PatrickPretty.com

Tag: TalkGold

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Club Asteria Promoters Blocked By CONSOB, Italian Equivalent Of SEC; Agency Issues Suspension Order; Is ‘Opportunity’ Described As ‘Passive’ Investment Being Targeted At Deaf?

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…

Jun 6, 2011
Exotic FX, HYIP Promoted On Ponzi Scheme And Criminals’ Forums By Club Asteria Members, Collapses; Did Club Asteria Also Have Tie To Collapsed Imperia Invest IBC Fraud Scheme?

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…

Jun 4, 2011
Club Asteria Members Posting On Ponzi Boards Turn Their Attention To ‘JSS Tripler’ Amid Claims Daily Payout Of 2 Percent ‘Indefinitely Sustainable’; ‘Bizarre Substatum’ Gets Crazier Yet

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…

May 27, 2011
As Promos On Ponzi Forums Continue And Members Claim IRS Recognition, Club Asteria Acknowledges That Its Members Used PayPal ‘To Cheat Fellow Members’; Says Fraudsters Were Turned Over To Unidentified ‘Authorities’; Existing Members Of Virginia-Based Firm Told To Use Offshore Processors

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…

May 17, 2011
Club Asteria Pitchman Uses Name Of Another Famous Bank In Ponzi-Forum Promo For ‘ThatFreeThing’; No Immediate Comment From JP Morgan Chase

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”…

Apr 14, 2011
BULLETIN: U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office Charges John Neil Hirst In $16 Million Ponzi Fraud; Brits, French, Americans Allegedly Targeted By Gilher Inc. Of Panama And Seychelles

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…

Apr 6, 2011
UPDATE: Club Asteria Now Said To Have 230,000 Members; ‘I Got Paid’ Posts Appear On Ponzi Boards; Press Releases Picked Up By Google News; Web Promos Stress ‘Passive’ Earnings

“[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.…

Apr 4, 2011
BULLETIN: SEC Alleges ‘Payday Loan’ Ponzi Scheme In Utah; Second Major Ponzi Case Brought In State In Two Days; Schemes Attracted Almost $75 Million

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…

Mar 28, 2011
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: German Cardona Soler, Figure Associated With International Forex Scam Pushed On TalkGold And MoneyMakerGroup, Arrested By Spanish National Police; Agency Alleges $300 Million 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…

Mar 25, 2011
UPDATE: Club Asteria Members Use TalkGold Ponzi Forum To Announce That Firm Now Has More Than 200,000 Members; Separately, Some Members Grumble About Missing Payouts

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…

Mar 20, 2011
Sea Of Incongruity Surrounds Club Asteria: As ‘Ken Russo’ Pushes ‘Opportunity’ On TalkGold Ponzi Board, World Bank Qualifies ‘Director’ Claims Made By Promoters

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…

Mar 16, 2011