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Tag: TalkGold

  • WebsiteTester.Biz Pitched On Reborn GoldenPandaAdZone Forum, Plus MoneyMakerGroup, TalkGold And Other Ponzi Havens

    EDITOR’S NOTE: This story originally was published June 30. The PP Blog later encountered a database problem, which caused the site to go down and resulted in the temporary loss of some data. The data now has been retrieved.

    This story is about a new site known as “WebsiteTester.biz,” but some background is in order.

    It turns out that the April reports of the demise of the Golden Panda Ad Zone Forum, which changed its name to the Online Success Zone (OSZ), were premature.

    OSZ now is back online — and a poster is pitching  “WebsiteTester.biz,”  which appears to be promoting itself as an upstart advertising “testing” platform.

    Positioning surfing sites as testing platforms dates back at least to the CEP Ponzi scheme. Last summer, the failed AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf, which had close ties to the AdSurfDaily autosurf, was trying to reposition itself as an ad-testing site.

    Just prior to going offline in April, OSZ was pushing Narc That Car and Data Network Affiliates, two highly questionable companies  whose membership roster includes people linked to alleged Ponzi or pyramid schemes. OSZ got its start as the Golden Panda Ad Zone forum after the U.S. Secret Service seized more than $80 million from ASD and its purported “Chinese” autosurf companion, Golden Panda Ad Builder.

    During the summer of 2008, with ASD at its zenith and about to be accused of operating a Ponzi scheme, a predecessor to the INetGlobal autosurf also was coming online. INetGlobal eventually morphed into a surf site that largely targeted Chinese members, according to the Secret Service, which is investigating INetGlobal as its operator, Steve Renner, is in federal prison serving time for income-tax evasion.

    The ASD and Golden Panda money was seized amid allegations of wire fraud, money-laundering, selling unregistered securities and operating a Ponzi scheme. A forfeiture complaint in the case alleged a conspiracy with unnamed participants, and ASD was sued separately under the federal racketeering statute by members who also alleged a conspiracy was under way.

    Participants’ marketing of WebsiteTester.biz. occurs against the backdrop of a forceful statement by federal prosecutors in Illinois that virtually all HYIPs are Ponzi schemes. Autosurfs are a form of an HYIP program.  The business model of WebsiteTester.biz is unclear, and the company has not been accused of wrongdoing.

    In the Illinois case, Pathway To Prosperity (P2P) was alleged to have operated a global Ponzi scheme that gathered more than $70 million and fleeced more than 40,000 people. Nick Smirnow, P2P’s operator,  has a criminal past dating back to at least 1979, including convictions for breaking and entering, driving the getaway car in a robbery and cultivating and selling drugs. He also told a colleague he was involved in a double homicide in Canada and claimed to have ties to organized crime in Ontario, according to court filings.

    Posts on forums such as ASA Monitor, TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup sought to sanitize the P2P scheme, authorities said. This important piece of information seems to have escaped the OSZ forum, which apparently continues to operate on the theory that HYIPs, autosurfs and cash-gifting programs somehow are a legitimate form of commerce.

    Incongruities abound in the autosurf and HYIP universes. “WebsiteTester.biz,” the apparent new darling of Ponzi boards such as OSZ, has a domain that is registered behind a proxy. It is unclear if any of its early boosters even know who owns the company or could name a single executive or a board member. Because the site’s business model is unclear, promoters are pitching a program they know virtually nothing about.

    The mere fact the “opportunity” is being pitched on the Ponzi boards shows, at a minimum, that promoters instinctively turned to the cesspools to drive business to the company.

    On its website, Website Tester, which purportedly is in prelaunch,  says this (italics added):

    “FINALLY . . . This is the business you have waited for so long:

    “It is completely free, you earn through EVERYBODY who registers after you, even if you do not sponsor people; you must not sell or buy anything. Guaranteed!

    “The faster you register, the more can be your potential income, even if you do nothing else than register for free . . .

    “How does it work? – It’s simple!

    “A market research company from the USA is searching for internet users all over the world, who get paid for testing websites and giving a short opinion. You also can earn up to 1,000 US$ per month working 1 to 10 hours weekly.

    “Even if the job as a website tester is not for you, you can earn two passive incomes month after month.”

    Excuse us while we vomit.

    Based on information on the landing page of WebsiteTester, the upstart company appears to have a tie to an upstart, Las Vegas-registered company known as Alpha Market Research Inc.  Alpha Market appears to have a Twitter site from which it relentlessly links to self-produced news releases that are posted on PRLog.org, a free press-release distribution service.

    Hey, did you see how the SEC described a scam yesterday that allegedly relied on Twitter and Facebook to help line up people to be fleeced in a securities swindle?

