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Tag: Just Been Paid

Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Who Bizarrely Claimed His Authority Came From ‘The Vatican’ Convicted Of Issuing Bogus Diplomatic Credentials

From ABC News report on James McBride and “Divine Province.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) are referenced in the story about purported “sovereign citizen” James T. McBride below. ICE/HSI also are involved in the investigation of the alleged TelexFree Ponzi- and pyramid scheme. Whether TelexFree had any “sovereign citizens” in its ranks is unclear. “Sovereign citizens,” however, have been linked to other HYIP schemes. Wild narratives may accompany such schemes both before and after a government intervention.

** __________________________________ **

James T. McBride first came to our attention in January 2013, after a reader alerted us to a story in the Sun Sentinel about a bizarre incident that occurred during a bankruptcy hearing for a Florida business known as RoboVault.

As the Sun Sentinel reported at the time (italics added):

McBride, who claims to derive his authority from the Vatican, sent letters to the judge and trustee demanding the bankruptcy case be dropped. He previously has been profiled in media accounts as a “sovereign separatist,” someone who believes he is not subject to state and federal laws.

McBride’s name next surfaced in February 2013, as part of a story concerning the arrest near Columbus, Ohio, of a purported “sovereign citizen.” A police officer and police canine reportedly were injured. (See Comments thread below story, which references an entity known as “Divine Province.”)

So-called “sovereign citizens” — jailed AdSurfDaily figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming is one of them — have an irrational belief that laws do not apply to them. Leaming became the target of an FBI investigation after filing false liens against various public officials involved in the ASD Ponzi case. Investigators found bogus police credentials in Leaming’s possession.

Prosecutors said Leaming was a member of the “County Rangers,” the armed-enforcement wing of a group of “sovereign citizens.”

By May 2014, prosecutors had formally connected McBride, 60, of Columbus, Ohio, to “Divine Province.” He has now been convicted in the Eastern District of Virginia on charges of conspiracy, causing the impersonation of a diplomat and producing false identification documents.

Yes. You read that right: causing the impersonation of a diplomat.

Here’s part of what ICE/HSI and federal prosecutors in the office of U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente of the Eastern District of Virginia had to say about the McBride case (italics added):

McBride was indicted on May 14, 2014, by a federal grand jury of one count of conspiracy, one count of causing the impersonation of a diplomat and four counts of producing false identification documents. According to the evidence at trial, McBride was the leader of a sovereign citizen group called “Divine Province,” whose members claimed the U.S. government was a “municipal corporation” that did not have authority over them. McBride produced and distributed false diplomatic identification cards to his group’s members, and he encouraged them to make claims of diplomatic immunity to avoid arrest, debts or taxes. None of the group’s members were in fact accredited diplomats.

McBride started selling the identification cards in September 2012 at a seminar he organized in Herndon, Virginia. Afterwards, he started selling the IDs from a website and shipping them around the country.

McBride sold the IDs in pairs, one that identified the holder as a “Universal Post Office Diplomat” and another that purported to be an “International Diplomatic Driver Permit,” for approximately $200. The defendant also encouraged his members to send copies of the IDs to governmental agencies to notify them of a member’s “status” as a diplomat. The defendant claimed that his authority to issue the IDs came from the Vatican. The defendant also gave a televised interview on ABC News prior to the filing of charges in the case, in which he reiterated such claims. During the course of the charged conduct, the defendant’s organization earned close to $500,000.

Watch segment of ABC News video in which McBride bizarrely calls himself the “primary trustee of the world.”

McBride potentially faces two decades in prison, prosecutors said.

Aug 15, 2014
United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority Issues Warning On SolidTrustPay, An HYIP Darling On The Ponzi Boards

UPDATED 3:33 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Thanks to PP Blog reader “Tony,” who first posted a link to the FCA warning in this story thread on how a Profitable Sunrise Facebook site was being used to promote TelexFree, an alleged pyramid scheme.

In April 2013, the SEC described Profitable Sunrise as a murky offering fraud that may have gathered tens of millions of dollars. SolidTrustPay, a Ponzi-forum darling used by a stunning number of schemes, reportedly was one of the processors used by Profitable Sunrise. Zeek Rewards, alleged last year by the SEC to have been a combined Ponzi- and pyramid scheme that had gathered at least $600 million, also used SolidTrustPay, according to court filings. So did AdSurfDaily, a $119 million Ponzi scheme broken up by the U.S. Secret Service in 2008. And so did JSSTripler/JustBeenPaid, a “program” purportedly operated by Frederick Mann that has spawned at least three reload scams and, like ASD, may have ties to the “sovereign citizens” movement. “Sovereign citizens” may be gaining a toehold in Canada, one of the bases of SolidTrustPay. (Please note that the “opportunities” referenced above constitute only a small sampling of the HYIP schemes enabled by SolidTrustPay.)

Also see this 2012 Consent Order between the Securities Department of the U.S. state of Arkansas and SolidTrustPay in which SolidTrustPay agreed to pay a $60,000 civil penalty and did not contest findings that it had been operating illegally in the state for years, had processed about $12 million in Arkansas through about 43,600 transactions and had illegally mined more than $331,000 in fees and commissions in the state.

What follows below is the warning on SolidTrustPay issued on Aug. 30, 2013, by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of the United Kingdom. From the FCA:

SolidTrust Pay Ltd

_{Published: 30/08/2013}

We believe this firm has been providing financial services or products in the UK without our authorisation. Find out why to be especially wary of dealing with this unauthorised firm and how to protect yourself from scammers.

Almost all firms and individuals offering, promoting or selling financial services or products in the UK have to be authorised by us.

