Gary Calhoun’s July 30, 2013, booking photo: Source: Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.
UPDATED 5:52 P.M. EDT (JULY 31, U.S.A.) Gary Calhoun, the operator of the MPB Today MLM program who was charged in December with racketeering under Florida state law, is listed as a prisoner at the Escambia County Jail.
Today was Calhoun’s sentencing date. The length of his sentence was not immediately clear. [July 31 UPDATE: Court docket updated July 31 to reflect three-year sentence in state prison, followed by 10 years’ probation. This note appears on the docket:
“DURING PROBATION THE DEFT. MUST OBTAIN PRIOR APPROVAL FROM HIS PROBATION OFFICER BEFORE ACCEPTING ANY EMPLOYMENT OR STARTING, PURCHASING OR IN ANY OTHER MANNER ASSOCIATING WITH A BUSINESS. THE PURPOSE OF THIS REQUIREMENT IS TO ENSURE THAT DEFT. DOES NOT IN ANY WAY ASSOCIATE HIMSELF WITH A MULTI-LEVEL MARKETING BUSINESS THAT COULD BE CONVERTED INTO A PYRAMID SCHEME OR OTHER ENTITY USED FOR ILLEGITIMATE PURPOSES.”]
Calhoun is 57.
One year ago tomorrow, federal prosecutors in the Northern District of Florida filed a forfeiture complaint against certain property linked to MPB Today and a companion grocery-delivery business known as Southeastern Delivery in Pensacola. The complaint, according to records, was brought to enforce laws against access-device fraud and fraud in connection with identification documents.
MPB Today had a presence on the Ponzi boards and was one of the stranger MLMs in recent years, with promoters claiming a one-time purchase of $200 could result in free groceries and gasoline for life. Some promoters claimed the “program” was backed by the U.S. government. Others claimed MPB Today was backed by Walmart. At least one promoter bizarrely tried to sell the “program” by positioning President Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, a former member of Walmart’s board of directors, as Nazis.
Despite claims that MPB Today was partnered with Walmart, another promotion read as such: If you “hate Walmart and have written a 603 page manifesto on how Walmart is trying to take over the world and steal your soul,” you should “stop making that pipe bomb and read how you can avoid Walmart and still make bank” with MPB Today, according to the pitch.
Some MPB Today affiliates licensed themselves to videotape commercials for MPB Today inside Walmart stores.
In April, a Florida judge ordered Calhoun “TO HAVE NO CONTACT OR RECEIVE ANY INCOME FROM ANY MLM,” according to the docket of the case.
In 2006, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Calhoun was associated with an entity known as Trim International (MyTrim.com) and illegally marketing a product known as “TCR Cell Rejuvenator.” The agency said the product was unlawfully positioned as a treatment for “Neurodegenerative diseases: Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, axonal and other neuropathies, Down’s and other syndromes.”
TCR Cell Rejuvenator also was positioned as a treatment for “recurrent Herpes, common cold and flu,” amid MyTrim claims it could be used “to treat patients with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cancer and other infectious diseases and neurological disorders,” according to the FDA.
Meta tags on the site also referenced “prostate cancer,” the FDA said.
Gary Calhoun, the operator of the MPB Today MLM “program,” has joined AdSurfDaily Ponzi schemer Andy Bowdoin as a member of a dubious club: A Florida judge has ordered Calhoun not to get arrested on new charges and to stay away from MLM while he awaits sentencing in a racketeering case brought by Florida authorities last year.
Here is a note on the docket of Circuit Judge Jan Shackelford reflecting the ban: “DEFENDANT TO HAVE NO CONTACT OR RECEIVE ANY INCOME FROM ANY MLM.” Calhoun, according to the docket, will be permitted to pursue any “legal means” to support his family.
Bowdoin was banned from MLM last year while he awaited sentencing in the $119 million ASD Ponzi scheme broken up by the U.S. Secret Service in August 2008. Prosecutors said Bowdoin pushed a scam known as AdViewGlobal (AVG) even after the government seized more than $80 million in ASD-related bank accounts. After the collapse of AVG in 2009, Bowdoin, 78, pushed a pyramid scheme known as OneX, according to court filings. He later was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison.
