PatrickPretty.com

Tag: Francis Schaeffer Cox

  • UPDATE: Antihistorical ‘MoneyMakingBrain’ Claim: ‘Law Enforcement Agencies Don’t Pay Attention To What’s Being Said On Forums And Blogs’

    “There is a line between First Amendment Rights vs. Libel here. So, when does your right to form an opinion begins (sic) and when does it constitute a defamation of character? The answer is, law enforcement agencies don’t pay attention to what’s being said on forums and blogs, so get your head straight and feet firm on the ground.” — “MoneyMakingBrain,” in March 4, 2012, post on RealScam.com

    As previously reported on the PP Blog, a JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid “defender” known as “MoneyMakingBrain” (MMB) has emailed threats to the PP Blog, hatched bizarre conspiracy theories here and at RealScam.com and planted the seed that he was someone to fear.

    The email threats were received after MMB claimed Feb. 18 on RealScam he had performed “due diligence” on JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid. On a website known as “ReviewOPedia,” a poster with the same handle offered this on Feb. 14, in the context of JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid:

    “They are for real! ”

    Within the same Feb. 14 ReviewOPedia post, MoneyMakingBrain ventured this (italics added):

    “BTW, everybody should check out the JBP live support chatroom which has over 160 people at any given time and is live 24/7. You can ask all the questions you can come up with and there is always moderator. Who does that? I’m sold already. So, if someone here claims that they ‘didn’t get paid’, either they still don’t understand how the matrix works or they’re just internet trolls.”

    Whether the “MoneyMakingBrain” on the PP Blog and the “MoneyMakingBrain” on ReviewOPedia are one and the same is unknown to the PP Blog.

    Precisely why the MMB known to the PP Blog and RealScam.com has been trying to chill specific individuals and antiscam forums is unclear. What is known is that what he’s doing is hardly unique.

    Lessons Of HYIP History Ignored

    While asserting that he knows the PP Blog’s IP address and posting location, MMB now is making a claim on RealScam, a forum that concerns itself with international mass-marketing fraud, that “law enforcement agencies don’t pay attention to what’s being said on forums and blogs.”

    That claim is contrary to the public record, which shows that any number of agencies, self-regulatory bodies and private attorneys have been noting for years that HYIP schemes are proliferating on the Internet and being spread by posters on forums and social-networking sites. It also ignores the reality — also a matter of public record — that law-enforcement has a history of filing court documents that reproduce HYIP forum posts and of infiltrating HYIP schemes.

    Prominent FINRA Warning On HYIPs

    In July 2010,  the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority issued this highly public alert. FINRA noted that “HYIPs use an array of websites and social media — including YouTube, Twitter and Facebook — to lure investors.”

    HYIPs fabricate a “buzz” and create “the illusion of social consensus,” FINRA said, describing the sinister approach as a “common persuasion tactic fraudsters use to suggest that “everyone is investing in HYIPs, so they must be legitimate.”

    Forum Posts Become Evidence In HYIP Cases

    In the SEC’s May 2008 prosecution of the Legisi HYIP scheme, the agency included page after page of forum posts as part of a 267-page evidence exhibit in support of an asset freeze.  A federal judge approved the freeze. (The screenshot below is from one of the forum pages.)

    Legisi operator Gregory McKnight pleaded guilty to criminal charges of wire fraud last month. He also faces millions of dollars in civil judgments. The SEC Legisi filings also include a reference to the MoneyMakerGroup forum, which is listed in other federal court filings as a place from which HYIP Ponzi schemes are promoted.

    This section of the Legisi Terms of Service purports that members must avow they are not an "informant, nor associated with any informant" of the IRS, FBI, CIA and the SEC, among others. The others included "Her Majesty's Police," the Intelligence Services of Great Britain, the Serious Fraud Office, Interpol and others.

    Included within the SEC filings is a reproduction of Legisi’s bizarre Terms. (See graphic at right. It is taken from court filings.) Among other things, the Terms made members avow they were not an “informant” for various government entities.

    JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid has similar Terms. The Terms read like an invitation to join an international financial conspiracy. (The next two paragraphs are verbatim from the JSS Tripler/Just BeenPaid member agreement. Italics added.)

    6. I affirm that I am not an employee or official of any government agency, nor am I acting on behalf of or collecting information for or on behalf of any government agency.

    7. I affirm that I am not an employee, by contract or otherwise, of any media or research company, and I am not reading any of the JBP pages in order to collect information for someone else.”

    When the U.S. Postal Inspection Service filed criminal charges against Nicholas Smirnow in May 2010 for his alleged operation of the Pathway To Prosperity HYIP Ponzi scheme, MoneyMakerGroup, TalkGold and ASAMonitor were specifically referenced in the service’s case filings. Smirnow now has his face on an INTERPOL “Wanted” poster.

    MMB took great exception to the PP Blog’s Smirnow post, apparently believing it had no relevance in the context of JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid. MMB also apparently believes the PP Blog and RealScam are treating Frederick Mann, the purported operator of JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, unfairly.

