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Tag: MPB Today

WTOL To Air Profitable Sunrise Report Titled ‘Holy Rip Off’

From The WTOL teaser.

EDITOR’S NOTE: GlimDropper, an administrator at the RealScam.com antiscam forum, gave PP Blog readers a heads-up on the WTOL report yesterday . . .

WTOL, the CBS affiliate in Toledo, Ohio, says it will air a report Thursday (April 25) at 11 p.m. EDT titled “Holy Rip Off.”

A teaser for the report shows photos of Profitable Sunrise pitchwoman Nanci Jo Frazer. Frazer’s NJF Global Group is referenced in a New Zealand fraud warning on the Profitable Sunrise “program” and also within the body of a March 14 notice issued by the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Securities. Frazer and NJF Global Group also are referenced in the body of a March 14 cease-and-desist order issued by the Minnesota Department of Commerce.

Numerous securities regulators have described Profitable Sunrise as a form of affinity fraud targeted at people of faith. At least 35 agencies in the United States and Canada have issued cease-and-desist orders or Investor Alerts against the HYIP “program,” which had a presence on infamous Ponzi forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup.

The website of Profitable Sunrise has been missing since at least March 14. On April 1 — the day after Easter Sunday and April Fools Day — the “program” failed to make good on promised payouts from the bizarrely named “Long Haul” plan. The “Long Haul” was purported to pay interest of 2.7 percent a day. Its claims were similar to other collapsed schemes promoted on the Ponzi boards.

On Dec. 30, the PP Blog reported that Profitable Sunrise appeared to be relying on appeals to faith in a bid to attract investors in the wake of the August 2012 collapse of the Zeek Rewards “program.” Zeek, which allegedly planted the seed it paid interest of 1.5 percent a day, also had a presence on the Ponzi boards. In August, the SEC described Zeek as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid fraud.

Earlier this month, the SEC described Profitable Sunrise as a pyramid scheme that had collected an unspecified sum believed to be in the tens of millions of dollars.

RealScam.com, an antifraud forum recently targeted in a DDoS attack, has been publishing information on Profitable Sunrise since at least Dec. 1.

The PP Blog learned last month that at least one apologist for the NJF Global Group has relied on purported “research” by a notorious cyberstalker known as “MoneyMakingBrain” in an apparent bid to discredit critics of the “program.”

MoneyMakingBrain emerged in 2012 as an apologist for the JSSTripler/JustBeenPaid “program” purportedly operated by Frederick Mann. JSS/JBP purported to pay 2 percent a day. MoneyMakingBrain claimed he’d defend Mann “so help me God.”

JSS/JBP, which appears to have morphed into secondary and tertiary scams (ProfitClicking and ClickPaid) after the August collapse of Zeek, may have ties to the “sovereign citizens” movement. Mann has compared the U.S. government to the Mafia, claiming that government employees were part of “a criminal gang of robbers, thieves, murderers, liars, imposters.”

Profitable Sunrise also may have ties to the “sovereign citizens” movement.

Some “sovereign citizens” have an irrational belief that laws do not apply to them. It is known that the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme in 2008 also had ties to “sovereign citizens,” including Kenneth Wayne Leaming. Leaming, a resident of Washington state, was convicted earlier this year of filing false liens for billions of dollars against public officials who had a role in the prosecution of the ASD Ponzi scheme.

ASD operated from Florida, planting the seed it paid a return of 1 percent a day. ASD President Andy Bowdoin — now serving a 78-month prison term — also was associated with a 1-percent-a-day scam known as AdViewGlobal. AVG bizarrely claimed in 2009 that it enjoyed the protections of the U.S. and Florida constitutions while purportedly operating from Uruguay. The scam collapsed during the summer of 2009 — but not before issuing threats to members and critics.

In May 2009, AVG bizarrely announced it had secured the services of an offshore facilitator. The announcement was made on the same day President Obama announced a crackdown on offshore scams.

Obama later was pilloried in an ad for a “program” known as MPB Today. MPB’s operator later was charged in Florida with racketeering.

“Sovereigns” are infamous for drafting others into scams, including people who do not recognize they are being drafted into illegal pursuits.

The teaser for the WTOL report is below . . .

Apr 24, 2013
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Gary Calhoun, MPB Today Operator, Pleads Guilty To Racketeering Charge In Florida

Gary Allen Calhoun

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (UPDATED 1:06 P.M. ET U.S.A.) Gary Calhoun, the operator of the the MPB Today MLM “program” and a companion grocery-delivery business known as Southeastern Delivery, has pleaded guilty to a state-level racketeering charge in Florida. He was charged in December.