Calhoun, 56, will be sentenced July 30, according to the case docket, which notes a plea agreement. He was arrested on the racketeering charge in December 2012 and has been free on bond since then. In July 2012, federal prosecutors in the Northern District of Florida filed a forfeiture complaint for MPB Today’s headquarters building in Pensacola. The affidavit in the forfeiture case was filed under seal. But the forfeiture case, according to prosecution filings, was brought to enforce 18 USC § 1028 and 18 USC § 1029, statutes dealing with access-device fraud and fraud in connection with identification documents.
MPB Today operated an MLM married to a grocery-delivery business known as Southeastern Delivery. Among the claims was that a one-time purchase of $200 in groceries could lead to free groceries and gasoline for life. Some promoters claimed the U.S. government and Walmart had endorsed MPB Today. Others encouraged prospects to sell $200 worth of Food Stamps to raise the money needed to join the “program.”
Supporters of the “program” defended it on the PP Blog by calling critics “roaches,” “IDIOTS,” “clowns,” “terrible” people, “misleading” people, people who have led a “sheltered life,” people who have been “chained up in a basement,” people who have “chips” on their shoulders, spewers of “hot air,” “naysayers,” “complainers,” “trouble maker[s]” and “crybabies.”
MPB Today later vanished — but not before a promoter described President Obama as a Nazi and and his family as aspiring to eat dog food. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was depicted as a bawling drunk. First Lady Michelle Obama was depicted as having experienced an embarrassing gas attack in the Oval Office after having sampled “beans” at a Sam’s Club Store.
From an ad designed to attract prospects for the MPB Today “program.”
All of it — and more — was designed to attract business to the MLM firm, which apparently has followed ASD into the darkness.
News of Calhoun’s sentencing date was received during a week in which MLM was experiencing one PR disaster after another. WTOL, a TV station in Toledo, Ohio, carried a report on the alleged Profitable Sunrise HYIP scheme. The SEC said earlier this month that the purported “opportunity” may have gathered tens of millions of dollars and that promoters may not have known for whom they were working.
Profitable Sunrise was targeted at Christians, according to regulatory actions. Among its absurd offerings was the purported “Long Haul” plan that promised to pay 2.7 percent a day with the payout due April 1 — April Fool’s Day. Promoters called it the “Easter Gift” because Easter occurred on March 31. The payouts, however, never materialized.
The story details spam received by Wonkette, apparently from a promoter of a scheme known as “Rocket Ca$h Cycler.”
The subject line of the pitch, according to Wonkette, was this: “The Wealth Transfer is here!! Florida Pastor & Church break through financially!”
When MPB Today was operational, it ran a matrix cycler. One particularly bizzare pitch for the “program” in 2010 claimed this: If you “hate Walmart and have written a 603 page manifesto on how Walmart is trying to take over the world and steal your soul,” you should “stop making that pipe bomb and read how you can avoid Walmart and still make bank.”
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (UPDATED 1:06 P.M. ET U.S.A.) Gary Calhoun, the operator of the the MPB Today MLM “program” and a companion grocery-delivery business known as Southeastern Delivery, has pleaded guilty to a state-level racketeering charge in Florida. He was charged in December.
Calhoun, 56, of Pensacola, was not immediately sentenced. But he is expected to turn in his passport to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement “within 48 hours,” according to the docket of the case in Escambia County. The docket also notes correspondence from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida and references a “voluntary forfeiture agreement.”
In July, federal prosecutors filed a forfeiture complaint for a property at 8812 Grow Drive, also known as Grow Road, in Pensacola. The property is the business address of Southeastern Delivery and also the address of a Calhoun-controlled entity known as WL Property Holdings LLC. The property also is the address of MPB Today.
MPB Today was among a number of “programs” pitched on Ponzi-scheme forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup.
