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Tag: Michelle Obama

  • UPDATE: MPB Today Operator Ordered To Stay Away From MLM As He Awaits Sentencing In Racketeering Case; Separately, MLM ‘Programs’ Get Pounded In The Press

    Gary Calhoun
    Gary Calhoun

    Gary Calhoun, the operator of the MPB Today MLM “program,” has joined AdSurfDaily Ponzi schemer Andy Bowdoin as a member of a dubious club: A Florida judge has ordered Calhoun not to get arrested on new charges and to stay away from MLM while he awaits sentencing in a racketeering case brought by Florida authorities last year.

    Here is a note on the docket of Circuit Judge Jan Shackelford reflecting the ban: “DEFENDANT TO HAVE NO CONTACT OR RECEIVE ANY INCOME FROM ANY MLM.” Calhoun, according to the docket, will be permitted to pursue any “legal means” to support his family.

    Bowdoin was banned from MLM last year while he awaited sentencing in the $119 million ASD Ponzi scheme broken up by the U.S. Secret Service in August 2008. Prosecutors said Bowdoin pushed a scam known as AdViewGlobal (AVG) even after the government seized more than $80 million in ASD-related bank accounts. After the collapse of AVG in 2009, Bowdoin, 78, pushed a pyramid scheme known as OneX, according to court filings. He later was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison.

    Calhoun, 56, will be sentenced July 30, according to the case docket, which notes a plea agreement. He was arrested on the racketeering charge in December 2012 and has been free on bond since then. In July 2012, federal prosecutors in the Northern District of Florida filed a forfeiture complaint for MPB Today’s headquarters building in Pensacola. The affidavit in the forfeiture case was filed under seal. But the forfeiture case, according to prosecution filings, was brought to enforce 18 USC § 1028 and 18 USC § 1029, statutes dealing with access-device fraud and fraud in connection with identification documents.

    MPB Today operated an MLM married to a grocery-delivery business known as Southeastern Delivery. Among the claims was that a one-time purchase of $200 in groceries could lead to free groceries and gasoline for life. Some promoters claimed the U.S. government and Walmart had endorsed MPB Today. Others encouraged prospects to sell $200 worth of Food Stamps to raise the money needed to join the “program.”

    Supporters of the “program” defended it on the PP Blog by calling critics  “roaches,” “IDIOTS,” “clowns,” “terrible” people, “misleading” people, people who have led a “sheltered life,” people who have been “chained up in a basement,” people who have “chips” on their shoulders, spewers of “hot air,” “naysayers,” “complainers,” “trouble maker[s]” and “crybabies.”

    MPB Today later vanished — but not before a promoter described President Obama as a Nazi and and his family as aspiring to eat dog food. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was depicted as a bawling drunk. First Lady Michelle Obama was depicted as having experienced an embarrassing gas attack in the Oval Office after having sampled “beans” at a Sam’s Club Store.

    From an ad designed to attract prospects for the MPB Today "program."
    From an ad designed to attract prospects for the MPB Today “program.”

    All of it — and more — was designed to attract business to the MLM firm, which apparently has followed ASD into the darkness.

    News of Calhoun’s sentencing date was received during a week in which MLM was experiencing one PR disaster after another. WTOL, a TV station in Toledo, Ohio, carried a report on the alleged Profitable Sunrise HYIP scheme. The SEC said earlier this month that the purported “opportunity” may have gathered tens of millions of dollars and that promoters may not have known for whom they were working.

    Profitable Sunrise was targeted at Christians, according to regulatory actions. Among its absurd offerings was the purported “Long Haul” plan that promised to pay 2.7 percent a day with the payout due April 1 — April Fool’s Day. Promoters called it the “Easter Gift” because Easter occurred on March 31. The payouts, however, never materialized.

    Separately, WFMY of Greensboro, N.C., said it had uncovered evidence that members of the Zeek Rewards “program” were being targeted in a reload scam. In August 2012, the SEC described Zeek as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme.

    Meanwhile, the politics and satire site Wonkette ran a piece yesterday titled, “The End Is Near: Time Running Out To Join Amazing Jesus Pyramid Scheme.”

