The SEC this afternoon declined comment on an order by a federal judge in Atlanta that could lead to the dismissal of the agency’s 2013 case against Profitable Sunrise, an alleged international pyramid scheme and offering fraud targeted at U.S. residents by one or more murky figures.
Such a dismissal almost certainly would embolden overseas HYIP scammers who reach into the United States over the Internet to steal hundreds of millions of dollars. Profitable Sunrise targeted Christians.
In April 2013, the PP Blog reported that the SEC alleged the “program” was using a “mail drop” in England and that “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.”
Two days ago, on Jan. 19, Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr. ordered the SEC to show cause within 21 days why the case should not be dismissed — apparently for lack of prosecution.
“Decline comment beyond what we say in court filings,” the agency told the PP Blog today.
How the agency would proceed in the next three weeks was unclear.
Thrash’s order says there has been no action in the case since July 15, 2015, a period of more than six months.
From the judge’s order (italics added):
The above complaint was filed on April 4, 2013, on April 4, 2013 the Court granted plaintiff’s Motion for Temporary Restraining Order; on April 15, 2013 the Court granted plaintiff’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction; Clerk’s Entries of Default have been entered as to various defendants; on July 15, 2015 the Court directed the Clerk of Court to Receive Repatriated Funds. Since that date no further action has occurred; IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the plaintiff show cause in writing within twenty (21) days why the case should not be dismissed. The Clerk is DIRECTED to submit the case to the Court for further action at the expiration of the 21 days. SO ORDERED, this 19th day of January 2016.
One of the claimed “plans” of Profitable Sunrise was bizarrely dubbed the “Long Haul” and purported to pay 2.7 percent a day. At least 34 U.S. states and provinces in Canada issued Investor Alerts or cease-and-desist orders against Profitable Sunrise.
Among other things, the scheme demonstrated the dangers of doing business with exceptionally murky enterprises making claims that fabulous wealth would flow to investors. U.S. promoters working for commissions apparently believed the “program” was operated by “Roman Novak” and his brother “Radoslav,” a purported attorney.
Whether the brothers actually exist is unclear. So is the final sum gathered by the “program,” which had a presence on well-known Ponzi-scheme forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup.
No receiver has been appointed to date in the Profitable Sunrise case. How victims would go about filing claims is unclear. So, too, is the amount of money available to victims from actions such as asset freezes.
Hungary is reported to have suspected Profitable Sunrise of money-laundering.
In May 2013, the PP Blog reported a Virginia man had petitioned the U.S. court for return of more than $57,000 wired to Profitable Sunrise. The SEC later objected to the petition, arguing it could open the floodgates to similar petitions while the agency was working to repatriate assets that one day could be distributed to victims.
Christian author James Paris has said he feared for his safety and the safety of his family when writing about Profitable Sunrise. (See PP Blog October 2013 comment on the matter at the RealScam.com antiscam forum.)
BULLETIN: (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 inApril, 2013. Profitable Sunrise operated as a pyramid scheme by paying investors referral bonuses upto 5 percent for any new investors who invested funds through the website. The website offered ratesof 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.
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.”
Saying it had “credible evidence” of fraud, the state of Illinois issued a temporary prohibition order in March 2014 against Profitable Sunrise figure Nanci Jo Frazer. The order by the Securities Department of Secretary of State Jesse White also applied to purported Profitable Sunrise operator “Roman Novak,” as well as Profitable Sunrise itself and Inter Reef Ltd.
Inter Reef was a U.K. entity through which Profitable Sunrise apparently was operating. It was not immediately clear whether the temporary order has become permanent or whether Frazer or “Novak” contested it.
In an emergency action last year against Profitable Sunrise, the SEC described Profitable Sunrise as a ghost enterprise that “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.”
Unlike state-level Profitable Sunrise actions in 2013, the March 2014 Illinois action alleged that Profitable Sunrise engaged in wrongdoing through Dec. 31, 2013. Various state regulators filed enforcement actions against Profitable Sunrise in early 2013. A 2013 action in Illinois did not name “Roman Novak” and Frazer respondents.