The Calhoun guilty plea represents the second time in 24 hours that the name of a “program” operator whose “opportunity” was pitched on the Ponzi boards has surfaced in the news, either as a current prison inmate or potential one.
David Merrick, the operator of the Trader’s International Return Network (TIRN) fraud scheme that was promoted from the Ponzi boards in 2008 and 2009, was sentenced in 2012 to 97 months in federal prison and was handed additional civil sanctions and a restitution order yesterday totaling more than $22.8 million.
MPB Today was promoted on the Ponzi boards in 2010.
Some individual MPB Today promotions were bizarre, including one that cast President Obama and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as Nazis. Another MPB Today promoter videotaped himself making a deposit of his MPB Today commissions at an FDIC-insured bank. At least one of MPB Today’s banks was operating under an FDIC consent agreement.
Still other MPB Today affiliates taped commercials for the enterprise inside Walmart stores. Some promoters asserted Walmart was affiliated with MPB Today and approved by the government. One MPB Today affiliate videotaped a UPS driver making a delivery of a television set.
The video’s narrator said the TV has been purchased “kind of, indirectly” with a Walmart gift card from MPB Today. Other MPB Today affiliates claimed a one-time purchase of $200 in groceries from Southeastern Delivery set the stage for MPB Today affiliates to receive free groceries and gasoline for life.
Clinton once sat on Walmart’s board of directors. Why some MPB Today affiliates apparently believed it prudent to attack Democratic politicians in a bid to sign up MPB Today affiliates remains unclear.
Promos for MPB Today were targeted at foreclosure subjects, Food Stamp recipients and the poor — and victims of the Florida-based AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme. In 2010, Walmart declined to comment on MPB Today-related claims.
Some MLM “opportunities” are infamous for implying in promos that they’re endorsed by famous business people or famous companies. MPB Today used images of Donald Trump and Warren Buffett in promos, and affiliates regularly implied that Walmart had endorsed MPB Today.
UPDATE: A hearing for Gary Calhoun set for yesterday in Florida’s Escambia County Circuit Court on a state-level racketeering charge has been rescheduled for Feb. 4, according to the docket of the case.
Calhoun, 56, of Pensacola, was arrested last month on the racketeering charge. He is the operator of the MPB Today MLM “program” and a companion grocery-delivery business known as Southeastern Delivery. MPB Today’s website has been offline for weeks.
In July, federal prosecutors filed a forfeiture complaint for a property at 8812 Grow Drive, also known as Grow Road, in Pensacola. The property is the business address of Southeastern Delivery and also the address of a Calhoun-controlled entity known as WL Property Holdings LLC. The property also is the address of MPB Today.
The affidavit in the federal forfeiture case was filed under seal. But the forfeiture case, according to prosecution filings, was brought to enforce 18 USC § 1028 and 18 USC § 1029, statutes dealing with access-device fraud and fraud in connection with identification documents. The complaint also references the federal wire-fraud and conspiracy statutes.
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Gary A. Calhoun is the subject of a criminal probe linked to a civil-forfeiture action in federal court in the Northern District of Florida, according to court filings by his attorney.
Calhoun, 56, is the operator of the MPB Today MLM, which is tied to a grocery-delivery business in Pensacola known as Southeastern Delivery. In July, federal prosecutors filed a forfeiture action against a property at 8812 Grow Drive, also known as Grow Road, in Pensacola. The property is the business address of Southeastern Delivery and also the address of a Calhoun-controlled entity known as WL Property Holdings LLC.
The affidavit in the forfeiture case was filed under seal. But the forfeiture case, according to prosecution filings, was brought to enforce 18 USC § 1028 and 18 USC § 1029, statutes dealing with access-device fraud and fraud in connection with identification documents.
Calhoun was arrested last month in Florida on a state-level charge of racketeering. The existence of the federal documents may mean that Calhoun also has exposure under federal criminal law. The forfeiture complaint also cites the federal wire-fraud and conspiracy statutes.
Some promos for MPB Today in 2010 were targeted at federal Food Stamp recipients. The U.S. Department of Agriculture told the PP Blog in 2010 that it had opened a “review” into claims about the MPB Today “program.” The agency later described the matter as an investigation.
