PatrickPretty.com

Tag: New Utopia

  • BULLETIN: 3 New Defendants In ‘Red Sea Management’ Case Have Been Arrested; New Charges Filed Against Original Defendants In Alleged Stock-Manipulation Scheme Over Which Purported One-Time ‘Consulate’ To Nonexistent Nation Of ‘New Utopia’ Allegedly Presided

    BULLETIN: Federal agents have arrested three new defendants in the alleged Red Sea Management stock-manipulation scheme. The arrests occurred in three U.S. states last week, and one of the new defendants already was in custody for a separate scam, federal prosecutors said.

    Arrested were Timothy Barham Jr., 43, of Henderson, Tenn.; Nathan Montgomery, 30, of Henderson, Nev.; and Ryan Reynolds, 39, of Dallas. Reynolds already was in custody. The SEC charged him in 2008 in a separate scam, according to records. He is a defendant in at least two separate SEC actions.

    Red Sea allegedly was operated by Jonathan Curshen, a convicted felon and the one-time purported “honorary counsel” of St. Kitts-Nevis to Costa Rica. Curshen, 46, of Sarasota, Fla., also has been referenced as a purported “consulate” to the bizarre, nonexistent nation of “New Utopia.”

    New Utopia has purported to be an underwater nation that will rise out of the Caribbean on concrete stilts.

    On March 10, the PP Blog received a bizarre communication from a person who purported to be “Mr. Protector” and complained about the Blog’s coverage of the New Utopia fantasy, which the SEC said was dreamed up by American Lazarus R. Long more than a decade ago.

    Long has described himself as a “Prince.” New Utopia, which purportedly is located undersea “approximately 115 miles west of the Cayman Islands,” has offered driver’s licenses for $140.

    The communication both invited and uninvited the Blog to witness the debut of the New Utopia “Palace” on a date uncertain.

    “How about we print your words out about New Utopia in size 12 font and then, when New Utopia Construction begins, we can invite you there in front of the Palace and watch you eat the words and the paper they are written on?” the person wrote.

    In the very next paragraph, however, the Blog was uninvited.

    “[H]ow will we know to not allow you to visit The Principality of New Utopia?” the person inquired. “We will find a way of that be assured.”

    Read the Justice Department statement on the new defendants and a superseding indictment against the original defendants. The original defendants included Curshen; attorney Michael Simon Krome, 49, of Long Island, N.Y.; Ronald Salazar Morales, aka “Ronny Salazar,” 39, of Costa Rica; Robert Lloyd Weidenbaum, 44, of Miami; and Eric Ariav Weinbaum, 37, and Izhack Zigdon, 47, both of Israel.

    The case was brought by elements of the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force created by President Obama in November 2009.

  • PP Blog Operated By ‘Self-Appointed Idiot,’ Fan Of Nonexistent Nation Of ‘New Utopia’ Suggests; Blog Invited, Then Uninvited To Ceremony At ‘Palace’

    A man using the anonymous identity of “Mr. Protector,” a hotmail address and an IP in the Netherlands has scolded the PP Blog for a story that described “New Utopia” as a nonexistent nation in the Caribbean.

    New Utopia is the fanciful “tax haven” allegedly dreamed up by Lazarus R. Long, an American who declared himself a “prince” and hatched a plan to form a “new country” that would “rise from the Caribbean on giant concrete platforms built on an underwater land mass,” according to the SEC.

    Using the phrase “selfappointedidiotyouare” [Self Appointed Idiot You Are] apparently to chide the PP Blog for giving less than favorable coverage to the nonexistent nation, the man sent an email to the Blog this morning that both invited and uninvited the Blog to view New Utopia’s “Palace” on a date uncertain.

    “How about we print your words out about New Utopia in size 12 font and then, when New Utopia Construction begins, we can invite you there in front of the Palace and watch you eat the words and the paper they are written on?” the man wrote.

    In the very next paragraph, however, he uninvited the Blog.

    “[H]ow will we know to not allow you to visit The Principality of New Utopia?” the man inquired. “We will find a way of that be assured.”

    Although the context in which the man used the word “Protector” was unclear, it is a word that has been used by members of certain so-called “private associations” that challenge the authority of governments to regulate commerce and the securities industry.

    The AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf, for example, identified a member as a “Protector.” AVG has been identified in a racketeering lawsuit as an offshoot of the AdSurfDaily (ASD) autosurf. The lawsuit was filed by members of ASD.

