PatrickPretty.com

Tag: HYIP scams

  • FBI: Convicted Murderer And Cross-Border E-Bullion Fraudster James Fayed Was Scamming The Scammers

    Source: FBI graphic from Jan. 4, 2016, retrospective on the E-Bullion case from 2008.
    Source: FBI graphic from Jan. 4, 2016, retrospective on the E-Bullion case from 2008.

    Still pushing Ponzi-board schemes in the age of cross-border fraud and terrorism?

    In a retrospective on the 2008 E-Bullion case, a retired FBI special agent says convicted murderer James Fayed was scamming HYIP scammers.

    “He just pocketed the money from all these high-yield investment programs after they ran,” said Maura Kelley. “And the money continued to come in because the word didn’t get out right away that they weren’t paying. And people were still investing.”

    In 2011, Fayed, then 48, was sentenced to death for the brutal contract slaying of Pamela Fayed, his wife and a potential witness against him. Indeed, the effective bagman for a host of Ponzi-board swindles ultimately turned to homicide in a bid to cover his tracks.

    Pamela was stabbed 13 times and left to die outside a Los Angeles-area parking garage.

    As the PP Blog reported in 2010, E-Bullion was a conduit for the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme.

    And, the Blog noted in 2011:

    E-Bullion has been linked to multiple Ponzi schemes, including Legisi, Gold Quest International and FEDI. The FEDI scheme has been linked to Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari, also known as Michael Mixon. Ali Alishtari pleaded guilty in 2009 to financing terrorism and fleecing investors in the FEDI scheme.

    So, a man with murder in his heart also was supplying financial services to Ali Alishtari, an HYIP swindler who believed he was funding the purchase of night-vision goggles for a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan.

    Upon the conviction of Alishtari, U.S. Attorney Peeet Bharaha of the Southern District of New York offered remarks. As the PP Blog noted, here is part of what Bharaha and the FBI said:

    “Alishtari . . . admitted that he stole millions from investors and knowingly financed what he believed to be tools of terror. In enriching himself, Alishtari displayed a deliberate disregard for the financial and personal security of others.”

    Investigators said Alishtari “facilitated the transfer of $152,000, with the understanding that the money would be used to fund training for terrorists.

    “In the latter half of 2006,” according to investigators, “Alishtari agreed to discreetly transfer these funds for an undercover officer, believing that the money was going to be used to purchase night vision goggles and other equipment for a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan. During his guilty plea, Alishtari admitted that he sent the money from the United States knowing that the funds were to be used to help finance alleged terrorist activity in Pakistan and Afghanistan.”

    Read the FBI’s retrospective on E-Bullion, titled “Fool’s Gold.”

    See the PP Blog’s long-running tag archive on references to E-Bullion.




  • BBC HOST: ‘We Have An Idiot On The Program Today’ — And It’s Alex Jones

    Andrew Neil yesterday made the universal "[batspit] crazy" gesture after trying to interview Alex Jones of InfoWars.
    Andrew Neil yesterday made the universal “[batspit] crazy” gesture after trying to interview Alex Jones of InfoWars.
    HYIP apologists dating back (at least) to the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme in 2008 ($119 million) have bizarrely sought to defend their favorite scams by steering discussions off the track. Why talk about the recidivist securities felon who presided over ASD (Andy Bowdoin), for instance, when the “real menace” is the Bilderberg Group?

    And, hey, since the United States is a participatory Democracy, why not further cloud the issues by launching petition drives designed to derail the prosecutions of major Ponzi schemes (such as AdSurfDaily and Zeek Rewards) and even filing bogus liens for billions of dollars against judges, prosecutors and investigators?

    If you encounter an HYIP Ponzi scheme these days that perhaps purports to pay interest of 2 percent a day or more, it’s a safe bet you’ll encounter one conspiracy theorist after another on well-known fraud-scheme forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup — especially if the evilGUBment brings a criminal or civil action against the purported “opportunity.”

    It was against this delusional backdrop that conspiracy theorist Alex Jones appeared on the BBC’s “Sunday Politics” program hosted by Andrew Neil. The subject was the annual meeting of the Bilderberg Group, sometimes known  simply as the Bilderbergers.

    One of the best moments of the program occurred near the end of the Jones segment, when Neil made the universal “[batspit] crazy” gesture after Jones shared a FEMA concentration-camp conspiracy theory and screamed that “you will not stop freedom! You will not stop the republic! Humanity is awakening!”

    Neil declared, “We have an idiot on the program today.”

