You’ll see a reference to Randal Williams in this August 2011 PP Blog story about a scheme known as “Fast Profits Daily,” a cycler matrix pitched in part from the Ponzi boards. Fast Profits Daily had promoter ties to Jeff Long’s AutoXTen cycler matrix. Two of the infamous claims surrounding AutoXTen was that $10 could fetch $200,000 very quickly and that the “program” was suited for churches.
Long was fresh from the NarcThatCar and DataNetworkAffiliates MLM scams when AutoXTen was gaining a head of steam. (Memory Lane: DNA misspelled the name of its own departing CEO while at once claiming domain registration in the Cayman Islands, a tax haven.)
There is plenty of offshore intrigue in the developing stories about eAdGear/GoFunPlaces/Williams/JubiMax matters, too.
As for Fast Profits Daily? Well, it claimed that “ALL Purchases are FINAL and NO REFUNDS or CHARGEBACKS are allowed. Any attempts to acquire a refund or chargeback constitute theft and fraud, and are grounds for legal prosecution.”
Pardon us while we vomit as we remember recent MLM history and the interconnectivity of schemes and report on some new history in the making . . .
MLMers rushed to Profitable Sunrise, too. This they did both before and after after the August 2012 Ponzi complaint by the SEC against the Zeek Rewards “program.” And they did it after the attorney general of North Carolina issued a warning on “reload scams.”
The PP Blog yesterday sought comment from the Zeek Rewards receivership on the actions involving eAdGear, GoFunPlaces, Williams and JubiMax.
And it’s also because McGuireWoods, the law firm for the Zeek receivership, also is representing eAdGear and GoFunPlaces in their lawsuit against Williams and JubiMax and 100 “Does.” (It is not the Charlotte-based Zeek receivership suing Williams, JubiMax and the Does, it is Los Angeles-based attorneys from the same national law firm hired by the Zeek receiver.)
Whether Kenneth D. Bell, the receiver in the Zeek case, was aware of the McGuireWoods-managed lawsuits against Williams and JubiMax is unclear. The receivership did not immediately reply to emails seeking comment.
Also unclear is whether the lawsuits could pose any conflict for the receivership.
In the eAdGear/GoFunPlaces lawsuit against Williams/JubiMax, the firms raise the name of T. LeMont Silver in the body of the complaint.
Silver is a former Zeek pitchman who participated in a conference call with Zeek figure Robert Craddock to condemn the SEC and the receiver for their actions in the Zeek Ponzi case.
Meanwhile, former Zeek pitchman Gregory Baker also participated in conference calls with Craddock. After Zeek, Baker became a pitchman for GoFunPlaces.
Ronald Wesley Groves and Donald Charles Mann swindled $4.8 million from 642 investors in a bizarre “international bank trades” caper that promised a payout of 4,000 percent. Now, they’ve been sentenced to an extra year in federal prison for filing false liens against a federal prosecutor and two FBI agents involved in the fraud probe, the office of U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner of the Eastern District of California said.
Prime-bank fraud schemes, which may trade on secrecy and claim to be humanitarian in nature, are among the strangest of all in Ponzi Land. In the Groves/Mann scheme, $300,000 made its way into “the coffers of a Liberian presidential candidate,” prosecutors said.
Liberia is a country in West Africa.
Groves, 71, was sentenced last week to 10 years in federal prison for his role in the “Money Growth Solutions” (MGS) swindle, which operated between April 2005 and April 2006.
Mann, 56, was sentenced to more than 17 years for the same swindle.
Both men were sentenced today to an extra year in jail for filing the bogus liens while they were awaiting trial on fraud charges from the MGS scheme in 2008. The liens claimed that Groves and Mann were owed $101.9 million and that the meter was running against the prosecutor and FBI agents at a rate of $100,000 a day.
Groves and Mann were charged with four counts of retaliation against federal officials by false claim and slander of title and one count of obstruction of justice.
From a statement by prosecutors:
The defendants told investors that these bank trades were a highly secretive investment vehicle known only to a few people around the world.
In June 2011, a jury returned guilty verdicts against Groves and Mann after a nine-day trial. According to evidence presented at their trial, in one program, investors were offered a 10 to 1 return (1,000 percent) on their investment within a matter of weeks. In a later offering, the defendants promised a 40 to 1 return (4,000 percent) in the same amount of time. The defendants told investors that while their money was waiting to be placed into a bank trade, it would be maintained in an escrow account that could not be touched for any other purpose. The defendants also told investors that if they were unable to execute a “bank trade,” the investors would receive their entire investment back plus 6 percent interest within 12 months. With the exception of a few people who were able to obtain refunds, every MGS investor lost their entire investment.