    Among other things, MMB asserted on the PP Blog that “no one is invisible to the MoneyMakingBrain and you need to stop doing what you’re doing against this man immediately. Because if you don’t, I am going to make a formal complain (sic) to the very authorities you purport are coming after scam sites and send all the evidence I’ve gathered so far from posting on your site and the realscam site. I don’t like witch hunts and I am sure Fred Mann can whip your ass in court for your highly suggestive, provocative, highly contentious and flat-out defamatory commentaries against his character on your sites.”

    MMB further suggested that JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid critics may be “needing to look for another ISP because you won’t have internet access at home or your office, wherever.”

    About three months after the SEC brought the $72 million Legisi/McKnight HYIP Ponzi case, the U.S. Secret Service — in August 2008 — filed evidence exhibits in support of an order to freeze tens of millions of dollars in AdSurfDaily-related bank accounts. The complaint in support of the seizure specifically references an ASD-related “Breaking News” Blog, and an evidence exhibit labeled “Government Exhibit 5” consists entirely of an ASD-related post on a different Blog that took up 15 printed pages.

    The 15-page post featured alleged comments from ASD President Andy Bowdoin in which he threatened to sue critics.

    “These people that are making these slanderous remarks, they are going to continue these slanderous remarks in a court of law defending about a 30 to 40 million dollar slander lawsuit,” the post quoted Bowdoin as saying. (The screen shot below is from Government Exhibit 5. It has been a matter of public record approaching four years.)

    Both the ASD and Legisi investigations used government agents in undercover capacities, according to court filings.

    Meanwhile, in June 2009, attorneys suing Bowdoin on behalf of ASD members in a civil RICO (racketeering) case referred to the PP Blog’s reporting on the ASD Ponzi case, specifically its reporting on a spinoff surf known as AdViewGlobal (AVG). (See court document. See June 30, 2009, related story. See PP Blog story the attorneys referenced in their filings.)

    Threat Of  HYIP ‘Fire Power’

    Also in June 2009, a poster who purported to be an attorney issued a veiled threat to the PP Blog, stating that that “[i]f you keep pushing it now the toes you are stepping on might start stepping back. Looks like they have some fire power behind them now.”

    AVG ceased payouts about 24 days after the threat. Even as it suspended cashouts, AVG threatened the media with copyright-infringement lawsuits for reporting on the payout suspension. Within days, it planted the seed that it would arrange to have the Internet Service Provider (ISP) connections of critics suspended.

    During its short run, AVG bizarrely asserted that it operated as a “private association” that enjoyed U.S. Constitutional protections in Uruguay. AVG used U.S.-based Gmail addresses to conduct business, something JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid is doing. The defunct surf further claimed that it had appointed a person who held the title of “Protector.”

    Such claims have been linked to the so-called “sovereign citizen” movement. On Feb. 27, 2012, the PP Blog reported that a site linked to Mann published videos of Francis Schaeffer Cox, a purported “sovereign citizen” indicted in Alaska in an alleged murder plot against public officials. The site features a drop-in ad for JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid that encourages prospects to register with  a Gmail address.

    Whether MMB is aware of all of these these historical incidents while issuing threats and planting the seed he has the power to divorce JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid critics from their Internet connections is not known. MMB’s posting privileges were revoked by the PP Blog last week after he emailed threats and menacing communications. RealScam has continued to permit MMB to post on its forum.

    The PP Blog believes it is unwise to click on any link MMB has posted on RealScam. He appears to be attempting to bait members of the antiscam community into clicking on links as part of a bid to gather IP addresses and other data from posters — all while asserting he has the power to use the information to harm individuals and entities such as Eagle Research Associates, a California based nonprofit that seeks to educate the public about scams.

    Piling On The HYIP Absurdity

    In what would become one of the most visited threads in the history of the PP Blog, a poster known as “CORRECTION” repeatedly demanded that the Blog retract this June 3, 2009, headline about the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf and a strategy advanced by a promoter by which AVG upline sponsors could gather money from individual prospects and funnel it through the sponsors’ local banks before passing it to offshore payment processors — instead of letting AVG gather the money.

    “Get it right before you lead with this inaccurate, bias (sic) and unfair reporting!!!!!!!!!!!” CORRECTION demanded.

    The PP Blog did not submit to the demand to retract the headline.

    It was revealed later in court filings that the grand jury that indicted Bowdoin on charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities began to meet in May 2009, about a month prior to ASD- and AVG-related threats and demands made against the PP Blog.

    More Gov’t HYIP Documentation

    Read this SEC warning about social-media fraud.

    Read a December 2010 statement from a top FBI official on “Operation Broken Trust” and why Americans need to be vigilant in the era of HYIP schemes and mass-marketing fraud.

    “The focus of this sweep was fraud committed against individual investors, including Ponzi schemes, high-yield investment fraud, and market manipulation cases,” said Shawn Henry, the FBI’s executive assistant director. “Operation Broken Trust highlights the pervasiveness of the threat we face, and its impact on individuals from all walks of life.

    “The perpetrators of these crimes are those who YOU might trust . . . friends and colleagues — people from your workplace, your child’s soccer team, even your church,” Henry said.

    Read this March 1, 2012, story that reports a top U.S. Justice Department official speaking in Mexico referenced bogus libel lawsuits filed to protect criminal enterprises. Read this Justice Department news release last week on a meeting in Ottawa between top U.S. officials and top Canadian officials to discuss cross-border fraud.