    The story details spam received by Wonkette, apparently from a promoter of a scheme known as “Rocket Ca$h Cycler.”

    The subject line of the pitch, according to Wonkette, was this: “The Wealth Transfer is here!! Florida Pastor & Church break through financially!”

    When MPB Today was operational, it ran a matrix cycler. One particularly bizzare pitch for the “program” in 2010 claimed this: If you “hate Walmart and have written a 603 page manifesto on how Walmart is trying to take over the world and steal your soul,” you should “stop making that pipe bomb and read how you can avoid Walmart and still make bank.”

    Read review of the Rocket Cash Cycler “program” at BehindMLM.

  • EDITORIAL: Script For MPB Today Promo Used The Word ‘Monkeys’ In Context Of Obama Presidency; Research Suggests At Least Two Versions Of Script Existed; One Painted Obamas As Welfare Recipients Aspiring To Eat Dog Food And Table Scraps Left By Family Pet

    EDITOR’S NOTE: The PP Blog previously wrote about a promo by an MPB Today affiliate that sought to recruit prospects by depicting President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as Nazis. The PP Blog is reporting today that at least two versions of the affiliate’s anti-Obama script appear to have existed, including one that used the word “monkeys” in the context of the Obama presidency. It is possible that the second script was actually a work-in-progress that was edited over time and later resulted in the publication of a single video, and was not a script unto itself.

    PHOTO CREDIT: United Nations, U.S. Department of State, Oct. 26, 2010: Secretary Clinton addresses a meeting of the UN Security Council marking the 10th anniversary of landmark Council resolution 1325 on women in peace and security.

    Before the PP Blog was knocked offline Saturday by a DDoS attack that delivered more than 6.1 million hits in a compressed time frame, the Blog was continuing its research into several stories. One of them involved a bizarre political attack on President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The attack came in the form of an animated sales promo for the purported MPB Today “grocery” program. We earlier published frames from the video, which was taken offline last month after the Blog wrote about it.

    Research now suggests there were at least two scripts for the promo or a single script that was  a work-in-progress that resulted in a finished video.

    At least one finished video was published on GoAnimate.com, a video service. The video depicted Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as Nazis, with Obama as a left-handed-saluting Nazi who cowered to Clinton, and Clinton as a drunken, whining Nazi who knocked out Michelle Obama after barging into the Oval Office. The phrase “Brown-noser” was used in this video which, incredibly, was a sales pitch designed to recruit MPB Today members.

    “Brown-noser,” of course, is a loaded phrase — not that depicting the President as a cowering Nazi, the First Lady as an embarrassment to the nation and the Secretary of State as the Nazi-In-Chief is any less objectionable.

    MPB Today affiliates routinely mention Walmart in their promos. Perhaps it was lost on the author of the anti-Obama screed that Clinton, a former First Lady and formerly a duly elected member of the U.S. Senate — the same body from which Obama emerged — was the first woman ever appointed to Walmart’s board of directors. Her appointment occurred in 1986, nearly a quarter of a century ago. Clinton no longer serves on Walmart’s board.

    Hillary Clinton also was a serious contender for the Presidency of the United States. She is held in high regard by tens of millions of Americans, including Americans who disagree with her political philosophy. Clinton is only the second woman ever to serve as U.S. Secretary of State. Only two Republicans cast votes against Clinton’s nomination as Secretary; the overall vote in January 2009 was 94-2.

    Although it is unclear if the second script resulted in a finished video that later was removed, the script is published online and is available in Google search results. If anything, it is even more objectionable than the script that resulted in the published video.

    Here is the script, as published on Google. (Italics and carriage returns added):

    SCENE0:

    SCENE1: michelle_obama O’ Barry Baby, since we’ve joined MPB TODAY your popularity has increased in the polls! Who runs these polls, monkeys??

    SCENE2: michelle_obama obama It’s true, Shell Bell.. and I’ve even been asked to be a greeter at Walmart since I’m there so much using my $200 giftcards.