The federal investigation revealed that by April 2006, out of the $4.8 million received, Money Growth Solutions had less than $65,000 remaining in its bank account. Some of that money — $300,000 apiece — went into the pockets of the two defendants. The remainder of the money went to the defendants’ various pet projects, including $300,000 to the coffers of a Liberian presidential candidate and $2.5 million to a Florida company that was supposedly developing a revolutionary battery. The battery company was later determined by the Securities and Exchange Commission to be a scam and its owner was federally indicted.
This disturbing ad for Profitable Sunrise is targeted at residents of South Dakota.
UPDATED 8:52 A.M. EDT (APRIL 16, U.S.A.) See related stories here (April 1) and here (March 25).
EDITOR’S NOTE: These numbers are unofficial. They are culled from media reports and/or news releases from enforcement agencies. As the PP Blog reported yesterday, the Profitable Sunrise website appears to be down. The reason why is unclear, although there are Ponzi-forum reports that the “opportunity” is switching servers, perhaps to Hong Kong.
For background, consider that the Zeek Rewards “program” operating in North Carolina until the SEC filed a Ponzi action last year allegedly planted the seed that it provided a return of about 1.5 percent a day. The bizarrely named “Long Haul” plan of Profitable Sunrise — with its purported Easter payout — purported to pay 2.7 percent a day. Indeed, the HYIP Ponzi universe has served up another doozy. Some of the Stepfordian promoters appear to have no concern at all that such “programs” undermine faith in legitimate markets and raise serious concerns about both national and international security. As noted below, HYIP “programs” are known to trade on themes of religion, patriotism and doing what’s best for a community. Despite all the fluff, the reality is that the “programs” are dangerous. Period.
Current count of state/provincial actions or investor alerts against Profitable Sunrise: 20. (Now 35, with March 15 additions of South Carolina, Alaska, Maryland, Maine, the March 18 addition of New Jersey, the March 19 additions of Louisiana and Tennessee, the March 21 additions of Oregon and Missouri, the March 25 addition of New Hampshire and the March 28 addition of West Virginia. The District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.) issued a warning on March 19. It was added to this list on March 27. Georgia issued a cease-and-desist order on March 14. It was added to this list on March 27. Idaho issued an Investor Alert on April 15. It was added to this list on April 16. Manitoba, in Canada, issued an alert on March 15. It was added to this list on March 21.)
In Canada: New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba.
In the United States: Kentucky, Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin, Nevada, Minnesota, California, Indiana, New Mexico, Texas, Delaware, North Dakota, South Dakota, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alaska, Maryland, Maine, New Jersey, Louisiana, Tennessee, Oregon, Missouri, New Hampshire, District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.), Georgia, West Virginia, Idaho.
Regulators in New Zealand (FMA) and the United Kingdom (FSA) also have issued warnings against Profitable Sunrise.
Here’s a sampling of what securities officials are saying:
From the office of David Goodman, director of the Ohio Department of Commerce (italics/bolding added):
The Division is concerned that these businesses could be targeting religious-based organizations. The company’s website includes Bible quotations and options for donating investment returns to charity. The website also describes various investment plans that claim to offer returns between 288% and 648% for investment periods between 180 days and 240 days. The website claims the investments are “risk-free” with “no chance of default” and provides short-term business loans in the United States.
The website also includes apparent traits of a pyramid scheme. It provides details about a “referral program” where individuals can become regional representatives for an investment group. The regional representatives are offered five percent commissions from those who join the referral program under that representative’s name.
From the Florida Office of Financial Regulation (OFR):
To attract interest in its investment offerings, Profitable Sunrise and its sub-companies may be attempting to exploit investors’ religious affinities. The organization is believed to be engaged in a marketing campaign which makes conspicuous use of biblical quotations.
From the Division of Securities at the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions (DFI):
Investors in other states were informed that their money would be used to fund short-term loans to businesses and that “all funds deposited with (Profitable Sunrise) are insured against loss” by a leading investment bank. Investors were instructed to wire money to financial institutions in Eastern Europe, including one bank that was located in the Czech Republic.
From the office of Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller:
Securities officials are also concerned that the company is using a related website for the “Profitable Sunrise Team” to entice people to bring in additional investors for a commission. Secretary Miller cautions Nevada residents that “investment products must be registered or exempt from registration to be sold in Nevada, and generally those selling an investment must be licensed.”
There have also been reports that Profitable Sunrise has directed investors to wire transfer funds to a bank in the Czech Republic. Secretary Miller warns investors that it can be extremely difficult for an investor to recoup funds invested through banks in foreign countries.
From the New Brunswick Securities Commission:
Investors are warned not to send money to an offshore company called Profitable Sunrise, an entity that claims to provide high-yield investments through short-term bridge loans to businesses. The New Brunswick Securities Commission is issuing this warning following similar warnings by several Canadian and American securities regulators.