    Among the bizarre claims of the AdSurfDaily apologists was that all commerce is lawful as long as the parties to a “contract” agree that it is lawful, a position that would legalize Ponzi schemes — and slavery and human trafficking and narcotics trafficking, for that matter. The U.S. Secret Service took down ASD, and promptly was called “Satan” by ASD operator Andy Bowdoin, now serving a 78-month prison sentence for wire fraud for his 1-percent-a-day scheme.

    The SEC took down Zeek Rewards in August 2012, amid allegations it was conducting a $600 million, international Ponzi- and pyramid scheme by duping people into believing they were receiving a legitimate return that averaged about 1.5 percent a day. A federal judge appointed a receiver, who quickly was described as a felon by a Zeek litigant. (The Zeek receiver is a former federal prosecutor who once successfully prosecuted a Hezbollah terrorist cell operating in the United States.)

    Back in 2008 and 2009, some of the ASD apologists accused a federal judge appointed by President George W. Bush of committing dozens of felonies and conspiring with a chief judge to deny ASD members justice.

    Why HYIP scammers seem to embrace the conspiracy theories of Jones long has been left to the imagination. One thing that is clear is that ASD and Zeek combined allegedly gathered $719 million. Some recent HYIP scams such as Legisi ($72 million) and JSSTripler/JustBeenPaid (unknown take) have required participants to avow they were not with the “government.” Legisi specifically named the CIA, FBI, SEC, “Her Majesty’s Police,” the Intelligence Services of Great Britain and the Serious Fraud Office, among others.

    Late last month, the United States — working with other countries — took down a major payment processor for fraud schemes. Its name was “Liberty Reserve.”

  • BULLETIN: Salt Lake City Man Arraigned In Atlanta On Charges Of Running Ponzi And Fraud Scheme In Which Tens Of Millions Of Dollars Mysteriously Vanished Offshore; Canadian Also Charged In Alleged Caper

    BULLETIN: Two men — one from Salt Lake City, the other from Belleville, Ontario — have been charged by federal prosecutors in Atlanta with operating a Ponzi and fraud scheme in which tens of millions of dollars mysteriously disappeared overseas.

    Thomas Repke, 57, was arraigned today in Atlanta. Prosecutors said he worked with the Canadian man, James Jeffery, 58, to fleece more than $30 million from investors.

    “This indictment alleges a major international investment fraud scheme that defrauded over 100 victims around the country out of tens of millions of dollars, most of which has been transferred to overseas accounts,” said U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates.

    The scheme began in 2006 and centered around a company known as Coadum Capital in which investors were told that they were purchasing shares in hedge funds and that their investment capital was kept in “escrow” accounts and thus not at risk. Participants expected to earn up to 5 percent a month.

    “[A]lthough investors were instructed to and did transmit much of their funds to one or more supposed ‘escrow’ accounts, including one in Atlanta, the money did not stay in any such account,” prosecutors said. “Rather, unbeknownst to investors, Repke and Jeffery transferred over $20 million overseas to accounts in Switzerland and the Mediterranean island of Malta.

    “This money was supposedly invested in a series of hedge funds or other investments operated by a supposed Malta-based trader,” prosecutors said.

    But the investments “produced no earnings at all,” prosecutors said. “[B]y the end of 2007 only a fraction of the transferred funds remained deposited in these European accounts.”

    Regardless, Repke and Jeffery “continued to send account statements every month to investors continuing to represent that their funds remained intact, preserved in escrow accounts, and that monthly earnings of 3-5% continued to accrue,” prosecutors said.

    Both Repke and Jeffery had “no control” over the overseas accounts — accounts “about which they received little or no information,” prosecutors said.

    Investigators obtained correspondence that showed Repke and Jeffery both “were frustrated in their repeated requests to obtain information about where the funds were being held, how they were being used by the trader, and whether and to what extent earnings were being generated,” prosecutors said.

    The SEC referred the case for criminal investigation after bringing an administrative action and lawsuit against Repke and Jeffery in 2008, according to records.

    “Those who prey on the investing public in this way will continue to find themselves facing federal felony charges,” Yates said.

    The investigation was coordinated by the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. prosecutors said Jeffery had not yet made his initial court appearance in the case.

    Repke potentially faces decades in prison, if convicted. He was charged with multiple counts of mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy.

    (NOTE: The SEC complaint references a Malta company known as “Exodus Equities Inc,”  which apparently was tied to an entity known as “Exodus Platinum Genesis Fund Ltd.” Also of note for additional case information/filings is the website of Pat Huddleston, the court-appointed receiver in the SEC case.)