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Tag: Melton McClanahan

  • DEVELOPING STORY: Thai Police Bust ‘UFunClub,’ Yet Another Cross-Border Network-Marketing Program; Case May Involve $307 Million

    ufunclubUPDATED 9:10 A.M. EDT U.S.A. It’s whack-a-mole via MLM or network marketing — again.

    There are reports in Thai media about a major pyramid/Ponzi bust involving a cross-border “program” known as “UFunClub.” (See links below.)

    No American suspects appear to have been arrested or named so far, but Americans have promoted UFunClub. One of them, according to BehindMLM.com, is Jamison Palmer.

    On Feb. 19, 2015, the PP Blog contacted the Alabama Securities Commission for comment after it observed a promo online for “UFunClub” attributed to Melton McClanahan, an American implicated in the cross-border “Profitable Sunrise” scheme broken up by state regulators and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2013.

    Even as McClanahan was pitching UFunClub, he was pitching “Unison Wealth,” a Ponzi-board “program” pushed by Achieve Community huckster Rodney Blackburn. Achieve Community was taken down by the SEC in February 2015.

    ASC did not respond to the request for comment on UFunClub and Unison Wealth, and it is unclear whether they are under investigation in the United States. What is clear is that McClanahan was issued a cease-and-desist order by ASC for his alleged role in pushing Profitable Sunrise. He also was subpoenaed by the SEC in the Profitable Sunrise case.

    It’s also clear that some network marketers are moving from scheme to scheme to scheme in an ongoing and insidious environment of whack-a-mole. Schemes using a common network of promoters are feeding off each other.

    From a Bangkok Post story on UFunClub (italics added):

    Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon instructed police to investigate the case and quickly hunt down and arrest the suspects.

    Police have been working alongside the Consumer Protection Police Division, the Office of The Consumer Protection Board and the Anti-Money Laundering Office in the investigation. The company’s operating licence was revoked.

    Like other schemes, UFunClub spread in part on social media, according to a report at Nationmultimedia.com (italics added):

    OCPB secretary-general Amphon Wongsiri said the U-Fun group mobilised investments through the website www.u-fun-u-token.com, www.youtube.com and many other avenues including via direct contact by its agents.

    Recent whack-a-mole schemes include TelexFree, Wings Network, Zeek Rewards, eAdGear, iFreeX and EmGoldEx.

  • YouTube Video Pitchmen For Profitable Sunrise Hit By Subpoenas From SEC

    John Schepcoff says he potentially lost more than $193,000 in Profitable Sunrise but that a new “program” is “1,000 percent” better.
    John Schepcoff says on YouTube that he potentially lost more than $193,000 in Profitable Sunrise but that a new “program” operating from Hong Kong is “1,000 percent” better.

    EDITOR’S NOTE: Much remains murky about Profitable Sunrise, the alleged purveyor of five HYIP “plans,” including one bizarrely dubbed the “Long Haul” that purported to pay a preposterous 2.7 percent a day. The “Long Haul” payoff was dubbed the “Easter Gift.” Investors were told it would arrive April 1 — but it never materialized.

    One thing that is abundantly clear is that Profitable Sunrise potentially has created legal exposure and inconvenience for individual pitchmen, even though purported operator “Roman Novak” appears to be gone like a thief in the night.

    Still pushing HYIP schemes?

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    At least three Profitable Sunrise pitchmen — including at least two who pushed the “program” on YouTube — have been subpoenaed by the SEC to appear at depositions this month. The agency’s move is occurring in the aftermath of the depositions of at least two other Profitable Sunrise figures in Florida and Utah in April.

    In July 2010, the PP Blog reported that the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) warned investors worldwide “to stay away from HYIPs,” saying that they use social-media sites such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and online forums and “rating” sites to spread Ponzi misery globally.

    At least two of the men named in the new round of subpoenas went on to push other purported “opportunities” after the SEC described Profitable Sunrise in April as a murky HYIP that had used a “mail drop” in England and a series of offshore bank accounts in multiple countries to scam investors potentially of tens of millions of dollars.

    A subpoena was docketed yesterday in federal court in Atlanta for John Schepcoff of Carmichael, Calif. Schepcoff also is known as James Schepcoff, according to the SEC. His deposition has been scheduled for June 12 at 10 a.m. in San Francisco.