From the office of Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson. (Editor’s note: Indiana officials are describing some of the Profitable Sunrise talking points used to disarm skeptical investors. Scams often trade on patriotic themes and claims that investors are helping drive the economy. The AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme (and many others) have used similar talking points):
Profitable Sunrise founder, Roman Novak, states that the investment model is based on providing short-term loans to small businesses throughout the United States. Profitable Sunrise makes investments attractive by not only touting risk-free, high returns but also by stating that by helping these United States companies, investors are also helping revitalize the national economy and create more desperately needed jobs in the United States.
From the office of Minnesota Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman:
Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman ordered Profitable Sunrise and its operators, Roman Novak and Radoslav Novak, and Minnesotans William Nilsson (a/k/a Chad Nilsson) and Casey Dorian, today to cease and desist from selling securities in the State of Minnesota.
The Minnesota Department of Commerce, in conjunction with 19 jurisdictions throughout the United States and Canada, took coordinated action against Profitable Sunrise, an international entity allegedly operating an internet scheme to defraud investors. The Commerce Department’s investigation found that two individuals in Minnesota, Chad Nilsson and Casey Dorian, were allegedly participating in the investment scheme, currently soliciting investors but are not licensed to sell securities in the state.
(Editor’s Note: When the SEC moved in August against the alleged $600 million Zeek Rewards Ponzi- and pyramid scheme, the state of North Carolina warned about “reload scams.” Chad Nilsson may not have gotten the message, something that’s not unusual in the world of MLM. From WhoIsChadNilsson.com: “Of course we are all waiting patiently for our Zeekler Refunds, but now, in the meanwhile, there is a company out that is better than Zeek Rewards every [sic] was! A six year old company has just launched a new program that is even better. They are paying 2.15 percent daily and you can pull your profit out every day if you want, right from day one. If you were to put $200.00 into this new program, in 170 business days, your money would have grown to $7500.00!)
See this story/comments thread for more info on actions/alerts against Profitable Sunrise.
The Financial Markets Authority of New Zealand (FMA) has joined regulators in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom in issuing a warning on the Profitable Sunrise HYIP “program.” New Zealand’s warning also extends to NJF Global Group, which appears to be a Profitable Sunrise recruitment organization operating from the United States. (More below.)
FMA’s announcement described Profitable Sunrise as “illegal,” saying the “program” also is known as ProSun and is being advertised on YouTube by an individual named Robert “Bob” Hughes. The “NJF” initials appear to stand for Profitable Sunrise promoter Nanci Jo Frazer of Ohio. The NJF Global Group now appears to be calling itself “The Global Impact Resource Alliance Group.”
North Carolina regulators said late last month that Profitable Sunrise listed a business address in the United Kingdom and was asking that money be sent by wire to the Czech Republic. Warnings subsequently were issued by the state of Alabama, the Financial Services Authority of the United Kingdom and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec.
At least some of the Profitable Sunrise videos attributed to Hughes appear to have been removed from YouTube or to have been blocked from public access. Google cache (from Feb. 10, 2013) shows that the videos also touted NJF Global Group and positioned Profitable Sunrise as a better option than “Banners Broker.” One of the videos was titled “Income From Profitable Sunrise Blows Away What You Can Make With Banners Broker.” Another was titled “Forget Banners Broker & Make Real Money With Profitable Sunrise & NJF Global Group.”
Like Profitable Sunrise, Banners Broker also is being promoted on well-known Ponzi scheme forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup.
There were reports today that Banners Broker has been stripped of its ability to distribute money via MasterCard debit cards. Other Ponzi-board “programs,” including Imperia Invest IBC in 2010, have met similar fates. Imperia was met with a cease-and-desist order from Visa. An action by the SEC to halt Imperia’s operations followed.
Other Profitable Sunrise videos attributed to Hughes made headline appeals to populations in entire countries and had titles such as:
“Our NJF Global Team In Profitable Sunrise Invites Those In New Zealand To Join Us”
“Our Private NJF Global Team In Profitable Sunrise Is Inviting Those In Korea To Join Us”
“Our NJF Global Group In Profitable Sunrise Invites Those From India To Join Our Top Team”
“NJF Global Group / Profitable Sunrise Invites Those In The Philippines To Join Our Private Team”
“NJF Global Group / Profitable Sunrise Invites Those In Thailand To Join Our Amazing Team”
“Our Profitable Sunrise / NJF Global Group Invites Those From Germany To Join Our Team”
“Our NJF Global Group In Profitable Sunrise Invites Those In China To Join Our Amazing Team”
“Our NJF Global Group In Profitable Sunrise Invites Those In Australia To Join Our Team”
“Profitable Sunrise – The 2.7% Daily Long Haul Plan Is Closing Soon”
“Profitable Sunrise – How To Move Money From The Private Plan To The Long Haul Plan”
“Profitable Sunrise & Our NJF Global Group Really Are Helping People To Retire Early”
“The Best Way To Join Profitable Sunrise Is Through Our Private Group – NJF Global Group”
Here is the New Zealand warning, as published March 11 (italics added):
Warning: Beware of offerings of securities made by NJF Global Group and Profitable Sunrise
11 March 2013
The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) warns the public of an illegal offering of securities by Profitable Sunrise (Prosun) and/or NGF Global Group which has been advertised on ‘youtube’ by Mr Robert(Bob)Hughes, also known as Bob Hughes.
