ever want to see your families again, you will leave”.

    Deputies withdrew from the immediate area and called a SWAT Team and negotiators, the Sheriff’s Office said.

    “Wright refused to continue conversing with negotiators, and continued to state that deputies would have to ‘come up and get me,’” the agency said. “As the situation progressed, and due to Wright being armed, the SWAT team deployed gas into the second story of the garage. Wright was continuously given commands to come out, unarmed; however Wright would continue to yell ‘come and get me.’

    Matters then turned even worse, the agency said.

    “Wright then began to break out windows with a semi-automatic pistol,” the Sheriff’s Office said. “Wright then went to the top of the stairwell and began to remove the items he had used to barricade the entrance. Wright sat down at the top of the stairs, holding a handgun. While refusing to obey lawful commands to surrender, Wright raised the pistol and pointed it directly at SWAT team members at the bottom of the stairwell. Due to there being a great danger of being shot, three SWAT deputies simultaneously discharged their firearms at Wright.”

    The purported “sovereign” was pronounced dead at the scene.

    As is typical in officer-involved shootings, the three deputies have been placed on paid administrative leave, the agency said.

    The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) is conducting an investigation, the sheriff’s office said.

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Gary Calhoun, MPB Today Operator, Pleads Guilty To Racketeering Charge In Florida

    Gary Allen Calhoun
    Gary Allen Calhoun

    URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (UPDATED 1:06 P.M. ET U.S.A.) Gary Calhoun, the operator of the the MPB Today MLM “program” and a companion grocery-delivery business known as Southeastern Delivery, has pleaded guilty to a state-level racketeering charge in Florida. He was charged in December.

    Calhoun, 56, of Pensacola, was not immediately sentenced. But he is expected to turn in his passport to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement “within 48 hours,” according to the docket of the case in Escambia County. The docket also notes correspondence from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida and references a “voluntary forfeiture agreement.”

    In July, federal prosecutors filed a forfeiture complaint for a property at 8812 Grow Drive, also known as Grow Road, in Pensacola. The property is the business address of Southeastern Delivery and also the address of a Calhoun-controlled entity known as WL Property Holdings LLC. The property also is the address of MPB Today.

    MPB Today was among a number of “programs” pitched on Ponzi-scheme forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup.

    The Calhoun guilty plea represents the second time in 24 hours that the name of a “program” operator whose “opportunity” was pitched on the Ponzi boards has surfaced in the news, either as a current prison inmate or potential one.

    David Merrick, the operator of the Trader’s International Return Network (TIRN) fraud scheme that was promoted from the Ponzi boards in 2008 and 2009, was sentenced in 2012 to 97 months in federal prison and was handed additional civil sanctions and a restitution order yesterday totaling more than $22.8 million.

    MPB Today was promoted on the Ponzi boards in 2010.

    Some individual MPB Today promotions were bizarre, including one that cast President Obama and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as Nazis. Another MPB Today promoter videotaped himself making a deposit of his MPB Today commissions at an FDIC-insured bank. At least one of MPB Today’s banks was operating under an FDIC consent agreement.

    Still other MPB Today affiliates taped commercials for the enterprise inside Walmart stores. Some promoters asserted Walmart was affiliated with MPB Today and approved by the government. One MPB Today affiliate videotaped a UPS driver making a delivery of a television set.

    The video’s narrator said the TV has been purchased “kind of, indirectly” with a Walmart gift card from MPB Today. Other MPB Today affiliates claimed a one-time purchase of $200 in groceries from Southeastern Delivery set the stage for MPB Today affiliates to receive free groceries and gasoline for life.

    Clinton once sat on Walmart’s board of directors. Why some MPB Today affiliates apparently believed it prudent to attack Democratic politicians in a bid to sign up MPB Today affiliates remains unclear.

    Promos for MPB Today were targeted at foreclosure subjects, Food Stamp recipients and the poor — and victims of the Florida-based AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme. In 2010, Walmart declined to comment on MPB Today-related claims.

    Some MLM “opportunities” are infamous for implying in promos that they’re endorsed by famous business people or famous companies. MPB Today used images of Donald Trump and Warren Buffett in promos, and affiliates regularly implied that Walmart had endorsed MPB Today.

    From our files:

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    mpbtodayobamalarge11

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    mpbtodayupsdrivesmall

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    mpbtodayfreedomsmall2

  • BULLETIN: Gary Calhoun, Operator Of MPB Today ‘Grocery’ Program, Arrested On Racketeering Charge

    Gary Calhoun: Source: Escambia County Booking photo.
    Gary Calhoun: Source: Escambia County Booking photo.

