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Tag: Melland Company SRO

  • Virginia Man Asks For The Return Of More Than $57,000 Wired To Profitable Sunrise In Series Of Transactions

    ponzinews1UPDATED 8:52 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) A Virginia man has asked for the return of $57,300 wired to Profitable Sunrise in a series of transfers from Bank of America between Jan. 17 and Feb 28. It was unclear from the filing whether the man was a simple investor in Profitable Sunrise, an individual who also was promoting the scheme for commissions or an interested party of a different sort.

    The request was made in the form of a self-filed petition to U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr. in Atlanta. Thrash is overseeing the SEC’s April 4 fraud action against Profitable Sunrise.

    Two of the transfers appeared to have occurred on Feb. 28. Just a day earlier, the state of North Carolina filed a cease-and-desist order against the Profitable Sunrise “program” and purported operators Roman and Radoslav Novak. One of the Feb. 28 transactions was for $18,000 and marked the largest sum among the series of transfers, based on the Virginia’s man’s motion for the court to release the funds.

    The document did not say which of the five Profitable Sunrise “plans” to which the money was directed. Although the SEC obtained an asset freeze after accusing Profitable Sunrise of fraud last month, it is far from clear whether Thrash can order the money returned consistent with the man’s wishes. No receiver has been appointed in the Profitable Sunrise case, and the investigations of the purported “opportunity” by the SEC and other regulators continue.

    One of the five Profitable Sunrise “plans” was known as the “Long Haul,” which had a purported deadline of March 1 for accepting deposits and purported to pay an absurd 2.7 percent daily.

    Based on the man’s filing, it appears as though all of the transfers were directed at entities named relief defendants in the SEC’s action, including Melland Company SRO, Color Shock SRO and Fortuna-K SRO. These Czech entities apparently were receiving money for Profitable Sunrise, which operated through a British entity known as Inter Reef LTD and was conducting an offering fraud through a “mail drop,” according to the SEC’s Profitable Sunrise complaint.

    Like other HYIPs, Profitable Sunrise was flogged online, a situation that potentially puts pitchmen in legal jeopardy. Profitable Sunrise has been accused of selling unregistered securities as investment contracts. The SEC said the Profitable Sunrise referral program operated as a “pyramid scheme” and raised questions about whether the purported Novak brothers actually exist.

    Here are the amounts and dates of the wire transfers, according to the man’s filing:

    • $1,500 on Jan. 17.
    • $6,300 on Feb. 1. (Two transactions; one for $1,800 and another for $4,500.)
    • $9,000 on Feb. 12. (Two transactions; one for $3,000 and another for $6,000.)
    • $8,500 on Feb. 15. (Two transactions; one for $1,000 and another for $7,500.)
    • $10,000 on Feb. 20.
    • $18,000 on Feb. 28.
    • $4,000 on Feb. 28.

    Profitable Sunrise may have gathered tens of millions of dollars, the SEC said last month.

     

  • BULLETIN: NOT JUST EUROPE: Court Filings In Profitable Sunrise Fraud Case Say Some Of The Money Went To Entities In Australia And Panama

    profitablesunriseimageUPDATED 9:11 P.M. EDT (APRIL 17, U.S.A.) Some Profitable Sunrise investors wired money to entities in Australia and Panama, according to new filings in the SEC’s pyramid-scheme and fraud case.

    The new filings, dated today, identify those entities as Technocash Limited of Sydney and Trackford Business Corp. of Panama City. Earlier filings named four other entities that the SEC says received funds from Profitable Sunrise investors: Melland Company SRO of the Czech Republic; Color Shock SRO of the Czech Republic; Solutions Company SRO of the Czech Republic; and Fortuna-K SRO of the Czech Republic.

    Melland, Color Shock, Solutions and Fortuna-K all have been named relief defendants. How the SEC intends to proceed against Technocash and Trackford was not immediately clear today. Various state regulators in the United States have said that Profitable Sunrise traded on Bible verse.

    Profitable Sunrise operated as Inter Reef LTD through a “mail drop” in England, and its director, Agnes Jouaneau, “is a resident of the Seychelles. She is director of several dozen other UK companies,” according to court filings.

    “Having heard from witnesses, examined documents, considered the legal precedents and the arguments of counsel, the Court finds that the SEC has established a prima facie case that Inter Reef violated Sections 5(a), 5(c), and 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 (‘Securities Act’) [15 U.S.C. §§ 77e(a), 77e(c), and 77q(a)], Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (‘Exchange Act’) [15 U.S.C. § 78j(b)], and Exchange Act Rule 10b-5 [17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5],” wrote U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr.

    Thrash has approved a preliminary injunction and continued an asset freeze in the Profitable Sunrise case.

    A proceeding was held in open court today, according to the new filings. At that 20-minute proceeding, “no one” appeared for Profitable Sunrise or the relief defendants.

    Evidence entered by the SEC, according to Thrash, supports findings that Profitable Sunrise:

    • “offered a series of passive investments with low minimum investments claiming to pay interest rates varying between 1.6 percent and 2.7 percent per business day . . .”
    • Sold “securities” as defined under federal securities law . . .
    • “failed to register those securities with the SEC, and no exemption from registration has been proven . . .”
    • Sold “unregistered securities through misrepresentations and omissions of material fact” and that the sale of those securities “constitutes a device, scheme and artifice to defraud.”

    A minute entry from today’s proceeding before Thash suggests that the SEC has deposed Profitable Sunrise pitchman Anthony M. Infante of Florida and that at least a portion of his deposition was read into the record today.

    Read SEC statement issued April 16.

    The ASD Updates Blog is maintaining an archive of Profitable Sunrise-related court filings.