It is FMA’s understanding that these entities are operating from the UK and the US.
FMA is concerned that Prosun is illegally offering securities to the public in New Zealand in breach of NZ securities law, and warns New Zealanders not to invest in the above entities.
If you have invested with Profitable Sunrise or NJF Global Group, FMA would like to hear from you. Please contact our helpline on 0800 434 567.
In a development that could give pause to promoters of the purportedly “private” Profitable Sunrise scheme now on the radar of regulators in North America and Europe, a Florida man has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for his role in pitching a purported “opportunity” known as Queen Shoals.
The announcement of the prison sentence of Gary D. Martin, 61, was made by U.S. Attorney Anne M. Tompkins of the Western District of North Carolina. She was joined by Roger A. Coe, acting special agent in charge of the FBI office in Charlotte, and North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine F. Marshall.
Marshall’s office issued a cease-and-desist order late last month to Profitable Sunrise, a purportedly “private” program. Tompkins’ office, meanwhile, is involved in the probe of the alleged Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme, which described itself as a “private” program, according to court files. In August 2012, the SEC said Zeek was selling unregistered securities as investment contracts and had gathered at least $600 million.
While Profitable Sunrise is alleged by regulators to be offering returns in excess of 300 percent a year, Queen Shoals promised a much lower annualized percentage of between 8 percent and 24 percent.
The $32.5 million Queen Shoals Ponzi scheme was operated by Sidney Hanson. Martin formed an LLC with a similar name and pitched Queen Shoals from Florida. Federal prosecutors effectively accused him of passing along lies told by Hanson to fleece investors, including senior citizens.
Chief U.S. District Judge Robert J. Conrad Jr., who ruled in August 2011 that promises of “guaranteed” annual earnings were used by Martin to lure customers into the fraud, described the effect as devastating
“People in their 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and even 90’s lost everything because Hanson and Martin defrauded them,” prosecutors quoted Conrad as saying.
And, prosecutors said, Conrad also noted that Martin “went into homes, got people to rely on him and told them things that weren’t true, and based on false representations, many lost their life savings . . . He is seriously culpable.”
Conrad ordered Martin to pay more than $31.7 million in restitution and to serve two years’ probation upon completion of the prison sentence.
The Martin case speaks to the issue of how a lack of due diligence on the part of promoters can cause problems if a scheme later turns out to be a scam, perhaps especially if promoters add their own lies to a pitch and recruit other pitchmen.
From a statement by prosecutors (italics/bolding added):
Court records show that although Hanson never directly told Martin that Queen Shoals was a Ponzi scheme, Martin induced victims to invest in the Queen Shoals Ponzi scheme through a series of false and fraudulent representations. Specifically, Martin falsely claimed that QSC had over 20 years’ experience in financial services and international finance and that he had a vast background in financial services, including the silver, gold and foreign currency trading markets. In fact, Martin had no such experience, held no professional licenses related to finance or investments and had never engaged in any silver, gold or foreign currency trading.
According to court documents, Martin, through the QSC web site and other means, also made false claims about QSC’s financial expertise in “Self-Directed IRA Strategies and Fixed Rate Accounts.” Martin held QSC out as “leaders in Professional Private Placement Retirement Planning” and falsely claimed that QSC had a “proven method of diversification [that] spreads the risk nicely for a balanced portfolio,” when, in fact, QSC offered no such diversification and funneled victim funds solely into the Queen Shoals Ponzi scheme. Court records show that Martin routinely vouched for the success and reliability of Queen Shoals by claiming to have personally invested a significant amount of his own money into Queen Shoals when, in fact, Martin personally invested only $4,000.
According to filed documents and today’s sentencing hearing, Martin engaged in money laundering transactions by utilizing the referral fees he received from Hanson to pay commissions to himself and the so-called QSC consultants. From in or about 2007 to in or about 2009, Martin received over $1.9 million in referral fees from Hanson and paid the consultants over $1.5 million during the relevant time period in return for inducing victims to invest in the Queen Shoals Ponzi scheme. These payments caused QSC consultants to induce additional victims to invest in the Queen Shoals Ponzi scheme, thereby perpetuating the scheme.
In March 2011, Hanson, then 63, was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison.