    More HYIP Nonsense: No ‘Unfriendly Political Jurisdictions’

    JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid purports to pay a daily return of twice that offered by Bowdoin and ASD — and eight times that of Legisi. The JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid returns are somewhat on par with the returns offered by Pathway To Prosperity.

    At the same time, JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid says this on its website (italics added):

    “Our business operations are geographically decentralized. We don’t have any central office. We’re not located in any ‘unfriendly political jurisdictions.’”

    It is difficult to conceive how JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid could send any brighter signals of a scam in progress, given its absurd advertised rate of return and a public proclamation that it is not located in any “unfriendly political jurisdictions.”

    In 2008, Frederick Mann, the purported operator of JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, identified himself as an ASD pitchman. On Jan. 23, 2012 — six weeks ago today — the Italian securities regulator CONSOB announced it had opened a JSS Tripler-related probe and issued a 90-day suspension order.

    During a March 1 conference call for JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, a caller informed Mann that a member of his second-level downline had informed him that the member’s bid to advertise the “opportunity” had been blocked in Holland amid concerns of legality.

    “Tell him not to advertise in any particular country,” Mann replied.

    In a Feb. 23 conference call, Mann declined to identify JSS Tripler with a nation-state, asserting that the opportunity was “not located in any specific part of the world. We’re all over the planet.”

     

     

  • BULLETIN: Already Under Scrutiny, JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid May Be Using ‘Regional Reps’ To Increase Ponzi Reach Over National Borders

    Redacted screen shot of "regional representatives" claim today on the website of JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid.

    BULLETIN: The PP Blog has learned that JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid is publishing a page in which it advertises the availability of “regional representatives” in various parts of the world, including Italy.

    On Jan. 23, CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator, took action against certain JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid affiliaties. Despite the CONSOB action, JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid is openly advertising that it has at least two affiliates who speak Italian and that the affiliates are available to “assist you with ALL aspects of the program IN YOUR LANGUAGE.”

    The page also touts the native-language talents of JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid affiliates to assist members in Hong Hong, Taiwan, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, the United States (to assist people who speak English or Japanese), Germany, Lithuania, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Poland, Portugal, Latvia, France, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Spain.

    JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid described its outreach via regional reps as “AMAZING!”

    “The people on this page have been thoroughly trained in all the workings of JustBeenPaid’s programs, and are happy to assist you TODAY!” the murky entity crowed.

    In a Feb. 23 conference call, Frederick Mann, the purported operator of JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, declined to say precisely where the “opportunity” itself was located.

    JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, Mann asserted to an audience of Americans and at least one person who claimed to be a resident of Canada, was “not located in any specific part of the world.

    “We’re all over the planet,” he said, speaking with an English accent that appeared to be native to South Africa.

    The assertion led to questions about whether Mann was running the “program” in a fashion reminiscent of a sort of small-scale Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI). BCCI deliberately structured itself in murky fashion to ward off oversight by regulators. Its collapse created one of the great business scandals of the 1990s, prompting the Wall Street Journal (Europe) to observe that BCCI had been set up to be “offshore everywhere.”

    BCCI’s collapse also triggered Congressional probes in the United States, along with both civil and criminal prosecutions.

    The CONSOB probe in Italy, which the agency announced nearly six weeks ago, was not referenced on the “representatives” page on the JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid website.

    Incongruously, the “representatives” page included a link to an “agreement” page in which JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid registrants and/or prospects were informed they must affirm “that I am not an employee or official of any government agency, nor am I acting on behalf of or collecting information for or on behalf of any government agency.”

    Moreover, the registrants and/or prospects were informed they must affirm “that I am not an employee, by contract or otherwise, of any media or research company, and I am not reading any of the JBP pages in order to collect information for someone else.”

    The collapsed Legis HYIP published similar terms. (More on the Legisi prosecution below.)

    How long the JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid regional reps have been in place was not immediately clear. Also unclear was whether each of the reps had a physical presence in the respective countries or were using the Internet to reach over borders and perform customer service and recruit downlines in the respective nations.

    The U.S. government and other governments of the world have become increasingly concerned about cross-border fraud. Yesterday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Janet Napolitano, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, met with top officials in Canada to discuss the problem.

    Perhaps aghast over JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid developments, a poster on the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum declared today that having regional reps for JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid is an “insane idea.”

    “Forget about the matrix spots and payouts,” the MoneyMakerGroup poster wrote today. “[W]hy is 200,000 + members not enough and why arent (sic) we off the radar and private and not opening ourselves up to potential problems ? Regional reps is an insane idea, Im (sic) sorry but the admin needs to protect us and wakeup (sic) to the reality that you cant (sic) get this huge and expect nothing bad to happen.”

    The poster did not explain his apparent belief that JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid had a duty to go “private” and to get “off the radar” of regulators. Nor did he say precisely what constituted something “bad.”

    HYIPs have been the subject of both civil and criminal litigation in various jurisdictions.

    It is common for HYIP purveyors to tout purported “offshore” operating venues and to claim such venues insulate an “opportunity” from prosecution. It also is common for HYIPs to announce they are “private” programs and therefore not subject to government oversight. At the same time, it is common for HYIPs to try to structure a Terms of Service or Member Agreement that purports either that the “opportunity” is not selling securities or is not subject to regulatory oversight.