Calhoun, 56, of Pensacola, was not immediately sentenced. But he is expected to turn in his passport to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement “within 48 hours,” according to the docket of the case in Escambia County. The docket also notes correspondence from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida and references a “voluntary forfeiture agreement.”

In July, federal prosecutors filed a forfeiture complaint for a property at 8812 Grow Drive, also known as Grow Road, in Pensacola. The property is the business address of Southeastern Delivery and also the address of a Calhoun-controlled entity known as WL Property Holdings LLC. The property also is the address of MPB Today.

MPB Today was among a number of “programs” pitched on Ponzi-scheme forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup.

The Calhoun guilty plea represents the second time in 24 hours that the name of a “program” operator whose “opportunity” was pitched on the Ponzi boards has surfaced in the news, either as a current prison inmate or potential one.

David Merrick, the operator of the Trader’s International Return Network (TIRN) fraud scheme that was promoted from the Ponzi boards in 2008 and 2009, was sentenced in 2012 to 97 months in federal prison and was handed additional civil sanctions and a restitution order yesterday totaling more than $22.8 million.

MPB Today was promoted on the Ponzi boards in 2010.

Some individual MPB Today promotions were bizarre, including one that cast President Obama and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as Nazis. Another MPB Today promoter videotaped himself making a deposit of his MPB Today commissions at an FDIC-insured bank. At least one of MPB Today’s banks was operating under an FDIC consent agreement.

Still other MPB Today affiliates taped commercials for the enterprise inside Walmart stores. Some promoters asserted Walmart was affiliated with MPB Today and approved by the government. One MPB Today affiliate videotaped a UPS driver making a delivery of a television set.

The video’s narrator said the TV has been purchased “kind of, indirectly” with a Walmart gift card from MPB Today. Other MPB Today affiliates claimed a one-time purchase of $200 in groceries from Southeastern Delivery set the stage for MPB Today affiliates to receive free groceries and gasoline for life.

Clinton once sat on Walmart’s board of directors. Why some MPB Today affiliates apparently believed it prudent to attack Democratic politicians in a bid to sign up MPB Today affiliates remains unclear.

Promos for MPB Today were targeted at foreclosure subjects, Food Stamp recipients and the poor — and victims of the Florida-based AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme. In 2010, Walmart declined to comment on MPB Today-related claims.

Some MLM “opportunities” are infamous for implying in promos that they’re endorsed by famous business people or famous companies. MPB Today used images of Donald Trump and Warren Buffett in promos, and affiliates regularly implied that Walmart had endorsed MPB Today.

From our files:

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Feb 5, 2013
On Date Of Obama Inauguration, ‘Program’ Promo Turns President Into Pitchman For ‘Ultimate Power Profits’

UPDATED 11:08 A.M. ET (U.S.A.) On a day Americans cherish as a great symbol of the continuation of Democracy, images of their President are being used to create the impression he has endorsed a “program” HYIP hucksters sought to popularize in the aftermath of the August 2012 collapse of the Zeek Rewards “program” amid SEC allegations that Zeek was just another massive Internet scam.

“Just join their team and you will receive all the help you need to grow your own business,” an animated Obama tells prospects in a video promoting Ultimate Power Profits. “By doing so, your earnings will increase. There is no hidden agenda. They showed me how their system worked and I was impressed. It is a fully legal and U.S.-patented system they use to make money.”

Obama’s image previously was used in affiliate promos for MPBToday, a purported MLM “grocery” program whose operator was arrested on a racketeering charge in Florida last month. A building that housed MPB Today’s operations is the subject of a federal forfeiture action in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida. The forfeiture case was filed July 31, 2012.

Less than three weeks later — on Aug. 17, 2012 — the SEC alleged Zeek was a $600 million Ponzi and pyramid scheme. Zeek and MPBToday are known to have promoters in common, including serial Ponzi scheme pitchman “Ken Russo,” also known as “DRdave.”

On Aug. 18, only a day after the SEC’s Zeek action late on Friday afternoon, the PPBlog began to receive spam about the UltimatePowerProfits “program.” (See Comments thread below this story. The Blog established a Ponzi-forum tie between Zeek and Ultimate Power Profits.)

On Aug. 20, the office of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper — which also had been investigating Zeek — issued a warning on “reload scams” in the wake of the SEC’s Zeek action.