    Gary Allen Calhoun was arrested and booked in Escambia County, Fla., on a racketeering charge last month, according to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.

    Details of the case were not immediately clear early this morning. Calhoun, 56, of Pensacola, appears to have been released on bond. A note in the booking information references the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. It was not immediately clear if FDLE was the agency that carried out the arrest. Calhoun was the operator of the MPB Today MLM “program.”

    Whether the arrest had anything to do with MPB Today also was not immediately clear. The “program’s” website has been offline for weeks, and there were reports that an MPB Today-related investigation was under way.

    Calhoun’s arraignment is set for Jan. 17.

    MPB Today became a popular “program” in 2010, fueled in part by regular check-waving videos on YouTube by affiliates. Critics of the “opportunity,” which was popular on the Ponzi boards, were described as “idiots.”

    Among the MPB pitchmen was “Ken Russo,” later of Zeek Rewards. In August 2012, the SEC described Zeek as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid fraud.

    The MPB Today “program” was marked by strangeness, including an affiliate promo that depicted President Obama as a Nazi, First Lady Michelle Obama as an embarrassment to the family dog and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as a bawling drunk.

    In 2010, MPB Today described Calhoun as 2003’s “Businessman of the Year” as recognized “by the National Republican Congressional Committee’s [NRCC] Business Advisory Council.”

    Ponzi schemer Andy Bowdoin of Florida-based AdSurfDaily also claimed to be an NRCC award recipient. ASD was a $119 million Ponzi scheme.

  • Florida Man Who Hosts Zeek Calls Featuring Robert Craddock Was Winner In Botfly LLC Ponzi Scheme

    ponzinews1UPDATED 3:57 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) Gregory Baker, a Florida man who hosts calls featuring Robert Craddock in the aftermath of the SEC’s Ponzi-scheme case against Zeek Rewards, is listed as a winner in the Botfly LLC Ponzi scheme case, one of the Sunshine State’s ugliest fraud schemes.

    Prosecutors said that David Lewalski, Botfly’s now-imprisoned operator, tried to dupe investors into not cooperating with investigators and to coach investors on their testimony. The SEC last week accused Craddock of encouraging Zeek affiliates “not to cooperate” with Kenneth D. Bell, the court appointed receiver.

    No charges have been brought against Craddock.

    Court records show that Baker, who has used an address in the Tampa suburb of Valrico, was sued for his Botfly winnings by Michael E. Moecker, the court-appointed receiver in the Botfly case. Other records show that Baker presided over a now-defunct Florida entity known as Integrity Currency Traders LLC.

    Integrity was formed on March 15, 2010. Less than three weeks later — on April 1, 2010 — then-Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum alleged that Botfly was a massive Ponzi scheme that affected at least 550 investors, gathered tens of millions of dollars and got its name from “an insect whose larvae burrow under the skin of mammals and eat their flesh until they mature into an adult fly.”

    Bell asserted last week that he had “obtained information indicating that large sums of [Zeek] Receivership Assets may have been transferred by net winners to other entities in order to hide or shelter those assets.” The receiver did not identify winners who may be hiding assets.

    Moecker sued Baker in December 2011, alleging that Baker had received $8,580 in ill-gotten gains from Botfly, a purported Forex company prosecutors said promised a return on “promissory notes” of 10 percent a month. Under the terms of a settlement with the receiver, Baker agreed on Jan. 31, 2012 — only weeks after being sued — to pay the Botfly receivership estate $7,722, according to court filings. The sum represented a discount of $858 from Baker’s alleged winnings.

    Zeek planted the seed that it provided a return of 1.5 percent a day.

    Whether Baker was a member of Zeek when he paid back his Botfly winnings is unclear. In August 2012, the SEC described Zeek as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme that potentially had defrauded more than 1 million people. Baker now is listed on a website styled gofunplaces.info as a member of the “Top Team” and a leader of Go Fun Places, a nascent MLM program.

    Lewalski operated Botfly in part from the Florida home of his 82-year-old mother, according to prosecutors.

    After McCollum sued Lewalski/Botfly, Lewalski chartered a private Gulfstream IV jet at a cost of $172,744 to fly from the United States to Belgium, prosecutors said. He eventually became the target of a federal criminal probe and, in November 2011, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. Moecker, the receiver, sued Baker a month later.