    SCENE3: michelle_obama obama And I just love those $300 commission checks, too! Me too, Babe, me too…

    SCENE4: michelle_obama obama I’m so relieved we’ve totally eliminated our grocery bill! You’re relieved? Now I’ll finally get some real dog food instead of just Sasha’s scraps

    SCENE5: obama michelle_obama Pardon me, Honey… it must be all those beans I ate at Sam’s Club today. Wheww, somebody open a window, I can’t breathe.

    SCENE6: michelle_obama obama Hmm, I should prolly call my Food Stamp worker now that I’ve joined MPB

    SCENE7: michelle_obama obama I only had to spend $200 to join, but I borrowed the money so don’t worry, honey.

    SCENE8: obama michelle_obama You what?? You borrowed the money to join MPB Today? From whom?? Oh no, here it comes…

    SCENE9: obama michelle_obama Uhh, from Hilary, Here she comes now…

    SCENE10: obama michelle_obama hillary Hail Hil, what’s wrong with you??

    SCENE11: obama hillary michelle_obama I couldn’t find 2 people to join me in MPB Today, now I’m going to lose my money! I feel so woozy, like I got clunked in the head, what just happened??

    SCENE12: hillary obama michelle_obama Maybe it’s time to lose the pantsuit from Big Lots and start shopping at Walmart, like I do. Then maybe people will join you in MPB. What a freakin’ drama queen That’s it, I’m outta here

    SCENE14: hillary obama Listen, I pledge to help you get your 2 people but even if I can’t you’ll still get your groceries?

    SCENE15: obama hillary All you’ll have to do is pay shipping on the groceries, Hil, no big deal… right? I suppose not but I feel like such a loser. cough cough… let’s not even go there.

    SCENE16: obama hillary You’re no loser, Hil, and besides… no one loses with MPB Today, not even you… OMG, What a Brown-noser

    SCENE17: obama hillary O’ I’m so relieved, now I can go home and tell Bill. Just go home, PLEASE just go home…

    SCENE19: [URL Deleted By PP Blog] Brought To You by: [Deleted By PP Blog]

    SCENE18: Join MPB Today With a Real Mentor, Not Merely a Marketer… Big Difference!

    SCENE20: Join MPB Today With a Real Mentor, Not Merely a Marketer… Big Difference!

    The script.

    Apparently the self-described “Real Mentor” believed it prudent for business purposes to offend as many Americans and citizens of the world as possible in the bizarre bid to glean affiliate checks and Walmart gift cards from MPB Today, an MLM program.

    The second script makes no reference to Nazis, but does include a reference to “monkeys.” Hillary Clinton was called “Hitlary” in the script that resulted in the published video. The Secretary is merely “Hillary” in the second script. The “Brown-noser” line is common to both scripts.

    And what do the Obamas eat? Well, “dog food,” according to the script. Apparently this is a step up from the table “scraps” the family dog left unconsumed.

    The script also references the federal Food Stamp program, apparently painting at least one of the Obamas as in need of the services provided by the USDA-operated program and a caseworker.

    President Obama apparently was positioned as a Walmart “greeter” in the script.

    The word “bizarre” does not even begin to cover the scripts or the finished video that emerged. We are left wondering if someone made the calculation that the use of the word “monkeys” would be just too caustic for the finished product, but that the Nazi depiction would strike just the right chord to stimulate money to change hands. Regardless, the phrase “Brown-noser” appears to have been included in both scripts — and we’d fully expect the producer to argue that the phrase was just a throw-away line, that it was in no way designed as code to remind MPB Today prospects that Obama does not have the same bloodlines as, say, the 43 Presidents who preceded him.

    That any version of the promo emerged in a bid to attract prospects to MPB Today is a matter for great introspection. At the moment, we can’t think of a single thing that tops it in terms of unrestrained gall, xenophobia and pure idiocy.

    In the often bizarre world of MLM, we’ve apparently reached the point that a “real mentor” puts the President of the United States in a Walmart greeter’s attire, places him on Food Stamps, depicts him (or his family) as aspiring to eat dog food, uses animated images of a dog to reinforce the poisonous stereotypes, lashes out against the First Lady and the Secretary of State — and then urges others to sign up for a “grocery” program and do the same.

    That MPB Today has not spoken out against this is only one of many reasons people should choose not to do business with the firm.