However, some firms act without our authorisation and some knowingly run scams like share fraud.

This firm is not authorised by us but has been targeting people in the UK:

SolidTrust Pay Ltd

Website: www.solidtrustpay.com

How to protect yourself

We strongly advise you to only deal with financial firms that are authorised by us, and check the Financial Services Register to ensure they are. It has information on firms and individuals that are, or have been, regulated by us.

If a firm does not appear on the Register but claims it does, contact our Consumer Helpline on 0800 111 6768.

There are more steps you should take to protect yourself from unauthorised firms.

You should also be aware that if you give money to an unauthorised firm, you will not be covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service or Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) if things go wrong.

Report an unauthorised firm

If you think you have been approached by an unauthorised firm or contacted about a scam, you should contact our Consumer Helpline on 0800 111 6768. If you were offered, bought or sold shares, you can use our share fraud reporting form.

You can see more ways to report an unauthorised firm and find out what to do if you have been scammed.

Sep 4, 2013
WTOL To Air Profitable Sunrise Report Titled ‘Holy Rip Off’

From The WTOL teaser.

EDITOR’S NOTE: GlimDropper, an administrator at the RealScam.com antiscam forum, gave PP Blog readers a heads-up on the WTOL report yesterday . . .

WTOL, the CBS affiliate in Toledo, Ohio, says it will air a report Thursday (April 25) at 11 p.m. EDT titled “Holy Rip Off.”

A teaser for the report shows photos of Profitable Sunrise pitchwoman Nanci Jo Frazer. Frazer’s NJF Global Group is referenced in a New Zealand fraud warning on the Profitable Sunrise “program” and also within the body of a March 14 notice issued by the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Securities. Frazer and NJF Global Group also are referenced in the body of a March 14 cease-and-desist order issued by the Minnesota Department of Commerce.

Numerous securities regulators have described Profitable Sunrise as a form of affinity fraud targeted at people of faith. At least 35 agencies in the United States and Canada have issued cease-and-desist orders or Investor Alerts against the HYIP “program,” which had a presence on infamous Ponzi forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup.

The website of Profitable Sunrise has been missing since at least March 14. On April 1 — the day after Easter Sunday and April Fools Day — the “program” failed to make good on promised payouts from the bizarrely named “Long Haul” plan. The “Long Haul” was purported to pay interest of 2.7 percent a day. Its claims were similar to other collapsed schemes promoted on the Ponzi boards.

On Dec. 30, the PP Blog reported that Profitable Sunrise appeared to be relying on appeals to faith in a bid to attract investors in the wake of the August 2012 collapse of the Zeek Rewards “program.” Zeek, which allegedly planted the seed it paid interest of 1.5 percent a day, also had a presence on the Ponzi boards. In August, the SEC described Zeek as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid fraud.

Earlier this month, the SEC described Profitable Sunrise as a pyramid scheme that had collected an unspecified sum believed to be in the tens of millions of dollars.

RealScam.com, an antifraud forum recently targeted in a DDoS attack, has been publishing information on Profitable Sunrise since at least Dec. 1.

The PP Blog learned last month that at least one apologist for the NJF Global Group has relied on purported “research” by a notorious cyberstalker known as “MoneyMakingBrain” in an apparent bid to discredit critics of the “program.”

MoneyMakingBrain emerged in 2012 as an apologist for the JSSTripler/JustBeenPaid “program” purportedly operated by Frederick Mann. JSS/JBP purported to pay 2 percent a day. MoneyMakingBrain claimed he’d defend Mann “so help me God.”

JSS/JBP, which appears to have morphed into secondary and tertiary scams (ProfitClicking and ClickPaid) after the August collapse of Zeek, may have ties to the “sovereign citizens” movement. Mann has compared the U.S. government to the Mafia, claiming that government employees were part of “a criminal gang of robbers, thieves, murderers, liars, imposters.”

Profitable Sunrise also may have ties to the “sovereign citizens” movement.

Some “sovereign citizens” have an irrational belief that laws do not apply to them. It is known that the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme in 2008 also had ties to “sovereign citizens,” including Kenneth Wayne Leaming. Leaming, a resident of Washington state, was convicted earlier this year of filing false liens for billions of dollars against public officials who had a role in the prosecution of the ASD Ponzi scheme.

ASD operated from Florida, planting the seed it paid a return of 1 percent a day. ASD President Andy Bowdoin — now serving a 78-month prison term — also was associated with a 1-percent-a-day scam known as AdViewGlobal. AVG bizarrely claimed in 2009 that it enjoyed the protections of the U.S. and Florida constitutions while purportedly operating from Uruguay. The scam collapsed during the summer of 2009 — but not before issuing threats to members and critics.

In May 2009, AVG bizarrely announced it had secured the services of an offshore facilitator. The announcement was made on the same day President Obama announced a crackdown on offshore scams.

Obama later was pilloried in an ad for a “program” known as MPB Today. MPB’s operator later was charged in Florida with racketeering.

“Sovereigns” are infamous for drafting others into scams, including people who do not recognize they are being drafted into illegal pursuits.

The teaser for the WTOL report is below . . .

Apr 24, 2013
On The High Seas Of Facebook, The Search For New HYIP Blood In The Water Intensifies After ‘Profitable Sunrise’ Goes Missing

“HYIPs use an array of websites and social media — including YouTube, Twitter and Facebook — to lure investors, fabricating a ‘buzz’ and creating the illusion of social consensus, which is a common persuasion tactic fraudsters use to suggest that ‘everyone is investing in HYIPs, so they must be legitimate.’” — The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), July 15, 2010

FINRA issued a warning back in 2010 against HYIP schemes, pointing out that they often trade through social-media sites such as forums, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. The warning came on the heels of the collapse of the Genius Funds “program” ($400 million) and the filing of criminal charges in the United States against Nicholas Smirnow, an alleged former bank robber in Canada who allegedly was running the Pathway To Prosperity (P2P) Ponzi scheme. P2P is alleged to have gathered more than $70 million.