Zeek Rewards likely had a presence in all 50 U.S. states, plus U.S. territories. The High Point Enterprise, a publication in Zeek’s home state of North Carolina, today has a story about a Utah man who joined the “program” just prior to the SEC bringing allegations in August 2012 that Zeek was a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme.
From the Enterprise (italics added):
During recruitment meetings at a house in Richfield, Olsen said he was approached with a soft-sale pitch to become part of Zeek Rewards. Olsen was told that his $10,000 “would build my credit in the business” and allow him to reap greater income. The recruitment of Olsen took place over a period of months, and the approach was to build a relationship of trust rather than “twist my arm,” he said. The Zeek Rewards affiliates that Olsen met emphasized that the money he provided wasn’t an investment. But when the Securities and Exchange Commission shut down Zeek Rewards, the federal agency called it an unregistered securities business.
“They said that they would be in trouble if they called it investing,” Olsen recalls.
Read the full story in the Enterprise, which described Olsen as an individual who’d just lost his job and discussed a plan with his wife by which the couple would sell a family vehicle to join Zeek.
EDITORIAL NOTE: Ponzi schemes cause real pain to real people. Regardless, the Ponzi-board apologists for Zeek continue to demonize the court-appointed receiver, continue to engage in wordplay to sanitize “opportunities” and continue to fuel schemes such as Zeek by parroting disclaimers such as “don’t spend more than you can afford to lose.”
Blaming victims or insisting no victims exist is one of the most odious practices of the serial Ponzi pitchmen.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Reproduced below is the full news release by the office of North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine F. Marshall on the cease-and-desist order issued last week to “Profitable Sunrise.”
Even as the state has raised serious concerns about the “program,” Profitable Sunrise “defenders” have been seeking to minimize the issues. Some people even are hurling insults at North Carolina regulators while blanketing Ponzi-scheme forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup with “I got paid” posts.
That a program “pays” is not evidence that no fraud scheme is occurring. (Bernard Madoff “paid” — right up until the day he didn’t.) Along those lines, collapsed “programs” such as Zeek Rewards, AdSurfDaily, Legisi, Pathway To Prosperity and Imperia Invest IBC — all of which advertised outsize returns — all had a presence on the Ponzi boards.
Some “defenders” of Profitable Sunrise appear to be scurrying to describe the alleged investment “program” as the recipient of “loans” from customers. The “loan” claims may raise altogether different issues — such as whether Profitable Sunrise is engaging in unlawful banking while commingling assets and operating as an unlawful investment pool. And despite “defenders’” claims that Profitable Sunrise is not the issuer of “securities” as investment contracts, Profitable Sunrise has advertised five investment schemes on its own website, including a bizarrely named plan known as the “Long Haul” that purported to pay 2.7 percent a day.The Legisi HYIP scheme sought to escape scrutiny in the United States by calling itself a “loan” program. Federal prosecutors described Legisi operator Gregory McKnight’s wordplay as “semantic obfuscation.” The SEC earlier described U.S.-based Legisi pitchman Matthew John Gagnon as a threat to the investing public.
Here, below, the statement by Marshall’s office . . .
Raleigh – North Carolina Secretary of State Securities officials have issued a Temporary Order to Cease and Desist to Roman Novak, Radoslav Novak and Inter Reef LTD d/b/a Profitable Sunrise to bar them from offering and selling or attempting to sell securities in the form of investment contracts to North Carolina’s investing public.
Secretary of State investigators say the respondents promoted five different “investment plans” through a website that offered rates of return ranging from 1.6-percent per business day to 2.7-percent per business day. Investors were told their money would be used to fund short-term loans to businesses. Investors were also told their investments were “risk-free,” “with a certain rate of return and no chance of default,” and that “all funds deposited with us are insured against loss.”
Secretary of State investigators have also discovered that victims were making wire transfers of money to financial institutions in Eastern European countries.
However, the respondents were never registered with the North Carolina Secretary of State’s Securities Division to sell securities and the investment itself was not registered as a security in accordance with the North Carolina Securities Act.
“We have issued this Cease and Desist Order because we believe this solicitation poses a real danger to the investing public,” Secretary of State Elaine F. Marshall said Friday. “Proper registration of securities and the individuals selling securities is fundamental to protecting the public from con artists and investment fraud. That is why it is so important to call our Securities Division before investing your hard-earned money to make sure that the investment you are considering is registered. This case also demonstrates the perils of web-based investment marketing.”
Marshall urged anyone in North Carolina who has invested with Profitable Sunrise to contact the Secretary of State’s Securities Division at 1-800-688-4507.
The website of “NewGNI” has not resolved to a server for days. The “program” is believed to have been a knockoff of a predecessor scam known as “GNI” or GoldNuggetInvest, which collapsed in early 2010 after being promoted by members of the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme.