  • UPDATES/NEWS: ASA Ponzi Forum Now Redirects To CashX.com; Arthur Nadel Gets 14 Years In Florida Ponzi Case Brought By Obama Task Force; Former Indiana Pastor Who Bilked Christians Convicted Of Securities Fraud

    President Obama formed the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force in November 2009. He later became the subject of an attack ad by an affiliate of the purported MPB Today "grocery" MLM.

    UPDATED 10:56 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The ASA Monitor Ponzi and criminals’ forum now is redirecting to a website operated by CashX.com, a Canadian payment processor that hawks MasterCard debit cards and says it permits customers to withdrawn money to Liberty Reserve.

    Liberty Reserve is a Ponzi-friendly payment processor purportedly headquartered in Costa Rica after earlier operating from Panama.

    Meanwhile, confessed Ponzi schemer Arthur Nadel — who briefly went on the lam from Florida in early 2009 as his $390 million scheme was disintegrating and became known as one of the original “mini-Madoffs” — has been sentenced by a federal judge in New York to 14 years in prison.

    It is effectively a life sentence for Nadel, who is 77 and one of several senior citizens implicated in U.S. Ponzi schemes.

    At the same time, a former clergyman from Indiana who told congregants it was their “Christian responsibility” to become pitchmen for his then-undiscovered bond scheme has been convicted of nine counts of securities fraud.

    Vaughn Reeves, 66, is scheduled to be sentenced next month. The jury deliberated only four hours before returning the verdict against Reeves, himself a senior citizen. Congregants believed they were helping raise money for church-building projects, but it was a scam that led to foreclosure proceedings against eight places of worship. (See link to AP report below.)

    Claims made by Reeves are similar to claims made by the Data Network Affiliates (DNA) MLM program, which told members that churches had the “MORAL OBLIGATION” to help bring business to the Florida-based firm and qualify for commissions ten levels deep. DNA purports to be in the license-plate data collection business, claiming it can help law enforcement and the AMBER Alert program recover abducted children.

    Incongruously, DNA also purports to sell a “protective spray” that shields cameras from taking photographs of license plates. Equally incongruously, the company said that it could offer a free cell phone with unlimited talk and text for $10 a month. The company later backtracked on the claim, bizarrely saying it studied pricing structures only after announcing it had become the world’s low-price leader while acknowledging it hadn’t vetted its purported vendor for the service.

    DNA figure Phil Piccolo later threatened to sue critics. Earlier, Dean Blechman, who said he was the company’s CEO before resigning in February, threatened to sue critics. DNA withheld the announcement of Blechman’s departure for nearly a week and then misspelled his name. DNA also described Blechman as the “future” CEO, even though Blechman had described himself as the current CEO.

    Blechman complained to the PP Blog about “bizarre” events at DNA.

    ASA Monitor, which is referenced in court filings as a place from which the alleged Pathway To Prosperity (P2P) Ponzi scheme was pitched and was a site from which the purported “grocery” MLM operated by Florida-based MPB Today was pitched, suddenly announced on Oct. 12 that it was closing.

    Like MPB Today, DNA also was pitched from Ponzi and criminals’ forums.

    The ASA Monitor closure announcement coincided with a flap in which an ASA forum moderator sought to muzzle critics of the MPB Today program, which is being targeted at Christians, foreclosure subjects, Food Stamp recipients, senior citizens, people of color and members of the alleged AdSurfDaily (ASD) Ponzi scheme.

    ASD also operated from Florida before the U.S. Secret Service seized tens of millions of dollars in August 2008, amid allegations of wire fraud and money-laundering. Robert Hodgins, an international fugitive wanted by Interpol in a narcotics-trafficking and money-laundering case filed after an undercover probe by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Connecticut, provided debit cards to ASD, members said.

    Nadel’s scheme, meanwhile, operated in the Sarasota area.

    “Through his massive Ponzi scheme, Arthur Nadel greased his own pockets and financed his lavish lifestyle, using money his clients relied on him to invest,” said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of the Southern District of New York.