A news release apparently authored by an MPB Today affiliate in 2010 encouraged impoverished prospects to sell $200 worth of Food Stamps to a “friend, family member or whoever” to raise cash to join the the MPB Today program.
In September, Calhoun asked for the forfeiture case to be stayed because of a parallel criminal probe. A federal judge granted the request.
When prosecutors filed the July forfeiture action, they noted that “[t]he facts and circumstances supporting the seizure and forfeiture of the defendant property are contained in a sealed affidavit, so as not to publish the facts of an ongoing criminal investigation.”
On Sept. 24, Calhoun’s lawyer noted in a court filing that he “has confirmed that Mr. Calhoun is, at a minimum, a subject in the related criminal investigation.”
Screen shot of a section of a news release for the MPB Today MLM "opportunity" that appeared yesterday on the website of the San Francisco Chronicle. It also appeared on Yahoo News and other sites. The release claims MPB Today is a corporation, but that does not appear to be the case, according to records in Florida.
A Florida grocery company with an MLM arm is back in the news — but a press release that describes MPB Today as a corporation may not be accurate.
The press release dated yesterday is titled “MPBtoday Inc. Announces New Openings in Pensacola, Florida.” The release does not describe the purported “new openings,” and records in the state of Florida suggest that MPB Today is not a registered corporation entitled to use the “Inc.” designation.
Rather, MPB Today — without the “Inc.” designation — appears to be operating as a fictitious arm of a vitamin and supplements company known as Le330 Inc., according to Florida records. Although MPB Today appears at one time to have used the “Inc.” designation, records suggest it did so inappropriately.
MPB Today is tied to a Pensacola-based grocery company known as Southeastern Delivery. In 2010, check-waving videos and websites for MPB Today appeared in scores of places. Some of the promos showed checks with the MPB Today “Inc.” designation. Others showed the name “Mpb Today” with no “Inc.” designation. Still others showed the name of Southeastern Delivery LLC.
The press release issued yesterday appears to be an affiliate promo that has been carried by multiple news and information outlets. In addition to using the “Inc.” designation in a bold headline, the release uses this information deck:
“Brand new company has opened in Pensacola, Florida, offering affiliates and consumers the opportunity to earn unlimited income and eliminate your grocery and gas bill.”
Here is the opening paragraph of the news release:
“MPBtoday Inc., a new company out of Florida that has several grocery warehouses in Florida, is now spreading into Alabama and soon nationwide and up into Canada.”
The release also uses the names of Walmart and Sam’s Club:
“MPBtoday offers affiliates a chance to earn a very good income,” according to the release. “Plus, every time people sign up, affiliates get paid, and every time six people sign up through their organization, they will receive a $200 gift card where affiliates go to Wal-mart & SamsClub to get groceries & gas.”
Michelle Obama was depicted as experiencing an embarrassing gas attack in the Oval Office after having sampled beans at a Sam’s Club Store. Some MPB affiliates claimed the company was affiliated with Walmart and had been endorsed by the U.S. government.
Some promoters tried to drive business to their downlines by claiming MPB Today had liars in its midst and that it was important to sign up under a nonlying member. The purported opportunity also was promoted on the Ponzi boards and targeted at Food Stamp recipients, Ponzi scheme victims, foreclosure subjects, senior citizens and college students.
Impoverished MPB Today prospects should sell $200 worth of Food Stamps to a “friend, family member or whoever” to raise cash to join MPB Today, according to an affiliate’s news release last year.
Images of two checks purportedly from the MPB Today MLM program are published on a .org website. The checks show Whitney National Bank of Pensacola as MPB Today's bank. Previous checks from the company showed the name of Gulf Coast Community Bank of Pensacola as the bank for both MPB Today and its purported parent company, Southeastern Delivery.
An MPB Today affiliate’s site on a .org domain is publishing images of checks that suggest the purported “grocery” MLM in Pensacola either has switched banks or is using a second bank.