    Here is a paragraph from one of Alpha Market’s PR gems:

    “Global marketing is nothing but marketing done on national and international level and which involves understanding the similarities, dissimilarities and taking advantage of the opportunities to attain the goal.”

    Here is another gem:

    “When you buy something from eBay, Amazon.com or any online store, you’ve participated in e-commerce.”

    Meanwhile, here is yet another:

    “If you do not have a ghostwriter writing your blog content, then it means you will need to spend some time writing some blog posts.”

    Separate from its news releases, Alpha Market says this (italics added):

    “Potential clients who are disturbed by trifles during the ordering process are often unaware of exactly why. For you, the entrepreneur, the big questions remain: why did the potential client visit your website and why did they accept or not accept your offer?

    Alpha Market Research, Inc. starts exactly at this point: we make your website available for thousands of AMR website-testers, assigned in groups of age and interest – this way we get detailed feedback with an honest evaluation of your website.

    Like WebsiteTester.biz, AlphaMarketResearch.com is registered behind a proxy. The Alpha Market site was registered May 28, according to records. The Web Tester site was registered five days later, on June 2. Alpha Market’s Twitter site appears to date back to June 4.

    The buzz about Website Tester also is occurring against the backdrop of the launch of yet-another surfing company: AdPayDaily (APD).

    APD, which appears to have promotional ties to ASD and AVG, is running an AVG-like series of promotions that offer bonuses.

    Interestingly, APD, which appears to have only about 550 members despite virtually nonstop flogging for weeks, now says members can send in as much as $10,000.

    Website Tester, at the moment, appears just to be gathering names — and generating excitement by publishing the names of the latest registrants on the left side of its landing page. The names suggest the enterprise is attracting many people from outside the United States, but it is far from clear if anything about the company is real.

  • KABOOM! Affidavit In Pathway To Prosperity Case Paints Picture Of Wanton Criminality; Complaint References TalkGold, ASAMonitor, MoneyMakerGroup Posts; United States Throws Down Gauntlet

    Federal prosecutors serving under U.S. Attorney A. Courtney Cox of the Southern District of Illinois have thrown down the gauntlet, declaring that “[a] large percentage, if not all, HYIPs, are Ponzi schemes.”

    In a criminal complaint and accompanying affidavit that only can be described as remarkable, prosecutors and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service said the Pathway To Prosperity (PTP) HYIP was operated by a man with convictions for selling and cultivating drugs and driving the getaway car in a robbery.

    Part of the strategy of the HYIP scheme was to tell investors it was not an HYIP scheme and to trade on the purported moral fiber of operator Nicholas A. Smirnow, investigators said.

    Smirnow, 53, has a criminal past dating back to at least 1979, including convictions for breaking and entering and possession of stolen property, authorities said. Smirnow, who was charged Friday with operating an international Ponzi scheme from Canada and the Turks and Caicos Islands that gathered more than $70 million and fleeced more than 40,000 people, also told a colleague he was involved in a double homicide in Canada and claimed to have ties to organized crime in Ontario.

    U.S. and Canadian authorities are working under a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) between the countries “in which both parties agreed to provide evidence to the other in criminal investigations,” prosecutors said.  “An ‘MLAT’ request was submitted by the Office of International Affairs of the U.S. Department of Justice to the International Assistance Group of the Department of Justice Canada on January 13, 2010.

    “While the Ontario Provincial Police has provided some materials to the United States Postal Inspection Service informally, as it is permitted to do under Section 3(2) of the Canadian Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Act, the government is awaiting the production of the balance of the investigation materials by Canada,” U.S. authorities said.

    Certain records of  the Canadian payment processors AlertPay and Solid Trust Pay (STP) have been obtained by the United States, U.S. officials said.

    “STP was interviewed by the Anti Rackets Section of the Ontario Provincial Police (“OPP”),” the U.S. affidavit says. “The OPP advised [the investigating U.S. postal inspector] that STP also identified [Smirnow] as P-2-P’s principal, based upon identification documents submitted by Smirnow and communications between the two.”

    Investigators also have acquired records from International Payout Solutions (IPS), a payment processor based in Florida, authorities said.

    About 75 percent of payments made in the scheme flowed through STP, U.S. authorities said. The postal inspector said he had determined the identities of 11 people or entities that had received the most money from the scheme.

    “The largest payee of the top eleven was Tru-Mar Holdings which received $2,117,752.50,” the complaint said. “Tru-Mar Invest and Tru-Mar Holdings were names under which TMI Group, SA (“Tru-Mar”) operated. According to documents submitted by Tru-Mar to IPS, the principal of TMI Group, SA was E.M.”

    A second big winner was a company in Sweden referred to as “SV Holdings” and operated by “SV.”

