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Tag: Michael R. Casey

  • HYIP RIPPLES: FBI Issues ‘Wanted’ Poster For Florida Attorney Implicated In ‘Commodities Online’ Caper; Michael Ralph Casey Called ‘Armed And Dangerous’

    Michael Ralph Casey. Source: FBI.
    Michael Ralph Casey. Source: FBI.

    A Florida attorney the SEC has described as “anything but lawyerly” is now the subject of an FBI “Wanted” poster and is considered “armed and dangerous.”

    The FBI issued the poster after Michael Ralph Casey “failed to appear for a court hearing and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest by the United States District Court, Southern District of Florida.”

    Casey, 67, was required to appear in court on April 29, but did not show, the FBI said. Along with James C. Howard III and Louis N. Gallo III, Casey was charged both civilly and criminally in September 2012 for his alleged role in Commodities Online.

    The SEC has described Commodities Online as a securities swindle led by two convicted felons (Howard and Gallo) with narcotics rap sheets. The “program” allegedly was married to a boiler-room operation and tried to sanitize itself by bringing in Casey, who allegedly turned a blind eye to the scam.

    Commodities Online is alleged to have gathered tens of millions of dollars. The “program” operators were accused of moving millions of dollars offshore while the SEC was closing in in 2011.

    The alleged Commodities Online swindle also is notable for peripheral ties to other HYIP debacles. A Nevada company known as SSH2 Acquisitions sued James Clark Howard in 2010, alleging it had been ripped off in a Ponzi scheme. AdSurfDaily Ponzi figure Terralynn Hoy, later listed as an alleged winner in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme, was listed in Nevada records as a director of SSH2.

    Meanwhile, BWFC Processing Center LLC, the registered agent of SSH2, is associated with Joseph Craft, a figure in the alleged TelexFree pyramid- and Ponzi scheme.

    ASD was an alleged $119 million Ponzi scheme; Zeek was alleged to be a combined Ponzi- and pyramid swindle that gathered $850 million, and TelexFree has been described by regulators as a combined pyramid- and Ponzi fraud that gathered $1.2 billion.

    Hoy was a moderator at the now-defunct “Surfs Up” forum that cheered for ASD Ponzi schemer Andy Bowdoin. She also moderated a defunct forum that led cheers for AdViewGlobal, an ASD reload scam that collapsed in 2009. Surf’s Up disappeared mysteriously in early 2010. Earlier this year, the court-appointed receiver in the Zeek case identified Hoy as a Zeek winner.

    She has not been accused of wrongdoing.

    View the FBI’s “Wanted” poster on Casey.

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Florida Attorney Charged Civilly, Criminally In Alleged ‘Commodities Online’ Caper; 2 Principals (With Felony Convictions) Also Charged

    URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Florida attorney Michael R. Casey has been charged both civilly and criminally in the alleged Commodities Online fraud scheme, the SEC said.

    Also charged criminally and civilly were former Commodities Online executives James C. Howard III and Louis N. Gallo III.

    “This trio teamed up to employ all the hallmarks of an investment scheme,” said Eric I. Bustillo, director of the SEC’s Miami Regional Office. “Howard met with prospective investors at a luxury hotel to emanate a false sense of wealth and security, Gallo oversaw an in-house boiler room that drummed up investor interest, and Casey was the company’s purported legal counsel who acted anything but lawyerly.”

    Both Howard and Gallo were convicted felons prior to emerging as executives at Commodities Online, the SEC said. The fraud caper allegedly gathered $27.5 million.

    From the SEC complaint (italics added):

    In reality, COL performed only a limited percentage of the commodities transactions it promised investors. Instead, the Company, Howard, and Gallo dissipated millions of dollars of investor funds to largely sham companies, including Relief Defendants Sutton Capital, LLC, J & W Trading, LLC, American Financial Solutions, LLC, and Minjo Corporation. Through these companies, Howard and Gallo misappropriated investor funds for their own use. So-called profits they distributed to investors they took largely from other investors’ funds.

    Casey personally made misrepresentations to investors about the profitability, structure, and existence of the purported commodities contracts. He also knew about Howard’s misappropriation of investor funds, but failed to disclose this fact when he communicated with investors.

    Howard, 53, resides in of Lauderhill, Fla.

    “In 1997, Howard was convicted of federal narcotics and firearms felonies and sentenced to 57 months in prison,” the SEC said.

    Gallo, 43, resides in Parkland, Fla.

    “In 2005, Gallo pleaded guilty in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey to bank fraud and narcotics charges and was ultimately sentenced,” the SEC said. “In 2007, in the same court, he pleaded guilty to transmitting a threat to injure and was later sentenced to one day in prison and a three-year term of supervised release.”

    Casey, 65, resides in Oakland Park, Fla.

    “He is an attorney licensed to practice in Florida,” the SEC said. “In early 2010, Casey acted as COL’s outside legal counsel. In May 2010, he replaced Howard as president of COL.”

    From the SEC complaint:

    In May 2010, COL issued a press release announcing Howard was stepping down from his COL management position but would “remain in a consulting relationship with [COL] and will continue to provide the company with the benefit of his many years of experience in the commodities business.” While the press release announced that Casey would replace Howard as president, it did not disclose Howard’s arrest [in a separate alleged fraud scheme]. Gallo and Casey were aware of the press release, which at least one of COL’s sales agents circulated.

    The SEC initially moved against Commodities Online last year. Today’s complaint names individual defendants and companies that allegedly received ill-gotten gains.

    James Clark Howard III

    Howard was arrested by the Boca Raton Police Department in a separate scheme targeting Haitian Americans on March 5, 2010. About six months later — in September 2010 — he was sued by a Nevada company that listed former AdSurfDaily member and Surf’s Up moderator Terralynn Hoy as a director.

    The Nevada company — SSH2 Acquisitions Inc. — alleged that Howard was part of a Ponzi scheme that also involved Patricia Saa, Sutton Capital LLC and Rapallo Investment Group LLC.

    Howard and the defendants, according to the lawsuit, told SSH2 it was trading in commodities and “would produce profits of 40% per month or more, while not risking any of the invested funds.”

    In its lawsuit, SSH2 alleged that its dealings with Howard and the others began in “early 2009? and continued through March 2010.

    Read the SEC complaint against Casey, Howard and Gallo.