The checks are dated Oct. 8 and bear the name of Whitney National Bank of Pensacola. Previous images of checks published by MPB Today affiliates showed the name of Gulf Coast Community Bank, a Pensacola bank that has been operating under a consent agreement with the FDIC since January.
The checks purportedly drawn on Whitney show the name “Mpb Today” as the account-holder. Previous images of checks published online by MPB Today affiliates showed the names of “MPB Today Inc.” and “Southeastern Delivery LLC.”
Southeastern is the purported parent company of MPB Today. Why the checks dated in October and purportedly drawn on Whitney did not use the “Inc.” designation was not immediately clear. Also unclear is why MPB checks published online by affiliates included three different names as bank account-holders: Mpb Today, MPB Today Inc. and Southeastern Delivery LLC.
If MPB Today has switched banks at midstream, it may signal a change in the status quo. Changes in the status quo often are key markers of scams. Changes in MLM compensation plans also may signal a change in the status quo. MPB Today now says it is paying bonuses to certain members of the firm’s 2×2 cycler matrix.
Some MPB Today affiliates have received Walmart gift cards as part of their compensation, while others have received Walmart “In Store Credit Cards” and prepaid Visa cards branded in Walmart’s name. Whether the varying payment methods represent changes in the status quo is unclear.
Separately, a video on YouTube shows a 32-inch television set being delivered by UPS to a residence believed to be in Las Vegas. A narrator in in the video says the TV was paid for with a Walmart gift card “kind of, indirectly.”
The video captures the actual delivery of the TV, showing the face of the UPS driver and also capturing his voice. Whether the UPS driver understood he was being videotaped for a commercial for MPB Today was unclear.
This marks at least the second time that video promos for the MPB Today program have captured the faces and voices of people who may not have understood that they were being filmed for commercials for the “grocery” program. An earlier video by a separate MPB Today affiliate captured the voice of a teller at an FDIC-insured bank, the face of a Walmart employee and the faces of employees of a taco store.
At least one other video for MPB Today has shown a TV purchased with proceeds from the “grocery” program — in this case, a 46-inch model manufactured by Samsung.
This check, published on a Blog, shows the name of Southeastern Delivery.
A UPS van drives off after after delivering a 32-inch television to an address believed to be in Las Vegas. A narrator in the video said the TV "kind of, indirectly" was paid for with a Walmart gift card from the MPB Today grocery MLM.The TV purportedly paid for with a gift card from the "grocery" program.
A domain that redirects to an MPB Today affiliate site provided by the MLM company implies that the firm offers "rebates" to prospects who join. This screen shot shows the page that loads if prospects visit the "rebates" domain. The "rebates" domain that causes this page to load does not explain how MPB Today prospects can secure a rebate after joining.
UPDATED 11:47 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) An affiliate domain linked to the MPB Today “grocery” program implies the company offers “rebates” to prospects who join the MLM company. The domain redirects to an MPB Today-provided affiliate site, which includes an email address for the promoter. The promoter’s email address is associated with yet another domain — one whose registration data lists the name of a company in Miami that purports to provide services for “cardholders.”
Florida records show that the “cardholders’” firm — an LLC — was administratively dissolved by the state last month for failure to file an annual report. Other records show that the defunct company uses the address of a UPS store as its address.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said last month that it was investigating claims made about the MPB Today program, which has been targeted at Food Stamp recipients. USDA had no immediate comment this morning on the domain that implies MPB Today offers rebates.
Two words appear in this domain name prior to the word "rebates." If prospects click on the URL in Google search results, they are redirected to an MPB Today affiliate site.
Both domains — the one that implies MPB Today offers rebates and redirects to the MPB Today-provided affiliate’s page and the one associated with the “cardholders’” firm — are associated with the name of the MPB Today promoter. The domain that implies MPB Today offers rebates was registered on July 7, 2007, meaning it was in operation even before MPB Today and its purported parent company, Southeastern Delivery of Pensacola, were in operation.
