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Tag: Jody Dunn

Was An Unlicensed Money-Services Business In The United States Gathering Funds For The Alleged UFunClub/UToken Ponzi Scheme In Thailand?

This screen shot from the “shop” section of website of UTokenUSA shows that orders were being solicited for UTokens at prices between $635 and $12,100. Not shown is a solicitation for orders at a level of $57,500. Whether orders successfully were placed is unclear. At some point, these words appeared on the site: “[01-31-2015] In order to work with the system planning, the Utrade trading system will pause for 7 days, from 00:00am, 1st February 2015 and re-open 00:01am 8th February 2015 for system upgrades and conversion of tradable UToken for investment liquidity planning.
We will still be able to create membership accounts, but you will not be able to buy, sell, or trade Utokens until February 8, 2015.”
In March 2015, as part of its coverage of the WCM777 cross-border scam operating out of the United States, the PP Blog reported that court-appointed receiver Krista L. Freitag said this in a Feb. 27 court filing (italics added):

“Many investors gave cash to the company and to their leaders (or upline sponsors) who then deposited the cash along with other investor funds.” (Click here to read “WCM777: More Theft And Money Laundering MLM-Style.”)

Back in 2010, something similar happened in the deeply disturbing Imperia Invest IBC scam that appears to have operated offshore and definitely targeted people with hearing impairments. The SEC first charged Imperia and, in 2011, charged alleged pitchman Jody Dunn. Millions of dollars went missing.

Dunn may not have learned his lesson. His name later appeared as an alleged “winner” in Zeek Rewards, yet another cross-border MLM/network-marketing debacle. Zeek, operating from the United States, allegedly plucked $897 million. Some of the money allegedly ended up in places such as Moldova, the Cook Islands and the Turks and Caicos.

Moving forward to the 2014 TelexFree scheme taken down by the SEC and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, what do we see? Well, allegations that TelexFree, too, had created conditions under which promoters were collecting money for the scheme and effectively becoming money mules.

TelexFree may have gathered $1.8 BILLION — yes, billion with a “b.”

Welcome to the black markets of MLM/network marketing. The schemes may feature in-house transfer vessels in which participants can transfer money or cash-earning investment points to other members in underground fashion. Promoters also can do back-alley deals with recruits, opening up second and subsequent black-market tiers.

BehindMLM.com reported yesterday that INTERPOL was about to become involved in the cross-border investigation into UFunClub/UToken that originated in Thailand. If it happens, it’s an encouraging sign.

UFunClub/UToken may have plucked more than $1.17 BILLION.

Separately, the PP Blog learned yesterday that a UFunClub/UToken promoters’ group known as UFUN Team USA had published a promo that claimed this (italics/bolding added):

We blog, tweet, and write about the latest news on UFUN and UTokens. Our team provides secure transaction exchange of physical currency to UToken digital currency from all around the world. Our service at UTokenUSA includes:

1. Purchasing UTokens through our website.
2. Guaranteed safe transfer of payment to UFUN.
3. UFUN Account Setup – **Setup time varies 1-5 business days.**
4. UToken & UFUN Support.
5. Referral/Downline Support – We help setup up your referrals under you.
6. Latest News and Updated on UFUN & UTokens.
7. Discount Coupons for you to offer to future members.

This UFunClub/UToken promoters’ group claimed recruits could purchase UTokens through its website and that the promoters “Guaranteed safe transfer of payment to UFUN.”

This leads to questions about whether an unlicensed Money Services Business was gathering funds for another unlicensed Money Services Business. UToken promoters claim the value of the purported digital currency only can rise and never can fall.

The UFUN Team USA site published a phone number with the 323 Area Code in Greater Los Angeles. That’s the same area from which WCM777 was operating.

Like any number of schemes, UFunClub/UToken has been positioned as a “passive” investment opportunity that already has created anywhere from 200 “millionaires” to 5,000, depending on the source of the claims.

This brings questions about an offering fraud and the sale of unregistered securities into play. The same sorts of questions existed with WCM777, Imperia, Zeek and TelexFree.

As the screen shot below taken from a YouTube promo shows, UFunClub/UToken did an in-house announcement about the “THE CONVERSION OF TRADABLE UTOKEN TO INVESTMENT POINTS” — apparently on Jan. 31.

Source: Screen shot from a YouTube video with a publication date of Feb. 10, 2015.

Some American MLMers/network marketers have claimed they traveled from the United States to Thailand to vet UFunClub/UToken and found the “program” to be legitimate.

The Thai police say the “program” is an international fraud scheme.