    Some HYIPs, including JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, have preemptively denied they are Ponzi schemes.

    JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid purports to pay a daily return of 2 percent. On an annualized basis, the sum is between 48 and 73 times the purported returns of imprisoned Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff. It is EIGHT times the daily return touted by Gregory McKnight, who pleaded guilty last month in federal court in the Eastern District of Michigan for his operation of the Legisi HYIP scheme.

    The purported returns of JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid are somewhat on par with the returns of Nicholas Smirnow of the alleged Pathway To Prosperity HYIP Ponzi scheme. Smirnow is listed as “Wanted” by INTERPOL.

    On Feb. 27, the PP Blog reported that a website linked to Mann displayed videos of Francis Schaeffer Cox, an American and purported “sovereign citizen” under indictment in Alaska in an alleged murder plot against public officials.

    Separately, a YouTube promo for JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid dated yesterday asserted that “[a]ll you have to do is wait for your money to increase!!!”

    A Blog post dated today, meanwhile, makes this assertion (italics added):

    “The JSS Tripler new site is one month old. It has been a month of phenomenal growth, but it’s nothing compared to what’s in the future. Some ‘Big Things’ are on the horizon that will enable many of the members to become millionaires, some could even become billionaires.”

    Neither the March 3 Blog post nor the March 2 YouTube video referenced the CONSOB probe.

    In 2008, AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin asserted that ASD had a plan to create 100,000 millionaires in three years. On Dec. 1, 2010, the U.S. government announced that Bowdoin had been indicted on Ponzi-related charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities.

    About 16 days later — on Dec. 17, 2010 — U.S. federal prosecutors announced they had filed forfeiture litigation against at least two ASD affiliates. One of the alleged affiliates was purported ASD “trainer” Erma Seabaugh.

    Seabaugh also was an affiliate of an enterprise known as Ad-Ventures4U (ADV4u), which crashed in 2009 amid allegations that its operator had been threatened by members.

    In web promos, Mann has described himself as a promoter for both ASD and ADV4U. Some affiliates have described him as a “genius,” the same description accorded Bowdoin before the August 2008 raid on ASD headquarters by the U.S. Secret Service.

    After the event — and facing both civil prosecution and a criminal investigation — Bowdoin told ASD members that the raid was the work of “Satan.”

    It is a descriptor completely contrary to the typical view Americans have of the Secret Service, which has the twin duties of protecting the nation’s financial infrastructure and the life of the President of the United States.

    Most Americans believe the Secret Service consists of heroes who place themselves in harm’s way every day to keep the United States safe, doing everything from making sure U.S. grandparents have safe places to deposit their Social Security checks to making sure that the President is well-protected and accessible to the American people.

    Kenneth Wayne Leaming, an ASD member and purported “sovereign citizen,” allegedly filed a bogus lien against the Secret Service agent who led the ASD investigation in 2008, the FBI said in November 2011 court filings.

    Leaming also allegedly filed bogus liens against a federal judge and three federal prosecutors involved in the ASD case, according to court filings by the FBI. He is jailed near Seattle awaiting trial on those charges, along with charges of filing false liens against other public officials, concealing two federal fugitives wanted in a home-business caper in Arkansas, being a felon in possession of firearms and uttering a bogus “Bonded Primissory Note” for $1 million.

    Court filings suggest Leaming was conducting financial research on John Roberts, the chief justice of the United States and the head judge of the U.S. Supreme Court, while hatching a scheme to serve papers on Roberts through a school attended by the distinguished jurist’s children.

  • ‘MoneyMakingBrain,’ Advocate For JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, Emails Threats To PP Blog; ‘That’s Not A Threat, It’s A Promise,’ First Email Claims; Second Suggests He’ll Create Banking Trouble For Blog Poster And Defend JSS Tripler Operator ‘So Help Me God’

    “Either we talk about here, or I talk about somewhere else (that’s not a threat, it’s a promise :)” — ‘MoneyMakingBrain (MMB), in email threat to PP Blog, Feb. 29, 2012, 7:52 a.m. ET

    UPDATED 4:22 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) It has happened again: The PP Blog has received yet another threat via email for its reporting on the HYIP sphere, which FINRA described in a 2010 Alert as a “bizarre substratum of the Internet.”

    Today’s threat came from “MoneyMakingBrain” (MMB) in apparent “defense” of JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, an HYIP “program” purportedly operated by self-described former AdSurfDaily and Ad-Ventures4U pitchman Frederick Mann. JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid claims it pays a return of 2 percent per day.

    ASD operator Andy Bowdoin, 77, is an accused Ponzi schemer under indictment for wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities. The ASD scheme, which was based in Florida,  gathered at least $110 million and created thousands of victims, federal prosecutors have said. Bowdoin’s Ponzi trial has been scheduled for September 2012. JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid purports to pay a daily return twice that of ASD.

    Among other things, Bowdoin has compared the August 2008 U.S. Secret Service raid on ASD’s headquarters to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and described it as the work of “Satan.”

    MMB’s initial email threat was received at 7:52 a.m. ET. It was followed by another email threat at 11:14 a.m. in which MMB suggested he’d seek to cause banking troubles for a specific PP Blog poster and defend Mann “so help me God.”