    “He cheated his elderly and unwitting victims out of their retirement savings and consigned others to poverty,” Bharara said. “The message of [yesterday’s] sentence should be loud and clear — we will continue to work with our partners at the FBI to find the perpetrators of financial fraud and use every resource we have to bring them to justice.”

    U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl ordered Nadel to forfeit $162 million, five airplanes, a helicopter and real estate in Florida, North Carolina and Georgia.

    The prosecution of Nadel was brought in coordination with President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder traveled to Florida earlier this year to warn fraudsters that the United States was serious about putting scammers in prison.

    By September, an affiliate of MPB Today had created a video in which Obama was depicted as a left-handed saluting Nazi who cowered to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was depicted as a drunk. First Lady Michelle Obama, the mother of two daughters, was depicted as having experienced an embarrassing gas attack in the Oval Office after sampling beans at a Sam’s Club store.

    Clinton, depicted in the sales promo as “Hitlary,” knocked out Michelle Obama after barging into the Oval Office bawling and carrying a bottle of wine. Clinton, the mother of one, was the first woman ever appointed to the Walmart board of directors.

    Some MPB Today affiliates have claimed Walmart is affiliated with MPB Today and that the government backs the MLM program, which appears to have accounts at at least two banks in the Pensacola area. One of the banks is operating under a consent agreement with the FDIC.

    Read the AP story on the Vaughn Reeves scheme in Indiana.

  • MPB Affiliate Says Members Are ‘Partners’ With Walmart And That Program ‘Guaranteed’ Not To Be Scam; Separate Promo Depicts Michelle Obama As Experiencing Oval Office Gas Attack After Sampling ‘Beans’ At Sam’s Club

    This promo for MPB Today claims affiliates become "partners" with Walmart and that business owners are "Granted FREE Groceries" for referring business to the MLM program. The promo appeared last night on a site that is heavily advertising the program — even after Walmart's name had gone missing from the landing page on MPB Today's website.

    UPDATED 10:42 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Using the soundtrack from the legendary rock band Heart’s 1985 hit single “What about love,” an affiliate of MPB Today is claiming on YouTube that the company’s members become “partners” with Walmart and that MPB’s multilevel-marketing (MLM) program is “Guaranteed” not to be a scam.

    Heart could not be contacted immediately to determine if the MPB affiliate was authorized to use the song, which features the voice of Ann Wilson, in a sales promotion for an MLM program tied to a Florida-based grocery company known as Southeastern Delivery.

    Walmart has not responded to a request last week from the PP Blog that asked the company to comment on legal and regulatory issues surrounding the use of its name in promotions for MPB Today. The Blog specifically asked Walmart if it knew that MPB Today was using the company name in sales pitches and that at least one affiliate had claimed that Walmart gift cards distributed by MPB to its purported customers could be converted to Walmart prepaid Visa cards, which can be used the same as cash.

    The Blog also asked Walmart if it was affiliated with MPB Today and whether it approved of the use of its brand in the MPB Today MLM program.

    On Tuesday, the MPB Today website removed images of a Walmart store and business titans Donald Trump and Warren Buffet. It was unclear if Walmart, Trump and Buffet had forced the removal.

    Even after MPB Today removed the images, an affiliate promo appeared online last night that claimed MPB Today members were “partners” with Walmart. Ads for MPB Today have targeted Food Stamp recipients, senior citizens, Ponzi scheme victims, foreclosure subjects, people of faith and members of the public who are unhappy with the administration of President Barack Obama.

    One animated ad for MPB Today depicted First Lady Michelle Obama as having experienced a gas attack after sampling “beans” at Sam’s Club. Sam’s Club operates under the Walmart flag.

    This animated pitch for MPB Today depicts First Lady Michelle Obama as having an embarrassing gas attack in the Oval Office after sampling "beans" at a Sam's Club. In the promo, Michelle Obama later gets knocked out by a drunken Hillary Clinton, who is portrayed as a Nazi. President Obama gives Clinton a left-handed Nazi salute in the promo.

    The ad, which portrayed President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as Nazis, potentially could alienate customers regardless of their political views. Why an affiliate would imply in an ad that MPB Today prefers Obama opponents as customers is unclear. Such a caustic ad potentially could injure multiple brands because MPB affiliates have claimed Walmart is affiliated with the firm and the name of Sam’s Club appears in the anti-Obama promo.