P2P even got a mention on the U.S. Department of Justice Blog. That mention came in the form of a warning about international mass-marketing fraud.

Nearly three years later, Smirnow, 55, is still listed by INTERPOL as an international fugitive.

So is Robert Hodgins, 68. Hodgins, a Canadian supplier of debit cards to HYIP schemes, is charged in a money-laundering case in the United States. It is alleged that cards Hodgins supplied were used by narcotics traffickers to offload millions of dollars in “profits” at ATMs in Medellin, Colombia.

Speaking of Colombia . . . well, it was one of the staging grounds of the infamous D.M.G. Group (DMG) multilevel-marketing pyramid scheme of David Eduardo Helmut Murcia Guzman (David Murcia). Murcia, too, was tied to narcotics traffickers. His collapsed pyramid scheme gathered hundreds of millions of dollars. The anger spilled out onto the streets.

Just about all of these schemes made absurd claims. Genius Funds, for example, promised a payout of 6.5 percent a week. Compare that absurd claim to the Profitable Sunrise claim of 2.7 percent a day through its bizarrely named “Long Haul” plan with a purported payout timed to coincide with Easter. A scheme bizarrely known as Cash Tanker was operating at the same time as Genius Funds. Like Profitable Sunrise, Cash Tanker purported to be a Christian enterprise. It’s gone now, too. So is Profitable Sunrise. Their members were cast into the sea like so much chum.

Enter the Facebook boat-sharks and the contemptible “lifelines” they’re tossing toward the people struggling to stay afloat in rough seas . . .

Despite all the warnings — despite all the publicity surrounding HYIP schemes — opportunists are descending on Facebook today to recruit Profitable Sunrise members (the people struggling in the water) into new scams. The same thing has happened repeatedly, perhaps most prominently in August 2012, after the SEC described the Zeek Rewards “program” as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme.)

Boat-sharks posting on a Profitable Sunrise Facebook site today are promoting schemes such as “SuperWithdraw,” “Whos12,” Maxi-Cash,” “FairyFunds,” “Roxilia,” “OptiEarn,” “AVVGlobal,” “ProForexUnion” and “MajestiCrown.” Some of the emerging schemes promise to pay even more than Profitable Sunrise.

Mar 27, 2013
BULLETIN: In Bizarre Blog Post, Zeek Claims ‘All’ Of Its Critics Are Behaving ‘Unprofessionally By Acting On False Information’; MLM Firm Blasts ‘ North Carolina Credit Unions’ For Circulating Memo ‘Unfavorable To Zeek Rewards And False’

BULLETIN: The Zeek Rewards MLM “program” that is married to a penny-auction site known as Zeekler and plants the seed that an annualized return in the hundreds of percent is possible has declared that “all” Zeek criticism has been “unprofessional” and based on “false information.”

Some Zeek affiliates have said that Zeek provides a payout that averages about 1.4 percent a day, a figure higher than the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme.

Zeek has preemptively denied it is an investment program or “pyramid scheme.” Regardless, Zeek has a presence on HYIP forums referenced in federal court filings as places from which Ponzi schemes are promoted. The company has used offshore payment processors linked to numerous fraud schemes and employs business model similar to the $110 million AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme.

Zeek, which has members in common with ASD, gathers sums of up to $10,000 from members. Like ASD, it claims it is not offering an investment program. But Zeek now is blasting unspecified “North Carolina Credit Unions” for circulating a purported “internal memo” that allegedly was “at once unfavorable to Zeek Rewards and false.”

The Zeek Blog post was attributed to acting COO Gregory J. Caldwell, who replaced acting COO Dawn Wright-Olivares. While acting COO, Wright-Olivares once suggested that, if Zeek instructed members to change their preference in dispensing toilet paper in their private bathrooms (top-rolling vs. bottom rolling), they should do it.

Wright-Olivares now is Zeek’s “Chief Marketing Officer,” with Caldwell holding her former job, according to the company.

Caldwell, according to the Zeek Blog post, now is warning Zeek members to stick with the company line or face the consequences. The post did not spell out those consequences.

“It’s counter-productive for Affiliates to fan the flames of issues that are the proper responsibility of Zeek Corporate…and it’s a violation of the Zeek Policies and Procedures for which violators will be held responsible,” the post attributed to Caldwell and dated today read in part.

A North Carolina credit union had slandered Zeek, according to the post attributed to Caldwell on the Zeek Blog (italics/bolding added).

Zeek Rewards policy is to act quickly to support the Zeek reputation and the future of your business. Upon learning of the memo slandering Zeek, I called the head of Risk Management to track down the origin of the memo. Upon being discovered, the person responsible admitted he really didn’t know anything about the laws regarding direct selling or how to identify a legitimate network marketing company or opportunity. Like all our critics, he was behaving unprofessionally by acting on false information.

We intervened, shut down the misinformation at its source, and that would have been that…were it not for the inappropriate action of one of our own Affiliates who posted the memo online where it has been picked up and is now being used by our critics.

Prior to being arrested on Dec. 1, 2010, by the U.S. Secret Service amid allegations he was at the helm of an Internet Ponzi scheme that planted the seed affiliates received a return of 1 percent a day but were not making an investment, ASD President Andy Bowdoin also complained about slanderous critics. Bowdoin pleaded guilty in May 2012 to a Ponzi-related charge of wire fraud.

