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Tag: Le330 Inc.

  • Inc? MPB Today Back In The News, But Is Press Release Dated Yesterday Accurate? MLM ‘Opportunity’ Was Subject Of Bizarre Promos Last Year, Including 1 In Which Obama Was Painted As Nazi And Hillary Clinton Was Cast As Bawling Drunk

     

    Screen shot of a section of a news release for the MPB Today MLM "opportunity" that appeared yesterday on the website of the San Francisco Chronicle. It also appeared on Yahoo News and other sites. The release claims MPB Today is a corporation, but that does not appear to be the case, according to records in Florida.

    A Florida grocery company with an MLM arm is back in the news — but a press release that describes MPB Today as a corporation may not be accurate.

    The press release dated yesterday is titled “MPBtoday Inc. Announces New Openings in Pensacola, Florida.” The release does not describe the purported “new openings,” and records in the state of Florida suggest that MPB Today is not a registered corporation entitled to use the “Inc.” designation.

    Rather, MPB Today — without the “Inc.” designation — appears to be operating as a fictitious arm of a vitamin and supplements company known as Le330 Inc., according to Florida records. Although MPB Today appears at one time to have used the “Inc.” designation, records suggest it did so inappropriately.

    MPB Today is tied to a Pensacola-based grocery company known as Southeastern Delivery. In 2010, check-waving videos and websites for MPB Today appeared in scores of places. Some of the promos showed checks with the MPB Today “Inc.” designation. Others showed the name “Mpb Today” with no “Inc.” designation. Still others showed the name of Southeastern Delivery LLC.

    The press release issued yesterday appears to be an affiliate promo that has been carried by multiple news and information outlets. In addition to using the “Inc.” designation in a bold headline, the release uses this information deck:

    “Brand new company has opened in Pensacola, Florida, offering affiliates and consumers the opportunity to earn unlimited income and eliminate your grocery and gas bill.”

    Here is the opening paragraph of the news release:

    “MPBtoday Inc., a new company out of Florida that has several grocery warehouses in Florida, is now spreading into Alabama and soon nationwide and up into Canada.”

    The release also uses the names of Walmart and Sam’s Club:

    “MPBtoday offers affiliates a chance to earn a very good income,” according to the release. “Plus, every time people sign up, affiliates get paid, and every time six people sign up through their organization, they will receive a $200 gift card where affiliates go to Wal-mart & SamsClub to get groceries & gas.”

    On Sept. 24, 2010 — nearly a year ago — Le330 Inc. canceled the fictitious name of MPB Today Inc., according to Florida records.

    Why is is being used in press releases a year later was not immediately clear.

    Among other places, the press release appeared on SFGate, the home of the San Francisco Chronicle. It also appeared on Yahoo News.

    In 2010, bizarre promotions for MPB Today appeared online, including one in which President Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton were depicted as Nazis. Clinton was further depicted as a bawling drunk who knocked out First Lady Michelle Obama in the Oval Office.

    Michelle Obama was depicted as experiencing an embarrassing gas attack in the Oval Office after having sampled beans at a Sam’s Club Store. Some MPB affiliates claimed the company was affiliated with Walmart and had been endorsed by the U.S. government.

    Some promoters tried to drive business to their downlines by claiming MPB Today had liars in its midst and that it was important to sign up under a nonlying member. The purported opportunity also was promoted on the Ponzi boards and targeted at Food Stamp recipients, Ponzi scheme victims, foreclosure subjects, senior citizens and college students.

    Impoverished MPB Today prospects should sell $200 worth of Food Stamps to a “friend, family member or whoever” to raise cash to join MPB Today, according to an affiliate’s news release last year.

  • Did MPB Today Have Predecessor Company Known As ‘MyPremierBiz’ In 2009? Wellness, ‘Apps’ Programs Pitched From Ponzi Boards Last Year Prior To Birth Of ‘Grocery’ MLM

    This video promo from June 2009 hawks "My Premier Biz," a site now associated with the MPB Today "grocery" program. My Premier Biz was pitched on Ponzi forums more than a year before promos for MPB Today began to appear on the Ponzi forums. MyPremierBiz was a purported opportunity for distributors to pay up to $3,456 to have wellness products associated with MPB Today operator Gary Calhoun placed in retail stores.

    A website known as MyPremierBiz.com was hyped on Ponzi boards last year and videos were produced to drive traffic to a confusing “opportunity” that included both a straight-line and a 2×2 matrix cycler and a hard-to-decipher sales and compensation program.

    Affiliate links were created for the program, which was purported on the MoneyMakerGroup forum to gather between $312 and $3,456 from distributors to place “Pro Packs” — cases of wellness products — in retail stores. The more a prospect sent in to acquire purported retail space for “Pro Packs,” the more he or she purportedly would earn. As of yesterday, some of the links redirected to the website of the purported MPB Today “grocery” program, research shows.