    Lewalski became infamous for wretched conduct before, during and after the Botfly probe. He directed conspiracy theories at investigators, complaining about “recent ‘Orwellian’ totalitarian tactics” allegedly employed by U.S. investigators in Ponzi scheme cases. He described a female attorney working for the receiver as a “c[$%!]” and a “Nazi,” and further described a female investigator for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) as “nuts” and a “bitch” — all while seeking to obstruct the Botfly probe, according to prosecutors.

    After the SEC brought the Zeek Ponzi prosecution, Craddock dropped the name of McCollum in a conference call, describing the former Attorney General now in private practice at the SNR Denton law firm as a good friend. Craddock’s efforts to secure counsel through SNR Denton for a purportedly “protected” group of Zeek affiliates upset by the actions of the SEC and the appointment of a receiver in the Zeek case ultimately failed.

    On the line with Craddock in one of his Zeek-related conference calls was Todd Disner, a Zeek pitchman and a figure in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme story. McCollum sued ASD in 2008. His office later provided the names of ASD victims to the Feds as part of remissions program by which ASD members received compensation as crime victims from proceeds seized by the U.S. Secret Service in 2008. In November 2011, Disner sued Rust Consulting Inc., the remissions administrator. A federal judge eventually tossed Disner’s claim against Rust. That claim was brought in the same case in which Disner sued the United States, alleging that ASD was a legitimate enterprise and that the government had violated his Constitutional rights by seizing ASD’s database and business records.

    A judge tossed Disner’s claims against the government, too. He is now appealing. Disner’s co-plaintiff in the case was fellow ASD and Zeek pitchman Dwight Owen Schweitzer, a former attorney whose license was suspended in Connecticut.

    On the line with Craddock in another Zeek conference call was T. LeMont Silver. Like ASD’s Andy Bowdoin, Silver was a pitchman for a scheme known as OneX. In April, about four months before the SEC’s Zeek action, federal prosecutors described OneX as a “fraudulent scheme” and pyramid that was recycling money in ASD-like fashion. ASD was a Ponzi scheme that gathered at least $119 million, according to prosecutors.

    Zeek appears not to have been Silver’s first encounter with an alleged Ponzi scheme. During the call with Craddock, Silver identified himself as a victim of a separate Ponzi scheme he did not name. He complained bitterly during the call about the purported lack of action by an unnamed receiver in the second scheme.

    Craddock has been leading a chorus of boos against the SEC and the receiver in the Zeek case, planting seeds of doubt that Zeek was a Ponzi scheme. Court filings suggest that Zeek winners potentially have tens of millions of dollars in clawback exposure in the Zeek case.

    When Baker was sued by the receiver in the Botfly case, the lawsuit effectively was filed on the same theory the Zeek receiver is using: that proceeds from a Ponzi scheme are ill-gotten gains. Whether Baker has exposure as a Zeek winner is unclear.

    What is clear is that Craddock says reporters are spreading misinformation about Zeek. In a call last week, Craddock said he intended to file a police report against Blogger Troy Dooly after hearing from Zeek members who complained about how Dooly is covering the Zeek fallout on his MLMHelpDesk Blog.

    Dooly once was a fan of Zeek and has acknowledged he was reimbursed for certain expenses by Zeek while covering Zeek. His reports on the scheme apparently have become too negative for Craddock, who once spoke positively of Dooly.

    “I am always looking for a new Epic Adventure, so this should be fun to experience,” Dooly said on his Blog on Friday, in response to Craddock’s claims that he’ll use police contacts against Dooly.

    As was the case when he dropped McCollum’s name while collecting funds to challenge the actions of the SEC and the receiver in the Zeek case, Craddock last week dropped the name of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in his remarks about the police action he has planned against Dooly.

    Dooly, Craddock ventured, needed to be charged with cyber harassment and gotten “rid of” by law enforcement.

    Whether FDLE would take kindly to Craddock’s dropping of its name was not immediately clear.

    In the 2010 Botfly case, McCollum’s office said this (italics added):

    The order to freeze assets and the injunction were obtained yesterday after an investigation by a dedicated team in the Attorney General’s Office that works under the Florida Securities and Investor Protection Act, a new law championed last year by the Attorney General and bill sponsors Representative Tom Grady and Senator Garrett Richter. The law provides the Attorney General’s Office with greater authority to pursue investment and securities fraud.