The domain that implies rebates are available and redirects to the MPB Today affiliate’s website does so immediately, and there appears to be no content that explains how one can get a rebate when joining the MPB Today MLM program, which operates a 2×2 matrix cycler. MPB Today does not promote a rebate program on its website.
Why an affiliate would imply that it does is unclear.
Second Reference To MPB Today ‘Rebates’
An MPB Today “rebates” program also was advertised last week by a separate promoter — “Ken Russo” — on the ASA Monitor Ponzi and criminals’ forum. ASA announced it was closing only days after “Ken Russo” solicited prospects to send him a private message using the forum’s software to arrange to receive a rebate of $50 from a member of his MPB Today “team.”
If any rebate transactions for MPB Today occurred as a result of the “Ken Russo” promo on ASA Monitor, they would have done so out of public view because private messages are not displayed to the forum’s readership at large. The ASA promo leads to a question about whether the forum was facilitating private MPB Today rebate transactions for “Ken Russo” during a period in which USDA was investigating claims about the firm.
Meanwhile, the domain that implies MPB Today offers rebates and redirects to theMPB Today-provided affiliate’s site leads to a question about why affiliates apparently are seeking to lure prospects with cash payouts or the hint of cash payouts for joining the program.
At the same time, the domain has been associated with yet another domain that purports to offer entrepreneurial “success.” The “success” website promotes six numbered “Projects.”
A link for “Project 6” redirects to yet-another website that promotes MPB Today. This website features a check- and Walmart card-waving video, but does not reference rebates. A woman who appears in the video identifies herself as a member of the “MPB Power Team.”
“Come on board and get your own checks and your own gift cards,” the woman said.
A website that promotes the MPB Today “grocery” program is targeted at Spanish-speaking prospects and uses Walmart’s name in its domain name.
Like at least three other websites linked to Florida-based MPB Today’s 2×2 matrix cycler, it is unclear if the site’s operator has Walmart’s permission to use its name in a domain name. The site, which implies Walmart distributes cash, is not registered in the retail giant’s name.
An English headline on the site urges viewers to “Eliminate Your Grocery Bills . . . Forever” by joining the MLM. The site then presents Spanish content, while linking to a video that uses images of business titans Warren Buffet and Donald Trump. A check drawn on the account of Southeastern Delivery is reproduced on the site, as are images of a Walmart gift card, a Walmart store and a Sam’s Club store.
MPB Today removed images of Buffet, Trump and Walmart from the homepage of its website last month. Regardless, multiple MPB Today affiliates continue to use the images. Southeastern Delivery is MPB Today’s purported parent company.
It is common for MLM participants to imply a “program” is endorsed by celebrities and famous companies.
The check reproduced on the website is drawn on a bank that has been operating under a consent agreement with the FDIC since January. Walmart and the FDIC have not responded to a request for comment from the PP Blog on the MPB Today program. Neither has the bank upon which the check is shown to be drawn.
Multiple MPB Today affiliates have produced check- and card-waving videos and websites to recruit prospects. Some of them have been online for months.
MPB Today has been advertised on forums that promote Ponzi schemes, including the now-defunct ASA Monitor forum. Some MPB Today affiliates have claimed publicly that there are liars, thieves and scammers in the organization.
BULLETIN: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said this afternoon that the agency’s Food and Nutrition Service is following specific leads in the MPB Today matter and will “take appropriate action as needed.”
For the first time, the agency used the word “investigate” in its remarks about MPB Today, an MLM tied to a purported “grocery” business known as Southeastern Delivery of Pensacola, Fla. USDA previously referred to the MPB Today matter as a “review.” The agency did not explain why the Food and Nutrition Service had entered the probe.
The Food and Nutrition Service, known as FNS, says its “mission is to provide children and needy families better access to food and a more healthful diet through its food assistance programs and comprehensive nutrition education efforts.”
The announcement followed on the heels of claims by MPB Today affiliates that there are liars and thieves within the organization, that the government and Walmart endorsed the MPB Today program and that the USDA’s Food Stamp program was “affiliated” with MPB Today.