Apr 30, 2015
UPDATE: Club Asteria, Cherry Shares, ‘JustBeenPaid’ Promoter ’10BucksUp’ Falsely Claims PP Blog Posts As ‘ISPY’ On MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi Forum; HYIP Apologist Taunts U.S. Law Enforcement In Bizarre Post

The bizarre descent into chaos of a failing “program” that claimed to be moving to “offshore” servers and once made its participants swear they were not government spies or media lackeys has gotten stranger yet.

Poster “10BucksUp,” who’s now flogging the JustBeenPaid “program,” falsely claimed on the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum today that the PP Blog posts on MoneyMakerGroup as “ISPY” and published a link to the Blog on the forum to discredit him.

The PP Blog is not “ISPY” and does not post on MoneyMakerGroup under any identity. Nor does the Blog communicate with “ISPY” in any fashion, know his (or her) identity or encourage “ISPY” directly or indirectly to post links to the Blog. The Blog has never encouraged any member of MoneyMakerGroup — or any other Ponzi scheme forum — to post links to the Blog.

It is somewhat common for posters on Ponzi boards, including so-called “naysayers,” to post links to the Blog’s coverage of schemes-in-progress or schemes gone bust. It also is somewhat common for Ponzi board promoters to exhibit paranoia about the Blog’s reporting and even claim the Blog is part of a U.S. government operation.

Prior to asserting that “ISPY” was the PP Blog, “10BucksUp” accused ISPY of threatening him. ISPY denied threatening “10BucksUp.”

“10BucksUp” rose to Ponzi forum prominence as a pitchman and apologist for ClubAsteria, which became the subject of a probe by the Italian securities regulator CONSOB in May, had its PayPal account frozen, slashed weekly payouts to members and then eliminated the payouts.

Meanwhile, “10BucksUp” also acknowledged today that he was a member of the collapsed Cherry Shares HYIP. In June, Cherry Shares was referenced in freeze and trade orders brought by The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), the securities regulator for the province of Quebec in Canada.

The acknowledgement by “10BucksUp” of his Cherry Shares involvement means that he was participating in a second “program” that had come under government scrutiny — but nevertheless plowed headlong into JustBeenPaid.

Earlier this month, “10BucksUp” advised members of JustBeenPaid that late-entry members were engaging in hurtful and “drastic measures” if they filed disputes with AlertPay. Among other things, JustBeenPaid has asserted it is a “private association.”

The AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf made the same claim prior to its collapse in June 2009. AVG was one of the so-called AdSurfDaily clones — each of which launched (and collapsed) after the August 2008 seizure by the U.S. Secret Service of tens of millions of dollars in a Ponzi scheme investigation.

Today’s false MoneyMakerGroup claims about the PP Blog also occurred against the backdrop of a securities fraud case brought by the SEC against Jody Dunn, an alleged pitchman for Imperia Invest IBC. Imperia Invest also was promoted on MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold, and the SEC charged that Dunn had promoted it blindly and relied on claims made by the purported opportunity, rather than conducting any actual due diligence.

Millions of dollars directed at Imperia Invest went missing, the SEC charged.

“You want to arrest me? [G]o ahead,” 10BucksUp wrote on MoneyMakerGroup today. “Send a Secret Service/US Seal/intergalactic commando force in my little 3rd world village. Afterall, that is what some Americans think of us right? We all should live under your whims, at what you dictate as legal and not illegal. And then when somebody else invoke that ‘power’ against you, you cry ‘dont tread on me’ or ‘taxed enough already[.”]

“Go ahead with your crusade, Mr ISPY/Patrick Pretty/Twerp,” 10BuckUp continued. “Clean up the world of garbages like us. There are millions of us. I hope you can finish up in your lifetime.”

10BucksUp did not say whether he believed U.S. and other world citizens unwise to the ways of the Ponzi pitchman should simply remain silent after they recognize they’ve been scammed and permit fraudsters to steal their money. Nor did he say whether he believed the U.S. government was making a mistake in prosecuting fraudsters who have disappeared with tens of millions of dollars in recent cases such as Legisi and Pathway to Prosperity — in an era of terrorism and economic uncertainty.

The combined haul of the Legisi, Pathway to Prosperity and ASD “opportunities” was about $250 million, according to court filings. Separately, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) said last year that Genius Funds, a collapsed HYIP, had gathered $400 million.

Like Club Asteria, JustBeenPaid and Cherry Shares, Legisi, Pathway To Prosperity, ASD, AVG and Genius Funds were promoted on the Ponzi boards.