  • SENIOR FRAUD CAVALCADE CONTINUES: Alleged ‘Airplane Parts’ Ponzi Scheme Lands 78-Year-Old Man In Florida Jail; Roger Green And Alleged Accomplice Charged With Racketeering

    Roger Green: Source: Broward County Sheriff's Office.

    Saying that money-laundering and securities fraud were part of a $7 million Ponzi scheme involving aircraft parts, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) has arrested two men, charging them with racketeering.

    Roger Green, 78, remains in custody at the Broward County Jail. Alleged accomplice Victor Brown, 55, of Hollywood, was freed after posting bail. The men were arrested Wednesday.

    Green and Brown were accused of obtaining funds fraudulently from investors and using proceeds from the scheme “to gamble and for the purchase of expensive cars and other items.”

    The arrests, FDLE said, came as a result of “Operation Usual Suspects,” which began in 2009 and focused on a company known as Military Air Parts International.

    Web records tie the men to a now-defunct site known as C130Spares. Among other things, the site featured a photo of a U.S. Air Force C130 transport plane with the words “Welcome Aboard” appearing in the image.

    “You will soon find how committed we are to the aviation industry,” the site promised. “We serve the C130 Military and L100 Commercial aircrafts exclusively! As founders, we look forward to supporting your parts and flight requirements world wide.”

    But “Green and Brown did not acquire, nor were they in possession of, the aircraft parts they were offering to sell,” FDLE said. “The few aircraft parts they did obtain were used to acquire funds from additional victims.”

    All in all, the swindle ensnared 24 “victim investors in Florida and elsewhere,” operating between 2004 and 2007, FDLE said.

    Investors were told Green and Brown could generate returns of up to 18 percent within three to six months, FDLE said.

  • UPDATE: David Lewalski, Head Of Botfly LLC Ponzi Caper In Florida, Sentenced To 20 Years; In Rationalizing $30M Fraud Scheme, Lewalski Painted Investigators As Bogeymen, Complaining About ‘Orwellian Totalitarian Tactics’ As He Called Victims’ Advocate A ‘Nazi’ And ‘Bi***’

    David R. Lewalski, the Florida man who ran a $30 million commodities Ponzi and fraud scheme known as Botfly LLC and persuaded at least one investor to pony up cash to pay for his defense, has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.

    Elements of the Lewalski caper were reminiscent of elements of the alleged AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme, which also operated from Florida. Vile language was directed at investigators in both cases, and Lewalski urged victims not to cooperate with authorities. One person gave Lewalski $50,000 to pay for a lawyer — after Lewalski jetted to Europe on a private Gulfstream IV a day after Florida investigators implicated him in a Ponzi scheme, according to court filings.

    ASD President Andy Bowdoin also is asking his members to pony up for his defense to Ponzi charges. A number of ASD members have urged fellow members not to cooperate with authorities.

    After his European junket, Lewalski eventually came back to the United States and ensconced himself in a swanky hotel suite overlooking Central Park in New York while pretending to be elsewhere, according to court filings.

    The U.S. Postal Inspection Service alleged that Lewalski complained to investors he defrauded about “recent ‘Orwellian’ totalitarian tactics” employed by U.S. investigators in Ponzi scheme cases, instead of accepting accountability for his fraud.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer joined U.S. Attorney Robert E. O’Neill of the Middle District of Florida in making the announcement about Lewalski’s prison sentence.

    In September, Breuer joined with U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. of the District of Columbia in announcing that $55 million had been returned to ASD victims. The U.S. Secret Service seized the money in August 2008.

    Bowdoin called investigators “Satan.” Other ASD members called them “Nazis” and “goons.”

    In the Botfly case, Lewalski described a victims’ advocate a “c[$%!]” and a “Nazi,” according to court filings. In one rant, Lewalski allegedly said, “So f[$%!] her what a bitch.”

    Court documents also allude to a woman who allegedly was called an “FDLE chick” and described by Lewalski as “nuts” and a “bitch.”

    FDLE is the acronym of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which assisted in the state and federal probes of Lewalski.

     

  • David R. Lewalski Pleads Guilty In $30 Million Botfly LLC Ponzi Caper; Case Had ASD-Like Twists, Including Efforts To Demonize Government; Attorney Seeking Relief For Victims Was Called Vile Name

    UPDATED: 3:07 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) David R. Lewalski, a Florida man who ran a $30 million Forex Ponzi scheme through a firm known as Botfly LLC, has pleaded guilty in federal court in the Middle District of Florida.