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: SEC Files Complaint Against Profitable Sunrise; Purported ‘Opportunity’ Called An International ‘Pyramid Scheme’

    breakingnews72URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (17th update 4:02 p.m.) The SEC has filed a complaint against the ProfitableSunrise HYIP “program” in federal court in Atlanta. The story first was reported by CourthouseNewsService this morning.

    At the same time, the PP Blog has learned that the agency applied for an emergency asset freeze, explaining that Profitable Sunrise was using a “mail drop” in England and that “Hungarian law enforcement authorities” had had frozen an account holding $11.3 million connected to the scheme as part of an “investigation of suspected money laundering.” U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr. granted the freeze, which applies to multiple bank accounts.

    The Profitable Sunrise “referral program” operated as a “pyramid scheme,” the SEC said in its filings. Moreover, the SEC charged, Profitable Sunrise was conducting an “offering fraud” targeted at U.S. citizens and selling unregistered securities.

    And people pushing the “program” for commissions may not even know who they’re working for, the SEC said.

    “Profitable Sunrise operates for the benefit of unknown individuals and/or organizations doing businesses through companies formed in the Czech Republic and using bank accounts in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, and China, among other places,” the SEC alleged.

    The complaint names Inter Reef Ltd. (DBA Profitable Sunrise) as defendants. Four relief defendants also are named:

    Melland Company SRO, Color Shock SRO, Solutions Company SRO, and Fortuna-K SRO.

    Absent from the list of defendants are both “Roman Novak” and “Radoslav Novak.” Although many Profitable Sunrise pitchmen have claimed that “Roman Novak” operates the company and that “Roman’s” brother “Radoslav” is its attorney, that information has not been confirmed.

    “There is more than a slight possibility, as with many offering frauds, that the people described in the website, including the Novak brothers, do not exist,” the SEC said.

    InterReef’s registered agent is based in Seychelles, an island chain in the western Indian Ocean, the SEC said.

    “Tens of thousands of investors” may have invested “at least tens of millions of dollars in Profitable Sunrise,” the SEC said.

    At least 34 U.S. states and provinces in Canada have issued Investor Alerts or cease-and-desist orders against Profitable Sunrise.

    Assertions online that Profitable Sunrise “generates profits by making loans to businesses at higher rates” are “false,” the SEC charged.

    The scheme spread in part through “social media” and “numerous promoters in the United States,” the SEC said in its complaint.

    Incongruities dotted Profitable Sunrise, the SEC alleged.

    Although Profitable Sunrise claimed it had been operating for six years, “the United Kingdom Companies House reports that Inter Reef has been in existence for only 19 months,” the SEC alleged.

    Meanwhile, the SEC said, a YouTube promo for Profitable Sunrise positioned the “opportunity” as a “ministry” and included a discussion of why Profitable Sunrise “is not a Ponzi or pyramid scheme.”

    From the SEC complaint filed in federal court in Atlanta April 4.
    From the SEC complaint filed in federal court in Atlanta April 4.
    XX
    From the SEC complaint.

    See filings courtesy of the ASDUpdates Blog.

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: North Carolina Orders ‘Profitable Sunrise’ To Cease And Desist; State Calls It An ‘Immediate And Significant Danger’

    americaatrisk4URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: The state of North Carolina — home base to the alleged $600 million Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme — has ordered a purported offshore “opportunity” known as “Profitable Sunrise” to cease and desist from doing business in the state.

    Profitable Sunrise purports to be a hard-money lender and investment opportunity. It appears to have attracted some Zeek members both before and after the August 2012 collapse of Zeek. Zeek was under investigation by North Carolina, the SEC and the U.S. Secret Service at the time of its collapse.

    In its cease-and-desist order, North Carolina described Profitable Sunrise as “an immediate and significant danger” that is using multiple investment schemes to attract money, including a purported “Long Haul” plan.

    The offer is being targeted at people of faith through web-based promoters, some of whom described themselves as Christians. Offering materials for the “Long Haul” plan have advertised an Easter holiday payout.

    The company itself has advertised “risk free” payouts with “no chance of default,” according to the North Carolina order. And Profitable Sunrise also claims “investments are insured by a leading investment bank.”

    As the PP Blog reported in December, Profitable Sunrise appeared to qualify investors based on their views on hot-button issues, including abortion.

    North Carolina’s order names Roman Novak, Radoslav Novak and Inter Reef LTD (doing business as Profitable Sunrise) as respondents, amid allegations by the Securities Division of the office of North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall that Profitable Sunrise is selling unregistered securities as investment contracts.

    Profitable Sunrise lists a business address in the United Kingdom. Regardless, the enterprise is soliciting funds to be sent to Raiffeisenbank AS in the Czech Republic, according to North Carolina investigators. An entity known as Melland Company SRO was listed in Profitable Sunrise wiring instructions as the beneficiary, according to the order.

    A credit union used by a North Carolina-based Profitable Sunrise investor blocked at least one transaction directed toward the Czech bank, citing suspicions of fraud, according to the order.

    Marshall’s investigators noted that the Profitable Sunrise investor believed that the”Long Haul” plan would pay “interest of 2.7% daily, compounded at 100%, for 240 days.”

    Other Profitable Sunrise plans also promised high interest rates in compressed time frames, reaching for sums of between $10 and $2,500 and advertising interest rates of between 1.6 percent and 2 percent a day, according to the order.

    Zeek planted the seed that it paid an average of 1.5 percent a day, the SEC said on Aug. 17. On Aug. 4, Zeek claimed on its news site that unspecified “North Carolina credit unions” were creating problems for it.

    Read the North Carolina order against Profitable Sunrise.

    Visit Profitable Sunrise thread on RealScam.com.