Ultimate Power Profits is not the first “program” to make a claim about a “U.S. patent.” The JSS/JBP scam, which purported to pay an annualized return of 730 percent and purportedly was operated by former AdSurfDaily Ponzi-scheme pitchman Frederick Mann, also made a claim about a U.S. patent.

It is not uncommon for HYIP scams and MLM frauds to plant the seed that a “program” is endorsed by an agency of the U.S. government or a U.S. politician. ASD’s Andy Bowdoin was accused in 2008 of trading on the name of George W. Bush, then the President of the United States and Obama’s predecessor.

Images of former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were used in the massive Mantria “green” Ponzi scheme in 2009.

In 2012, JSS/JBP came under the lens of CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator. Some promoters, however, didn’t miss a beat. (Compare the images in the screen shots below. The first is from a promo for an emerging “program” known as RicanAdFunds; the second is from a promo for Zeek; the third is from a promo for JSS/JBP.)

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Jan 21, 2013
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Feds Filed Forfeiture Complaint Against Property Linked To MPB Today MLM Operator, Who Is Subject Of Fraud Probe

Gary A. Calhoun

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Gary A. Calhoun is the subject of a criminal probe linked to a civil-forfeiture action in federal court in the Northern District of Florida, according to court filings by his attorney.

Calhoun, 56, is the operator of the MPB Today MLM, which is tied to a grocery-delivery business in Pensacola known as Southeastern Delivery. In July, federal prosecutors filed a forfeiture action against a property at 8812 Grow Drive, also known as Grow Road, in Pensacola. The property is the business address of Southeastern Delivery and also the address of a Calhoun-controlled entity known as WL Property Holdings LLC.

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.

Calhoun was arrested last month in Florida on a state-level charge of racketeering. The existence of the federal documents may mean that Calhoun also has exposure under federal criminal law. The forfeiture complaint also cites the federal wire-fraud and conspiracy statutes.

Some promos for MPB Today in 2010 were targeted at federal Food Stamp recipients. The U.S. Department of Agriculture told the PP Blog in 2010 that it had opened a “review” into claims about the MPB Today “program.” The agency later described the matter as an investigation.

A news release apparently authored by an MPB Today affiliate in 2010 encouraged impoverished prospects to sell $200 worth of Food Stamps to a “friend, family member or whoever” to raise cash to join the the MPB Today program.

In September, Calhoun asked for the forfeiture case to be stayed because of a parallel criminal probe. A federal judge granted the request.

When prosecutors filed the July forfeiture action, they noted that “[t]he facts and circumstances supporting the seizure and forfeiture of the defendant property are contained in a sealed affidavit, so as not to publish the facts of an ongoing criminal investigation.”

On Sept. 24, Calhoun’s lawyer noted in a court filing that he “has confirmed that Mr. Calhoun is, at a minimum, a subject in the related criminal investigation.”

Jan 5, 2013
BULLETIN: Gary Calhoun, Operator Of MPB Today ‘Grocery’ Program, Arrested On Racketeering Charge

Gary Calhoun: Source: Escambia County Booking photo.

Gary Allen Calhoun was arrested and booked in Escambia County, Fla., on a racketeering charge last month, according to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.

Details of the case were not immediately clear early this morning. Calhoun, 56, of Pensacola, appears to have been released on bond. A note in the booking information references the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. It was not immediately clear if FDLE was the agency that carried out the arrest. Calhoun was the operator of the MPB Today MLM “program.”

Whether the arrest had anything to do with MPB Today also was not immediately clear. The “program’s” website has been offline for weeks, and there were reports that an MPB Today-related investigation was under way.

Calhoun’s arraignment is set for Jan. 17.

MPB Today became a popular “program” in 2010, fueled in part by regular check-waving videos on YouTube by affiliates. Critics of the “opportunity,” which was popular on the Ponzi boards, were described as “idiots.”

Among the MPB pitchmen was “Ken Russo,” later of Zeek Rewards. In August 2012, the SEC described Zeek as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid fraud.

The MPB Today “program” was marked by strangeness, including an affiliate promo that depicted President Obama as a Nazi, First Lady Michelle Obama as an embarrassment to the family dog and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as a bawling drunk.

In 2010, MPB Today described Calhoun as 2003’s “Businessman of the Year” as recognized “by the National Republican Congressional Committee’s [NRCC] Business Advisory Council.”

Ponzi schemer Andy Bowdoin of Florida-based AdSurfDaily also claimed to be an NRCC award recipient. ASD was a $119 million Ponzi scheme.