    Lewalski, 47, formerly resided in Gainesville. Parts of the Botfly case are reminiscent of the AdSurfDaily case. Public officials and others involved in the case were called names, and Lewalski is alleged to have discussed a plan by which he’d get investors to pay for his defense.

    An attorney working for the court-appointed receiver in the Botfly case was called a Nazi and a “c[$%!],” and case filings also include a reference to an “FDLE chick.”

    FDLE stands for Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Both the Botfly and ASD cases started with civil complaints, followed by criminal charges.

    Like Botfly, ASD also was based in Florida. ASD President Andy Bowdoin now is trying to get members of his autosurf scheme to pony up $500,000 for Bowdoin’s defense. He previously described federal prosecutors and the U.S. Secret Service as “Satan,” and some ASD members described public officials as “Nazis” and “goons.”

    Even as Lewalski was under investigation, at least one person gave Lewalski $50,000 to pay for a lawyer — and this occurred after Lewalski had chartered a private Gulfstream IV jet at a cost of $172,744 to fly from the United States to Belgium one day after he was charged civilly in Florida, according to court records.

    In court filings, prosecutors argued that Lewalski also sought to tamper with witnesses and told “family members and other potential witnesses to stay quiet and not cooperate with law enforcement.”

    Some members of AdSurfDaily advised other members not to fill out victims’ forms and not to file a restitution claim. Bowdoin has blamed his legal predicament on a federal judge, federal prosecutors, his former attorneys and the U.S. Secret Service.

    Lewalski faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

    Involved in the Botfly investigation were the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Florida Office of Financial Regulation and the Florida Office of the Attorney General.

  • SPECIAL REPORT: Investor In Alleged Florida Forex Caper Arrested For Bankruptcy Fraud; Botfly LLC Ponzi Case Reminiscent Of ASD Case; Female Investigator Called Vile Names; Accused Schemer David Lewalski Shifted Blame To Government, Feds Say

    UPDATED 1:14 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) A Florida man who allegedly received $1.5 million from an international Forex fraudster now jailed in the United States has been arrested on charges of bankruptcy fraud, federal prosecutors said.

    The three-count indictment against Jon Jerald Hammill, 39, of St. Petersburg, was unsealed yesterday. It marked the fourth major Ponzi-related event in Florida in recent days. The state is the site of some of the most complex fraud investigations in the nation, and the case against David R. Lewalski — from whom Hammill and his company allegedly received money — is no exception.

    Hammill, whose arrest was announced in Washington yesterday by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer, was accused of failing “to disclose that he had received more than $100,000″ from Lewalski’s company prior to the filing of his bankruptcy petition” in February 2009. He is further accused of not disclosing his ownership of a shell company into which payments from Lewalski’s Ponzi scheme were routed and not disclosing his business relationship with Lewalski.

    Although Hammill’s Chapter 7 bankruptcy initially was granted in July 2009, U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee Donald F. Walton later reopened the case and sought to revoke Hammill’s discharge for fraud. In court filings, Walton said Hammill invoked his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination when questioned about his dealings with Lewalkski’s company, which was known as Botfly LLC.

    Breuer is the head of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. The federal probe into the alleged $29 million Botfly Forex caper is being led by U.S. Attorney Robert O’Neill of the Middle District of Florida, with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Washington as the lead agency. O’Neill and his predecessor — former U.S. Attorney A. Brian Albritton — have squared off against against a series of spectacular fraud schemes operating in the region.

    Among the cases are the Beau Diamond Ponzi scheme, the David Merrick Ponzi scheme known as TIRN, the $220 million Forex Ponzi scheme of Jamaican David A. Smith and the alleged EMG/Finanzas Forex fraud. Investigators say they have traced proceeds from the EMG/Finanzas fraud to the international narcotics trade. A task force working in the region also did investigative legwork in the alleged AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme.

    Some of the cases have elements that only can be described as bizarre and deeply disturbing. In the Lewalski case, for instance, it is alleged that Lewalski discussed a plan by which he’d divert blame to the government for his legal predicament in a bid to get his victims to pay for his defense.

    By making the government the bogeyman, Lewalski hoped victims would come to believe that he — as opposed to investigators — offered the best shot of getting back their money, according to court filings.

    At least one person gave Lewalski $50,000 to pay for a lawyer — and this occurred after Lewalski had chartered a private Gulfstream IV jet at a cost of $172,744 to fly from the United States to Belgium one day after he was charged civilly in Florida, according to court filings.

