SEC

Anheuser-Busch InBev will pay $6 million to settle SEC charges “it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and chilled a whistleblower who reported the misconduct,” the SEC said. The SEC’s announcement came on National Drink Beer Day. Whether the timing of the announcement was a coincidence was not immediately clear. At issue, according to […]

BULLETIN: Dawn Wright-Olivares, the former COO of Zeek Rewards, has been sentenced to seven and one-half years in federal prison. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn Jr. of the Western District of North Carolina. The office of U.S. Attorney Jill Westmoreland Rose prosecuted Wright-Olivares for investment- and tax-fraud conspiracy. Daniel Olivares, […]

On Oct. 14, 2015, the federal court clerk for the Western District of North Carolina signed a judgment of $104,743.55 against Adrian John Hibbert of Sully, United Kingdom. The judgment was in favor of Zeek Rewards’ receiver Kenneth D. Bell, records show. Bell had sued Hibbert and other U.K. residents in March 2015 for return […]

DEVELOPING STORY: During its routine reporting today, the PP Blog observed information that strongly suggests a data breach occurred at Traffic Monsoon or within a sponsor’s organization — possibly in the summer of 2015. The SEC, which charged Traffic Monsoon and alleged operator Charles David Scoville of Utah last month with running a massive, cross-border […]

Traffic Monsoon pitchman Sunil Patel has promised “security” at a “Revolution Day” rally Saturday in the area of Brighton Beach/Brighton Pier in England to advocate for the alleged Ponzi scheme. In a video post today on Facebook, Patel claimed the SEC has contacted him about the event. The SEC this afternoon declined to comment on […]

UPDATED 1:15 P.M. EDT U.S.A. It has happened in previous cases involving alleged violations of federal securities laws, and now it’s happening with Traffic Monsoon. “The Peiffer Rosca Wolf law firm is investigating Traffic Monsoon, LLC and Charles Scoville’s alleged Ponzi scheme on behalf of investors – whom Traffic Monsoon called ‘members,’” the firm said […]

BULLETIN: The Utah Division of Securities — the state-level regulator — has rejected online claims that the agency had investigated Traffic Monsoon and had given it a clean bill of health. Federal regulators sued Traffic Monsoon and alleged operator Charles Scoville last week, alleging Ponzi fraud, securities fraud and the sale of unregistered securities to […]

UPDATED 11:51 A.M. EDT U.S.A. Zeek Rewards’ receiver Kenneth D. Bell had no comment this morning on reports that some Zeek clawback defendants also were participants in Traffic Monsoon, alleged last week by the SEC to have been a Ponzi scheme that had gathered at least $207 million. The reports appeared on RealScam.com. In March […]

“The complaint alleges that more than 99% of Traffic Monsoon’s revenue is derived from new investor funds, making claims that it is a successful advertising business merely an illusion.” — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, July 28, 2016 EDITOR’S NOTE: This (below) is the full litigation statement of the SEC on its Ponzi case against […]

The SEC has filed a lawsuit against the Traffic Monsoon “program” and called it a Ponzi scheme that had gathered $207 million, the Salt Lake Tribune is reporting. The assets of Traffic Monsoon and alleged operator Charles Scoville have been frozen, the newspaper reports. On June 1, the PP Blog reported that Payza — a payment […]

2ND UPDATE 6:27 P.M. EDT U.S.A. A government filing dated July 1 — a Friday before the long Independence Day weekend — says U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz of the District of Massachusetts “has been recused” from the prosecutions of TelexFree figures James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler. The document does not say why Ortiz no longer […]