Jan 5, 2013
U.S. Secretary Of State Hillary Rodham Clinton Being Treated For Blood Clot Behind Right Ear

UPDATED: 7:59 A.M. ET (U.S.A.) U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is being treated at New York Presbyterian Hospital for a blood clot that formed behind her right ear.

Doctors have expressed confidence that she will be OK.

Some American politicians and even a former U.S. diplomat could not restrain themselves last month from suggesting that America’s top diplomat was feigning an illness.

Here is a statement released yesterday by her treating physicians — Lisa Bardack of Mt. Kisco Medical Group and Gigi El-Bayoumi of George Washington University — through the State Department (italics added):

In the course of a routine follow-up MRI on Sunday, the scan revealed that a right transverse sinus venous thrombosis had formed. This is a clot in the vein that is situated in the space between the brain and the skull behind the right ear. It did not result in a stroke, or neurological damage. To help dissolve this clot, her medical team began treating the Secretary with blood thinners. She will be released once the medication dose has been established. In all other aspects of her recovery, the Secretary is making excellent progress and we are confident she will make a full recovery. She is in good spirits, engaging with her doctors, her family, and her staff.

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.

Clinton was hospitalized Sunday, after becoming ill during an overseas trip early last month. On Dec. 15, the State Department issued a statement that described her illness as a “stomach virus,” saying she “became dehydrated and fainted, sustaining a concussion” and was recovering at home. The Secretary is a former New York senator. She is the wife of former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Despite her service to her country as First Lady of the United States, Senator from New York and Secretary of State, Secretary Clinton was bizarrely assailed in a 2010 recruitment ad for an MLM “program” known as MPB Today as a bawling drunk and Nazi who knocked out First Lady Michelle Obama after barging into the Oval Office.

The ad was produced by an MPB Today affiliate as a means of recruiting other affiliates.

President Obama was depicted as a left-handed-saluting Nazi who cowered to Clinton. Michelle Obama was depicted as an embarrassment to the family dog.

“Heil Hitlary,” the President was depicted as saying when greeting Clinton.

A separate script for the MPB Today ad used the word “monkeys” in the context of the Obama Presidency. Michelle Obama was depicted as eager to eat “real dog food.”

See PP Blog story from Oct. 28, 2010.

This affiliate’s ad for the MPB Today multilevel-marketing “program” depicted Secretary Clinton as a bawling drunk and President Obama as a Nazi who cowered to Clinton and saluted her with his left hand. The ad was designed to recruit MPB Today affiliates.

Jan 1, 2013
Website Of MPB Today, Bizarre ‘Grocery’ MLM, Inaccessible

From a 2010 affiliate promo for MPBToday.

DEVELOPING STORY: The website of MPBToday — a Ponzi forum darling featuring a 2X2 matrix cycler in 2010 — has been inaccessible for at least 24 hours.

Fabled Ponzi huckster “Ken Russo” — later of Zeek Rewards — was among MPBToday’s promoters.

Although the MPBToday site returns this message — “Site temporarily unavailable. Connection timed out – please try again.” — it is returning a ping. MPBToday’s domain registration is not expired. The reason the site will not load is unclear.

MPBToday, operated by Gary Calhoun and tied to a home-delivery grocery business known as Southeastern Delivery in Pensacola, Fla., was the subject of controversy since its inception.

Some MLMers promoted the purported “opportunity” in bizarre fashion. In one promo, for example, President Obama and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were depicted as Nazis — with First Lady Michelle Obama depicted as having experienced an embarrassing gas attack in the Oval Office after having sampled beans at a Sam’s Club store.

In another bizarre pitch, an MPB Today affiliate claimed there were scammers within the company’s ranks, a circumstance that made it important for prospects to enroll in an honest downline.

An investigation of MPBToday was said earlier this year to be under way. The website continued to appear online after vague reports of the probe surfaced. Now, however, the website is offline.

In 2010, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it was conducting a review of MPBToday.

Questions also have been raised about whether MPBToday was conducting a pyramid or Ponzi scheme or both.

Nov 30, 2012
STATEMENT: PP Blog Experiencing Unusual Traffic Pattern During Anniversary Week Of Last Year’s Crippling Attack; Blog Confirms It Received A Claim Of Responsibility In April For Springtime Outage

Part of today's unusual traffic pattern of multiple international IPs simultaneously pulling the same "old" story. (Also see screen shot below.)

At approximately 2:06 p.m. EDT Monday, the PP Blog began to experience an unusual traffic pattern. In the past, such patterns have been the precursors of sustained electronic assaults against the Blog.