The collapse of the original GNI was about as bizarre as they come in HYIP land. Critics were told to concentrate on earthquake relief in Haiti, rather than questioning the HYIP scheme. GNI’s collapse purportedly occurred after its operators sought “a crystal clear vision of our financial vortex.“
Among the pitchmen for both GNI and NewGNI was Ponzi-board legend “Ken Russo,” also known as “DRdave.” Earlier, “Ken Russo” had promoted the $119 million ASD scheme. He later turned to ClubAsteria, which was trading on the name of the World Bank to reel in suckers. ClubAsteria promos came under the lens of CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator. “Ken Russo” also emerged as a pitchman for Zeek Rewards, which the SEC described in August 2012 as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme operating from North Carolina.
Among “Ken Russo’s” latest ventures is “Profitable Sunrise,” now the subject of a cease-and-desist order from North Carolina regulators.
Profitable Sunrise purportedly is operated by Roman Novak. The “program” is being targeted at people of faith, some of whom appear to be defending it by weaving impossible tales. Any number of Ponzi-board taunts have been aimed at the Securities Division of North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, even as ProfitableSunrise advertises a risk-free, preposterous return of 2.7 percent a day in its bizarrely named “Long Haul” program with a purported Easter holiday payoff.
“lol @ NC officials,” says one post at MoneyMakerGroup. Another compares Marshall’s office to “Deputy Barney Fife,” an iconic TV character played by Don Knotts in the Andy Griffith Show.
Even after the government of Belize issued a warning against GNI in 2009, scammers continued to promote it — virtually to the very day it collapsed and took an unspecified sum with it. The collapse triggered a bizarre series of conspiracy theories.
GNI was operating concurrently with a now-collapsed scam bizarrely known as “Cash Tanker,” an “opportunity” aimed at Christians. Cash Tanker used an image of Jesus Christ in its promos and purported to pay 2 percent a day.
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: The state of North Carolina — home base to the alleged $600 million Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme — has ordered a purported offshore “opportunity” known as “Profitable Sunrise” to cease and desist from doing business in the state.
Profitable Sunrise purports to be a hard-money lender and investment opportunity. It appears to have attracted some Zeek members both before and after the August 2012 collapse of Zeek. Zeek was under investigation by North Carolina, the SEC and the U.S. Secret Service at the time of its collapse.
In its cease-and-desist order, North Carolina described Profitable Sunrise as “an immediate and significant danger” that is using multiple investment schemes to attract money, including a purported “Long Haul” plan.
The offer is being targeted at people of faith through web-based promoters, some of whom described themselves as Christians. Offering materials for the “Long Haul” plan have advertised an Easter holiday payout.
The company itself has advertised “risk free” payouts with “no chance of default,” according to the North Carolina order. And Profitable Sunrise also claims “investments are insured by a leading investment bank.”
As the PP Blog reported in December, Profitable Sunrise appeared to qualify investors based on their views on hot-button issues, including abortion.
North Carolina’s order names Roman Novak, Radoslav Novak and Inter Reef LTD (doing business as Profitable Sunrise) as respondents, amid allegations by the Securities Division of the office of North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall that Profitable Sunrise is selling unregistered securities as investment contracts.
Profitable Sunrise lists a business address in the United Kingdom. Regardless, the enterprise is soliciting funds to be sent to Raiffeisenbank AS in the Czech Republic, according to North Carolina investigators. An entity known as Melland Company SRO was listed in Profitable Sunrise wiring instructions as the beneficiary, according to the order.
A credit union used by a North Carolina-based Profitable Sunrise investor blocked at least one transaction directed toward the Czech bank, citing suspicions of fraud, according to the order.
Marshall’s investigators noted that the Profitable Sunrise investor believed that the”Long Haul” plan would pay “interest of 2.7% daily, compounded at 100%, for 240 days.”
Other Profitable Sunrise plans also promised high interest rates in compressed time frames, reaching for sums of between $10 and $2,500 and advertising interest rates of between 1.6 percent and 2 percent a day, according to the order.
Zeek planted the seed that it paid an average of 1.5 percent a day, the SEC said on Aug. 17. On Aug. 4, Zeek claimed on its news site that unspecified “North Carolina credit unions” were creating problems for it.
Garfield M. Taylor, the Maryland man accused civilly by the SEC in November 2011 of duping charitable organizations and people of faith in a Ponzi scheme, now has been indicted on criminal charges, the FBI and federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia said.
Taylor, 54, of Rockville, faces counts of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities, the office of U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. said.
The $25 million Taylor scam was about smoke and mirrors, prosecutors said.
From a statement by Machen’s office (italics added):
According to the indictment, Taylor devised and employed a scheme from in or about September 2006 through in or about September 2010 in which he convinced investors to invest with him by promising them substantial returns on their investment, telling them that he used a sophisticated securities trading strategy that protected against loss, and claiming that he had a proven track record of using this strategy effectively.
