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Tag: Hank Needham

  • MIRACLE? TalkGold Ponzi Forum Rejects Club Asteria Payment Claim From Serial Scammer ‘Ken Russo’ (AKA ‘DRdave’); CA Thread Moved To ‘Closed Programs And Scam Warnings’ Folder

    Despite efforts by serial cash-gifting, cycler, HYIP and autosurf pitchman “Ken Russo” to prevent the TalkGold Ponzi forum from moving the 16-month-old Club Asteria thread to the scam folder,  TalkGold did exactly that today.

    “Ken Russo,” known as “DRdave” on TalkGold, posted purported proof that he had been paid through Ponzi-friendly AlertPay on Aug. 5 for his Club Asteria efforts. But the “Ken Russo” post — and another TalkGold post from Club Asteria promoter “martyboy” that also claimed an Aug. 5 payout — apparently weren’t enough to persuade even a Ponzi cesspit such as TalkGold that Club Asteria had any cash-sucking and wealth-draining life left in it.

    Club Asteria, which traded on the name of the World Bank and targeted its offer to the world’s poor, announced weeks ago that it had suspended payouts. The announcement of the payout suspension was accompanied by news that claims about Club Asteria were under investigation by Italian authorities and that Club Asteria’s PayPal account had been frozen.

    Like “Ken Russo,” one of Club Asteria’s principals — Hank Needham — promoted AdSurfDaily. ASD was implicated by the U.S. Secret Service in an alleged $110 million international Ponzi scheme in August 2008. ASD President Andy Bowdoin was indicted on charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities in December 2010.

    The TalkGold thread on Club Asteria had been active for eight months at the time of the Bowdoin indictment. It survived at TalkGold for another nine months beyond the Bowdoin indictment, but today was moved to the “Closed Programs And Scam Warnings” folder.

    Club Asteria has been said to be scrambling to save itself, perhaps by providing members a chance to sell MLM products. Club Asteria last updated its news page on July 21, nearly a month ago.

    On or about June 28, weeks prior to its most recent news update, Club Asteria announced that it had experienced a dramatic revenue plunge that had been driven by lies told by its members and bad publicity.

    Two days ago, “Ken Russo” announced on TalkGold that he’d received a Club Asteria payment of $256 on Aug. 5.

    “I request a withdrawal once a month and I always receive a payment,” Ken Russo claimed on the forum. “My last withdrawal request was processed in about 48 hours.”

    But in a span of less than a month — between May 30 and June 27 — “Ken Russo” claimed on TalkGold that he had asked for and received three Club Asteria payments, totaling $2,032.

    Even as “Ken Russo” showcased his purported Club Asteria payouts, other members of various Ponzi forums complained about not getting paid.

    Club Asteria asserted it was not an investment program, even though innumerable web promos positioned it as one that paid a “passive” return of up to 10 percent a week.

    Some Club Asteria members have turned their attentions to Centurion Wealth Circle, an AlertPay-enabled cycler that collapsed and is trying to resurrect itself with something called “The Tornado.”

    Club Asteria enthusiast “strosdegoz,” also known as “manolo,” now is pitching Centurion Wealth Circle and “The Tornado” — on the same Ponzi boards in which he pitched Club Asteria.

    TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup are referenced in federal court filings as places from which Ponzi schemes are promoted.

  • BULLETIN: CenturionWealthCircle.com — ‘Opportunity’ Pushed By Club Asteria Members And New Darling Of The Ponzi Boards — Is Offline; Nameserver Data Show Same Info ASD Cash Generator/AdViewGlobal Sites Displayed When They Went Missing

    BULLETIN: The website of CenturionWealthCircle.com will not resolve to a server, and DNS data that appears in domain-registration info strongly suggest the site was suspended for spam and abuse.

    The DNS data include this string on two nameservers: SUSPENDED-FOR.SPAM-AND-ABUSE.COM.

    In 2008 and 2009, nameserver information for the ASD Cash Generator and AdViewGlobal autosurfs included the same string when the sites went missing.

    CenturionWealthCircle.com is a new darling of Ponzi scheme and criminals’ forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup, both of which are referenced in federal court filings as places from which Ponzi schemes are promoted.