The March 2014 Illinois action accused Frazer and “Roman Novak” of fraud and selling unregistered securities while operating as unauthorized salespeople, dealers or brokers. In January 2013, according to the order, an Illinois resident in pursuit of a payout from Profitable Sunrise wired $15,000 to a “Bank in Czechoslovakia” in two separate transactions.
Frazer was accused of fraud by the state of Ohio in July 2013.
Her husband, David Frazer, is listed on the website of the court-appointed receiver in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi- and pyramid case as a Zeek “winner” of a sum in excess of $1,000. Zeek, the SEC said, was a fraud that gathered hundreds of millions of dollars.
TelexFree promoter Faith Sloan — currently accused of securities fraud by the SEC — is a former Profitable Sunrise and Zeek promoter. Sloan was banned by Illinois from selling securities in June 2014.
Zeek said it paid an average of 1.5 percent a day, according to the SEC. Profitable Sunrise purported to pay up to 2.7 percent a day.
The office of the Securities Commissioner of Kansas has dismissed a civil action against Profitable Sunrise HYIP figure Nancy Jo Frazer and Ohio-based Focus Up Ministries, doing business as NJF Global Group. The dismissal was “without prejudice,” meaning that the state could file again under certain conditions.
In May, a month after the SEC brought a fraud action against Profitable Sunrise, the state said two Kansas residents invested in Profitable Sunrise through an organization known as the NJF Global Group Community.
“The NJF Global Group Community was operated by Focus Up Ministries, Inc. and its founder, Nanci Jo Frazer,” the state said at the time. “The NJF Global Group Community promoted Profitable Sunrise as a fundraising opportunity for religious-based and charitable organizations.”
Frazer was not charged in the SEC action. Apparent Frazer supporters have claimed she was a victim of “innocent ignorance.”
Frazer was named a defendant in an Ohio fraud action in July and was referenced in an earlier action filed in Minnesota. NJF Global Group is referenced in an alert by the Financial Markets Authority of New Zealand.
In May, Kansas became one of at least 36 U.S. states or provinces in Canada to issue cease-and-desist orders or Investor Alerts against Profitable Sunrise. At least four Kansas residents invested a total of at least $22,000 in Profitable Sunrise, the state said.
Purported Profitable Sunrise operator “Roman Novak,” whom the SEC said may be fictitious, appears not to have responded to any of the state-level actions or the SEC’s federal action. Profitable Sunrise was targeted at people of faith, the SEC said, alleging the purported “opportunity” was using a mail drop in England and bank accounts in other countries to fleece the masses.
One of the purported Profitable Sunrise “programs” was known as the Long Haul. It purported to pay interest of 2.7 percent a day with compounding available. Such schemes long have been associated with the HYIP sphere.
“Long Haul” payouts were due April 1, April Fool’s Day and the day after Easter 2013. The payouts never materialized.
“The judge ruled in Nanci & David Frazer’s favor along with Albert Rosebrock (ministry board members) . . . to release frozen funds. The FBI and the Federal government is categorizing Frazer as having suffered from a case of ‘innocent ignorance’ as she worked for nine months doing customer support for a UK Collateral Loan company.” — Lede from “story” on Topix.com, Oct. 5, 2013
Is a photo of a real reporter being used by a fake reporter in the aftermath of the Profitable Sunrise scheme? (Screen shot brushed by PP Blog.)
This is what is known from the publicly accessible court docket in Ohio’s July 8 fraud case against alleged Profitable Sunrise promoter Nancy Jo Frazer (also known as Nanci Jo Frazer), Focus Up Ministries and others: On Sept. 24, the docket of the case noted that the judge had ordered the release of $20,000 to Frazer and her husband (David Frazer) to pay legal bills. Another $8,000 was made accessible to Albert Rosebrock, another defendant, to pay legal bills.
The $20,000 ordered returned to the Frazers was in the form of a cashier’s check David Frazer had surrendered to the court after Ohio’s July action. Rosebrock’s money came from a bank account the judge ordered frozen after the Ohio action was filed. The docket shows that the judge authorized $8,000 from this frozen account to be made accessible to Rosebrock, but the freeze remains on any other money in the account. Freezes also remain on seven other accounts Ohio authorities have associated with the defendants. (Of the eight accounts originally ordered frozen in July, all eight remain frozen.)
