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Tag: Grant Writer’s Institute

  • BREAKING NEWS: Receiver In FTC Case Against Parent Company Of Noobing Autosurf Seeks Wholesale Demolition Of Firm; Asks Judge To Approve Plan To Sell Assets — Right Down To Restroom Wastebasket

    Assets of the parent company of an autosurf firm that targeted customers with hearing impairments would be sold at auction — up to and including a stainless-steel wastebasket in the women’s restroom, according to a plan proposed by the receiver in the case against Affiliate Strategies Inc. (ASI) and other companies.

    ASI is the parent company of the Noobing autosurf. U.S. District Judge Julie A. Robinson of the District of Kansas would have to approve the plan submitted by Larry Cook, the court-appointed receiver.

    Screen shot from court filings: Part of the inventory of Affiliate Strategies Inc.
    Screen shot from court filings: Part of the inventory of Affiliate Strategies Inc.

    Robinson previously ordered ASI to repatriate to the United States all assets and documents held on foreign soil, and cleared the way for any safe-deposit boxes to be opened and inspected. The judge also ordered assets not to be concealed or dissipated and records not to be destroyed.

    In a coincidence that conjures images of another autosurfing company embroiled in litigation, Cook revealed in the plan that ASI owns a jet-ski. Federal prosecutors said in December that money from Florida-based AdSurfDaily Inc. (ASD) was used to purchase two jet-skis.

    Prosecutors seized ASD’s jet-skis in a forfeiture complaint and may choose to liquidate them later, if court approval is gained.

    Cook’s plan would sell ASI’s jet-ski, a 2005 Yamaha, along with a 2003 Saturn automobile owned by the firm.

    “[Cook] previously determined the Receivership Defendants’ business operations could not be operated legally and profitably,” the receiver’s attorney, Brian M. Holland, said in a court filing.

    The Grant Writer’s Institute — another company affiliated with ASI — was accused in August of charging a 70-year-old Philadelphia man $995 for the names and addresses of three benevolent entities that could help him repair the home he shares with his wife.

    One of the addresses proved to be the address of the Philadelphia Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which had been misidentified by the Grant Writer’s Institute as a benevolent organization known as “World Changers,” according to court filings.

    In July, ASI, the Grant Writer’s Institute and several affiliated firms and individuals were accused by the FTC and the attorneys general of Kansas, Minnesota and North Carolina of participating in a scheme that promised “guaranteed” grants of $25,000 from economic-stimulus funds provided by the government.

    Brett Blackman, president of Noobing, is the head of ASI.

    In August, Cook advised Robinson that the companies were insolvent and that attorneys had received “thirty two US Mail crates” filled with consumer complaints on a single day.

    Blackman, according to Cook, recently registered several corporations offshore, including Noobing, which was registered on the Caribbean island of Nevis on March 25, 2009; ASI Management Inc., formed in Belize on March 24, 2009; Landmark Publishing Group LLC, formed in Nevis on March 25, 2009; Landmark Publishing LLC, formed in Nevis on March 25, 2009; International Research and Writing Group LLC, formed in Nevis on July 1, 2009; and International Publishing Group LLC, formed in Nevis on July 1, 2009.

    All in all, Cook said, “the ASI defendants have formed and operated eighteen additional Kansas LLCs as subsidiaries of Defendant Apex Holdings International LLC.”

  • Noobing-Connected Firm Discussed In Senate Hearing

    Jon Leibowitz, FTC chairman
    Jon Leibowitz, FTC chairman

    The head of the Federal Trade Commission told a Senate panel yesterday that a firm associated with the Noobing autosurf embarked on a scheme to sell a $59 book and then used a telemarketing company to upsell customers to an expensive program that fraudulently sold “guaranteed” government grants from economic-stimulus funds.

    “Just last week, some of the defendants allegedly responsible for the ‘Grant Writers Institute’ [GWI] grant scam agreed to a preliminary injunction halting their operation pending final resolution of the matter by the court,” FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz told the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

    Noobing, which pitched itself to deaf consumers and was promoted by members of AdSurfDaily (ASD), went offline in the aftermath of the FTC lawsuit against Affiliate Strategies Inc., GWI and related companies.

    “The complaint charged that GWI falsely claimed that consumers were eligible for grants as part of the recently announced economic stimulus package,” Leibowitz told the panel. “For example, consumers who called GWI in response to a mass-mailed postcard heard a recording that said, ‘If you’ve been reading the papers you know that recently our government released $700 billion into the private sector. What you probably don’t know is that there is another $300 billion that must be given away this year to people just like you.’ The recording continued, ‘And if you’re one of the lucky few who knows how to find and apply for these grants, you will receive a check for $25,000 or more, and we guarantee it . . . If you don’t get a check for $25,000 or more, you pay nothing.”

    Sen. Joseph Leiberman, chairman,
    Sen. Joseph Lieberman, chairman, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

    Sen. Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., presided over the hearing, which was titled “Follow the Money: An Update on Stimulus Spending, Transparency, and Fraud Prevention.”