Although Bowdoin posted bond and remained free after the Secret Service brought its case, he is now jailed in the District of Columbia, amid allegations he continued to promote fraud schemes after the Secret Service seized more than $80 million in the ASD Ponzi case in August 2008 and after Bowdoin was arrested on Ponzi charges in December 2010. Federal prosecutors identified those schemes as AdViewGlobal and OneX.

Bowdoin, 77, is scheduled to be formally sentenced in the ASD case on Aug. 29.

Some Zeek members also have promoted OneX, which reportedly used at least one of the same offshore processors as Zeek (SolidTrustPay).

Zeek members also have been linked to a “program” known as JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid and purportedly operated by Frederick Mann, a former ASD pitchman who may have ties to the so-called “sovereign citizens” movement. ASD also had ties to “sovereign citizens,” including the now-jailed Kenneth Wayne Leaming (false liens/harboring fugitives/possessing firearms illegally after prior felony conviction/false uttering) and Curtis Richmond, who once accused the federal judge overseeing the ASD case of “TREASON” and as many as 60 felonies.

JSS/JBP purports to provide a return of 730 percent a year. JSS/JBP uses at least two of the same offshore processors used by Zeek (SolidTrustPay and AlertPay, now Payza).

Meanwhile, Zeek promoters also have been linked to a “program” known as Regenesis 2×2, which came under Secret Service scrutiny in 2009 and also had a presence on the Ponzi boards.

Before the ASD Ponzi raid by the Secret Service in 2008, ASD had moved “several million” dollars into SolidTrustPay, according to court records. AlertPay also is referenced in filings in the ASD Ponzi case. Both firms are referenced in filings in the Pathway to Prosperity HYIP Ponzi case brought in 2010 by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Filings in the Pathway to Prosperity case also reference the TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup forums — forums on which Zeek, JSS/JBP, ASD and the Legisi HYIP Ponzi scheme had a common presence. SolidTrustPay, meanwhile, was mentioned in filings in the Eagle Trades LTD fraud case. Terrance Osberger of Eagle Trades was indicted last month by a federal grand jury in Ohio on one count of wire fraud and 48 counts of money-laundering.

Eagle Trades also had a presence on the Ponzi boards.

The Blog post attributed to Caldwell came on the heels of a report yesterday by BehindMLM.com that the North Carolina State Employee’s Credit Union (NCSECU) had concerns about Zeek. (Link to BehindMLM story below.)

In June, the office of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said it had concerns about Zeek. Cooper’s office expressed those concerns after a North Carolina television station suggested Cooper’s office had determined Zeek to be operating legally. Zeek’s Blog linked to the TV station’s report, but the TV station later removed the report. Cooper’s office said that no determination that Zeek was operating lawfully had been made.

Read story on BehindMLM.com.

Read Zeek’s Blog post.

Aug 4, 2012
** [UNCONFIRMED] ** ‘JustBeenPaid’ Experiencing DDoS Attack ** [UNCONFIRMED] **

UPDATED 2:56 P.M. EDT (APRIL 3, U.S.A.): After an outage that lasted more than 24 hours, the JustBeenPaid website is back online — although there are reports it is not accessible in all parts of the world. Our earlier story is below . . .

** [UNCONFIRMED] ** Some members of the JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid “program” have reported that the JBP website is experiencing a DDoS attack. The PP Blog cannot independently confirm the reports, which have appeared on the MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold Ponzi forums and on at least one JBP affiliate Blog.

The JBP domain has been returning a “timed out” error message for hours.

JSS/JBP purports to pay a daily return of 2 percent and a monthly return of 60 percent. The “opportunity” purportedly has more than 400,000 members. Similar “programs” have operated as virtually pure Ponzi schemes.

In a March 15 conference call, Frederick Mann, JSS/JBP’s purported operator, told members from the United States and Canada that JSS/JBP is paying them with money sent in by “new members.” Using “new” money to pay “old” members is the central element of a Ponzi scheme — although Mann did not use the phrase.

In the days that followed, JSS/JBP removed certain material from its website, including recordings of conference calls hosted by “Carl Pearson,” the purported COO of JSS/JBP. Images of certain JSS/JBP affiliates and customer-service personnel also were removed from the website.

JSS/JBP purportedly has been installing new servers. Members have grumbled in recent days about downtime at the site, delays in posting purported “earnings” and delays in sending payments.

Mann repeatedly has declined to identify JSS/JBP with a nation-state, leading to questions about whether members have any consumer protections at all.

If a DDoS attack is under way, the event may lead to questions about whether JSS/JBP has reported the attack to a law-enforcement agency or whether the “opportunity” would be reluctant to make such a report out of fear its base of operations would be exposed.

JSS/JBP has no known securities registrations, but Mann has advised members that it was OK to call JSS/JBP an investment program. Such guidance potentially could make both JSS/JBP and its affiliates targets of securities-related probes in various jurisdictions around the world.

The Italian securities regulator CONSOB announced a JSS/JBP-related probe on Jan. 23.

Apr 2, 2012
Day After SEC Announces Judgments Totaling $4.2 Million Against Serial HYIP Pitchman, Another Serial Pitchman — ‘Ken Russo’ — Makes ‘I Got Paid’ Post On TalkGold For JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid; Separately, McAfee’s ‘Site Advisor’ Declares JBP Pages ‘Dangerous’
In a 29-page court order announced yesterday by the SEC, U.S. District Judge George Caram Steeh of the Eastern District of Michigan laid out the case of willful blindness against serial HYIP pitchman Matthew John Gagnon.

