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Tag: Mike DeWine

  • BULLETIN: Profitable Sunrise Figures Nancy Jo Frazer And Albert Rosebrock Admitted They Sold Securities; Injunction Imposed; Charity Is Dissolved

    breakingnews72BULLETIN: (3rd Update 4:16 p.m. ET U.S.) Profitable Sunrise HYIP figures Nancy Jo Frazer and Albert Rosebrock have admitted they sold securities, the state of Ohio said.

    As part of a settlement agreement with prosecutors, a charitable enterprise known as Defining Vision Ministries Inc. (formerly known as Focus Up Ministries Inc.) will be dissolved, with its assets turned over to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office “to be used for charitable purposes,” the office of Attorney General Mike DeWine said.

    Frazer and Rosebrock further agreed “not to hold a position with a charitable organization and not to sell securities in Ohio,” DeWine’s office said.

    If the terms of an injunction are violated, Frazer and Rosebrock “will be subject to a judgment in the amount of $710,000,” DeWine’s office said.

    “The Ohio Attorney General’s Office is charged with ensuring that charitable funds are used as intended,” DeWine said. “Under this settlement, these individuals agree to dissolve their charity, to cease all charitable activities in Ohio, and to stay out of the securities business in Ohio. We believe this is a fair resolution to a case that underscores the importance of researching charities and being skeptical of claims that are too good to be true.”

    Ohio, through DeWine’s office and the Ohio Department of Commerce’s Division of Securities, charged Frazer and Rosebrock civilly in July 2013.

    News broke last week that a settlement agreement had been reached, but details were not immediately available. The Division of Securities said today that the injunction was entered yesterday in Williams County, Ohio, and that “Frazer and Rosebrock admitted they sold securities in a manner that violated the Ohio Securities Act.”

    “Through the hard work and teamwork of the Division of Securities enforcement staff and the Ohio Attorney General’s office, we were able to prevent any more Ohioans from falling victim to this scheme,” said Ohio Division of Securities Commissioner Andrea Seidt. “We would encourage any potential investors in Ohio to call the Division’s Investor Protection hotline before they invest.”

    Profitable Sunrise purportedly was operated by “Roman Novak” and used a mail drop in England, the SEC said in 2013. The “program” purported to pay up to 2.7 percent a day.

    Frazer also is known as Nanci Jo Frazer.

    From a statement by the Ohio Division of Securities today (italics added):

    Profitable Sunrise was prohibited from the further sale of securities by a federal court in Georgia in April, 2013. Profitable Sunrise operated as a pyramid scheme by paying investors referral bonuses up to 5 percent for any new investors who invested funds through the website. The website offered rates of return between 1.6 percent and 2.7 percent compounded daily. Thousands of investors nationwide invested in Profitable Sunrise through local solicitors like Frazer and Rosebrock.

    The Ohio Division of Securities would like to hear from anyone who may have been affected by this scheme who have not yet come forward. They can call the Division’s Investor Protection Hotline at (877) 683-7841.

  • OHIO AG’S OFFICE: Parties Have Negotiated In Profitable Sunrise-Related Litigation, But No ‘Final Settlement Document At This Time’

    From a promo for Profitable Sunrise.
    From a promo for Profitable Sunrise.

    Although the court docket in Williams County, Ohio, indicates that a settlement has been reached in a July 2013 civil case brought against Profitable Sunrise figure Nancy Jo Frazer and others, the office of Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said this afternoon that there was nothing to announce immediately.

    The PP Blog contacted DeWine’s office today, after reports surfaced online last night that a settlement had been reached in advance of a three-day trial that had been scheduled to get under way next month. No details of any settlement appear on the docket

    Kate Hanson, a spokeswoman for DeWine, said today that “the parties have been in negotiation,” but noted that “the State of Ohio does not have a final settlement document at this time.”

    She added that “further updates” could be forthcoming.

    With no final settlement document available, it remains unclear if any fines, restitution or disgorgement were ordered or whether there was any finding or acknowledgement of fault.

    DeWine’s office, working with the Ohio Department of Commerce’s Division of Securities, accused Frazer and a related entity known as Focus Up Ministries of serving as a “front” for the Profitable Sunrise HYIP scheme purportedly operated by “Roman Novak.”

    The SEC described Novak as a possible ghost who was targeting Christians in a cross-border securities-fraud scheme that used a “mail drop” in England.

    “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 in April 2013.

    Like many other fraud schemes, Profitable Sunrise was a Ponzi-board “program.” Its asserted “Long Haul” plan purported to provide a daily interest rate of 2.7 percent, plus compounding.

    The SEC said Profitable Sunrise spread on social media through “numerous promoters in the United States.”