Importantly, Ohio’s civil case remains ongoing. So does a civil case by the SEC at the federal level. The SEC action does not name the Frazers or Rosebrock defendants, but suggests that pitchmen could have promoted Profitable Sunrise without even knowing who was running the purported “opportunity.”
Purported Profitable Sunrise operator “Roman Novak” and his brother “Radoslav Novak,” a purported attorney associated with Profitable Sunrise, may be fictitious, according to the SEC, which has described Profitable Sunrise as a murky and massive international pyramid scheme that potentially gathered tens of millions of dollars.
“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.
“There is more than a slight possibility, as with many offering frauds, that the people described in the [Profitable Sunrise] website, including the Novak brothers, do not exist,” the SEC said.
Enter ‘scampoliceinsider’
On Oct. 5, 11 days after the Sept. 24 Ohio docket entry, someone using the handle “scampoliceinsider” and a photo of a news reporter posted something that resembles a news story on the Topix.com site for Ogdensburg, NY., near the Saint Lawrence Seaway and the border with Canada.
Gregg Evans, a poster and occasional guest columnist at the PP Blog and a regular poster at the RealScam.com antiscam forum, posted a link to the Topix story at RealScam.com on Oct. 13.
Among other things, “scampoliceinsider” asserts on Topix that “I WILL GIVE YOU THE INSIDE SCOOP YOU DID NOT KNOW” and that “I am investigating a fraud within a fraud. I am the one who does what others won’t bother to do.” Moreover, “scampoliceinsider” asserts that he or she believes in “The truth backed by facts.”
Here is the headline on the Topix “scampoliceinsider” story: “Nanci Jo Frazer WINS in Court – a Case of Innocent Ignorance.” The headline stressed the word “WINS” in uppercase. Nowhere does the story mention that Ohio’s case is ongoing and that any money ordered unfrozen was further ordered to be used for the express purpose of paying legal bills. Instead, the story contends that Ohio authorities had known since October 2012 that Profitable Sunrise was a fraud and that the authorities “failed to inform the public and especially Nanci Frazer.”
It further positions Frazer as a victim of harassment from “A tight group of online individuals [who] have been targeted to be running their own bitcoin scheme” and claims the purported bitcoin schemers “stole Frazer’s image, identity and training videos while she was on vacation” in a bid to drive traffic to their own websites “and cash in on their own fraud.”
Meanwhile, a strangely worded passage in the story contends that “The FBI and the Federal government is categorizing Frazer as having suffered from a case of ‘innocent ignorance’” while she “worked for nine months doing customer support for a UK Collateral Loan company.” (This would be Profitable Sunrise, which perhaps would be better described as a purported collateral-lending company.)
Like the bitcoin and associated claims, the story does not substantiate the “innocent ignorance” claim. At the same time, the story ventures that “The last straw was watching Toledo 11 Fox News put her children in harms way by airing a hateful and false, damaging, home made video story from one of the online stalkers- James L Paris is was a convicted criminal for Securities fraud(they never checked out his background).” (Unedited by PP Blog.)
The Fox Toledo outlet now is “in position to be turned in to be put under regulators [sic] scrutiny and to be liable for a full investigation which connects them to another scam,” according to the Topix story.
Paris is the editor of ChristianMoney.com and recently published an ebook on what he describes as his pressure-packed, nerve-racking experience writing about Profitable Sunrise and the enmity directed at him from certain members of the Christian community. Paris denies he is a convicted criminal, saying that he once was named in a civil securities action in Maine after his brother embezzled money from a Paris company and hid the act from Paris and accountants.