    “You could be the nicest guy in the world, doing a real public service, but on the matter of Frederick Mann, you’ve made a gross error, and you crossed the line, Mr.,” the second threat read in part. “I am not a passive by-stander Patrick, I am one of those who will come and help an old man from being beaten up by a bully, so help me God.”

    The second email also claimed that, “If anything, you’ve brought all this upon yourself.”

    On Feb. 27, the PP Blog reported that a site registered to Mann in South Africa at the same street address of JustBeenPaid had at least 11 links to videos featuring Francis Schaeffer Cox. Cox, 27,  is a purported “sovereign citizen.” He is accused in Alaska of a “militia” murder plot against public officials.

    Federal prosecutors known to be investigating the ASD scheme in the District of Columbia declined to comment on the Blog’s story, which was published Monday. Meanwhile, federal prosecutors known to be investigating the “sovereign citizen” movement in the Pacific Northwest did not respond to a request for comment on the report.

    Today’s disturbing developments began with the Blog’s receipt of the initial threatening email at 7:52 a.m. The initial threat implied that, if the PP Blog did publish a comment submitted by MMB during the overnight hours and respond to the email, MMB would seek to cause harm to the Blog. The PP Blog did not reply to the initial email. Nor did it reply to the follow-up threat.

    MMB’s comment already had been published by the PP Blog by the time the initial email threat was received. The comment was submitted at 1:12 a.m. today and approved by the PP Blog at approximately 7:30 a.m., after being temporarily sequestered in a holding queue because of the menacing nature of previous comments submitted by MMB.

    An anonymous proxy in Europe was used to send the comment, and a Gmail address was entered on the PP Blog’s Comments form. For the past two days, MMB has been submitting comments that imply he has the power to harm the Blog if the Blog does not submit to his threats. His comments were sent from IPs in the United States and Europe. Today’s email communications from MMB were the first received from MMB.

    Because the Blog believes it is important to publish comments that showcase the bizarre and sometimes menacing nature of the HYIP sphere, it has published several comments from MMB since Monday. But because today’s email threats introduced a new form of electronic menacing and implied a PP Blog reader would be subjected to a hectoring campaign,  the Blog no longer will publish any additional comments from MMB.

    The PP Blog engages in the marketplace of ideas, not the marketplace of threats.

    These are among MMB’s menacing assertions yesterday:

    • “I know you’re reading everything I write and you are scared.”
    • ” But, continue to annoy the MoneyMakingBrain and deviate him from his monitoring duties, and you’ll be the ones to be in the hot water. “
    • “no one is invisible to the MoneyMakingBrain and you need to stop doing what you’re doing against this man immediately. Because if you don’t, I am going to make a formal complain (sic) to the very authorities you purport are coming after scam sites and send all the evidence I’ve gathered so far from posting on your site and the realscam site. I don’t like witch hunts and I am sure Fred Mann can whip your ass in court for your highly suggestive, provocative, highly contentious and flat-out defamatory commentaries against his character on your sites.”
    • “You can delete my comments as much as you like, but take what I said to the bank. In the end, you are going to look like a fool.”
    • “Maybe it’s a good idea that you stop your charade once and for all and finally cease and desist attacking Mr. Fred Mann, who is innocent until proven guilty. Not going to be repeating myself again.”
    • “Needless to say that you’ll be needing to look for another ISP because you won’t have internet access at home or your office, wherever. Needless to say that your server host will also shut down your sites down for violation of terms and conditions.”

    MMB also advanced a number of conspiracy theories, including one in which he asserts that two different people who post on RealScam.com and the PP Blog are one and the same. RealScam is a forum that concerns itself with mass-marketing fraud.

    In November 2011, RealScam  was subjected to a bid to chill from Bogdan Fiedur, the operator of AdLandPro, a website whose members routinely promote HYIP schemes and other highly dubious pursuits. JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid is one of the “programs” promoted on AdLandPro, which also has a presence on Ponzi forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup.

    Conspiracy theories are part and parcel to the HYIP landscape, as are threats — direct and veiled. Today”s second MMB email threat also raised the specter of fear.

    ” . . . it’s clear that you are too scared of me by now,” the second email read in part.

    In November 2011, an FBI Terrorism Task Force arrested ASD figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming on charges he filed false liens against at least five public officials involved in the ASD Ponzi case. Two months later, a superseding indictment was returned against Leaming that accused him of participating in a scheme to file false liens against two U.S. prison officials, uttering a false “Bonded Promissory Note” for $1 million and being a convicted felon in possession of firearms.

    So-called “sovereign citizens” have been linked to various forms of securities fraud and tax fraud. Because they believe prosecutors and judges have no authority over them, “sovereigns” have been known to target state, local and national officials in plots to file bogus liens and destroy the credit of members of the law-enforcement community and litigation opponents.

    Their harassment methods, which feature the use of both postal mail and email and often include direct or veiled threats, have become known as “paper terrorism.”

    When arrested, Leaming, the ASD figure and purported “sovereign,”  was found with two federal fugitives from Arkansas who’d been indicted on charges of duping participants in a home-business scheme of more than $2 million. Those fugitives also have been linked to the “sovereign citizen” movement and filed a series of bizarre pleadings in Arkansas after their arrests with Leaming, who is jailed near Seattle. Both fugitives now are detained at federal facilities in Texas, according to prison records.