During the course of this scheme, however, Taylor never used the trading strategy that he told investors that he would use. With the investments he did make during this period, Taylor either lost money or made minimal profits far below what was needed to pay the amounts he owed. The only way that Taylor was able to pay the substantial interest rates he was paying during this period was to use portions of the principal invested by new investors to pay amounts that were owed to earlier investors.
In 2011, the SEC said Taylor used terms such as such as “proprietary strategy,” “covered call investment strategy” and “unparalleled downside protection” to dupe investors. It is somewhat common for fraudsters to use fancy-sounding investment lingo in bids to scam investors.
In one instance, federal prosecutors said today, Taylor took “approximately half” of an investor’s $425,000 investment to pay sums owed to “earlier investors.”
He also claimed investments with him were insured against loss and that a reserve fund to protect investors existed as an extra safeguard, prosecutors said.
Those claims were false, prosecutors said.
“At the time of the scheme’s collapse, Taylor owed investors nearly $25 million just to cover the principal he was contractually required to return to them,” prosecutors said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia also prosecuted the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme.
Kenneth Wayne Leaming, aka “Kenneth Wayne,” aka “Keny,” now is calling himself a “live abortion” — apparently in “defense” of home-based businesses.
UPDATED 12:28 P.M. (FEB. 27, U.S.A.) Kenneth Wayne Leaming, a figure in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi-scheme story and a purported “sovereign citizen,” is scheduled to go on trial today in federal court the Western District of Washington with co-defendant David Carroll Stephenson. Leaming is charged with filing false liens against public officials involved in the ASD prosecution. Among his alleged targets were a federal judge, at least two federal prosecutors — and the U.S. Secret Service agent who cracked the ASD Ponzi case in 2008.
Leaming, 57, also is charged with assisting Stephenson in the filing of false liens against two federal-prison officials. Stephenson was in federal prison for a tax scheme at the time the liens allegedly were filed. Records strongly suggest that Stephenson, also 57, would be a free man today were it not for his association with Leaming, given that Stephenson’s prison term in the tax case had been scheduled to end early this year. Instead, he’s facing new charges and potentially more jail time.
But the false-liens charges are just the beginning for Leaming. He also is charged with harboring two federal fugitives wanted in a multimillion-dollar home-business fraud in Arkansas, being a felon in possession of firearms and passing a bogus “Bonded Promissory Note” for $1 million.
If you’re new to the PP Blog and new to the ASD case, a brief review is in order: The Secret Service raided ASD in August 2008, alleging the Florida-based firm operated by Andy Bowdoin was a massive Ponzi scheme operating over the Internet. Bowdoin reacted to the raid and the seizure of tens of millions of dollars by comparing the U.S. government to “Satan” and the Secret Service to the 9/11 terrorists. Now 78 and in federal prison, Bowdoin came out of the gate after the seizure by assuring ASD investors that “God” was on the company’s side.
Some MLMers were quick to accuse the government of targeting a fine Christian man who was helping the United States create jobs with a “program” that purported to pay participants back 100 percent of their investment and a profit of 25 percent in only months. (Ten-thousand dollars in ASD purportedly fetched $12,500 within 90 to 125 days, purportedly more if members “compounded” their “earnings,” kept 80 percent of their money in a continuous state of “roll over” and never fully cashed out.)
Essentially there was only one chance that ASD was not a Ponzi scheme during its approximately 18-month run — and that single chance required nearly a complete suspension of logic to destroy the government’s Ponzi case and get ASD off the hook: Had a crazy billionaire or exceptionally well-heeled financier (who also was crazy) given convicted-felon Bowdoin more money than ASD’s rapidly accruing liabilities — basically an enormous line of credit that didn’t have to be paid back and could be tapped on demand for ASD to pay out $1.25 for every dollar it took in until the line was exhausted — ASD would not have been a Ponzi scheme. Absent a benevolent madman-billionaire and the kind of capital it would take to build a nuclear-power plant and operate it indefinitely with zero concern for profit, however, ASD could be one thing and one thing only: a Ponzi scheme using money from “new” members to fund the redemption requests of “old” members or a Ponzi scheme that sustained itself by simply recycling money among members of a closed group.
No madmen-billionaires sufficiently liquid to bankrupt themselves by funding Bowdoin’s stated plan of creating 100,000 ASD millionaires in three years while at once financing the “profits” of tens of thousands of average people seeking to expand the ranks of ASD millionaires well beyond 100,000 appeared to testify on ASD’s behalf at an evidentiary hearing it requested in the fall of 2008.
Here is just one of the reasons MLM has a miserable reputation: Notwithstanding the fact that Bowdoin already was a convicted felon for an Alabama securities swindle in the 1990s and that one of his business partners was a man implicated by the SEC in the 1990s in three prime-bank swindles, some MLMers decided to improve the already bizarre narrative that the government was picking on a grandfatherly Christian.