(DISCLOSURE: The PP Blog is referenced in the Paris ebook. The Blog does not personally know Jim Paris, has no business association with him and does not benefit from the book, which was offered by Paris for free online for several days earlier this month and now costs $4.99 at Amazon.com. The book is titled, “Exposing The Ponzi Masters – The Profitable Sunrise Scam: How I Exposed It, How They Tried To Stop Me.” The Blog obtained the book free on Oct. 9 through a link supplied by Paris at RealScam.com. On Oct. 11, the Blog posted to RealScam.com about the book, opining that it believed the Paris book would “serve his intended audience in the Christian community well.” In its RealScam.com post, the Blog also drew some comparisons to the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme. ASD, like Profitable Sunrise, was targeted at people of faith.)
Now, back to the Topix story referenced above . . .
The photo of the reporter that appeared alongside the Frazer story on Topix in Ogdensburg, near the Canadian border, appears to be a low-resolution copy of a professional portrait/publicity still of a real reporter, a broadcast journalist who started her career at a California TV station in 2010 and accepted a job in 2012 at a station in Nevada, where she works as a weekend anchor. The photo does not identify the reporter by name and appears to have been taken while the reporter was working for the California TV station prior to moving on to the Nevada station.
It may be the case that a fake reporter posting at Topix found an image of the real reporter online and used it as an avatar to add credibility to the story on Frazer published at the site. The PP Blog believes it has established the identity of the real reporter and emailed her yesterday to determine if the image on Topix was being used without her knowledge and consent and to rule out that she was the author of the Topix post. As of the time of this post, the Blog has not heard back from the reporter, which is not unusual. Media people have busy schedules. (For the purposes of this post, the Blog is not identifying the real reporter by name and has brushed the screen shot above to obscure her face and the identity of a TV station that, like the reporter, may have no knowledge of Frazer or Profitable Sunrise or the Ohio case.)
In the Blog’s view, the Topix story does not read like one prepared by a trained, working journalist. Rather, the story on Topix reads like fractured marketing and PR fluff of the type often seen in the HYIP sphere. At least part of it seeks to demonize both the media and the government. Similar situations occurred after the action by the United States against ASD in 2008. Online scammers have been known to pose as legitimate members of the media to add presumptive authority to a scheme.
In 2011, the famous brand of Consumer Reports was appropriated by scammers to drive dollars to an acai-berry scheme, the FTC said. Meanwhile, “fake” news sites in the United States using the image of a real reporter from France were used in the acai scheme.
The PP Blog would be very surprised if the Topix story was authored by a real reporter, especially one using the handle “scampoliceinsider” and trying to stick it to a TV station in Toledo, other media outlets and Ohio authorities in this bizarre fashion.
From a civil complaint by investors against Glen Galemmo.
If the alleged Profitable Sunrise scheme were not bad enough in the Greater Toledo region of Northwest Ohio, there now are reports of a separate massive scheme in the Greater Cincinnati region of Southwest Ohio.
Investors have gone to court to accuse Glen Galemmo of East Walnut Hills of operating an elaborate scam that may have consumed “tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars,” according to a complaint in Hamilton County.
Galemmo was at the helm of several entities, including Queen City Investment Fund and Galemmo Investment Group, investors said.
See July 24 story in the Cincinnati Business Courier. The paper today followed up with this story, which reports one the the defendants in the case “was a pastor at a Cincinnati-area church.”
The IRS is reported to be investigating the Cincinnati case. Details remain sketchy.
The SEC and Ohio regulators are investigating the Profitable Sunrise case, amid allegations that the scheme traded on faith and was pushed in part by Nancy Jo Frazer and her purported ministries and charitable enterprises in the area of Bryan, Ohio. At least 35 regulatory agencies in the United States and Canada issued Investor Alerts or cease-and-desist orders against Profitable Sunrise, which purportedly was operated by “Roman Novak” through a global network of pitchmen.
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (Fourth update 9:10 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) In court papers, the state of Ohio has called Nanci Jo Frazer’s Focus Up Ministries a “front” for the Profitable Sunrise HYIP scheme and alleges that Focus Up changed its name to Defining Vision Ministries Inc. in June 2013 — two months after the SEC brought the Profitable Sunrise fraud action in federal court in Atlanta.
Records suggest Nanci Jo Frazer also is known as Nancy Jo Frazer. The Ohio court documents list the “Nancy” spelling. Other documents list the “Nanci” spelling.