    After MMB sent today’s initial email threat, he sent another comment to the Blog that included a threat:

    “Stop abusing your forum as Lynn does, or I am going to conclude that there is a business relationship between the two of you, and that would be bad a thing (I am afraid to say anything else as you may call it another ‘threat’).

    “And yes, this is not a threat: you’re better off having me talking here than somewhere else. I know too much already about both you and Lynn, and I still want to believe that the two of you are men of good (although the tactics of one indicate the otherwise).”

    “Lynn” is a reference to Lynn Edgington, the chairman of Eagle Research Associates Inc., a 501(c)3 Public Benefit Charitable Corporation based in Mission Viejo, Calif.

    The second email implied that MMB would seek to interfere with an Eagle Research banking relationship.

    See related story and Comments thread.

  • SPECIAL REPORT: Domain Registered To Purported JSS Tripler Operator Features Videos Of ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Accused In Alleged Alaska Murder Plot Against Public Officials; Meanwhile, Americans Listen To ‘Frederick Mann’ Tell Them That Even A ‘1-Year-Old’ Can Have An Account And That Adults Can Open Accounts For Others; Separate Sites Have Links To Antitax Screeds And Debt-Elimination Schemes

    From grainy "BigBooster" YouTube video dated June 6, 2007. "Hi, Frederick Mann here," the video begins — with Mann speaking in what may be British or South African English. Mann, who identified himself in 2008 as an AdSurfDaily promoter three months before the U.S. Secret Service conducted a raid on ASD's Florida headquarters, was the featured guest in a conference call last week for JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid. He is the purported operator of the "program."

    Visitors to BuildFreedom.com are greeted by a drop-down ad for JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid that encourages them to register with a free Gmail address from Google for the outlandish “program” and its purported return of 2 percent a day.

    At least 11 videos featuring Francis Schaeffer Cox are accessible on the BuildFreedom page, which features remarks attributed to Frederick Mann and others.

    Mann is the purported operator of JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid. Here is part of what he relates in written form on BuildFreedom in the context of Cox and others:

    “To what extent do the people and activities featured so far on this page provide real solutions? How far do they go toward neutralizing the real enemies? What activities need to be added to increase the prospects for freedom?”

    The remarks appear to have been written prior to the arrest of Cox and others in an alleged “militia” plot on U.S. soil.

    In 2011, Cox, 27, was arrested on charges of plotting the murders of state and federal officials in Alaska. In January 2012, a superseding federal grand-jury indictment was returned against Cox and two alleged accomplices.

    Based on its research, the PP Blog is reporting today that BuildFreedom.com is registered to Frederick Mann at an address in South Africa. At least two other sites registered to Mann at the same address — JustBeenPaid.com and BigBooster.com — have been used to drive traffic to the JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid “program.”

    The BigBooster website uses the same drop-down ad for JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid that appears on the BuildFreedom domain.

    As the PP Blog reported in October 2011, the BigBooster domain was used in 2008 to drive traffic to AdSurfDaily, which the U.S. Secret Service described as an online Ponzi scheme involving at least $110 million. In November 2011, ASD figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming of Spanaway, Wash., was arrested by an FBI Terrorism Task Force on charges of filing false liens against at least five public officials involved in the ASD case.

    In December 2010, ASD President Andy Bowdoin was charged criminally with wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities. Bowdoin’s program advertised a payout rate half of that advertised by JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid.

    The Conference Call

    Separately, the PP Blog is reporting today that Frederick Mann was the featured guest on a conference call for JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid last week. The Feb. 23 call appears to have been hosted by an American — and Americans and persons from at least one other country (Canada) appear to have quizzed Mann on the investment scheme after joining the “program.”

    Whether the conference-call participants were aware of the BuildFreedom domain and Mann’s written comments on Cox and “neutralizing the real enemies” is not known.

    The American (likely) who served as the call host was a woman who appeared to speak U.S. English. She described Mann as a “mathematical genius,” but did not say whether JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid was authorized to sell securities to U.S. citizens. Nor did she say whether she was a registered broker-dealer or whether others promoting the “program” were required to be registered in the United States and other jurisdictions.

    Mann also did not speak to any issues concerning securities, including whether the “program” was properly registered in all jurisdictions in which it conducts business and whether individual promoters needed to be registered.

    The first person who asked Mann questions during the call identified himself as “Randy” from “South Dakota.” Another caller who identified himself as “Chester” from “North Carolina” also quizzed Mann, who appears to speak British or South African English — or perhaps English from a different part of the world.

    The call was conducted one month to the day after CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator, announced that the actions of certain JSS Tripler promoters were under investigation. The CONSOB action was not addressed in the call, which also featured commentary or questions from “Michael” from “San Francisco” and others.

    During the call, Mann asserted — among other things — that there was no “age discrimination” in JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid.

    “So, theoretically,” he intoned, “even a one-year person” can participate.

    And, he noted, adults were permitted to open accounts in the names of other adults and that registrants could send money to JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid via AlertPay, SolidTrustPay, LibertyReserve and Perfect Money.