    “The third largest payee is a company owned by someone I will refer to as ‘K.B.,” the postal inspector said in the affidavit. “K.B. received over $500,000 from P-2-P. K.B. was the owner of a web site that touts high yield investment programs. From the nature of K.B.’s business, it does not appear likely that P-2-P funneled $500,000 to K.B. to make legitimate investments on P-2-P’s behalf.”

    Other payees in the top 11 included “CWM from Oregon, JP from Florida, and CM of Washington State,” according to the complaint. Because the investigator could not contact some of the winners, they were not referred to either by names or initials in the complaint.

    Although Smirnow claimed not to be operating an HYIP scheme, the claim was a lie. Posts on forums such as ASA Monitor, TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup sought to sanitize the scheme, authorities said.

    Not only was P2P an HYIP Ponzi scheme, it was operating in virtually every corner of earth, authorities said.

    “[Smirnow,] a Canadian citizen, was a resident of the Greater Toronto Area in the Province of Ontario, Canada,” prosecutors said. “When his scheme was first hatched, it was operated out of a rented house in Baysville, Ontario, which served as both his office and personal residence. Sometime around September 2007 [Smirnow] diverted approximately $315,000 Canadian in investor funds to purchase a substantial personal residence. He later fled Canada for the Philippines when his scheme began to unravel and also transferred some of P-2-P’s money to the Philippines as well.”

    The scheme was almost unimaginably widespread, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service said in an affidavit.

    “Financial records of payment processors utilized by P-2-P to collect investment funds from investors show that approximately 40,000 investors in 120 countries established accounts with P-2-P,” a postal inspector said. “Despite the fact that the investment was supposedly ‘guaranteed, investors lost approximately $70 million as a result of [Smirnow’s] actions.”

    The probe began when the U.S. government received a referral from the Illinois Securities Department “concerning an elderly Southern District of Illinois resident who had made a substantial investment in P-2-P,” the postal inspector said in the affidavit.

    “In addition to P-2-P’s own website, I discovered that P-2-P’s investment scheme was marketed on other websites, including High Yield Investment Program forums, which I was able to access directly through the internet,” the inspector said.

    Before long, the inspector determined that the scheme cost investors losses in 48 of the 50 U.S. states, and 18 of the 38 counties that comprise the Southern District of Illinois, prosecutors said.

    Such penetration in Illinois may suggest Smirnow had a promotional arm in the state. The complaint spells out a case against conspirators “known and unknown,” and the complaint notes that family members told other family members about the scheme.

    “When P-2-P’s funds were depleted and when investors did not receive a return of their funds as they had been promised, [Smirnow] caused a posting on P-2-P’s private forum warning investors not to complain to payment processors about P-2-P’s failure to return their money or they would find themselves ‘on the outside looking in,’” prosecutors charged.

    The postal inspector has spoken to “hundreds of P-2-P investors” during the course of the investigation, according to court filings.

    “Hundreds [of people] sent me copies of printouts they had made of P-2-P’s website, postings that had been made on the P-2-P’s members forum, and internet sites touting high yield investment programs which contained postings related to P-2-P,” the postal inspector said.

    International Financial Experts Weigh In On Alleged Fraud

    Prior to bringing the P2P case, prosecutors consulted with Professor James E. Byrne, an associate professor of law at George Mason University. Byrne has been an expert witness for both the Federal Reserve and the SEC in the area of High Yield Investment Programs, according to court filings. He also is an expert in international banking and served as chair of the Group of Experts on Commercial Fraud of the Secretariat of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), co-chair of the UNCITRAL Symposium on International Commercial Fraud, and co-chair of the North American and European Standing Committees on Combating Commercial Fraud.

    “In my considered professional opinion, the investment scheme described in the materials that I have reviewed are not legitimate but resemble and are classic instances of so-called high yield frauds and fraudulent pyramid schemes,” Byrne said in an affidavit. “The proposed returns are excessive for even the most risky legitimate investments and are simply preposterous for investments whose principal is supposedly guaranteed.”

    “It is apparent to me that the materials and the scheme which they describe were deliberately and artfully constructed, drawing on similar scams to deceive, confuse, entice and trap would-be investors,” Byrne said.

    Another professor and financial expert, Todd T. Milbourne of the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, also consulted with the government in the case. Prior to joining Washington University, Professor Milbourne was on the full-time faculty at the London Business School from 1996 to 1999. In 1999-2000, he was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago.

    Milbourne also described the alleged scheme as preposterous.

    “According to Professor Milbourne, Warren Buffett, Chairman arid CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, is considered one of the best investment managers there is,” prosecutors said, referring to their consultation with Milbourne. “[Buffet’s] nickname is the ‘Oracle of Omaha.’ Between 1977 and 2009, the average return to stockholders of Berkshire Hathaway was 27.3%, more than double the average return of the S&P 500,” prosecutors said.