A judge in Williams County, Ohio, has ordered Frazer, Focus Up and other entities associated with Frazer to “[i]mmediately cease all activities on behalf of any charitable organization/trust in the state of Ohio,” to preserve assets and to return assets that already may have been dissipated.
The judge also ordered Frazer and others to cease selling unregistered securities. Meanwhile, the judge ordered three Ohio banks to take eight accounts linked to Frazer and others into “actual and/or constructive possession.” Frazer resides in Bryan, Ohio.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and the Ohio Department of Commerce said today that the state has brought civil fraud charges against Frazer, Focus Up, Defining Vision and others. Documents say the state believes Frazer was a pitchwoman for the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme and other “programs,” including Zeek Rewards and Profit Clicking.
“This case involves a worldwide pyramid scheme that defrauded Ohioans and others out of millions of dollars,” DeWine said. “These individuals brought the scheme to Ohio by promising outrageous returns and telling investors that their donations and investments would help charities. We will continue to work closely with the Department of Commerce to hold the defendants accountable for their actions.”
Also charged were David Frazer, Frazer’s husband, and Albert Rosebrock, a member of Frazer’s NJF Global Group. Rosebrock also was alleged by Ohio to be an AdSurfDaily and Zeek affiliate.
Purported Profitable Sunrise operator “Roman Novak” is called “John Doe” in Ohio’s complaint, leading to continuing questions about whether “Novak” actually exists. In April, the SEC said that Profitable Sunrise pitchmen may not even have known with whom they were doing business. Profitable Sunrise purported to pay up to 2.7 percent interest a day. The SEC said it was using a “mail drop” in England and offshore bank accounts potentially to scam tens of millions of dollars.
Frazer’s group may have driven $30 million to the scam, according to court files.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that Rosebrock is blaming the SEC for the collapse of Profitable Sunrise.
Profitable Sunrise is an international pyramid scheme recently shut down by federal and international authorities. Profitable Sunrise claimed to be a Christian company that would use investment proceeds to help charities and provide investors with large returns. According to the state’s complaint, the Frazers, of Bryan, and Rosebrock, of Sherwood, used Focus Up Ministries’ status as a charity to solicit donations and investments into Profitable Sunrise. They also claimed that invested funds would compound at 1.6 to 2.7 percent daily, growing at annual rates of 5,000 to more than 75,000 percent. The complaint also alleges that the defendants used funds donated to Focus Up Ministries for personal expenses and other unlawful purposes. These included financing for personal business ventures, the purchase of a big screen television, no-interest personal loans, and compensation for agents who solicited on behalf of the Profitable Sunrise pyramid scheme. The complaint contains counts of misrepresentation, deceptive acts and practices, conversion, falsification, securities fraud, and unlicensed sale of securities, among other violations.
The SEC has described Zeek Rewards as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid fraud. AdSurfDaily was a $119 million Ponzi scheme, according to the U.S. Secret Service. Meanwhile, ProfitClicking is a “program” linked to Frederick Mann, the purported operator of JSSTripler/JustBeenPaid, which has come under regulatory scrutiny in Italy and the Philippines.
If Frazer was a pitchwoman for ASD, Zeek and ProfitClicking/JSS/JBP, it would mean she was pushing Profitable Sunrise after various well-publicized regulatory or law-enforcement actions against those “programs,” which purported to pay interest of between 1 percent and 2 percent a day. (ASD = 1 percent/day; Zeek = 1.5 percent/day; ProfitClicking/JSS/JBP = 2 percent/day.)
Beyond that, it would mean Frazer pushed the purported 2.7 percent a day Profitable Sunrise “Long Haul” plan, even though agencies filed various actions against the “lower-paying” programs with which she allegedly was involved previously.
Some HYIP promoters move from one fraud scheme to another, while engaging in willful blindness. ASD is known to have had ties to the “sovereign citizens” movement. Mann, of ProfitClicking/JSS/JBP, once used a website to drive traffic to videos featuring Francis Schaeffer Cox, a purported “sovereign citizen” and “militia” man implicated in a murder plot against public officials in Alaska.