    All four of the processors are referenced in U.S. court filings as processors for alleged or proven fraud schemes.

    In response to a question from “Edward” (nationality unclear) about whether JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid had a “contingency plan” in case problems with payment processors developed or if government “harassed” them, Mann suggested that LibertyReserve and PerfectMoney were part of a fail-safe strategy.

    “Even if AlertPay and Solid  Trust Pay get shut down, that won’t stop” the program, Mann said.

    In response to a question from “Potato” from “California,” Mann also suggested it was possible to open accounts without a Social Security number that that members could open accounts for others, including teen-aged grandchildren in another U.S. state — even if a grandparent didn’t know the Social Security numbers of their grandchildren and the grandchildrens’ parents did not give permission to open the accounts.

    Who would be responsible for the tax consequences of opening accounts in the names of others was not discussed.

    The call appears not to have been limited to participation by Americans. A person who identified himself as “Mark(?)” from “Alberta” also was on the call.

    At least one of the persons on the call complained that the “program” was confusing. Even so, he ventured that this is “quite a deal.”

    In response to a question about where the “program” was located, Mann claimed JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid was “not located in any specific part of the world. We’re all over the planet.”

    “Oh, OK, cool,” the caller who asked the question replied to Mann.

    It was unclear from the call whether all participants who listened in or asked questions understood that the governments of various jurisdictions have acted forcefully against similar “programs” over the years, bringing both civil and criminal prosecutions.

    Other Domains That Reference Frederick Mann

    On a domain styled Mind-Trek.com, Fredrick Mann is quoted as writing, “In order to legally and safely beat the IRS it is necessary for you to adopt a certain frame of mind. You need to have a certain independence of mind. You need to be able to read the U.S. Constitution for yourself. You need to be able to recognize how the Supreme Court ‘judges’ and other politicians routinely violate the Constitution. You need to realize that practically all lawyers and accountants are handmaidens of the ‘terrocrats’ – terrorist bureaucrats or coercive government agents.”

    Similar antitax screeds appear elsewhere on the domain. Although the domain data lists a company that uses the word “Freeman” as part of its name and a contact address in Arizona, the address appears to be nonexistent in the state. Based on the registration data, the actual address of the purported owner may be in the area of Fort Smith, Ark.

    Arkansas business records show data on similarly named business entities in the state, but it is far from clear whether the “Freeman” entity listed in the domain-registration data was one of those firms.

    Based on its research, the PP Blog also is reporting today that a second domain that uses the Arizona address of Mind-Trek.com exists. That domain, which also appears to confuse Arkansas and Arizona in registration data, is styled TerrorCrat.com. “TerrorCrat” is a phrase Mann has used in his writings. The domain currently resolves to a parked page that beams advertisements.

    Meanwhile, this Twitter account purportedly for BigBooster suggests that Mann is an “Internet entrepreneur” from Arizona.

    The PP Blog initially learned about the BuildFreedom domain through a URL that appears under Mann’s name on the BigBooster site. That URL resolved to the BuildFreedom domain. When accessed, it loads the landing page of the BuildFreedom domain, the drop-down ad for JSSTripler/JustBeenPaid and two videos and 11 links pertaining to Francis Schaeffer Cox, the purported Alaska “sovereign” indicted in the alleged murder plot.

    Also during the course of its research, the PP Blog observed writings attributed to Mann on a domain that sought to attract customers for debt-elimination schemes. Such schemes also have been advanced by so-called “sovereign citizens.”

    A domain that lists Mann as the author of an introductory piece makes a reference to a purported “Indian” tribe. Although it is possible that the tribe is legitimate, some “sovereign citizens” who have no Indian heritage and no standing either as “Indians” or courtroom litigants have married debt-elimination schemes to purported tribal membership in bizarre bids to hamstring prosecutions and target litigation opponents and public officials with vexatious lawsuits.

    Some AdSurfDaily members have been linked to the same kind of vexatious legal filings, which sometimes included threats to arrest judges and attorneys that represent banks in collections-related litigation.

  • BULLETIN: Alaska ‘Sovereign Citizens’ Charged In New Indictment; Feds Say Francis Schaeffer Cox Had ‘Armed Security’ Force That ‘Stop[ed] Private Citizens Without Lawful Authority And Under The Force Of Arms’

    Francis Schaeffer Cox

    BULLETIN: A new superseding indictment has been returned in federal court in Alaska against purported “sovereign citizens” and “militia” members Francis Schaeffer Cox, Coleman L. Barney and Lonnie G. Vernon.

    In addition to the original charges outlined in an the first superseding indictment, the trio now is accused of conspiracy to kill federal officers and officials, according to the FBI.

    Cox further is charged with soliciting Barney and Vernon to murder federal officers, the FBI said.

    And  Cox, 27, Barney, 36, and Vernon, 57,  “are all charged with additional counts involving the carrying of firearms during a crime of violence,” the FBI said. “In addition to these charges, the indictment includes criminal forfeiture allegations relating to several seized firearms, silencers, and destructive devices.”

    Cox allegedly has asserted courts have no authority over him. The superseding indictment alleges that Cox and his militia colleagues, despite their sovereign posturing and beliefs the government has no legitimate authority over them, apparently divined themselves the right to assert authority over private citizens.