That case now has resulted in court-ordered judgments of more than $4.2 million against Gagnon, who also was named in a criminal complaint by the U.S. Secret Service in November 2011.

But in the HYIP sphere, which FINRA described in 2010 as a “bizarre substratum of the Internet,” not even the huge judgment against Gagnon announced yesterday appeared to unnerve the serial scammers on the TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forums.

Posting as “DRdave” on TalkGold, huckster “Ken Russo” announced he’d received a new payment of $482.08 from JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, a “program” whose purported daily payout rate of 2 percent dwarfs the purported payout rate of Legisi, one of the “programs” that led to Gagnon’s demise.

In a March 15 conference call, Frederick Mann, the purported operator of JSS/JBP, told members that the company was making the payouts from money sent in by “new members.” Paying “old” members with money from “new” members is the central element of a Ponzi scheme.

Even as “Ken Russo” was making the announcement, the online security company McAfee was publishing a “Warning: Dangerous Site” message about the JustBeenPaid website.

“We tested this site and found it’s risky to visit,” McAfee’s Site Advisor reported.

In 2010, the SEC declared Gagnon a “danger to the investing public” for his serial promotion of scams. (See paragraph 11 of May 2010 SEC complaint.)

Assessing Gagnon more than $4.2 million in disgorgement, prejudgment interest and penalties, Steeh found that:
- Gagnon promoted the Legisi HYIP online, through emails and through a forum.
- Even though Gagnon promoted the program, he was not associated with a registered broker-dealer and had never been registered with the SEC in any capacity.
- Gagnon understood HYIP frauds and Ponzi schemes, and yet gleaned about $3.6 million from Legisi operator Gregory McKnight and did not disclose details of his agreement with McKnight to solicit investors for Legisi.
- Gagnon helped orchestrate the “massive” Legisi Ponzi scheme and initially had come into contact with McKnight after Gagnon had recruited McKnight into an MLM business that sold dietary supplements.
- Legisi was selling unregistered securities.
- Gagnon was selling unregistered securities.
- Gagnon did not qualify investors in any way. (In essence, the only necessary qualification was to have money to send to Legisi.)
- Gagnon performed no “due diligence” on the profitability of the Legisi program. He did not retain or review trading records, bank or brokerage accounts statements or e-currency account records.
- Gagnon knew or “recklessly disregarded” warnings that Legisi was a scam, did not know where McKnight was keeping the money or how McKnight was calculating profits and losses.
- Eventually Gagnon distanced himself from McKnight (after learning about an SEC probe, according to the agency), but proceeded to pitch other scams touting the illegal sale of securities. A twice-convicted felon was Gagnon’s alleged partner in one of the scams, but Gagnon performed no legwork up front.
- Gagnon eventually learned that a man with the same name as his partner had been convicted of fraud, but “accepted” his partner’s “representation that it was not him.” Gagnon did not investigate his partner’s denials, which were false.
- Gagnon then proceeded to another opportunity touting unregistered securities, effectively using the same blueprint he’d used when touting Legisi and the other scam in which his partner was a convicted felon. As in the other scams, Gagnon did no legwork and “recklessly ignored several warning signs.”
- Even as he touted the third program, Gagnon had received “several” bad checks from the purported “successful” trader. Gagnon continued to tout the program.
- Gagnon then touted a fourth program, apparently one operated by a Ugandan national Gagnon had met on the Internet. (Gagnon stopped promoting this program, according to the SEC, only after the agency subpoenaed his bank records.)
- Gagnon has shown “no remorse” for his conduct “and has tried to downplay his culpability.”
Whether “Ken Russo” has conducted any “due diligence” on JSS/JBP is unknown. Whether “Ken Russo” has any qualifications to sell securities is unknown. Whether “Ken Russo” qualified investors in any way is unknown. Whether “Ken Russo” retained or reviewed JSS/JBP records, bank or brokerage accounts statements or e-currency account records is unknown.

What is known is that “Ken Russo” proceeds from scheme to scheme to scheme.

“I would caution everyone not to listen to anyone who is posting negative comments about this program,” “Ken Russo,” posting as “DRdave” on TalkGold, urged today. “JBP/JSSTripler has changed many lives during the past 13 months and it is one of the best programs I have seen since I first entered the industry back in 1996!”

Here, according to the SEC, is how Gagnon, who’d been pitching programs online “since at least 1997,” described Legisi:

“IN ALL OUR EXPERIENCE IF (sic) HIGH YIELD PROGRAMS THIS IS THE ONLY GENUINE PROGRAM THAT WE HAVE EVER FOUND!”

McKnight, like Gagnon, is facing millions of dollars in civil judgments. And McKnight pleaded guilty last month to a criminal charge of wire fraud.

It turned out that Legisi was not “GENUINE” at all.
Mar 29, 2012
STATUS QUO CHANGE IN ‘PROGRAM’? Conference-Call Recordings Of ‘Carl Pearson’ Go Missing From JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid Website; Development Explained Away As Response To Potential ‘Hackers’ — Although Frederick Mann Recordings Remain

Purported JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid COO Carl Pearson. From: YouTube.

It sometimes is the case in the corrupt universes of HYIPs that a change in the status quo signals panic or devastating news. It’s also sometimes the case that significant developments get explained away as meaningless or part of a plan that had been in place all along in response to explosive growth.

It is almost always the case that HYIPs such as JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid and their various purveyors reveal incongruities and internal inconsistencies — and a few big ones now are in play at JSS/JBP.

Within the past several days, audio recordings of JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid “conference calls” featuring pitchman and purported COO “Carl Pearson” have gone missing from the JSS/JBP website. The recordings previously had been embedded on the site below the embedded recordings of Frederick Mann, the purported operator of JSS/JBP. Although Mann’s recordings remain, the recordings of Pearson have vanished.

