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Tag: lawsuit

  • DEVELOPING STORY: Blogger In Czech Republic Who Called INetGlobal A ‘Scam’ Last Summer Says She Was Threatened With Lawsuit; Blogger’s Name Means ‘Prophetess’ Or ‘Oracle’

    EDITOR’S NOTE: Sybille Yates, the subject of the story below, contacted the PP Blog Feb. 26 and Feb. 27  from an IP in the Czech Republic, after reading our coverage of the Ponzi scheme allegations against INetGlobal. The PP Blog asked Yates questions in follow-up emails, and this story is based on her responses and the PP Blog’s own reporting.

    A woman who described herself as a Blogger in the Czech Republic says she was threatened with a lawsuit after calling INetGlobal a “scam” in a post in September 2009 and after owner Steve Renner was convicted of federal income-tax evasion in a case that alleged he had converted customers’ money in a separate company to his own use.

    Sybille Yates, who said she runs a Blog at hospitalera.com, called INetGlobal a scam in a post on Sept. 3, 2009.

    Ironically, the name “Sybille” means “prophetess” or “oracle,” according to ThinkBabyNames.com, a website that provides a dictionary on the meaning of names.

    About three months later — on December 8, 2009 — Renner was convicted of four felony counts of income-tax evasion. Last week, federal agents raided his offices in Minneapolis, amid allegations that INetGlobal was operating a Ponzi scheme and engaging in wire fraud and money-laundering.

    Although Yates said paperwork directed at her appears to have originated in the United States on or around Dec. 18 — about 10 days after Renner’s conviction — Yates added that she did not know she was the target of a prospective lawsuit until on or around Feb. 25, about two days after the Feds raided INetGlobal.

    Yates said she was summoned to a Czech court to retrieve the papers, adding that “I think [INetGlobal] tried to silence me, but didn’t count on the amount of time it would take to serve them overseas.” She noted that she was puzzled by the paperwork because “I never received a cease and [desist] email or letter.”

    The Czech court appeared not to be the venue from which any lawsuit would be heard. Rather, the court contacted Yates to let her know that “that legal papers were waiting for me [since the] middle of January.”

    “This notice didn’t state what the papers were all about, just that they were legal and from the USA and that the courts here in the Czech Republic are not involved,” Yates said. “I kind of felt paralyzed, I lead a pretty law obedient life and didn’t have any experience with such situations.”

    INetGlobal’s website was offline early this morning, throwing an error message that said “Our Web Servers appear to be experiencing technical difficulties.”

    Yates, who described English as one of four languages she speaks, said she was not a member of INetGlobal.

    “I toyed with the idea for a second to sign up for free /[or the] minimum fee in order to get better insider info, but only for a second,” she said. “I would not have felt comfortable enough to give them even the most basic personal information, not to speak of my debit card details.”

    INetGlobal went to the time and expense of translating the documents sent from the United States into Czech, Yates said.

    “[T]hat was completely wasted on me as I don’t speak Czech!” she said. “I live here, because my husband works here.”

    Yates said she believed INetGlobal perceived her “as a pain in the backside” because of the “scam” reference and because she has a high search-engine ranking for terms associated with INetGlobal.

    “I don’t concentrate on scams, but I am convinced that it is perfectly possible to make money online without scamming and ripping people off, so if I come across something that I think is a scam, I say so,” Yates said.

    On Sept. 3, Yates wrote, “Inetglobal is a scam and a really bad one. Stay away from them and save your money!”

    Her Sept. 3 post suggested INetGlobal had a “daily re-purchase,” program in place, which she interpreted to mean “your credit card will get continuously charged and drained until you are in deep debts.”

    In an affidavit for a search warrant in the INetGlobal case last week, the U.S. Secret Service described an “automatic repurchasing” program that the firm allegedly employed by default and prevented customers from overriding.

    It was not immediately clear if Yates and the Secret Service were referring to the same repurchase program.

    Visit the hospitalera.com Blog to read Yates’ Sept. 3 post. See Yates’ Feb. 25 post that announced she had been targeted in a prospective lawsuit.

  • DEVELOPING STORY: Sheriff’s Department, Deputy, County Attorney Sued For Not Accepting Bids In Gold And Silver At Foreclosure Sale In Pennsylvania

    EDITOR’S NOTE: We previously have reported that some members of AdSurfDaily Inc. and AdViewGlobal are part of a subculture that views the Federal Reserve and banking in general as illicit operations. Some members, for example, have been involved in the credit-repair industry and have been parties in lawsuits against the government and/or individual banks and bankers. Part of the Utah “Indian” litigation grew out of banking lawsuits, for instance. We also have reported on a case in which a member sued a bank to reverse a mortgage foreclosure, filing a bond purportedly consisting of “twenty one dollars in silver coinage.”

    Some of the elements in the story below will sound familiar to readers who have been following the ASD case. The plaintiffs in the case cited below said their bids to purchase properties with gold and silver at a Sheriff’s sale in Pennsylvania were rejected, and they now seek more than $1 million in damages against public officials.

    A county solicitor, sheriff’s department and deputy have been sued in federal court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania amid allegations they defamed three bidders at a sheriff’s sale who wanted to pay for properties with gold and silver.

    Meanwhile, the wives of two of the plaintiffs have joined the lawsuit, saying stress caused by libelous remarks by the county have or will cause them “to lose the companionship, consortium, society and services” of their husbands.

    One of the husbands/co-plaintiffs — Michael Proetto — “requries psychiatric care,” according to the lawsuit.

    Victor Balletta, another husband/co-plaintiff, “purchased firearms for protection,” according to the lawsuit.

    Michael Reis is another co-plaintiff in the case.