On Tuesday, the PP Blog reported that a purported “news release” promoting MPB Today suggested that Food Stamp recipients should sell $200 of their allotment to raise money to join the MLM program.
Yesterday the Blog reported that at least two MPB Today members claimed there are liars and thieves inside the organization, using the claims to suggest prospects should join the program only under specific downlines. The Blog also reported that MPB Today affiliates may have ties to the judicially declared CEP Ponzi scheme, the alleged AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme and other Ponzi schemes promoted on forums such as ASAMonitor, TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup.
All three forums were referenced in a criminal case filed in May by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service against the alleged Pathway To Prosperity Ponzi scheme.
In July, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued a warning about HYIP scams that use forums and social-media sites such as YouTube and Facebook to spread virally on the Internet.
MPB Today’s website says it ships “ONLY” dry goods to customers, who can expect to pay a shipping charge of up to 50 percent of an order. MPB Today affiliates have used the high shipping charges as a reason for Food Stamp recipients and other customers to join to the MLM program, saying a one-time purchase of $200 in groceries could result in free groceries for life.
Affiliates have claimed MPB Today issues grocery “vouchers” that can be converted to Walmart gift cards and cash to purchase gasoline, electronics and other nonfood products.
Among other things, the purported “news release” claimed that the idea about selling Food Stamps for cash to join MPB Today occurred “[on] a beautiful Sunday afternoon” during a drive home from “Church.”
One promo for MPB Today showed a 46-inch Samsung television and other electronics that purportedly had been acquired by an MPB Today member through the program. Other promos have show prepaid Visa cards that spend like cash.
MPB Today operates a 2×2 matrix cycler — a business model that has come under fire by the U.S. Secret Service in a Ponzi scheme probe in the Seattle area. The Seattle program was known as Regenesis2x2, and was promoted on some of the same forums MPB Today is being promoted.
“They helped form a series of sham business entities and then promoted fraudulent debt elimination tactics intended for the sole purpose of concealing income from the IRS.” — Victor S. O. Song, chief, IRS Criminal Investigation
As the U.S. Department of Agriculture was conducting a “review” of claims made by affiliates of a purported “grocery” business in Pensacola, Fla., that dispenses “gift cards” to winners in a 2×2 matrix cycler, a federal judge in Pensacola was handing out prison sentences to defendants convicted in a tax-fraud and debt-elimination scheme.
All in all, nine promoters were implicated in the Pinnacle Quest International (PQI) case. Four were sentenced to prison in July. Two others will be sentenced in October, and three were sentenced yesterday for their roles in an elaborate fraud in which PQI served as an “umbrella organization for numerous vendors of tax and credit card debt elimination scams,” federal prosecutors said.
Eugene Casternovia received 7 years in prison. Arthur Merino, meanwhile, was sentenced to 40 months. Mark Lyon, the third defendant sentenced yesterday, cooperated with prosecutors and received a sentence of 18 months.
Among the PQI vendors was the Southern Oregon Resource Center for Education (SORCE), which “sold bogus theories and strategies for tax evasion,” prosecutors said.
“For fees starting at $10,000, SORCE assisted its customers in the creation of a series of sham business entities in the United States and Panama,” prosecutors said. “Other tax-related PQI vendors denied the legitimacy of the income tax system on various theories and provided customers with a ‘reliance defense’ that consisted of a paper trail of frivolous correspondence which a client could allegedly use as evidence of good faith if the client were prosecuted.”
Financial Solutions, another PQI vendor, sold “fraudulent schemes for eliminating credit card debt,” prosecutors said.
“Financial Solutions charged its customers thousands of dollars for a series of letters to send to credit card companies disputing the lawfulness of the underlying debt,” prosecutors said. “The product was wholly ineffective, and customers typically were sued by their creditors and often forced into bankruptcy.”
At the same time, yet-another PQI vendor known as MYICIS “operated as a sophisticated, computerized ‘warehouse bank,’” prosecutors said.