No recording from Mann was added to the site last week, meaning the last embedded Mann recording carries a date of March 15. No recording was posted for March 22, meaning that the streak of posting a recording of every Mann Thursday conference call dating back to Feb. 16 had been broken.

In the March 15 call, Mann told members that JSS/JBP was paying them with money from “new members” and that it was OK to call JSS/JBP an investment program. Using money from new members to pay old members is the central element of a Ponzi scheme. And because Mann himself described JSS/JBP as an investment program, promoters could find themselves confronting assertions they are selling unregistered securities as investment contracts.

JSS/JBP members who identified themselves of residents of the United States or Canada were on the March 15 call (and also on previous calls). Their nationalities and citizenship are potentially important because JSS/JBP has no known securities registrations, meaning that regulators from either the United States or Canada could move against the enterprise and perhaps even some of its promoters.

Mann has declined on multiple occasions to identify JSS/JBP with a nation-state — and promoters still are pushing the scheme, despite the fact they appear to have no clue about the internal workings of JSS/JBP and how they (and their recruits) ever could recover their investments in the event of a collapse or a government intervention.

In January, the Italian securities regulator CONSOB announced a JSS/JBP-related action — and affiliates still promoted the program, with JSS/JBP itself claiming it was posting record numbers of new members daily.

At least a few JSS/JBP members have noted the removal of the Pearson calls. Earlier today, the PP Blog viewed an affiliate’s Blog for JSS/JBP in which an assertion was made that Pearson had become too busy with other duties to host calls.

“Due to the unprecedented growth of JBP, Carl Pearson will no longer be doing the weekly conferences,” a comment from a reader asserted. “He is prioritising now full time in the back office operations of JBP.”

The comment was dated March 21. A follow-up comment dated March 22 suggested the recordings had been removed for security reasons and that other information also might be removed.

“From the conference room yesterday at around 8pm Dominick got on the mic and announced it,” the post claimed. “He also said that staff members could have their pictures and information removed from the site if they wanted to and Carl as well as other staff members decided it would be best to have that information removed. He said that they are growing so fast that they could be targeted by crooks and hackers.”

But what the explanation did not reveal is why Mann’s recordings remained on the site if concern about crooks and hackers was great enough to trigger the removal of the Pearson recordings.

As often is the case in the HYIP sphere, the information was posted anonymously, meaning it could not be verified. Even so, the information is potentially disturbing in the sense that it defaults to well-known HYIP clichés such as introducing the prospect of hackers — while ignoring the potentially damning information contained in the jettisoned material as a factor in the removal decision and the obvious fact that information that remains on the site may be equally damning.

With a straight face, for example, JSS/JBP purports to pay a daily return of 2 percent and a monthly return of 60 percent.

JSS/JBP openly advertises that it pays a return of 60 percent a month on TOP of affiliate commissions totaling 15 percent over two tiers.

In 2007, when the alleged AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme stopped making payments to members (even as its operator allegedly was making political donations with Ponzi money), ASD President Andy Bowdoin allegedly blamed the halted member payouts on script problems and “Russian” hackers who’d allegedly taken $1 million.

Bowdoin never filed a police report about the purported theft of $1 million, federal prosecutors said.

In 2008 promotional materials attributed to Mann, Mann was identified as an ASD pitchman. As the ASD prosecution moved forward, it became apparent that certain ASD members either were “sovereign citizens” or sympathizers. Some “sovereign citizens” hold extreme antigovernment views and have an irrational belief that laws do not apply to them.

In November 2011, ASD figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming was arrested by an FBI Terrorism Task Force in Washington state on charges he had filed false liens against at least five public officials involved in the ASD case, including a federal judge, three federal prosecutors and a special agent of the U.S. Secret Service.

On Feb. 27, the PP Blog reported that a website linked to Mann included links to 11 videos concerning Francis Schaeffer Cox, a purported “sovereign citizen” under indictment in an alleged murder plot against public officials in Alaska.

One poster on the JSS/JBP-related Blog from which the “hackers” explanation was advanced had a different take on conference-call-related developments.

“Heat is also the REAL reason why Carl Pearson has moved off the conference calls,” the poster speculated.

Mar 27, 2012
[EYE-OPENING EXERCISE]: A Modest ‘HYIP’ — But One That Provides A Learning Experience Juxtaposed Against JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid: Compare Pitches Of ‘Blue Hedge Investments’ And JSS/JBP

"Blue Hedge Investments," like JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, is out there for all of Canada (and other countries) to see.

UPDATED 2:57 A.M. EDT (U.S.A., MARCH 27) Vague information about JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid is all over the web. The “opportunity” purportedly operated by Frederick Mann is targeting investors in Canada, the United States and many other countries through conference calls, videos and text pitches.

The PP Blog has listened to recordings of four JSS/JBP conference calls with Mann as the featured guest. Persons who asked questions during the calls have identified themselves as residents of the Canadian provinces of “Alberta” and “British Columbia” and several U.S. states. One caller suggested he was Jamaican — and Jamaica, like Canada and the United States, has had more than its share of problems with massive fraud schemes.

See story on combined Jamaica/U.S. allegations against Bertram A. Hill. See story about the guilty plea of Jamaican citizen David A. Smith, implicated by the United States in a spectacular international fraud scheme that involved at least $220 million.

One of the hallmarks of HYIP fraud is vagueness about an “opportunity.” JSS/JBP, for example, purports to pay a daily return of 2 percent, with Mann accorded the description of “mathematical genius.”