The unusual pattern reoccurred yesterday, and the Blog contacted a federal law-enforcement agency. The agency is aware of a server-killing assault on the Blog that began a year ago this week. It also is aware of subsequent attacks. The Blog believes that one or more criminals is responsible for the unusual traffic pattern, which mostly features multiple international IPs attempting to pull the same “old” stories simultaneously.

Although Monday and Tuesday’s unusual traffic eventually dissipated, the pattern resumed today and caused the Blog’s server briefly to exceed its normal operating parameters. Not all of the unusual activity is captured in the screen shots published in this post.

PP Blog Today Discloses Nature Of April Incident

In April 2011, the Blog reported an unusual incident to the same federal law-enforcement agency referenced above. The incident involved a claim of responsibility for a crippling springtime botnet flood against the Blog by a person who claimed to have carried out the attack on behalf of a specific, U.S.-based company with an international presence. The “opportunity” purportedly provided by the company was widely promoted on Ponzi scheme boards earlier this year, and the person also claimed to represent other companies. In making the claim of responsibility, the person described the Blog as “your little vicious blog.”

The Blog provided the agency information about the April event, which the Blog viewed as a bid to chill its reporting. The implication of the April incident was that the attacks could continue at the will of a self-described “master of execution” for online investment schemes until such a time the Blog devoted between $60,000 and $72,000 a year to deflect the traffic.

In the claim of responsibility, the self-described attacker used the phrase “TOP HYIPs” and the name of an HYIP purveyor. He described himself in menacing language.

Although the Blog is maintaining a full publishing schedule and its server has returned to normal operating parameters today, the signatures of certain “calls” to the Blog’s editorial well are troublesome and will be monitored closely in the coming hours and days.

Oct 26, 2011
Inc? MPB Today Back In The News, But Is Press Release Dated Yesterday Accurate? MLM ‘Opportunity’ Was Subject Of Bizarre Promos Last Year, Including 1 In Which Obama Was Painted As Nazi And Hillary Clinton Was Cast As Bawling Drunk

Screen shot of a section of a news release for the MPB Today MLM "opportunity" that appeared yesterday on the website of the San Francisco Chronicle. It also appeared on Yahoo News and other sites. The release claims MPB Today is a corporation, but that does not appear to be the case, according to records in Florida.

A Florida grocery company with an MLM arm is back in the news — but a press release that describes MPB Today as a corporation may not be accurate.

The press release dated yesterday is titled “MPBtoday Inc. Announces New Openings in Pensacola, Florida.” The release does not describe the purported “new openings,” and records in the state of Florida suggest that MPB Today is not a registered corporation entitled to use the “Inc.” designation.

Rather, MPB Today — without the “Inc.” designation — appears to be operating as a fictitious arm of a vitamin and supplements company known as Le330 Inc., according to Florida records. Although MPB Today appears at one time to have used the “Inc.” designation, records suggest it did so inappropriately.

MPB Today is tied to a Pensacola-based grocery company known as Southeastern Delivery. In 2010, check-waving videos and websites for MPB Today appeared in scores of places. Some of the promos showed checks with the MPB Today “Inc.” designation. Others showed the name “Mpb Today” with no “Inc.” designation. Still others showed the name of Southeastern Delivery LLC.

The press release issued yesterday appears to be an affiliate promo that has been carried by multiple news and information outlets. In addition to using the “Inc.” designation in a bold headline, the release uses this information deck:

“Brand new company has opened in Pensacola, Florida, offering affiliates and consumers the opportunity to earn unlimited income and eliminate your grocery and gas bill.”

Here is the opening paragraph of the news release:

“MPBtoday Inc., a new company out of Florida that has several grocery warehouses in Florida, is now spreading into Alabama and soon nationwide and up into Canada.”

The release also uses the names of Walmart and Sam’s Club:

“MPBtoday offers affiliates a chance to earn a very good income,” according to the release. “Plus, every time people sign up, affiliates get paid, and every time six people sign up through their organization, they will receive a $200 gift card where affiliates go to Wal-mart & SamsClub to get groceries & gas.”

On Sept. 24, 2010 — nearly a year ago — Le330 Inc. canceled the fictitious name of MPB Today Inc., according to Florida records.

Why is is being used in press releases a year later was not immediately clear.

Among other places, the press release appeared on SFGate, the home of the San Francisco Chronicle. It also appeared on Yahoo News.

In 2010, bizarre promotions for MPB Today appeared online, including one in which President Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton were depicted as Nazis. Clinton was further depicted as a bawling drunk who knocked out First Lady Michelle Obama in the Oval Office.