    After pitching Profitable Sunrise on YouTube prior to its March collapse amid especially murky circumstances, Schepcoff returned to YouTube in late April and began pitching yet another murky “program” purportedly operating from Hong Kong. Although the identity of the Hong Kong “program” was unclear, records suggest it was a Zeek Rewards-like “opportunity” known as “Better-Living Global Marketing.”

    In August 2012, the SEC described Zeek as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme that had pushed unregistered securities on hundreds of thousands of people and duped them into believing they were receiving a legitimate return of about 1.5 percent a day. The U.S. Secret Service also said it was investigating Zeek.

    A subpoena also was docketed in Atlanta yesterday for video pitchman Melton McClanahan of Fairfield, Calif. McClanahan was identified in a March order by the Alabama Securities Commission (ASC) as a Profitable Sunrise agent. McClanahan then posted a YouTube video denying he was an agent and yet claiming the information he passed along to lure prospects “was given to me.”

    McClanahan’s deposition is scheduled for June 11 at 10 a.m. in San Francisco.

    An SEC subpoena also was docketed yesterday in Atlanta for Don Gillette of Miami. Gillette reportedly told members of his Profitable Sunrise downline that he was turning to a new “program” that “must have a realistic earning potential of at least $500 a day or more,” according to a post at the RealScam.com antiscam forum.

    Details about the scheduling of Gillette’s deposition are unclear.

    As part of its ongoing Profitable Sunrise probe, the SEC also has subpoenaed records at PayPal and at Societe Generale in New York, according to the docket of U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr. in Atlanta. Whether Profitable Sunrise or its members were using the companies to move money is unclear.

    One of the problems with HYIP schemes is that they may cause laundered funds or proceeds of criminal enterprises to pass through or be placed on deposit at legitimate financial institutions.

    News of the new round of Profitable Sunrise subpoenas follows on the heels of the takedown last month of Liberty Reserve, amid allegations it had orchestrated a $6 billion money-laundering conspiracy. Liberty Reserve was popular with HYIP scammers and other criminals.

    NOTE: Thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

     

  • Joe Borg Of Alabama Securities Commission Tells WSFA That Profitable Sunrise Worked Because People ‘Kind Of Glossed Over The Mathematics’

    Joe Borg of the Alabama Securities Commission. From: WSFA news report.
    Joe Borg of the Alabama Securities Commission. From: WSFA news report.

    EDITOR’S NOTE: Alabama was one of the first U.S. states to take action against the Profitable Sunrise HYIP “program,” issuing both an Investor Alert and a cease-and-desist order last month. The C&D lists two alleged “agents” of Profitable Sunrise, demonstrating that a “program” can create problems for pitchmen, perhaps even as the “program” operators make a getaway or disappear into the darkest corners of the Internet.

    Profitable Sunrise had at least five purported investment plans, including one dubbed the “Long Haul” that promised a payout of 2.7 percent a day.

    Whether the bizarrely named “Long Haul” plan was a deliberate taunt at regulators and possibly even the pitchmen who helped the scheme gain a head of steam remains unclear.

    Listed as agents in the Alabama order were Melton McClanahan and Adam York. “An investigation of the company’s actions revealed that the men allegedly promoted at least five different ‘investment plans’ through a website used to promote Profitable Sunrise investment program and disseminate information to potential investors regarding the company’s various investment opportunities,” the Alabama Securities Commission said in the order.

    Also listed in the order were purported Profitable Sunrise operators Roman Novak and Radoslav Novak. In a complaint last week, the SEC said that “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.”

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    Joe Borg of the Alabama Securities Commission (ASC) has dealt with massive fraud schemes that traded on faith, including the Greater Ministries International Church caper in the 1990s that led to criminal convictions against five individuals.

    Back in 1999, ASC and the Ohio Division of Securities filed a joint complaint in federal court in Florida to shut GMI down. The purported “opportunity” took in more than $550 million by touting “divinely-inspired investments in the foreign currency market and gold, silver and diamond mines in Africa and the Caribbean,” ASC said at the time.

    Now, Borg and other state and provincial regulators are tacking the Profitable Sunrise scheme, which traded on faith and promised absurd returns.

    “I think because they used a per-day percentage, people kind of glossed over the mathematics,” Borg told WSFA.

    WSFA.com: News Weather and Sports for Montgomery, AL.