    Named defendants were Karl Longenbach, solicitor of Northhampton County — although Longenbach’s name was not specifically referenced in the complaint caption; Christopher Spadoni, the assistant county solicitor; the Northhampton County Sheriff’s office; and Dave Ruberry, a deputy sheriff whom the plaintiffs said presided over the October 2008 Sheriff’s Sale.

    The county has denied wrongdoing.

    Balletta, Proetto and Reis said they attended a Sheriff’s sale in Easton, Pa., on Oct. 10, after registering and advising the county “they had gold and silver currency that they wished to bid,” according to the lawsuit.

    The plaintiffs “bid successfully on approximately nine (9) properties,” they said in the lawsuit, but Ruberry “ignored Plaintiffs’ bids, instead accepting other bids predicated on credit. In contrast, Plaintiff’s were prepared to pay their entire bid at the sale, with gold and silver.”

    Proetto brought his gold and silver in a “bulging sandwich bag,” according to The Morning Call of Allentown.

    Bids were refused, according to the plaintiffs. They seek damages of more than $1 million for alleged civil-rights violations and other violations.

    Balletta, Proetto and Reis claimed the defendants made libelous remarks about them, falsely linking them to anarchist groups, extremist groups and “paper terrorism.”

    The Morning Call, which was not named a defendant, “printed the defamatory statements made by the Deputy and Solicitor,” the plaintiffs said.

    Subsequently, the plaintiffs were “threatened; approached by extreme/radical groups mentioned in the Article; have lost business opportunities; have had their [families endangered]; Proetto  requries psychiatric care; and Balletta purchased firearms for protection,” the plaintiffs said in the lawsuit.

    Read the lawsuit.

  • BOLO Clarence Busby? Reader Puzzled By RICO Defendant’s Absence; Says Busby Out Of Touch For ‘Months’

    Should the government and litigants be on the lookout for Clarence Busby? He hasn’t been charged with a crime and, in September, he surrendered his claims to money seized by the U.S. Secret Service as part of its probe into the alleged criminal business practices of his company, Golden Panda Ad Builder of Acworth, Ga.

    Prosecutors said the money was part of the proceeds of a wire-fraud, money-laundering and $100 million Ponzi scheme in which Busby and Golden Panda participated with AdSurfDaily Inc. of Quincy, Fla.

    Busby identified himself as a minister. But he also is in the real-estate business, and last night a reader contacted us to say he has been unable to reach Busby.

    “We are buying a house from him and can’t seem to get in contact with him,” the reader said. “The last we heard, he was overseas starting up an internet company. We are a little concerned.”

    The reader added that he has been unable to contact Busby “for the past couple of months.”

    Here’s what we know about Busby: He played it cool as a cucumber when federal prosecutors announced the seizure of tens of millions of dollars last summer. Busby announced to Golden Panda members that his faith would get him through the dark hours. He composed a series of cloying Blog posts, assuring everyone that things would be just fine.

    Clarence Busby lays on the syrup, to be sure. In court filings, he explained how he’d gone fishing with ASD President Andy Bowdoin.

    “As a social courtesy to Bowdoin, I asked a pastor friend of mine, Rev. Charles Green, if he might bring his boat and join me in inviting Bowdoin on a relaxing fishing trip,” Busby told U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer. “I imagined that operating ASD involved a lot of stress, and I had heard Bowdoin liked to fish. I also wanted a respite from work. The invitation was extended and Bowdoin agreed to join us.”

    Busby then explained how Golden Panda was born:

    “On April 11, 2008, we fished at a lake in Brunswick, Georgia for a day. On that Day Bowdoin surprised me by recommending that I start a Chinese version of ASD,” Busby said.  “Bowdoin suggested that I organize the business without him. He said, ‘I can’t handle the business I already have,’ stating that I should be the one to create, own, and operate this Chinese version of ASD.

    “I was interested in the idea, but did not have knowledge of computers and the web, so I thought Bowdoin should run it, but Bowdoin did not want to run it,” Busby continued. “I chose the name of Golden Panda Ad Builder Inc. and I had the company incorporated on May 15, 2008. At that time, I still thought that Bowdoin would end up running the business, so I placed his name as President of the company, although Bowdoin never actually took any step to run the company.

    “Two and one half weeks before Golden Panda commenced operations on July 24, 2008, Bowdoin called me and reiterated that he did not have time for Golden Panda, had done nothing to help create it, and therefore thought I should be the one to own, operate, and control the business.

    “I then decided that with the help of my kids that I really could run a web based advertising business on my own. On July 2, 2008, I amended the Golden Panda papers with the state, naming myself as the President and removing Bowdoin’s name.”

    In his court filings, Busby said he didn’t know Bowdoin “had prior run ins with the law” and had been arrested in Alabama for defrauding investors.

    Busby did not say if he told his fishing partner about his own run-ins with the law: The Securities and Exchange Commission said Busby defrauded investors in the 1990s.

    “[T]he Commission alleged that Busby violated the antifraud provisions of the securities laws by offering and selling investment contracts in connection with three different prime bank schemes,” the SEC said.

    “Using misrepresentations and omissions in each of the three schemes, Busby raised money for purported trading programs in ‘prime bank’ notes by fraudulently representing to investors that the investments were risk-free and that the ventures would pay returns ranging from 750% to 10,000%. In total, Busby raised nearly $1 million from more than 70 investors. None of the investors earned the exorbitant returns promised by Busby,” the SEC said.

    Busby settled the case with the SEC in May 1998 by agreeing not to break securities laws. The SEC waived a $15,000 penalty and accrued interest because Busby certified he was broke.

    Almost 10 years to the month later, Busby went fishing with Andy Bowdoin. Both men now have been accused of racketeering in a class-action lawsuit brought by members of AdSurfDaily.