But Mann — despite the various superlatives attached to his name and the various preposterous claims — does not tell investors in Canada or the United States (or any other country) where the JSS/JBP “program” is operating from.

As an exercise in identifying red flags, the PP Blog today is proposing that readers visit the website of “Blue Hedge Investments.” (The URLs are below.)

Among other things, “Blue Hedge” describes itself as a “truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Promoters of JSS/JBP use similar language when promoting their “program.”

And “Blue Hedge” — also in vague, JSS/JBP-like fashion — also says this: “BlueHedge Investments is led by a team of well-respected Canadian specialists with vast experience in the offline and online investment market . . .”

If anything, though, JSS/JBP is even more vague than “Blue Hedge.” JSS/JBP, for example, doesn’t even identify itself with a nation-state.

Unlike JSS/JBP, “Blue Hedge” plants the seed that its investors earn 9 percent a month, a relatively modest claim in the HYIP sphere. JSS/JBP, on the other hand, claims 60 percent a month, more than 6.6 times the “advertised” monthly return of “Blue Hedge.”

While “Blue Hedge” asserts it is interested in “the financial stability of our people today,” JSS/JBP promoters also claim their program is about the people — specifically, “average people.”

Many people instantly would question any claim that appears on the “Blue Hedge” website, even though its purported payout is far lower than the payout advertised by JSS/JBP and thousands of its affiliates.

But the sad reality is that many people would question neither the claims of “Blue Hedge” nor the even more extreme (or even more opaque) claims of JSS/JBP.

Like “Blue Hedge,” JSS/JBP has a “Platinum” program. And like “Blue Hedge,” JSS/JBP is out there for all of Canada (and all of the United States and other countries) to see.

“Blue Hedge” provides a learning opportunity for all JSS/JBP promoters. The PP Blog encourages readers to visit the “Blue Hedge” site.

It perhaps is best to start with this page to get a sense of the interest rates while comparing them to JSS/JBP. You’ll see “Invest Now” buttons on the page, but perhaps it is best to avoid clicking on them until you’ve visited the “Blue Hedge” FAQs page and finally this page to assess its content and watch the short video.

After that, click on the “Invest Now” button and assess its content. It might be one of the best clicks you make all year. (See button on this page.)

Mar 25, 2012
AdLandPro, Site Whose HYIP Shills Touted AdSurfDaily, Finanzas Forex And JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, Renews Attack Against RealScam.com — As ALP Swaps In Images Of Its Own Members Alongside Ad For ‘Escort’ Service

This ad for a purported Thailand escort service appears today in the United States on AdLandPro, a site whose operator is threatening a class-action lawsuit against RealScam.com, an antiscam forum. The PP Blog captured this screen shot today and edited it to remove the images of EIGHT AdLandPro members whose photographs were displayed in the left sidebar and created the appearance that the AdLandPro members also were members of (or approved of) the escort service. When the Blog reloaded the ad, the page displayed the images of EIGHT other AdLandPro members. A third reload served up an image of an entire family, including three young children who appear to reside in the South Central United States.

In November 2011, the PP Blog reported that Bogdan Fiedur of AdLandPro had threatened antiscam site RealScam.com with litigation. The bid to chill RealScam in the age of international mass-marketing fraud featured the registration of a domain styled RealScamClassActionSuit.com.

With Fiedur trolling for suckers and hoping to make his intellectual dishonesty go viral, RealScam did not buckle at his obvious bid to chill it.

Good for you, RealScam!

It’s hard to condense all the AdLandPro absurdities that followed over the next several weeks, but we’ll summarize them as such: A sampling of Stepfordian shills and mindless apologists stepped up to the plate for Fiedur, “fake” law students purportedly from a major American university entered the fray to add to the bid to chill — and the matter devolved into Threatre of the Absurd in that Internet-only sort of way.

By the end of December, the chill bid appeared to end: Content on the purported class-action site went missing, and the site began to resolve to an AdLandPro page.

We would be remiss if we did not point out that, in addition to being solicited to register for HYIP scams such as AdSurfDaily, Finanzas Forex and JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid (730 percent a year) by purported “Christians” on AdLandPro over the past few years, American visitors (and others) also were solicited for cross-border sales of pharmaceuticals.

If drugs weren’t on their purchase list, AdLandPro visitors were told how to find used underwear and arrange — umm, how should we put this? — the temporary services of scantily clad women in various nations from India eastward after demonstrating a way to pay?

At least some of the risqué ads have gone missing, but their URLs remain. When they’re clicked, they resolve to pages that show the faces of AdLandPro members who had nothing to do with the placing of the ads. Did we mention that AdLandPro purports to be a great guardian of privacy and the interest of its members?

And did we mention that not all of the risqué ads have gone missing — and that, when they’re clicked, they load images of AdLandPro members who had nothing to do with placing the ads and that AdLandPro wants members to believe it was a sort of Facebook before Facebook became the craze?

“The most exclusive, classic and attractive companions in Bangkok are here waiting to join you, at your hotel, apartment, or villa,” one ad on AdLandPro reads today. “All our princesses are hand picked by our management for their beauty, demeanour and friendly attitude.”

The ad is on the “community” subdomain of the AdLandPro.domain. When the PP Blog viewed the ad earlier today, the photographs of EIGHT AdLandPro members showed up in a sidebar only inches to the left. The headline above the sidebar read, “Our Members.” Less than an inch away, a photo of a presumptive “escort” wearing a pink-lace bra and a pink-lace wrap over her genital area appeared. The photo appeared to display two red telephones, with the woman posing seductively on what appeared to be a bed or mat.