    Leibowitz updated Lieberman’s panel on efforts by “[c]on artists [who] have sought to exploit the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,” according to his testimony.

    He noted that some fraudsters had used images of “President Obama and Vice President Biden to add legitimacy to their misrepresentations.”

    In a forfeiture case against ASD, a Florida company accused of operating an international Ponzi scheme from a former flower shop in a small town, federal prosecutors said promoters of the scheme falsely claimed that ASD President Andy Bowdoin had received an award for a business achievement from President George W. Bush.

    Rather than let the wire-fraud, money-laundering and securities investigation proceed until all the facts of ASD’s business practices were known, some ASD members embarked on a letter-writing campaign to the Senate and asked members of Congress to investigate the prosecutors, not the alleged schemers.

    Others filed court motions that accused a federal judge and the prosecutors of crimes.

    See Reuters story on the Senate hearing.

  • RECEIVER: Firm Associated With Noobing Autosurf Charged Senior Citizen In Search Of Housing Grant $995 For Three Names And Addresses Of Providers; One Of The Addresses Proved To Be Regional HUD Office

    UPDATED 2:11 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) A company associated with the Noobing autosurf charged a 70-year-old Philadelphia man on Social Security $995 for the names and addresses of three entities that possibly could help him secure a grant to repair his rapidly deteriorating home, according to the receiver in the fraud case against Affiliate Strategies Inc., Brett Blackman and other defendants.

    Noobing pitches itself to the deaf on YouTube.
    Noobing pitches itself to the deaf on YouTube.

    Noobing itself targeted people with hearing impairments, according to web records and YouTube videos. The Kansas-based surf came to life after the U.S. Secret Service seized tens of millions of dollars last year from Florida-based AdSurfDaily Inc., amid allegations of wire fraud, money-laundering, selling unregistered securities and operating a Ponzi scheme.

    Noobing was promoted by some ASD members after the government filed a forfeiture complaint against ASD in August 2008.

    Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission now says Blackman received more than $1.37 million from various entities under the ASI umbrella in 2008 and 2009 and also benefited from perks.

    “ASI paid personal expenses for cleaning services, landscaping services, and moving services,” the FTC claimed in court filings this week. “Plaintiffs believe, based on interviews with former employees, that these expenses were paid on behalf of Brett Blackman, and categorized as ‘executive expenses.’”

    Blackman and the other defendants said in court filings that the various business enterprises named in the complaint filed last month by the FTC and attorneys general from three states provided legitimate products and services and that no consumers were harmed.

    But the Philadelphia man said otherwise, providing the receiver three letters he had written to entities whose names and addresses were provided by the Grant Writer’s Institute for a fee of $995 as benevolent entities that could help him repair the home he shares with his wife.

    One of the addresses proved to be the address of the Philadelphia Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which had been misidentified by the Grant Writer’s Institute as a benevolent organization known as “World Changers,” according to court filings.

    Brenda M. Laroche, HUD’s deputy regional director, wrote a personal letter back to the man, explaining that HUD did not provide individual grants and pointing out where he could get free information on housing-assistance programs in Philadelphia and free information on a provider of weatherization assistance.

    Laroche, for free, even researched World Changers after receiving the letter from the man, who described himself as a recipient of only $185 a month in Social Security benefits and driving a cab at age 70 to make ends meet. In her letter to the man, Laroche provided the phone number and website address of World Changers, an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention.

    A second entity identified by the Grant Writer’s Institute — United Methodist Action Reach-out Mission by Youth (U.M. ARMY) — proved to be an organization that seeks grants, but does not provide them, according to court filings.

    Like Laroche at HUD, the executive director of the Christian organization wrote a personal letter back to the Philadelphia man, expressing concern that he had been duped and asking the man for the name of the company that duped him.

    “You are not alone,” said Brian Smith, executive director of the United Methodist mission, in the letter to the Philadelphia man. “[W]e would love to find out where you have learned this false information so that we can put away any artificial hope of funding from our organization to other individuals such as yourself.”

    At the same time, a third name provided to the Philadelphia man proved to be a website — netwish.org — which says it underwrites grants up to a maximum of $500 after people in need submit an essay that is compared to essays from other people in need to establish whose needs are most critical and can be funded. The maximum grant is $500, or $495 less than the amount the Grant Writer’s Institute charged the man.

    The Grant Writer’s Institute is one of the co-defendants in the case, which alleges that Blackman and others were part of a scheme to make customers believe they would receive a “guaranteed” $25,000 grant from the government from economic-stimulus funds.

    Larry Cook, the receiver, also determined that chargebacks attributed to another company named a defendant in the case actually were Noobing chargebacks and that a customer complained in July that Noobing had drafted an unauthorized payment, according to court filings.

    The chargebacks were confusing even to the bank because of the interrelationships of the defendants’ companies, the FTC said. Cook previously said that the “ASI defendants have formed and operated eighteen additional Kansas LLCs as subsidiaries of Defendant Apex Holdings International LLC.”