    ASD was accused separately by the U.S. Secret Service of operating a $110 million Ponzi scheme and of committing wire fraud, securities fraud and engaging in the sale of unregistered securities.

    On Feb. 18, the PP Blog reported that federal agents — working with law-enforcement partners worldwide — had broken up a fraud ring operating in part from Florida, Costa Rica and elsewhere.

    Among the defendants charged both criminally and civilly was Jonathan R. Curshen. Curshen has been described as the one-time “honorary counsel” of St. Kitts-Nevis to Costa Rica and a purported “consulate” to New Utopia.

    New Utopia has its own website from which it sells an “International Drivers license” issued by New Utopia for $140.

    According to court records, the nonexistent principality is said to be located undersea “approximately 115 miles west of the Cayman Islands.” It would rise out of the water only after concrete stilts were erected and an above-sea base were anchored to a submerged land base.

    New Utopia, indeed, will rise, according to “Mr. Protector,” the author of the email sent to the PP Blog this morning.

    “Too many of us have worked too hard for too many years to just abandon this project,” he wrote.

    “Your ‘reporting’ does not help,” he complained.

    Long, also known as Howard Turney, was accused by the SEC in 1999 of promoting a fraudulent bond offering over the Internet to fund his upstart country. He settled with the agency in 2000 and was assessed a penalty of $24,000, but the penalty was waived.

    “Prince” Long has used the New Utopia website to complain bitterly about anonymous critics on the Internet. Whether “Mr. Protector” risked a royal scolding from the “Prince” for using an anonymous identity to contact the PP Blog was not immediately clear.

  • UPDATE: Suspect Arrested Friday In Alleged Pump-And-Dump Scheme And Costa Rican Money-Laundering Caper May Have Link To Bizarre Underwater ‘Nation’ That Sells ‘Driver’s Licenses’ For $140

    Jonathan R. Curshen, one of six people charged criminally by federal prosecutors and sued civilly by the SEC last week in Southern Florida in an alleged penny-stock, securities fraud, wire-fraud and money-laundering caper, once was a purported “consulate” to the bizarre, nonexistent nation of “New Utopia,” according to web records.

    New Utopia was a fanciful “tax haven” allegedly dreamed up by Lazarus R. Long, an American who declared himself a “prince” and hatched a plan to form a “new country” that would “rise from the Caribbean on giant concrete platforms built on an underwater land mass,” according to filings in a 1999 case brought by the SEC.

    Long also is known as Howard Turney. He invited investors “to become charter citizens of the new country,” the SEC alleged 12 years ago.

    The SEC settled with Long years ago, and a federal judge ordered him to stop selling bonds and to pay $24,000 in disgorgement of ill-gotten gains. The penalty was waived because of his financial condition.

    New Utopia continues to have a website — one from which a purported “Prince Lazarus” holds forth. Last month, according to the site, the prince ventured that 2011 would be a big year for the nonexistent state, which oddly claims that it is accepting preorders for a coin “Currently out of production.”

    The coin is positioned as a limited “commemorative” worth 250 U.S. dollars. The site also solicits citizens to purchase the purported national flag of New Utopia for $80 and an “International Drivers license” issued by New Utopia for $140.

    One of the problems with the flag and New Utopia driver’s license is that the country itself does not exist and holds no dry land even if it did exist. Indeed, according to court records, the nonexistent principality is said to be located undersea “approximately 115 miles west of the Cayman Islands” and would rise out of the water only after concrete stilts were erected and an above-sea base were anchored to a submerged land base.

    Despite the bizarre incongruities, including the apparent assertion that New Utopia driver’s licenses are valid in all jurisdictions worldwide, citizens may use PayPal to purchase the items from New Utopia, according to the website. Other New Utopia trinkets, including a purported “ornament” bearing the likeness of Prince Lazarus, also are available from the purported nation’s online store.

    “I would like on this most auspicious New Years day to thank our citizens and other well wishers for their support throughout our years of struggle,” Prince Lazarus reportedly noted. “It has been a hard and challenging effort, which will be soon justified. I am not at liberty to disclose details, but this is the year when the building of the infrastructure of our great City/State will begin.”

    See earlier story on Curshen. See FBI new release on the charges filed against Curshen, Michael Simon Krome, 49, a securities attorney from Long Island, New York.; Ronald Salazar Morales, aka “Ronny Salazar,” 39, of Costa Rica; Robert Lloyd Weidenbaum, 44, of Miami; and Eric Ariav Weinbaum, 37, and Izhack Zigdon, 47, of Israel.