    The product line-up for the MyPremierBiz opportunity is associated with products offered by Gary Calhoun of MPB Today. One promoter on a Ponzi board claimed MyPremierBiz had lined up “outlets” that are “independent nutrition and health food stores, specialty wellness shops, holistic or independent pharmacies, spas, salons, etc.

    “We have a certain number right now, but NOT ENOUGH members to cover the sales! Talk about a GROUND-FLOOR OPPORTUNITY!” the affiliate exclaimed. “As this gets rolling, you will be a part of a small, elite nucleus of people who will have THOUSANDS of STORES in your downline within 12-36 months!”

    Incongruously, a video on YouTube displayed photos of several retail outlets, but included a disclaimer in tiny type that “Stores shown are for example only and are not affiliated with our company.”

    The root of the domain — MyPremierBiz.com — displayed this message this morning: “MPB Today is off-line for site maintenance.” However, other URLs at the site served pages, including a page that included a link for the MPB Today “grocery” program. The fate of the “Pro Packs” offer first advertised last year was not immediately clear.

    The development strongly suggests that MPB Today, which itself is being promoted on the Ponzi boards, had a predecessor site more than a year ago that also was pitched from the Ponzi boards. Receipt of any revenue from Ponzi schemes or criminal business opportunities is potentially catastrophic for MPB Today because the company could be paying members with proceeds from other online schemes.

    Separately, MPB Today Inc. has canceled its Florida incorporation, according to documents on file in the state. The company now is known simply as “MPB Today” — without the “Inc.” designation — according to  a filing dated Sept. 24. MPB Today is operating as a fictitious entity owned by Le330 Inc., another entity associated with MPB Today operator Gary Calhoun.

    Whether MPB Today Inc. actually ever was incorporated in Florida is unclear. A filing by the firm in July suggests the fictitious entity assigned itself a corporate designation under Le330’s designation. Checks recently received by MPB Today members no longer have the “Inc.” designation. Earlier images of checks posted online by affiliates included the “Inc.” designation. New checks simply list “Mpb Today” as the account-holder.

    Like promos for MPB Today, promos for MyPremierBiz were filled with hype and began with a proposition.

    In March 2009, a poster at MoneyMakerGroup wrote, “Would you spend $312, ONE-TIME ONLY, to EARN at least $360 in PROFIT, from Retail Store sales, year after year?”

    MPB Today uses a similar pitch to plant that seed that a $200, “one-time” purchase can lead to free groceries for life.

    MyPremierBiz was positioned last year as “a new division of a six-year-old company that is turning heads both on and off the internet,” according to a promoter writing on the MoneyMakerGroup forum. MoneyMakerGroup is referenced in court filings in the Pathway To Prosperity (P2P) case, amid allegations that P2P was an international Ponzi scheme that fleeced more than 40,000 participants across the globe.

    Writing about MyPremierBiz on MoneyMakerGroup in June 2009, a promoter said that “I am the #2 person in the company. I’m building the TOP Team and I want you to have the same success. Together, I KNOW we can do it!

    “We have SO MANY ways you can get paid and I am going to get you off to an INCREDIBLE START with my MPB Team Build,” the promoter continued. “Here’s what I will do for you. I’ll put two people under you and that will get you off to a ROCKET START! If you join MPB, you will pay $11.50 for the annual website fee, plus $20 for your first monthly order, plus a little shipping for that order, and you can also purchase your way right into our 2 x 2 matrix for only $50 (just one part of our comp plan, but a VERY exciting and rewarding part). So your total expense, to get started is only $89. And you will now be part of several PASSIVE RESIDUAL Compensation Components, and you will be earning a check the very NEXT week!”

    One of the Ponzi-forum references to MyPremierBiz included a tie-in to a program known as “Froggy Apps,” which purported to be a downloads service.

    “FROGGY APPS are HERE!” a pitchman roared on the MoneyMakerGroup forum on July 9, 2009. “APPS are just getting started. People are downloading them at an ASTOUNDING rate, and iPhones, and other ‘Smart Phones’ are selling at a PHENOMENAL CLIP!”

    Links to the MyPremierBiz promos placed in the MoneyMakerGroup forum during the summer of 2009 redirect to the current MPB Today grocery program. So do links to the FroggyApps program.

    All three websites — MyPremierBiz.com, MPBToday.com and FroggyApps.com — are registered behind proxies. When the PP Blog visited the FroggyApps site, it was redirected to the MPB Today site.

    Not all affiliate links formed under the MyPremierBiz domain, however, appear to resolve to an MPB Today affiliate site. The PP Blog clicked on an old MyPremierBiz affiliate link yesterday, and was sent to a page that said, “The page or associate name was not found on this server. Please click the link below to continue.”

    The link below led to the MPB Today site.