Michelle Obama was depicted as experiencing an embarrassing gas attack in the Oval Office after having sampled beans at a Sam’s Club Store. Some MPB affiliates claimed the company was affiliated with Walmart and had been endorsed by the U.S. government.

Some promoters tried to drive business to their downlines by claiming MPB Today had liars in its midst and that it was important to sign up under a nonlying member. The purported opportunity also was promoted on the Ponzi boards and targeted at Food Stamp recipients, Ponzi scheme victims, foreclosure subjects, senior citizens and college students.

Impoverished MPB Today prospects should sell $200 worth of Food Stamps to a “friend, family member or whoever” to raise cash to join MPB Today, according to an affiliate’s news release last year.

Sep 7, 2011
Is Ponzi Legend ‘Ken Russo,’ AKA ‘DRdave,’ Now Performing PR Work For Club Asteria In Wake Of Negative Findings By Italian Regulator? Infamous Forum Pitchman Who Claims To Have Received Thousands Of Dollars Via Wire From Firm Posts 854-Word Club Asteria Puff Piece On TalkGold

Club Asteria promoter "Ken Russo," aka "DRdave," posted this purported $1,311 payment from Club Asteria June 2 on the TalkGold Ponzi forum.

Club Asteria updated its news website yesterday for the first time since July 21, a period of more than a month. But the Virginia-based company did not address a new order issued Monday by the Italian regulator CONSOB in its three-month-long investigation into how Club Asteria was promoted in Italy.

And neither did Club Asteria promoter “Ken Russo,” who simply copied the entire 854-word puff piece Club Asteria posted on its news website yesterday and pasted it into the Club Asteria thread at the TalkGold Ponzi scheme and criminals’ forum.

Whether “Ken Russo” understands that legitimate companies would be aghast if their affiliates trolled for business and performed PR outreach on known Ponzi forums linked to international fraud schemes that have gathered huge sums of money is unclear. What is clear is that “Ken Russo” is using TalkGold as a cheerleading outlet for Club Asteria — even as he uses it to cheer for other schemes.

Whether Club Asteria will take any sort of action against “Ken Russo” for trolling for business on TalkGold or reproducing 854-word Club Asteria PR pieces verbatim on a known Ponzi forum is not known. “Ken Russo” is hardly the only known Ponzi pimp who has led cheers for Club Asteria on the Ponzi boards, and Club Asteria has benefited from the Ponzi board cheerleading though a series of “I got paid” posts and reports that the firm’s membership roster had swelled into the hundreds of thousands.

Club Asteria now is conceding that it is having trouble launching a suite of new products — and that the delay in launching the suite could extend for another 60 days. Club Asteria buried the news about the specific length of the delay in the fourth paragraph of the puff piece “Ken Russo” regurgitated on TalkGold, after congratulating itself in the first paragraph for its diligence in implementing a new scheme and assuring members “how anxious and excited we all are to see all these new items being produced, tested and the logistics worked out so they can be introduced to our members.”

“Ken Russo” posts as “DRdave” at TalkGold, which is referenced in U.S. court filings as a place from which Ponzi schemes are promoted. He is a figure who elicits nearly constant criticism from the antiscam community for turning a blind eye to fraud schemes while seeking to create plausible deniability of any personal responsibility for permitting fraud to mushroom globally by accepting claims made by “opportunity” sponsors at face value and not questioning obvious incongruities.

If an “opportunity” claims a unique ability to pay spectacular, higher-than-market returns with an accompanying, unverifiable claim that external income streams enable the returns — often in the mind-blowing region of hundreds of percent on an annual basis — “Ken Russo” accepts the claim at face value and parrots it.

On Talk Gold, “Ken Russo” made a claim about Club Asteria that projects to an annual payout of more than 200 percent. Other promoters have claimed Club Asteria had the capacity to pay out more than 500 percent annually — all while claiming Club Asteria also paid affiliate commissions to recruiters. The confluence of payout schemes — combined with the lack of any verifiable information on Club Asteria’s sales figures and income streams and the highly public presence of known Ponzi scheme promoters — strongly suggest that Club Asteria was conducting a global Ponzi scheme

“Ken Russo” previously has claimed on TalkGold to have received thousands of dollars in compensation via wire from Club Asteria, including payments received after Club Asteria’s PayPal account was frozen in May and after CONSOB opened its probe during the same month. Some Club Asteria members, including “Ken Russo,” have claimed they were paid through AlertPay, a payment processor based in Canada.