FINRA specifically warned last year that HYIP fraud schemes spread on the Internet through social media and forums.

“10BucksUp” said today that he used a “a free, blogger blog” to promote Club Asteria. Blogger is part of Google’s Blogspot platform.

“Now everybody knows ISPY = Patrick Pretty,” 10BucksUp falsely asserted today.

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

Sep 13, 2011
PONZI >> FORUM >> CESSPIT >> ALERT >> MOVING: SEC Charges Texas-Based Imperia Invest Promoter With Securities Fraud, Other Offenses; Agency Says Jody Dunn Targeted Deaf Investors, Lied To Them — And Cherry-Picked Their Funds To Pay For His House And Car

An Imperia Invest IBC promoter continued to make excuses and cloud the issues even after the SEC released printed warnings and warnings in American Sign Language that the purported opportunity was an international scam that stole millions of dollars from deaf investors and others, the agency said today. (See link to videocast below.)

ALERT >> MOVING: A deaf promoter of an online program that stole millions of dollars from deaf investors knew the purported Imperia Invest IBC opportunity did not come as advertised but nevertheless continued to promote it, siphoning money from fellow deaf investors and using it to make his mortgage, car, insurance and other payments, the SEC said.

Even after Imperia Invest was exposed as an obvious fraud that advertised a preposterous daily return that projected to an annual rate in the hundreds of percent, promoter Jody Myung Dunn insisted he was owed $163 million from his personal investment of $1,100, the SEC charged.

Dunn, 43, of Corinth, Texas, has no broker/dealer or securities credentials, and currently is unemployed and drawing disability benefits, the SEC said. He has been charged with securities fraud, selling unregistered securities and acting unlawfully as a broker or dealer amid charges that he blindly promoted an international scam that consumed more than $7 million and made at least $3.45 million belonging to his personal customers vanish.

In stunning allegations outlined today, the agency accused Dunn of acting as an Imperia rainmaker who recruited deaf investors into a quagmire. The purported opportunity was widely promoted on the Ponzi boards, including TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup.

The SEC sued Imperia in October 2010, saying it was running a Traded Endowment Policies (TEP) scam. Dunn continued to make excuses for the scam even after the SEC released a printed Investor Alert and a videocast warning in American Sign Language, the SEC charged.

“Dunn was aware that Imperia lost investor money and was not accurately crediting investor accounts, yet he continued to send investor money to Imperia without disclosing to investors what was happening,” said Kenneth D. Israel, director of the SEC’s Salt Lake Regional Office. “To further take advantage of others in the deaf community, Dunn was siphoning off about 10 percent of the money he collected from investors to pay his own bills before sending the rest of money into the Imperia quagmire.”

Dunn, the SEC charged, formed a Nevada corporation known as Global Wealth Lifepath in May 2009 and established a bank account into which investors’ Imperia funds were deposited and then wired to Imperia. Meanwhile, Dunn started a second company — possibly outside the United States — and named it Dunn World Investments (DWI). A bank account established for DWI also was used as part of the Imperia fraud, the agency charged.

Despite red flags aplenty such as a purported guaranteed return of 1.2 percent a day, Dunn “blindly” promoted the Imperia scheme — even wiring money to bank accounts in Cyprus and New Zealand that had “no apparent or obvious link to Imperia,” the SEC charged.

About 7,133 deaf investors entrusted about $3.45 million to Dunn, who accepted their funds directly and scraped about $350,000 off the top, claiming to have sent the balance to Imperia’s offshore bank accounts, the SEC charged.

Although Dunn claimed “he had met and knew the individuals behind Imperia,” it was a lie, the SEC charged.

And in an allegation that may cause great discomfort to Ponzi board promoters, Dunn was accused of not conducting “even a minimum amount of due diligence” about Imperia, not confirming that the firm actually traded in TEPs and not confirming whether any required licensing or registration documentation existed, the SEC charged.

“Dunn testified that his only due diligence consisted of reading the Imperia website, attempting to verify Imperia’s URL address, and reviewing the information Imperia posted on its own website regarding its website host,” the SEC charged.

In his testimony, Dunn described Imperia as a “secretive company” that owed him $163 million in back commissions and interest on his investment of $1,100, the SEC charged.

Despite Imperia’s clandestine nature and Dunn’s inability even to find a verifiable street address for the company, Dunn still decided to plow headlong into the scheme and draft others into doing the same.

Imperia made off with at least $7 million, the SEC said last year.

Read the SEC complaint against Dunn.

View the Investor Alert in American Sign Language.

Sep 9, 2011