UPDATE: CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator, has finalized a March 27 suspension order against alleged Profitable Sunrise pitchman Daniele Verzari.
Verzari allegedly pitched Profitable Sunrise as the “founder” of the Vdproject Italy team on a Blog hosted by WordPress. After CONSOB announced a temporary suspension order on April 2, WordPress gave Verzari the boot. He also allegedly promoted schemes known as “Vityazi” and “Bestforinvest.”
On April 4, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a pyramid-scheme complaint against Profitable Sunrise in federal court in Atlanta. Records show that the SEC has issued subpoenas to several Profitable Sunrise pitchmen in the United States.
The murky scheme may have collected tens of millions of dollars by targeting U.S. investors, routing the proceeds of the scheme through offshore bank accounts and using a mail drop in England, the SEC said. Profitable Sunrise operated through an entity known as Inter Reef Limited.
Profitable Sunrise purportedly was operated by “Roman Novak.” It allegedly offered five HYIP plans, including one bizarrely dubbed the “Long Haul” that purported to pay 2.7 percent a day with the payout due April 1, the day after Easter. Profitable Sunrise went missing from the Web on or about March 14.
The actions by CONSOB and the SEC demonstrate that HYIP schemes can create trouble not only for purveyors such as “Novak,” but also for commission-based promoters.
Scammers have targeted Profitable Sunrise victims in multiple reload schemes.
John Schepcoff says on YouTube that he potentially lost more than $193,000 in Profitable Sunrise but that a new “program” operating from Hong Kong is “1,000 percent” better.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Much remains murky about Profitable Sunrise, the alleged purveyor of five HYIP “plans,” including one bizarrely dubbed the “Long Haul” that purported to pay a preposterous 2.7 percent a day. The “Long Haul” payoff was dubbed the “Easter Gift.” Investors were told it would arrive April 1 — but it never materialized.
One thing that is abundantly clear is that Profitable Sunrise potentially has created legal exposure and inconvenience for individual pitchmen, even though purported operator “Roman Novak” appears to be gone like a thief in the night.
Still pushing HYIP schemes?
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At least three Profitable Sunrise pitchmen — including at least two who pushed the “program” on YouTube — have been subpoenaed by the SEC to appear at depositions this month. The agency’s move is occurring in the aftermath of the depositions of at least two other Profitable Sunrise figures in Florida and Utah in April.
In July 2010, the PP Blog reported that the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) warned investors worldwide “to stay away from HYIPs,” saying that they use social-media sites such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and online forums and “rating” sites to spread Ponzi misery globally.
At least two of the men named in the new round of subpoenas went on to push other purported “opportunities” after the SEC described Profitable Sunrise in April as a murky HYIP that had used a “mail drop” in England and a series of offshore bank accounts in multiple countries to scam investors potentially of tens of millions of dollars.
A subpoena was docketed yesterday in federal court in Atlanta for John Schepcoff of Carmichael, Calif. Schepcoff also is known as James Schepcoff, according to the SEC. His deposition has been scheduled for June 12 at 10 a.m. in San Francisco.
After pitching Profitable Sunrise on YouTube prior to its March collapse amid especially murky circumstances, Schepcoff returned to YouTube in late April and began pitching yet another murky “program” purportedly operating from Hong Kong. Although the identity of the Hong Kong “program” was unclear, records suggest it was a Zeek Rewards-like “opportunity” known as “Better-Living Global Marketing.”
In August 2012, the SEC described Zeek as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme that had pushed unregistered securities on hundreds of thousands of people and duped them into believing they were receiving a legitimate return of about 1.5 percent a day. The U.S. Secret Service also said it was investigating Zeek.
A subpoena also was docketed in Atlanta yesterday for video pitchman Melton McClanahan of Fairfield, Calif. McClanahan was identified in a March order by the Alabama Securities Commission (ASC) as a Profitable Sunrise agent. McClanahan then posted a YouTube video denying he was an agent and yet claiming the information he passed along to lure prospects “was given to me.”
McClanahan’s deposition is scheduled for June 11 at 10 a.m. in San Francisco.