    Some members of Club Asteria, an “opportunity” that traded on the name of the World Bank amid claims that members could experience a “passive” return on investment of 10 percent a week, also promoted Centurion Wealth Circle. Included among the Centurion Wealth Circle promoters was “Ken Russo,” who claimed on TalkGold (as “DRdave”) to have received $2,032 from Club Asteria during the month of June alone.

    Club Asteria later suspended member cashouts and claimed its revenue had plunged “dramatically.” The firm, whose website appears to have been registered on or near the same date the AdViewGlobal autosurf suspended cashouts in June 2009, blamed members for its problems.

    A photo of Hank Needham, Club Asteria’s purported owner, appears in a promo for ASD Cash Generator, which was implicated by the U.S. Secret Service is an alleged Ponzi scheme that gathered at least $110 million. ASD Cash Generator, also known as AdSurfDaily, was operated by Andy Bowdoin.

    Bowdoin was indicted on Ponzi, securities and wire-fraud charges in December 2010. Two days ago — in a video soliciting $500,000 to pay for his criminal defense — Bowdoin blamed lawyers and a federal judge for his legal problems, claiming he had been “crucified” by federal prosecutors and the U.S. Secret Service.

    See the Centurion Wealth Circle thread on RealScam.com, an antiscam site.

     

  • BULLETIN: ASDCashGenerator Website Is Active Again; Is A New ‘Program’ In The Offing? Page Is Accessible Through Old ASD Ad That Features Image Of Purported Club Asteria Owner; No Comment From Investigators

    This old ad for AdSurfDaily features an image of Hank Needham, the purported owner of Club Asteria. An ASD affiliate link in the ad summons ASD’s old ASDCashGenerator.com URL, which went dormant after the federal raid on ASD’s Florida headquarters in August 2008. In recent hours, however, the old ASDCashGenerator URL began to resolve to an apparent new business opportunity known as Ad Sales Daily International. Needham’s one-time tie to ASD leads to questions about whether Virginia-based Club Asteria, through Needham or ASD downline members, could have benefited from ASD cash prior to the federal seizure of tens of millions of dollars from the personal bank accounts of ASD President Andy Bowdoin nearly three years ago. The Club-Asteria domain name was registered in June 2009, the same month an autosurf with ASD connections known as AdViewGlobal collapsed. Club Asteria’s domain now is registered behind a proxy, but once was registered to Needham, according to web records.

    BULLETIN: (UPDATED 9:36 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) A website identified in a 2008 forfeiture complaint as the site of a major financial crime allegedly engineered by AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin and unidentified co-conspirators is active again and appears to be redirecting traffic to an entity named “Ad Sales Daily International” (ASDI) and a second entity known as ASD2Day.

    “Make $10 per direct referral & $5 for every 2nd level indirect!” the site exclaims. “Recieve (sic) $2000 Account Initiation Credits! Hurry, while we are in pre-launch.”

    A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. in the District of Columbia declined to comment on the development, saying that ASD is part of an active investigation.

    The ASDI site is accessible through an affiliate link to Bowdoin’s old ASDCashGenerator.com site, which appears to have been re-registered in the name of Barbara Cruz, whose name previously has appeared in the context of ASD. The PP Blog accessed the ASDI site by clicking on an old ASDCashGenerator affiliate link . The link was within an ASD ad from 2008 that featured an image of Club Asteria’s purported owner Hank Needham.

    The ASD ad with Needham’s image positioned ASD as a “Perfectly Credible Business” and included a contact email address that used the characters “ptigold.” The ASD ad, however, does not load Needham’s name as an ASDI affiliate when the link is clicked. Instead, it loads the name of another individual. The reason was not immediately clear.

    This page for ASDI, an apparent upstart, is accessible when a link is clicked in an old ad for Andy Bowdoin's ASD Cash Generator program. The old ASD ad features a photo of Hank Needham, the purported owner of Club Asteria, but the ad does not load Needham's name as an ASDI affiliate when the link is clicked. Instead, the ad loads the name of another person. The reason was not immediately clear. Bowdoin is under federal indictment for wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities. Questions have been raised about whether Club Asteria also was selling unregistered securities as part of a purported "passive" investment program.