    Among other things, the indictment alleges that Cox had an armed security force and somehow persuaded himself that a federal “hit team” had been sent to Fairbanks to assassinate him, according to the indictment.

    With Cox scheduled to make a television appearance in November 2010, Cox, Barney, Vernon and others “developed a tactical plan to provide security for COX,” according to the new indictment. “Part of the tactical plan included the wearing of body armor, the possession of hand grenades, arming with semi-automatic weapons, the possession of 37mm launchers loaded with Hornets Nest anti-personnel rounds along with the creation and implementation of a deadly force policy in the event the federal agents arrived to arrest or attempt to kill COX.”

    On Nov. 23, 2010, according to the indictment, Barney, Vernon and others “established a tactical and armed perimeter security force of militia members around COX while COX was doing the television interview,” according to the indictment.  “This perimeter security force, among other things, trespassed on the private property of local citizenry while ‘patrolling’ on COX’s behalf, constructed a vehicular funneling point in order to stop and inspect the vehicles and identities of private citizens, and did, in fact, stop private citizens without lawful authority and under the force of arms.”

    The armed security detail asked citizens “for names and identification and prevented citizens from traveling either to their place of employment or their own private residences,” according to the indictment.

    While stopping citizens, Barney had “a semi-automatic assault rifle, an AR-15 .223 rifle,” according to the indictment..

    Attached to the “rail mount” of the semi-automatic rifle “was a 37mm launcher,” according to the indictment. “Loaded inside the 37 mm launcher was a ‘Hornets Nest’ anti-personnel round.”

    For his part, Vernon had “a semi-automatic assault rifle, a Sig Arms AR-15 .223 rifle,” according to the indictment.

    Also in November 2010 — apparently after divining himself the right to use armed guards to interrupt the free travel of private citizens — Cox paid for 16,000 newspaper ads, according to the indictment.

    Here is how the ads read:

    “The laws of The Judiciary appear to have been fraudulently displaced by a privately owned for profit corporation deceptively named the ‘Alaska Court System.’  This corporation and the Alaska Bar Association are under criminal investigation. If you have had a case decided without full disclosure of the true nature of the ‘Alaska Court System’ the damages can be corrected. Judgments can be overturned and you may be entitled to restitution! A public meeting to explain the process in simple laymen’s terms will be held at the CARLSON CENTER ON DECEMBER 1, AT 6:30 PM . . .”

  • ‘TWO FOR ONE’ CASE UPDATE: New Charges Lodged Against Alaskans Accused In Plot To Murder Judge, State Troopers; IRS Employee Also Was Targeted, Feds Say

    A federal grand jury has returned a superseding  indictment against an Alaska man accused earlier this month of threatening to kill a federal judge. The grand jury lodged additional charges against Lonnie G. Vernon, while also indicting Vernon’s wife, Karen L. Vernon, along with Francis Schaeffer Cox and Coleman L. Barney.

    Each of the defendants has purported ties to the so-called “sovereign citizen” and “militia” movements. Karen Vernon, Cox and Coleman initially were charged only under state law in a case that alleged a state judge and state troopers were targeted for murder or kidnapping.

    In addition to accusations that he plotted the murder of U.S. District Judge Ralph R. Beistline, Lonnie Vernon, 55, of Salcha, now also is accused of plotting the murder of an IRS employee.

    Beistline, Alaska’s chief federal judge, was presiding over a civil tax case involving the Vernons, according to court records. Like her husband, Karen Vernon also now has been indicted on charges of plotting the murder of Beistline and an IRS employee.

    In addition, the Vernons are charged with threatening to murder Beistline and his family, and conspiracy to possess an unregistered firearm silencer and grenades.

    On March 10, according to the indictment, the Vernons “purchased and received a pistol equipped with a silencer.” They also bought three hand grenades “not knowing at the time that they were inert.”

    Lonnie Vernon also is charged with illegally possessing a machine gun and possessing a firearm equipped with a silencer in furtherance of a federal crime of violence.

    Francis Schaeffer Cox: The Feds now say he possessed a siliencer and a machine gun.

    Cox, 27, of Fairbanks, initially was charged only under state law. He now has been indicted under federal law for conspiracy to possess unregistered destructive devices and possession of unregistered destructive devices. Four additional federal firearms charges were lodged against Cox, including “the illegal manufacture and possession of a silencer and the illegal possession of a Sten machine gun,” prosecutors said.

    Barney, 36, of North Pole, was indicted on federal charges of conspiracy to possess unregistered destructive devices and possession of unregistered destructive devices.

    He initially faced only state charges.

    Lonnie Vernon, Cox and Barney acquired weapons because they believed “at some undetermined point in the future they would have to take up arms against the government,” according to the federal indictment.

    In February, according to the indictment, Cox instructed Lonnie Vernon to go to “Anchorage to acquire hand grenades” and “obtain C-4 explosive.”

    On March 10, according to the indictment, Cox and Barney “met with the person with whom they had placed their order for a pistol equipped with a silencer and grenades so that they could purchase these items.”

    Cox and Barney “each received a pistol with a silencer,” according to the indictment. “They also received four hand grenades, not knowing that the grenades were inert. Barney carried $6,000 in cash on his person for the purpose of purchasing additional guns and destructive devices.”

    See earlier story.