When the PP Blog reloaded the page, the images of eight different AdLandPro members were displayed. A third reload resulted in the display of images of an AdLandPro family whose matriarch identified herself in her AdLandPro profile as a mother and grandmother from the South Central United States.

Two adults in the photo were holding young children, one of whom appeared to be an infant. A third child also appeared in the photo. Below that photo, the full-face image of a lone AdLandPro member — a woman — appeared. Below the woman’s photo, an ad for “OneX” appeared.

OneX is a program accused Ponzi schemer Andy Bowdoin of AdSurfDaily said he was using to raise funds to pay for his criminal defense.

“I believe that God has brought us OneX to provide the necessary funds to win this case,” Bowdoin said in an October 2011 pitch.

So, if you’re an AdLandPro member and had nothing whatsoever to do with the placement of the escort ad and do not endorse Thailand “princesses” purportedly “hand picked by . . . management,” say, because you oppose human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of women, AdLandPro is making it appear as though you’re on board the Thailand escort train.

A link prompt below the photos of the eight AdLandPro members reads, “See All 185753 Members.” The URL points to the AdLandPro membership directory.

By coincidence, the U.S. Department of Justice announced today that Marcus Choice Williams, 36, of Fort Worth, Texas, was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison followed by 30 years of supervised release for various felony offenses related to a conspiracy to traffic women for prostitution.

“The court’s sentence clearly reflects the seriousness of these awful sex trafficking crimes,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “The victims suffered physical assaults, sexual abuse and daily degradation all because of this defendant’s greed and callous disregard for them as individuals. We are committed to prosecuting sex traffickers and vindicating victims’ rights, as they were vindicated today.”

Williams, prosecutors said, operated “adult escort web sites” as part of a human-trafficking scheme that also included money-laundering.

He “recruited vulnerable women, specifically single mothers from troubled backgrounds, and, in some cases used a combination of deception, fraud, coercion, threats and physical violence to compel the women to engage in prostitution, requiring each young woman to secure a daily quota of money, and if operating out of town, to wire the funds to him,” prosecutors said.

Crazier By The Moment

Just when one began to believe that AdLandPro had abandoned its absurd litigation threat against RealScam, guess what’s back? (You’d be right if you guessed the class-action site.)

And if ads on AdLandPro from “Christian” HYIP peddlers and purveyors of used underwear and illegal, cross-border pharmaceutical sales (after Google had agreed in August 2011 to pay the United States $500 million to settle claims of illegal cross-border solicitations for pharmaceuticals) were not enough, Fiedur’s purported class-action site is quoting a notorious YouTube cyberstalker and raunchy Internet gadfly, positioning him as an authoritative critic of RealScam.com.

It’s enough to make decent people from all corners of the world cringe as they contemplate whether intellectual corruption as practiced on the web has gained the upper hand.

Mar 19, 2012
UPDATE: WordPress Deactivates JSS/JBP Affiliate Blog That Prompted Investors To ‘Look At The Banks [That] Are Only Offering You .05-1% APR On Yearly Basis’

WordPress suspended this JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid affiliate Blog earlier today. Google had indexed a post on the site only hours earlier.

UPDATED 12:20 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) Within six hours of Google indexing (earlier today) a JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid affiliate Blog using WordPress as a free platform from which to attract investors, Word Press caused the post to disappear.

Kudos to WordPress!

Visitors to the Blog URL of dailyrevenueresourcegroup.wordpress.com now see a message that the Blog “has been archived or suspended for a violation” of the WordPress Terms of Service.

The keyword title of the post, which now cannot be seen, was “How To Invest In JustBeenPaid.” The title ended with an exclamation point.

The post appeared to be a reposting of companion JSS/JBP-related content that appeared on Blogger, yet another free Blogging platform. The Blogger post remains active.

Amid claims that JSS/JBP’s advertised daily payout rate of 2 percent “is not a bad rate,” the now-missing WordPress post asked investors to compare JSS/JBP to a bank and planted the seed that prospects should choose the absurd program over the bank.

“Look at the banks [sic] they are only offering you .05-1% apr on yearly basis for savings accounts,” the now-missing WordPress post claimed.

In its introduction, the now-missing post claimed, “In this article it is my intent to help those that are unsure of how JustBeenPaid works and how to invest in it.”

Despite the WordPress ban, the same phrasing continues to appear on the Blogger site at Blogsport.com — along with at least three JSS/JBP affiliate links. The Blogger post is dated today.

It is common for promoters of highly questionable “opportunities” and even outright scams to rely on free hosting services in bids to recruit new affiliates and “earn” downline commissions.

Claims about JSS/JBP have been under investigation by CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator, since at least Jan. 23.

JSS/JBP does not disclose where it operates from. The scheme’s preposterous purported daily payout rate of 2 percent is double that of AdSurfDaily, which the U.S. Secret Service described in 2008 as an international Ponzi scheme that had gathered tens of millions of dollars.

Frederick Mann, JSS/JBP’s purported operator, described himself in 2008 promos as an ASD pitchman. In December 2010, ASD President Andy Bowdoin was indicted on charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities.

JSS/JBP has no known securities registrations. The “program” operates in an MLM-like fashion in which prospects are told they’ll receive a return of 60 percent a month for their “positions” — on top of two-tier affiliate commissions totaling 15 percent for recruiting prospects who send money to the company via offshore payment processors.

Among other things, the Terms for JSS/JBP makes members affirm they are not government spies or media lackeys.

An ad banner accompanying the still-active Blogger post solicits prospects to “Start collecting Unlimited $15 payments Straight to your Alertpay account.” When the banner is clicked, it lands on a JBP affiliate page that asserts, “Quickly Get CLEVER[.] GET PAID FOREVER!”

Mar 18, 2012