TalkGold

BULLETIN: UPDATED 7:35 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (CONSOB), the Italian equivalent of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, is conducting a probe into claims made about Club Asteria and has issued a 90-day suspension order that bars promoters from trading in Italy. Club Asteria is based in […]

Exotic FX, an HYIP promoted on the Ponzi scheme and criminals’ forums by members of the Club Asteria HYIP, has collapsed. Exotic billed itself a “PRIVATE ASSET HAVEN.” The dollar value of member losses is unclear, and the firm’s website no longer loads. Chatter on Ponzi boards such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup also suggests that […]

We’ve previously noted that the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has described the HYIP sphere as a “bizarre substratum of the Internet.” That substratum now is getting crazier yet. Three weeks ago, Club Asteria was a great darling of the Ponzi boards. But weekly payout rates that purportedly have been slashed — coupled with a […]

In June 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice used its Blog to warn about the emerging threat of “mass marketing fraud,” specifically citing the criminal allegations of a $70 million Ponzi fraud against Nicholas Smirnow of Pathway To Prosperity (P2P). P2P was promoted on the TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forums. A little over a month […]

UPDATED 10:51 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The name of JPMorgan Chase — one of the most prominent financial institutions in the world — is being used by “manolo” in a pitch for the ThatFreeThing (TFT) MLM program on the TalkGold Ponzi scheme and criminals’ forum. “manolo” also is promoting Club Asteria (CA), a highly questionable “program” […]

BULLETIN: John Neil Hirst has been charged by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in the United Kingdom in a case that alleges he was at the helm of an international Ponzi scheme that targeted British, French and Americans through a company registered in Panama and Seychelles. The company was known as Gilher Inc., the SFO […]

“[I]f this company doesn’t have sales, it’s not a viable company. Every company has to have sales that’s what makes this company work because the great business model, not because it has a lot of outside resources, but with that said we have a lot of things planned in the next weeks and months ahead. […]

BULLETIN: The SEC has gone to federal court in Utah to halt what it described as a $47 million “payday loan” Ponzi scheme and offering fraud in which investors were lured by the prospect of “extraordinary returns” while the alleged operator diverted large sums of cash to himself and other business interests. The payday-loan Ponzi […]

BULLETIN: Spanish National Police have arrested German Cardona Soler in a case that alleges a spectacular Ponzi and fraud scheme involving more than $300 million. Two others also were arrested, and police “locked” 12 bank accounts. Although early details are unclear, it appears as though police have charged at least seven people in the alleged […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: The adjective-inspiring story below is made possible by the incongruous behavior of online pitchmen who operate in an environment the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) described last year as a “bizarre substratum of the Internet.” Two promoters of Club Asteria, a business “opportunity” purportedly operated by a woman variously described as a former […]

The World Bank confirmed to the PP Blog this morning that a person named Andrea Lucas left its employment in December 1986, nearly 25 years ago. But Lucas was never a member of the World Bank’s board of directors, as many members of business “opportunity” known as Club Asteria have implied in online, MLM-style promotions […]