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Tag: FINRA

Club Asteria Members Posting On Ponzi Boards Turn Their Attention To ‘JSS Tripler’ Amid Claims Daily Payout Of 2 Percent ‘Indefinitely Sustainable’; ‘Bizarre Substatum’ Gets Crazier Yet

We’ve previously noted that the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has described the HYIP sphere as a “bizarre substratum of the Internet.” That substratum now is getting crazier yet. Three weeks ago, Club Asteria was a great darling of the Ponzi boards. But weekly payout rates that purportedly have been slashed — coupled with a…

May 27, 2011
As Promos On Ponzi Forums Continue And Members Claim IRS Recognition, Club Asteria Acknowledges That Its Members Used PayPal ‘To Cheat Fellow Members’; Says Fraudsters Were Turned Over To Unidentified ‘Authorities’; Existing Members Of Virginia-Based Firm Told To Use Offshore Processors

In June 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice used its Blog to warn about the emerging threat of “mass marketing fraud,” specifically citing the criminal allegations of a $70 million Ponzi fraud against Nicholas Smirnow of Pathway To Prosperity (P2P). P2P was promoted on the TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forums. A little over a month…

May 17, 2011
RECOMMENDED READING/VIEWING: Washington Post/Bloomberg Report On ‘The Ponzi Schemer Next Door’; FINRA/AARP Share Tale Of Purported ‘Bank President’ Who Lured Victims While ‘Craving Cocaine’ At Pay Phones From Which He Set Up Marks

The Washington Post and Bloomberg published Bob Carden’s story about how smart people get sucked into investment scams. The story is titled, “Investment fraud isn’t relegated to Wall Street: Beware the Ponzi schemer next door.” Carden produced the video “Tricks of the Trade: Outsmarting Investment Fraud.” Editor John Warnock assembled the package, which shows some…

May 10, 2011
UPDATE: Club Asteria Members Use TalkGold Ponzi Forum To Announce That Firm Now Has More Than 200,000 Members; Separately, Some Members Grumble About Missing Payouts

EDITOR’S NOTE: The adjective-inspiring story below is made possible by the incongruous behavior of online pitchmen who operate in an environment the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) described last year as a “bizarre substratum of the Internet.” Two promoters of Club Asteria, a business “opportunity” purportedly operated by a woman variously described as a former…

Mar 20, 2011
BULLETIN: Man Implicated By Jamaica In Alleged $326 Million Ponzi Known As ‘Cash Plus’ Now Accused By United States Of Orchestrating Separate HYIP Scheme That Funneled Cash To Latvian And Jamaican Accounts

EDITOR’S NOTE: You might feel a chill after reading the story below about Bertram A. Hill and co-defendants implicated by the SEC in an international fraud scheme that ensnared investors in the United States and Europe. The SEC case includes an allegation that U.S. retail brokers were solicited to push unqualified clients to a murky…

Feb 24, 2011
KABOOM! SEC, Feds Target Alleged Money-Laundering Operation In Costa Rica; 6 People From Various Countries Charged Criminally; 7 Charged Civilly In Coordinated Probe Of ‘Pump And Dump’ Schemes

BULLETIN: Two days after Southern Florida’s top federal prosecutor warned that offshore fraudsters who targeted Americans had no safe haven, six people from various parts of the world who allegedly ran or contributed to a pump-and-dump scheme that used the services of a money-laundering operation in Costa Rica have been charged criminally, authorities said. The…

Feb 18, 2011
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: New York Man Arrested After Threatening To Kill CFTC, SEC, NFA And FINRA Regulators; Vincent McCrudden Used Emails, Website To Terrorize Officials, Prosecutors Charge

A New York man sued by the CFTC last month for registration violations has been arrested on criminal charges of threatening to kill 47 current or former market regulators, federal prosecutors said. Vincent P. McCrudden, 49, who recently had been living in Singapore, was arrested yesterday by the FBI at Newark Liberty International Airport after…

Jan 14, 2011
Egg-Themed Domains Used To Promote HYIPs That Flushed Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars Go Missing — Plus, An Update On Data Network Affiliates Amid Suggestion Thyroid Cancer Sufferers Can Benefit From Product Called ‘O-WOW TurboMune’

Four egg-themed domain names used to drive business to HYIPs that ended in spectacular flameouts and foreshadowed a warning from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) have gone missing. The domains — including one that redirected to an HYIP site known bizarrely as Cash Tanker, which used an image of Jesus Christ to promote a…

Nov 21, 2010
BULLETIN: SEC Gains Asset Freeze, Seeks Shutdown Of Imperia Invest In Emergency Action; Program Pitched On Same Ponzi Forums Promoting MPB Today; Agency Says Imperia Defrauded Thousands Of Deaf Americans

BULLETIN UPDATED 5:02 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.): The SEC has gone to federal court in Utah to halt the operations of Imperia Invest IBC, alleging a spectacular fraud that fleeced money from thousands of Americans with hearing impairments. Imperia was promoted from the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum — one of the Ponzi forums promoting the MPB Today…

Oct 7, 2010
BULLETIN: USDA Following Specific Leads In MPB Today Matter; Agency’s Food And Nutrition Arm Will ‘Take Appropriate Action As Needed’

BULLETIN: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said this afternoon that the agency’s Food and Nutrition Service is following specific leads in the MPB Today matter and will “take appropriate action as needed.” For the first time, the agency used the word “investigate” in its remarks about MPB Today, an MLM tied to a purported…

Sep 24, 2010
INTERPOL Chief Says His Identity Was Stolen In Fraud Bid On Facebook; Meanwhile, MPB Today Members Post Check-Waving Videos On Social-Media Sites And WebsiteTester.biz Gathers 400,000 Names And Email Addresses

Earlier this week the PP Blog reported that members of MPB Today were using YouTube and other sites to post images of checks drawn on a distressed Florida bank. The checks, which were supplied as purported “proof” of MPB Today’s legitimacy, may expose both the posters and the bank to security breaches and identity theft.…

Sep 18, 2010