    A separate link within the ad with Needham’s image forwards to a page that displays pornography ads.

    All or part of the old ASDCashGenerator site appears to be redirecting to the domain name of ASD2Day.com. In 2009, the ASD2Day site was registered with Cruz listed as the contact person at an address in Florida that state investigators had tied to a major insurance scam. Although Cruz now is listed as the registrant of the ASDCashGenerator site, the ASD2Day site is registered in the name of another individual.

    In October 2009, the PP Blog published a story about the ASD2Day site, which was making odd claims about the state of the ASD litigation a year after the federal seizure of Bowdoin’s assets and assets linked to Golden Panda Ad Builder, an autosurf implicated by the U.S. Secret Service in the ASD probe.

    ASD2Day.com claimed, among other things, that ASD could not be a Ponzi scheme because the script employed by the autosurfing firm could not be programmed to permit a Ponzi scheme to occur. It also made a puzzling claim that U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer was on an Aug. 28, 2009, deadline “to determine if the US Attorney General’s case against ASD should move forward.” (Also see this story and comments thread.)

    Collyer was on no such deadline. In January 2010, Collyer issued a forfeiture order that awarded $65.8 million seized from Bowdoin’s bank accounts to the U.S. government, which is using the seized money to compensate victims of ASD. In July 2009, Collyer issued a forfeiture order for more than $14 million linked to Golden Panda, ASD’s one-time purported “Chinese” option.

    The ASD ad that featured Needham’s image also made a veiled reference to Golden Panda.

    A section of the ad read, “OPENING IN CHINA[:] July 2008.”

    Undercover agents from a Secret Service/IRS task force began to investigate ASD and Golden Panda on July 3, 2008, according to court filings. The court process of seizing cash linked to both entities began on Aug. 1, 2008, with the issuance of seizure warrants.

    It appears to be the case that all old ASD Cash Generator affiliate links, including the links in the ad that featured Needham’s photograph, now load the new ASDI webpage at the old ASD Cash Generator URL.

    Claims made about Club Asteria are under investigation by Italian authorities. Club Asteria first slashed payouts to members then reportedly suspended them for 60 days. The firm also reportedly has had its PayPal account frozen.

    Like ASD, Club Asteria was promoted on Ponzi scheme forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup.

    In a video dated July 8, a Club Asteria executive claimed the firm had “a philanthropic foundation both domestically and internationally where we help causes all over the world.”

    Among the claims in the video, which appeared online after Club Asteria reportedly suspended payouts, was this one:

    “We donate cows and pigs and water buffaloes and camels to help families all over the world.”

    Virginia-based Club Asteria trades on the name of the World Bank. Members said payments came from an entity known as Asteria Holdings Limited (Hong Kong) — before the payments stopped.

    One of Club Asteria’s principal concerns, according to a new video, is children.

    Investigators long have fretted that some promoters of online business “opportunities” simply race from fraud scheme to fraud scheme, collecting commissions for introducing others to “programs” that prove to be scams.

    Like the now-collapsed AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf, Club Asteria has blamed its reported problems on members. AVG had promoters and members in common with Bowdoin’s ASD, which the Secret Service described as a massive international Ponzi scheme.

    Among other things, AVG plucked the heartstrings of members by telling them that the company was interested in saving the rain forest.

  • UPDATE: Blurb For Club Asteria Executive Reappears On Website; Separately, Promoter ‘Ken Russo’ Says On TalkGold Ponzi Forum That The ‘Next Couple Of Months Will Tell The Story’

    A blurb for Hank Needham has reappeared on the Club Asteria website after having been missing for days. The blurb appears to have gone missing sometime between June 19 and June 24, but is back on the site today.

    Separately, promoter “Ken Russo,” who posts as “DRdave” on the TalkGold Ponzi scheme and criminals’ forum, announced in a TalkGold post dated yesterday that he’d received $400 by wire from “Asteria Holdings Limited (Hong Kong)” yesterday.