    It had been difficult to get an early fix on finances because because “several thousand intercompany transfers” occurred and because other entities recently had been registered offshore, Cook said.

    Read the Receiver’s declaration.

    Read FTC Supplemental filing.

  • Noobing, Surf Site That Pitched Itself To Deaf Community, Goes Missing; Purported President Was Named In FTC Complaint Against Separate Firm Last Month That Alleged ‘Guaranteed’ Government ‘Stimulus’ Grants Of $25,000

    UPDATED 10:48 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The Noobing surf site is throwing a server error and will not resolve. The development came in the aftermath of a Federal Trade Commission complaint filed late last month against Brett Blackman and others, although Noobing was not named in the FTC complaint.

    On July 24, a federal judge froze Blackman’s assets and the assets of other defendants in the case.

    Attorneys general from Kansas, Minnesota and North Carolina joined the FTC in the action. One of the claims in the case is that Blackman was part of a scheme to make customers believe they would receive a “guaranteed” $25,000 grant from the government from economic-stimulus funds.

    Web records identified Blackman as Noobing’s president. The precise time the Noobing site vanished is unclear.

    Noobing had a considerable presence in the deaf community, and at least 15 YouTube videos featured sign language.

    Members complained publicly about “bait and switch” in February, saying they were attracted to the program by suggestions of returns of up to 3 percent a day.

    Returns, however, plunged to only a fraction of 1 percent. A Noobing staffer explained at the time that Noobing learned from the AdSurfDaily case that “it became clear that any system that is not SEC registered as an investment that returns more than 100% risks getting shut down and everyone loses everything.”

    What he did not explain is why Noobing chose even to operate in the post-ASD environment.

    The staffer went on to blame the government for the decision to slash the payout rate.

    “The SEC did not contact us,” explained the employee in February, on the ASA Monitor forum. “We are simply being smart and not putting ourselves in a bad position to risk losing everything. Once ASD gave up, and we stood without a firm ruling from the courts, the risk was too high. We’d have preferred that ASD won, or that at least we got a clear ruling, as it is now, cautious action is best.”

    Noobing was popular among some some members of ASD. After the seizure of tens of millions of dollars from ASD President Andy Bowdoin a year ago this month, some promoters turned to Noobing in the fall.

    In the FTC complaint, the agency and the attorneys general seek “a court order permanently stopping the defendants’ illegal conduct and forcing them to return money to consumers injured by the scheme,” the FTC said.

    Named defendants were:

    • Affiliate Strategies, Inc.
    • Landmark Publishing Group, LLC (d/b/a G.F. Institute and Grant Funding Institute)
    • Grant Writers Institute, LLC
    • Answer Customers, LLC
    • Apex Holdings International LLC
    • Brett Blackman, individually and as an officer, manager, and/or member of Affiliate Strategies, Inc., Landmark Publishing Group, LLC, Grant Writers Institute, LLC, Answer Customers, LLC, and Apex Holdings International, LLC
    • Jordan Sevy, individually and as a manager of Landmark Publishing Group
    • James Rulison, individually and as president of Answer Customers, LLC

    In addition, the complaint names the following North Carolina entities as defendants: Real Estate Buyers Financial Network LLC (d/b/a Grant Writers Research Network); Martin Nossov, individually and as a manager and member of Real Estate Buyers Financial Network LLC; Alicia Nossov, individually and as a manager and member of Real Estate Buyers Financial Network LLC.

    “Since at least 2007, GWI has mass mailed postcards to consumers across the country falsely claiming that the consumers “are Guaranteed a $25,000 Grant from the U.S. Government,” the FTC said. “Consumers who call the number are pitched a $59 book titled ‘Professional Grant Writer[:] The Definitive Guide to Grant Writing Success.’”

    “The company’s telemarketers falsely claim that the book will explain how to get government grants — including the ‘guaranteed’ $25,000 grant,” the FTC continued. “GWI and its North Carolina-based telemarketers, also named as defendants in the complaint, then call consumers who have bought the book, trying to get them to pay hundreds of dollars or more for grant research, writing, or coaching services, falsely claiming a 70 percent success rate in securing grant funding. In reality, few, if any consumers ever receive any grant money.”

    From federal complaint.
    From federal complaint.

    Meanwhile, the FTC said, “GWI used the current government stimulus package to make its pitch. For example, when consumers called the number on the mass-mailed postcard, they heard a recording that said, ‘If you’ve been reading the papers you know that recently our government released $700 billion into the private sector. What you probably don’t know is that there is another $300 billion that must be given away this year to people just like you.’”

    It did not end there, the FTC said.

    “The recording continues, ‘And if you’re one of the lucky few who knows how to find and apply for these grants, you will receive a check for $25,000 or more, and we guarantee it . . . If you don’t get a check for $25,000 or more, you pay nothing.’”

    Read the FTC news release. Read the federal/state complaint.