“MYICIS was a single bank account in which customers pooled their money,” prosecutors said. “MYICIS was promoted to PQI’s clients as a method to hide their assets from the IRS as a result of the pooled nature of the account. MYICIS had 3,000 clients and approximately $100 million in deposits over a three year period.”
A veteran IRS agent declared the business entities tied to the PQI case a “sham.”
“These defendants are now being held accountable for their criminal behavior,†said Victor S. O. Song, chief, IRS Criminal Investigation. “They helped form a series of sham business entities and then promoted fraudulent debt elimination tactics intended for the sole purpose of concealing income from the IRS. Their tactics were fraudulent. There is no secret formula that can eliminate an individual’s tax obligation.â€
In July, Arnold Ray Manansala was sentenced to 12 years in prison; Dover Eugene Perry, meanwhile, was sentenced to 10 years. Michael Guy Leonard was sentenced to nine years and one month, and Mark Daniel Leitner was sentenced to five years.
The trial in Pensacola took up a full month. Wayne Hicks, the operator of My Icis Inc., already was serving a five-year prison sentence.
FBI Director Robert Mueller has warned Congress at least twice this year about a “shadow” banking system that is a threat to U.S. national security.
In November, President Obama formed the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to attack the problem with white-collar and other forms of fraud. It is billed the “broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud.”
MYICIS was a topic of discussion on known Ponzi scheme and fraud forums such as TalkGold. In May, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service referenced the forums in filings in a criminal case against an alleged Ponzi scheme known as Pathway To Prosperity.
In recent months, a Pensacola business known as MPB Today (My Premier Business Today) has been operating an MLM program that purports to sell “groceries.” The program has been advertised on TalkGold, and other known Ponzi forums.
One MPB Today affiliate attempted to sell the program by creating a video animation and depicting President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as Nazis. Clinton was called “Hitlary” in the promo.
Others have attempted to sell the MPB Today business “opportunity” by linking it to the federal Food Stamp program administered by the Department of Agriculture. The USDA announced earlier this month that it was conducting a “review” of affiliate claims.
This video promo for Pensacola-based MPB Today is targeted at Food Stamp recipients.
Still other MPB Today affiliates have focused on recruiting prospects by telling them they’d receive “gift cards” from Walmart. At least one promo on YouTube shows an envelope inside an envelope that had been mailed through the U.S. Postal Service.
Such an approach is consistent with the practices of “cash-gifters” — people who use the mails to promote chain-letter pyramid and tax schemes. The inside envelope in the YouTube video showed that at least one MPB Today affiliate had been paid with a prepaid Visa card purchased at Walmart. The envelope also contained a Walmart gift card.
In the YouTube video, the MPB Today affiliate appeared to be surprised about what he’d just received in the mail.
One promo after another for MPB Today has emphasized the gift cards. Still other affiliates have produced videos that show checks drawn on an FDIC-insured bank in Pensacola that has been operating since January under a consent agreement with the FDIC.
Florida has been plagued by mortgage foreclosures. MPB Today is targeting foreclosure subjects in a video pitch, as are many affiliates. Affiliates also have targeted the unemployed, senior citizens, people of faith and members of the alleged AdSurfDaily (ASD) Ponzi scheme.
ASD also was based in Florida. The company is known to have attracted affiliates who participated in tax, debt-elimination and cash-gifting schemes. At least one ASD affiliate has been linked to a group that sought to imprison federal judges and litigation opponents in debt cases. Another affiliate filed papers in federal court that purported to show that a bank could be defeated in a foreclosure case by filing a bond consisting of $21 in “silver coinage.”
At least one MPB Today promoter positioned the grocery company as an opportunity for religious members of ASD to make up losses in the failed autosurf. The U.S. Secret Service has seized tens of millions of dollars from bank accounts linked to ASD.
Florida records show that MPB and its associated grocery company — Southeastern Delivery — have operated by at least five names since 2006. MPB Today operator Gary Calhoun was ordered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to stop violating federal law in promotions for a product marketed as a treatment for Lou Gehrig’s disease, among others.
ASD President Andy Bowdoin also operated numerous companies in Florida. according to records.