The full effect of Monday’s order by CONSOB remains unclear because a reliable English translation was not immediately available. The PP Blog has asked both CONSOB and Italy’s Embassy to the United States to provide one, owing to the virality Club Asteria achieved worldwide and the presence of thousands of Club Asteria promos in English. TalkGold features a 137-page thread in English on Club Asteria.

Neither CONSOB nor the Embassy has declined the Blog’s request, which may signal that an official translation could be released in the coming days. CONSOB raised concerns in May that Club Asteria was being promoted illegally in Italy on websites, forums and social-media outlets such as Facebook.

Club Asteria said in June that it was experiencing a cash crunch and that its revenue had plunged “dramatically,” blaming members for events and comparing the situation to a bank run. Club Asteria first slashed members’ weekly cashouts from an apparent norm of between 3 percent and 4 percent a week, and then suspended cashouts altogether.

Some Club Asteria members claimed that the company paid out up to 10 percent a week, and scores of promoters globally are believed to have offered prospects inducements to join, including the partial reimbursement of sign-up fees. Many — if not most — of those members likely locked in losses for both themselves and their downlines by offering the inducements because their costs could not be retired after Club Asteria itself suspended cashouts.

It is common on the Ponzi boards for posters to offer inducements as a lure to attract prospects to join schemes of all stripes. When “Ken Russo” was promoting the purported MPB Today “grocery” program on the Ponzi boards last year, he advertised that one of his downline members was offering prospects cash rebates of $50 to join MPB Today.

An untold number of Club Asteria promoters offered similar inducements to their prospects while encouraging new enrollees to do the same, a situation that could have caused Club Asteria’s coffers to fill with cash. It is not known if Club Asteria affiliates who pledged to partially reimburse their recruits sign-up fees have honored their pledges in the aftermath of the firm’s decision to suspend weekly cashouts.

What is known is that the Club Asteria offer was targeted at the world’s poor — and that the firm may have gained penetration in 150 or more nations. Italy is believed to be the first nation to publicly ban Club Asteria promoters.

Club Asteria promoter "Ken Russo," aka "DRdave," posted this purported payment of $5,462.80 from AutoXTen July 13 on TalkGold

When not regurgitating Club Asteria fluff on TalkGold, “Ken Russo” is helping an “opportunity” known as AutoXTen gain a head of steam on TalkGold. On July 13, “Ken Russo” claimed on TalkGold to have received a payment of “$5462.80” via AlertPay for “AutoXTen.”

“Thanks AutoXTen!” “Ken Russo wrote, posting as “DRdave.” Join us today! Just $10 to get started!!”

AutoXTen has been linked to Jeff Long, a pitchman for both the Data Network Affiliates (DNA) and Narc That Car MLM schemes last year. DNA, in turn, was linked to serial MLM pitchman Phil Piccolo, known online as the “one-man Internet crime wave.”

Both DNA and Narc That Car carded an “F” grade from the Better Business Bureau, the BBB’s lowest score. Some promoters then attacked the BBB.

Long now says the AutoXTen scheme is appropriate for churches — a claim DNA made about its scheme.

“Ken Russo” also is promoting Centurion Wealth Circle, an AlertPay-enabled scheme whose earlier cycler scheme collapsed. Centurion, which also was widely promoted on Ponzi boards such as TalkGold, now is attempting to revive itself by incorporating a new cycler known as “The Tornado.”

On July 13, ClubAsteria promoter "Ken Russo," aka "DRdave," posted these purported payments from Centurion Wealth Circle totaling $276 on TalkGold.

On July 11, two days before he reported a payment of “$5462.80” from Long’s AutoXTen scheme, “Ken Russo” reported on TalkGold (as “DRdave”) that he had received three Centurion payments totaling $276.

This claim followed on the heels of claims by “Ken Russo” (as “DRdave”) that he had received $2,032 from Club Asteria between late May and late June.

The claims raise the prospect that multiple schemes, including Club Asteria, AutoXTen and Centurion, have come into possession and redistributed money from other fraud schemes promoted on the Ponzi boards.

And because “Ken Russo” is hardly alone in his Ponzi forum efforts to promote Club Asteria and any number of schemes in addition to Club Asteria, it raises the prospect that every single one of the schemes is shuffling fraud proceeds back and forth.

“Ken Russo,” for example, could have used proceeds from any number of schemes to join Club Asteria and any number of emerging schemes — with his downline members doing the same thing.