    One women — an attorney for the court-appointed receiver in Florida’s civil case — was made the subject of misogynistic rants by Lewalski, according to court filings. The rants were cited by federal prosecutors who argued successfully that Lewalski should not be released on bond.

    Prosecutors also argued that Lewalski had spent astronomical sums of investors’ money on luxuries in the United States and Europe and advised investors to take the 5th Amendment when questioned. In court filings, prosecutors argued that Lewalski also sought to tamper with witnesses.

    Lewalkski, prosecutors said, told “family members and other potential witnesses to stay quiet and not cooperate with law enforcement.”

    The receiver’s attorney was called a “c[$%!]” and a “Nazi,” according to court filings. In one rant, Lewalski allegedly said, “So f[$%!] her what a bitch.” Court documents also allude to a woman who allegedly was called an “FDLE chick” and described by Lewalski as “nuts” and a “bitch.”

    It was not immediately clear if Lewalski was talking about the receiver’s attorney or a different woman employed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement  when making the alleged “FDLE chick” remark. In the context of the remark, however, Lewalski is alleged to have discussed a “nuclear option.”

    Separately, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service alleged that Lewalski complained to investors he defrauded about “recent ‘Orwellian’ totalitarian tactics” employed by U.S. investigators in Ponzi scheme cases, instead of accepting accountability for his fraud.

    But even as Lewalski was grumbling that his U.S. assets had been frozen, he allegedly did not tell his investors what had happened to their money and why they had not been paid as promised prior to the seizure. Instead, according to the investigating postal inspector, he talked about money he was able to access in Europe after he left the United States hastily, saying he had as many as six offshore accounts.

    Among Lewalski’s other claims was that he had been “investigated and cleared by the Securities and Exchange Commission,” according to court filings. Members of ASD also have claimed that ASD, which was accused of orchestrating a $110 million international fraud from Florida, was given the green light by the SEC.

    No evidence has surfaced in either the ASD case or the Botfly case that the SEC approved of the companies’ operations. Meanwhile, ASD members also have directed rants at prosecutors and investigators, describing them as “goons,” “Nazis,” merchants of “Satan” and criminals. One ASD member proposed that a federal prosecutor be placed in a medieval torture rack, with ASD members at large drawing straws to determine who got the honor of turning the torture wheel.

    Another ASD member proposed that a “milita” storm Washington in defense of ASD. Still another said that the company’s critics consisted of “Rats, Bed Bugs, Maggots, Cockroaches And Everything Else.”

    Lewalski, 47, operated Botfly from his mother’s home in Bayonet Point, Fla., according to court records.

    After being charged civilly by the state of Florida in April 2010, Lewalski immediately left the United States, spending the next seven months in Europe, according to court filings.

    He is believed to have returned to the United States in October 2010, but investigators said he pretended still to be in Europe. Lewalski was arrested in New York on November 4, 2010. Prosecutors said he was staying in a luxury suite atop the Mandarin Oriental Hotel for which he had paid $143,000 in advance with investors’ money.

    The Mandarin bills itself “the most breathtaking luxury hotel in New York,” and Lewalski’s suite overlooked Central Park, according to court records.

    Visit the site of the court-appointed receiver in the Lewalski Forex Ponzi case.

  • ANOTHER BIG FRAUD IN FLORIDA: Racecar Driver Henri Zogaib Arrested In Alleged $5 Million Ponzi Scheme

    Henri Zogaid: Source: Lake County Sheriff's Office

    Former Grand-Am racecar driver Henri Zogaib has been arrested and jailed in Florida for the felony crime of organized fraud, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) said.

    Once known for living large, Zogaib, 36, of Longwood, Fla., is listed as an inmate in the Lake County Jail. His bail was set at $100,000.

    He is accused of stealing “approximately $5.1 million from 19 different victims across the country who had invested their money with Zogaib through his company, Executive Investment Group,” police said.

    Among the victims were fellow racecar drivers.

    The crime of organized fraud, also known as the Florida Communications Fraud Act, is a felony in Florida that may carry a maximum prison term of 30 years.

    “Zogaib would convince potential investors to commit funds to the investment with the promise of large returns,” authorities said. “[He] supplied investors with documentation that demonstrated significant financial growth on their investments with the suggestion that the funds be reinvested for further financial gain. Investors eventually discovered that their money had never been invested and Zogaib had instead taken the money for his own personal use.”

    The arrest culminated a joint investigation by FDLE, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office and the Daytona Beach Police Department into allegations that Zogaib operated an organized Ponzi scheme, authorities said.