PatrickPretty.com

Tag: harassment

  • Steve Renner Fires, Gets Restraining Order Against Donald Allen; Says Former VP Harassed Him, Tried To Extort $100,000

    Steve Renner

    Former INetGlobal CEO Steven Keough now has some company on the list of people alleged to have tried to extort money from the Steve Renner family of companies.

    Renner went to court yesterday in Minnesota to seek a restraining order prohibiting Donald Allen from harassing him. The order was granted after Renner asserted Allen tried to extort $100,000 and had engaged in a pattern of abusive behavior, including raising “havoc” with employees, threatening “to destroy him and his family,” posting libelous and defamatory material on the Internet and engaging in verbal harassment.

    Allen also was accused to taking pictures of Renner’s offices and employees without their consent.

    “[Allen] has attempted to extort $100,000 from Petitioner’s businesses [and] if not paid will go to the FBI and Secret Service,” Renner asserted.

    A judge ordered Allen not to harass Renner, not to have any contact with Renner and to stay away from Renner’s home. The judge also ordered Allen to stay one “city block” away “in all directions” from Renner’s businesses in Minneapolis.

    Should Allen violate the order, he could be arrested, jailed for up to 90 days and fined up to $1,000, according to the order. Subsequent violations of the order could result in stiffer measures, including the filing of felony charges that could land Allen in jail for for up to 10 years and force him to pay a fine of up to $20,000.

    Allen is referred to in court papers as a previous employee of a Renner company.

    In a story published yesterday on the PP Blog, Allen said he was cooperating with the U.S. Secret Service “100 percent” in a probe of Renner’s business practices. The Secret Service said in February that it believed Renner was operating a Ponzi scheme and engaging in wire fraud and money laundering.

    Renner has not been charged with a crime and denies wrongdoing. Allen was vice president at V-Newswire, one of the “V” entities in the Renner family of companies. The Secret Service said in February that Allen had given confusing information to a customer of INetGlobal, another Renner entity.

    Allen denies wrongdoing, and now says he has met with the Secret Service twice and is cooperating fully in the Ponzi probe. The first meeting with the Secret Service occurred Friday, after agents showed up unannounced at his home, Allen said yesterday.

    In March, Renner accused Steven Keough, the former CEO of INetGlobal, of trying to extort $500,000 from the company. Keough may be the government’s star witness if charges are filed.

    “This is the same move they tried on Steve Keough,” Allen said this morning.  “I never tried to extort anything.”

  • ATTACK UNDERWAY: Ponzi Advocate ‘joe’ Says ‘joe Leaves When joe Wants To Leave’ And That Blog Will Be ‘Scrambling To Put Out Fires’

    UPDATED 8:44 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The attack described below abated for a short time, and then started anew, with “joe” back posting from his usual IP. He has posted from two IP’s today, using the identities “Mr. Wonderful”; “Quicjk”; and “Almighty Joseph (the risen),” along with multiple email addresses, including one that uses the word “boo.”

    This behavior, which we believe is designed to intimidate and to extract a result through harassment, is extreme. The behavior has not ceased — not even after the “fair warning” described in the post below.

    “joe” says he will continue his course of conduct until we permit him to post on his terms. His most recent nonpublic posts include another vulgarity directed at a reader and more vulgarity directed this Blog. “joe” insists it’s OK to do what he’s doing.

    “I feel some satisfaction that you seem to be intimidated by me,” joe says. “You can deny all you want but it’s true even though [sexual reference/poster’s name deleted] is right, I’m harmless. Now if you’re a good boy and post this unedited we can consider this my final retirement. I don’t really want to keep coming on here but I just wasn’t going to be unceremoniously tossed like a bad penny and you know what they say about bad pennies.”

    What follows below is our earlier post, bringing this matter to the attention of readers.

    Dear Readers,

    The PatrickPretty.com Blog is under attack.

    We find it necessary to make a record and to inform you about what is taking place behind the scenes. In the past, we have made similar posts to inform you about matters that we cannot dismiss as garden-variety harassment directed at this Blog and perceive as threats to our ability to publish.

    As many of you know, a poster who advocates for Ponzi schemes and calls himself “joe” was blocked from posting here Sept. 1. We made this decision based on “joe’s” inability to exercise even minimal restraint when posting.

    “joe” had previously announced two separate “retirements” from posting here, dismissing this Blog’s coverage of autosurfs and Ponzi schemes as meaningless. “joe” subsequently came out of retirement twice and began to post anew, and then went into what he described as semiretirement, saying he’d post anew as the situation warranted.

    While “joe” was in his semiretirement phase, he continued to post abusively before his access to public posting was blocked. “joe” did not react favorably to our decision to block him from posting here. In fact, “joe,” who says he was a POW in Vietnam, began to direct anger and hostility to this Blog outside the view of readers, and directed short, vulgarity-laced rants at specific readers who post here.

    In one of his blocked posts, he explained that he had directed the vulgarities only to test the system. So, in plain fact, what we were left with was a person who licenses himself to rant against this Blog and its readers, claiming his most recent submissions were tests, not communications to be taken seriously.

    “Testing 1-2-3” would have worked, if any testing was necessary at all. It was not, of course. This Blog has a right to conduct operations free from harassment by “joe” after he has been asked to leave.

    “joe” ramped it up yesterday, suggesting he would get the result he seeks — reinstatement of his posting privileges — or else.

    “joe leaves when joe wants to leave,” he said.”You’ll be scrambling to put out fires. I suggest you let ME retire . . .”

    He also noted that, “It’s amazing how many people in a short distance from my house haven’t got security on their computers. I drove around with my laptop and was able to get online in a few places. There are also a few internet cafes around me. What I’m saying is get ready for the return of joe and then you can block all of these people from your site.”

    The “fires” joe referenced now have started. He is attacking from a separate location, calling himself “Almighty Joseph (the risen).”

    “joe” is attempting to post a link for TradingGold4Cash, the purported program associated with the AdVentures4U autosurf, and has attempted nine additional posts in rapid succession, creating new identities for some of the posts.

    We will take appropriate action to prevent “joe” from interfering with the operation of this Blog.