Aug 26, 2011
UPDATE: PowerPoint Presentation For Club Asteria Says ‘Passive’ Income ‘100% GUARANTEED’: Is ‘Ken Russo’ Tone Deaf? Promoter Brags About $321 Payment Sent By Wire While Another Laments Payment Of 30 Cents; Members Say They’ll Contact AlertPay

Screen shot from a PowerPoint presentation on Club Asteria. The presentation is attributed to Andrea Lucas and is accessible online. (White highlights in screen shot added by PP Blog.)

UPDATED 9:09 A.M. EDT (June 14, U.S.A.) A PowerPoint pitch titled “Asteria Corporation” raises serious questions about the nature of the business “opportunity” and may undermine Club Asteria’s own claims that members alone are to blame for the company’s apparent troubles.

The document is slugged “[ClubAsteriaPresentation]” and attributed to Asteria Corp. and Andrea Lucas. It describes the “program” as one that enables “passive” income and provides a “25% Matching Bonus” — and claims Gold and Silver members are “100% GUARANTEED to Make Money.”

Screen shot: The "Properties" of this Club Asteria PowerPoint pitch identifies Andrea R. Lucas as the author.

The PowerPoint presentation leads to questions about whether Club Asteria is selling unregistered securities as investment contracts. Meanwhile, it casts doubt on Club Asteria’s claim that members are uniquely responsible for positioning the program as a passive investment opportunity with guaranteed earnings.

Virginia-based Club Asteria identifies Andrea Lucas as its managing director. The program, which members say has slashed payouts and sends money via wire from a Hong Kong company known as Asteria Holdings Limited, is being investigated by Italian authorities. Club Asteria acknowledged last month that its access to PayPal had been blocked, blaming the development on misrepresentations made by members. Member payouts plunged after the PayPal development.

Promoters of Club Asteria routinely trade on the name of the World Bank.

Separately, promoter “Ken Russo” — posting on the TalkGold Ponzi scheme and criminals’ forum as “DRdave” weeks after the PayPal freeze and the developments in Italy — noted he has received by wire $1,632 from Club Asteria since June 2. In separate posts, “Ken Russo” claimed to have received $1,311 on June 2 and $321 on June 12. Both payments came from “Asteria Holdings Limited (Hong Kong),” according to the posts.

Other Ponzi-forum posters claim they were less fortunate than “Ken Russo.” A poster on MoneyMakerGroup, for example, lamented a payment this week of only 30 cents.

“my astrios (sic) stand at almost 1000 and you will be shocked to know that i earned only 30 cents this week, thats (sic) like 4 cents per day for an investment of $1000,” the poster complained.

Another MoneyMakerGroup poster said this: “I made 80 cents from my 2,500 asterios.”

Even TalkGold, which provides the cyberspace criminals and hucksters use to fleece hundreds of thousands of people globally in one Ponzi or fraud scheme after another, is questioning why Russo appears to be doing so well while others have been left holding the bag.

“Something unreal compare[d] to others cashouts amount (sic),” a TalkGold Mod wrote on June 10 about “Ken Russo’s” June 2 claim of a $1,311 Club Asteria payout.

Other forum posters say they plan to retaliate against Club Asteria by filing disputes with Alert Pay, an offshore processor used by Club Asteria.

“This worked for me with genius funds,” wrote one TalkGold promoter, referring to Genius Funds, an international scam promoted on the Ponzi boards that the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) said last year stole $400 million.

And the TalkGold poster who’d previously been ripped off in the Genius Funds scam and filed an Alert Pay dispute said he’d do the same thing with Club Asteria — and encouraged others to do the same.

“Yesterday I filed 3 complaints for myself and family and if enough people do it, maybe they will block their alertpay account and share it out to us,” the poster claimed.

He found a receptive audience, and a TalkGold poster who responded to his plea to contact Alert Pay suggested Andrea Lucas was trying to stop members from filing disputes.

“I have contacted to Alertpay too just some days ago,” the TalkGold poster wrote. “Andrea Lucas contacted to me and started whine. Whaiting (sic) message from Alertpay.

“I think their PayPal account was blocked in the same way as it’s going to be with their Alertpay account,” the poster wrote. “Some smart guys did it before us.”

Some Club Asteria members have offered inducements for prospects to join the program, including partial reimbursements of monthly fees. Such members now potentially find themselves in the position of having locked in their own losses by bribing prospects up front and expecting to recapture the expense as the program expanded.

In 2010, “Ken Russo” — while promoting the MPB Today “grocery” program on the Ponzi boards — said one of his downline members was offering up-front payments to incoming prospects to drive business to MPB Today.

Jun 13, 2011