An SEC subpoena also was docketed yesterday in Atlanta for Don Gillette of Miami. Gillette reportedly told members of his Profitable Sunrise downline that he was turning to a new “program” that “must have a realistic earning potential of at least $500 a day or more,” according to a post at the RealScam.com antiscam forum.
Details about the scheduling of Gillette’s deposition are unclear.
As part of its ongoing Profitable Sunrise probe, the SEC also has subpoenaed records at PayPal and at Societe Generale in New York, according to the docket of U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr. in Atlanta. Whether Profitable Sunrise or its members were using the companies to move money is unclear.
One of the problems with HYIP schemes is that they may cause laundered funds or proceeds of criminal enterprises to pass through or be placed on deposit at legitimate financial institutions.
News of the new round of Profitable Sunrise subpoenas follows on the heels of the takedown last month of Liberty Reserve, amid allegations it had orchestrated a $6 billion money-laundering conspiracy. Liberty Reserve was popular with HYIP scammers and other criminals.
BULLETIN: The state of Kansas has issued a cease-and-desist order against the alleged Profitable Sunrise HYIP scheme, saying the “program” offered “gaudy” returns “of 1.6% to 2.7% on a daily basis.”
In a statement, Kansas securities officials say the order names Florida resident David P. Cozzocrea as a Profitable Sunrise pitchman. Cozzocrea’s promo appeared on a website styled KTFAlways.com. (The site appears to be offering an Iraqi Dinars scheme at the time of this post.)
“Two Kansas investors learned about Profitable Sunrise through KTFAlways.com and contacted Cozzocrea directly. Cozzocrea provided the investors with instructions for setting up an account with Profitable Sunrise and directly funded their accounts with Profitable Sunrise,” the office of Josh Ney, Kansas interim securities commissioner, said.
Meanwhile, the Kansas order also identifies Ohio resident Nanci Jo Frazer of NJF Global Group as a Profitable Sunrise pitchwoman.
“Two other Kansas residents invested in Profitable Sunrise through an organization known as the NJF Global Group Community,” Ney’s office said. “The NJF Global Group Community was operated by Focus Up Ministries, Inc. and its founder, Nanci Jo Frazer. The NJF Global Group Community promoted Profitable Sunrise as a fundraising opportunity for religious-based and charitable organizations.”
Kansas now has become at least the third U.S. state to identify Frazer or NJF Global Group Community in a securities action. The others include Ohio and Minnesota. NJF Global Group also is referenced in an alert by the Financial Markets Authority of New Zealand.
Kansas urged “any Kansas residents” who may have invested money with Profitable Sunrise or had contact with persons promoting Profitable Sunrise to contact Ney’s office immediately.
“Considering the extent of this scheme, it is likely that several other Kansas residents have funds at risk with Profitable Sunrise,” Ney said. “Our office needs information from such people in order to stop this type of activity.”
A website tied to the NJF Global Group, however, appears to be encouraging investors not to contact state regulators.
“If you file a claim in your State, be prepared to prove yourself and allow access to your bank accounts, personal info and emails as a part validating you,” NJFGlobalGroup.com says. “Some states are saying that all who participated are considered to have purchased an unregistered security.”
In 2008 (and later), pitchmen for the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme also discouraged recruits from filing complaints with regulators.
In April, the SEC described Profitable Sunrise as a pyramid scheme that may have gathered tens of millions of dollars through offshore entities.
Kansas now has become one of at least 36 U.S. states or provinces in Canada to issue cease-and-desist orders or Investor Alerts against Profitable Sunrise. At least four Kansas residents invested a total of at least $22,000 in Profitable Sunrise, the state said.
Whether purported Profitable Sunrise operator “Roman Novak” has any plans to help pitchmen address potential legal bills is unknown.
The Kansas investigation is ongoing, the state said.
The SEC this afternoon declined comment on an order by a federal judge in Atlanta that could lead to the dismissal of the agency’s 2013 case against Profitable Sunrise, an alleged international pyramid scheme and offering fraud targeted at U.S. residents by one or more murky figures.