Petitions were started to paint prosecutors as the bogeymen. (The shorthand for this in MLM’s HYIP Ponzi land is “evilGUBment.”) ASD critics were derided as “maggots.” A “prayer” went out calling for prosecutors to be struck dead from the heavens. A theory was advanced that a Florida TV station should be charged with Deceptive Trade Practices for carrying news unflattering to ASD. A companion theory held that the Attorney General of Florida should be charged with the same offense and that AARP, which lobbies for senior citizens, should lobby for ASD. Meanwhile, some MLMers tried to enlist the U.S. Senate to turn the focus of the investigation away from ASD and Bowdoin and put it on the prosecutors who brought the Ponzi case. One MLMer called for the government’s lead prosecutor to be placed in a medieval torture rack, with ASD members at large drawing straws to determine who got the honor of making the prosecutor’s time in the rack as painful as possible.
Very few people in MLM had anything to say about the circus surrounding ASD. The few who did — perhaps most notably Rod Cook of MLM Watchdog — were excoriated for dismissing the narrative advanced by Bowdoin and other MLMers. All of this was occurring while ASD was provably insolvent. When Bowdoin failed to take the witness stand at the evidentiary hearing he requested, it was explained that he was “too honest” to testify. Both before and after the hearing, some of his most notable Stepfordian apologists advanced a theory that the government secretly had admitted ASD was not a Ponzi scheme and was clinging to the case in a bid to save face.
One ASD member advanced a narrative that the government had taken about $80 million in seized proceeds and invested it in a secret fund to pay for black-ops. It was from this caldron of conspiracy theories and fantastic idiocy that Kenneth Wayne Leaming emerged.
Like other “sovereigns,” Leaming to date hasn’t focused much of his attention on the actual charges against him, even though his conviction could result in considerable jail time. Rather, Leaming mostly has focused on creating a blitz of paperwork on the apparent theory his best “defense” is to keep the Feds and even local officials scurrying to guard all flanks. Since his November 2011 arrest by an FBI Terrorism Task Force, Leaming has sued the President of the United States, the Attorney General of the United States, various officials (including purported “Does”) and a county sheriff in Arkansas.
Members of Zeek Rewards and other MLM schemes should pay attention to the Leaming trial. There can be no doubt that Leaming-like figures existed within the Zeek enterprise. Like ASD before it, Zeek was a magnet to willfully blind MLM hucksters and actual criminals. Both “businesses” best are viewed as racketeering enterprises that posed an untenable risk to the United States and the rest of the world.
For the remainder of this column, the PP Blog will focus on just one crime alleged against Leaming: the filing of a false lien against the U.S. Secret Service agent — not that the other alleged bogus liens are any more palatable or acceptable. The word “disgraceful” hardly covers Leaming’s alleged actions, and yet some MLMers saw Leaming not only as an inspirational figure, but as the wisest man of all.
The Secret Service guards the lives of the President of the United States and the Vice President of the United States and their families. It also guards the lives of former Presidents and international dignitaries and political figures visiting the United States. As the agency is doing this, it also protects the U.S. financial system.
It is unthinkable — so far beyond the pale that it almost defies description — that Leaming, let alone any other American, ever would target a Secret Service agent in a harassment campaign. The Secret Service is a smallish agency by federal standards, yet it is arguably the most important: Markets become unglued when world figures are assassinated or targeted in assassination attempts. Beyond that, history now has shown that an event such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks actually can close markets and restrict freedom, the very things Leaming purports to be upholding.
People of good will are appalled that Leaming apparently thought it somehow his duty to Democracy and Constitutional government to harass a Secret Service agent. Given the critical duties of the Secret Service and its role in both national security and economic security, no American of good will wants to see an agent’s attention divided by the Kenneth Wayne Leamings of the nation and world.
If Leaming is convicted, he should be sentenced to the longest jail term permissible under the law. Never again should MLM or any MLMer stay silent when an obvious fraud scheme surfaces and is “defended” at the exclusion of all logic.
In both form and substance, Zeek was virtually identical to ASD — and yet ASD members and other MLMers joined Zeek. That’s a problem for MLM. whether it admits it or not.
Those ASD members who joined Zeek? They did so even as Kenneth Wayne Leaming allegedly was targeting public officials, including a U.S. Secret Service agent, in campaigns designed to destroy the thin blue line that protects citizens from anarchy. The most dangerous Zeek members are the ones who hoped he’d succeed.
UPDATED 8:48 A.M. EDT (MARCH 24, U.S.A.) Oz at BehindMLM broke the news that eAdGear Inc. and GoFunPlaces Inc. have sued Randal Williams and JubiMax LLC (and others) — and that Williams earlier had sued eAdGear and GoFunPlaces (and others).