    MPB Today operator Gary Calhoun has a poor record with the Better Business Bureau for his operation of a previous company, United Pro Media. The company’s predecessor firm, Trim International, was ordered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to stop violating federal law in its marketing of a product positioned as a treatment for Lou Gehrig’s Disease, cancer and other severe medical conditions.

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture said last week that it was conducting a review into claims made about MPB Today. The agency said yesterday that its review was ongoing.

    MPB Today is being marketed on social-media sites. It also is being marketed on at least three forums that are infamous for promoting Ponzi schemes.

  • Images Of Walmart, Donald Trump, Warren Buffet Removed From MPB Today Website; Testimonials Go Missing, Too; Affiliate Bashes Obama, Hillary Clinton In Promo

    An animated promo for MPB Today portrays President Obama as a weakling who cowers to Secretary of State "Hitlary Clinton," who is depicted as a drunken, sobbing Nazi wearing "puke colored" clothes purchased at Big Lots, a discount store. First Lady Michelle Obama is portrayed as suffering from a gas attack in the Oval Office after sampling beans at a Sam's Club store.

    UPDATED 7:32 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Images of a Walmart store and business tycoons Donald Trump and Warren Buffet have gone missing from the landing page of a website operated by MPB Today, a multilevel-marketing (MLM) firm that operates a 2×2 cycler matrix tied to a grocery business known as Southeastern Delivery in Pensacola, Fla.

    The website images appear to have been removed yesterday. It was unclear if Walmart, Trump and Buffet forced the removal. It is common for promos for MLMs to imply endorsements from famous companies and people — even if no such endorsements exist.

    Testimonials from customers purportedly happy with Southeastern’s grocery-delivery business also have been removed.

    Separately, an animated affiliate promo for MPB Today is bashing the Obama administration, painting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as a Nazi and showing a cowering Obama saying “Heil Hitlary” and giving Clinton — who apparently is drunk on wine — a  left-handed Nazi salute while First Lady Michelle Obama is conked out on the floor of the Oval Office.

    A prompt in the animated video says it was produced by a “Real Mentor, Not Merely a Marketer” for MPB Today. It was not immediately clear if the affiliate was seeking to build an MPB organization that consisted solely of Obama opponents. Also unclear is why the affiliate believed it prudent to bash the President of the United States in his or her bid to woo prospects and recruit affiliates.

    As Michelle Obama is emerging from a comatose state, a thought balloon attributed to her animated image asks, “I feel so woozy, like I got clunked in the head with Hitlary’s whine, what just happened??”

    The 1:40 video is filled with sophomoric and caustic humor — a dog is shown thinking that Clinton is a “Brown Noser” and the animation tries to pull off a gag about Michelle Obama’s need for the product Beano while in the Oval Office, for example.

    An embarrassed Michelle Obama is shown observing that her gas problem was caused by “beans” she sampled at Sam’s Club, a chain of stores under the Walmart flag. President Obama is shown saying he “borrowed” $200 to join MPB Today and “wrote it off” — apparently at the expense of taxpayers.

    “You what??” a horrified Michelle Obama counters. “You borrowed the money to join MPB Today? Who’d loan YOU money??”

    Walmart did not respond to a request for comment last week from the PP Blog about the use of its name in MPB Today promotions. Some MPB affiliates routinely are using Walmart’s name in sales pitches. One affiliate in a separate video claimed that MPB Today had a “contract” with Walmart and that the MLM program was “Govt. certified with Food Stamps!”

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said last week that it was conducting a “review” of claims made about the program. The agency said today that it was continuing to review the situation.

    The animated pitch featuring the Obamas and Clinton asks prospects to visit a website that suggests that “just” a $200 One-Time” purchase with MPB Today can “Totally Eliminate Your Grocery Bill.”

    MPB Today has been targeted at Food Stamp recipients, Ponzi scheme victims, foreclosure subjects and people of faith — and now, apparently, at people who are not enthusiastic about Obama’s presidency, U.S. policy at the Department of State and Hillary Clinton’s clothing choices.

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