    The payment was described as a “cashout.” Other members, however, claimed that Club Asteria suspended cashouts last week and had been paying only pennies or low-dollar sums prior to the purported suspension.

    TalkGold is referenced in federal court filings by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service as a place from which Ponzi schemes are promoted.

    In the month of June, “Ken Russo” has claimed on TalkGold that his Club Asteria cashouts have totaled at least $2,032. The cashouts appear to have occurred after Club Asteria’s PayPal account reportedly was frozen last month and after Italian authorities began to investigate claims made about the company.

    Few details are known about the Italian probe. Whether Russo’s purported payments as outlined on TalkGold could be considered ill-gotten gains if a prosecution emerges was not immediately clear.

    “The next couple of months will tell the [Club Asteria] story,” Ken Russo opined in his cashout claim on TalkGold yesterday. The post suggests the enterprise is in danger, but “Ken Russo” did not say whether he would return his cashout money voluntarily if authorities in Italy or elsewhere file a fraud action against the firm.

    Nor did “Ken Russo” say whether he’d provide refunds for his downline members.

    Some ClubAsteria members claim they are filing disputes with Alert Pay in a bid to reclaim money directed at Club Asteria.

    A Twitter site in the name of “Hank Needham” claims Needham is the “owner” of Club Asteria. On the Club Asteria website, Needham is described as director of sales and marketing.

    After the PayPal freeze, Club Asteria encouraged members to use offshore processors. Many Club Asteria promoters preemptively claimed that the Virginia-based firm was not operating a Ponzi scheme.

    How they could be certain never has been made clear, and a cash crisis appears to have engulfed Club Asteria after the claims were made. The company, which trades on the name of the World Bank,  may have hundreds of thousands of members globally, including members from Third World countries, developing nations and nations subjected to political dictatorships.

    Many Club Asteria members claimed the firm offered a “passive” investment opportunity, which led to questions about whether Club Asteria was selling unregistered securities to some of the poorest people on earth.

  • UPDATE: Is Club Asteria Missing An Executive? Blurb For ‘Director Of Sales And Marketing’ Goes Missing From Website Amid Reports Firm Has Suspended Cashouts

    A blurb for a key leader of an online “program” that claims to elevate people out of poverty globally has gone missing.

    The blurb for Hank Needham, whom Club Asteria identified as its director of sales and marketing, appears to have vanished between June 19 and today. Also missing from the Club Asteria webpage that identifies its leaders is Needham’s photograph.

    Club Asteria has not announced Needham’s departure. Why the blurb has been removed from the website was not immediately clear. Also unclear is whether Needham remains a Club Asteria employee and continues to hold an executive post at the Virginia-based firm, which trades on the name of the World Bank.

    In general, companies announce the departure of a key executive long in advance of the departure for the purposes of maintaining continuity and stakeholder trust.

    Needham, Club Asteria noted prior to the removal of the blurb, was “responsible for establishing Country, Regional and Network Team Leaders.

    “Hank has 22 Years (sic) experience in building Sales Teams throughout Europe, United States, Asia and Africa with special emphasis in the Network Marketing and Communications Industry (sic),” according to the now-removed blurb.

    In May, Club Asteria announced that its PayPal account had been frozen. There are reports today that the company has suspended member payouts for up to 60 days, but the company has not confirmed the reports on the news section of its website. Members have been grumbling on Ponzi scheme forums for weeks about drastically reduced cashouts from the firm.

    Remarks attributed to Andrea Lucas, Club Asteria’s managing director, appeared on Ponzi forums today. Lucas was quoted as saying, “We have made the decision to accumulate revenue share disbursements for the next 30 to 60 days.”

    Such a statement — if true — may signal that Club Asteria is having a serious cash crisis.

    On April 11, Club Asteria announced on its news website that it takes “very seriously our responsibility to remain financially solvent.”

    Many Club Asteria members preemptively claimed in promos for the firm that it was not operating a Ponzi scheme. The claims were juxtaposed against competing claims that a $19.95 monthly payment to Club Asteria could result in guaranteed earnings of $400 a week — nearly $21,000 a year for a 12-month outlay of about $240.

    See story from earlier today.