    “However, Warren Buffet’s performance pales in comparison with the supposed financial acumen of [Smirnow], who claimed to be capable of achieving annual returns exceeding 500% in all four of his plans, more than twenty times better than the performance of one of the best performing money managers in the world,” prosecutors said.

    Countries Affected

    The scope of the alleged scheme was described as mind-boggling.

    “In reviewing records submitted by P-2-P to payment processors, I have found accounts set up by P-2-P investors from all of the permanently inhabited continents of the world,” the postal inspector said. “P-2-P account holders, when they registered for a P-2-P account, gave addresses in the following countries . . . :  the United States, Canada, and Mexico in North America; Costa Rica, EI Salvador, Honduras and Panama in Central America;

    “Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Equador, Guyana, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela in South America; The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Netherlands Antilles, Saint Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean;

    “Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, United Kingdom,
    Ireland, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Andorra, Portugal, Spain, Malta, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia,
    “Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russian Federation, Belarus, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Republic of Georgia, Greece, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Yugoslavia in Europe;

    “Turkey, Cyprus, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Republic of Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, South Korea, North Korea, Peoples Republic of China, Peoples Republic of China Hong Kong SAR, Singapore, Macau, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Japan, in Asia.”

    See story from earlier today that references another alleged Ponzi scheme known as Legisi, which involved more than $70 million, affected at least 3,000 investors and also was pitched on ASA Monitor, Talk Gold and MoneyMakerGroup.

  • Nicholas A. Smirnow, Pathway To Prosperity (P2P) Operator, A ‘Convicted Burglar, Robber And Drug Dealer’ Who Fleeced At Least 40,000 People In International Ponzi Scheme

    Here is how Pathway To Prosperity (P2P), operated by Nicholas A. Smirnow, was described by members of the indefatigable, Ponzi-pushing ASA Monitor forum in 2007:

    “Just talked with Nick today on the phone,” one member said. “I always enjoy talking with him — honest and straightforward.”

    “This one is a WINNER,” another crowed. “People, you don’t know what you are missing if you aren’t in this program.”

    Here is how a member of TalkGold, another Ponzi-pushing site, described P2P:

    “[T]his program will go a long way to bringing back stability to investment sites,” he wrote. “[T]his one you can trust 100% and also the admin Nick . . . come and join our happy group.”

    Here is how P2P was described by a member of MoneyMakerGroup, yet another Ponzi-pushing site:

    “[T]his is the kind of program that is needed,” the poster wrote. “p-2-p gives the little man a chance to invest and relax knowing your money will be safe at the end of the investment.”

    And here, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, is how the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and federal prosecutors described Smirnow after charging him yesterday with operating an international Ponzi scheme that gathered more than $70 million and fleeced more than 40,000 people:

    “convicted burglar, robber and drug dealer who told a former employee that he was involved in a double homicide.”

    Smirnow, believed to be on the lam in the Philippines, used aliases such as Nicolay Smirnow, Alexander Judizcev, Nicholas Kachura and Jeff Prozorowiczm. The scam spread across the world, and P2P shielded itself by using a website in the Netherlands and a company incorporated in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

    Although the program pitched interest rates of up to 17,000 percent, a poster on ASA Monitor incongruously said, “This is not a HYIP — Nick does not believe in them.” Regardless, the same poster — despite his cheerleading — acknowledged he was worried “about the authorities getting in and shutting things down . . . but since it is not a site being heavily promoted like CEP and not so open, it may keep under the radar . . .”

    CEP was yet another Ponzi scheme.

    It has been an electrifying week for opponents of HYIP and autosurf frauds, who routinely are derided as “naysayers” by commission-grubbing pitchmen who spread Ponzi pain across the planet for a share of illegal profits.

    On Tuesday, the SEC announced it had charged Mazu.com operator Matthew J. Gagnon, 41, of Weslaco, Texas, and Portland, Ore., with helping “orchestrate a massive Ponzi scheme conducted by Gregory N. McKnight . . . and his company, Legisi Holdings, LLC.”

    The Legisi scheme raised about $72.6 million from more than 3,000 investors “by promising returns of upwards of 15% a month,” the SEC said.

    Like Pathway to Prosperity, Legisi also was promoted on ASA Monitor, TalkGold, MoneyMakerGroup and other forums criminals and their shills frequent to separate people from their money.

    A U.S. warrant for Smirnow’s arrest was issued yesterday — although Smirnow is believed to have been ducking Canadian authorities for months because of an investigation into his business practices.

    Smirnow now joins Robert Hodgins — yet another international fugitive allegedly associated with the drug and HYIP trades — on the lam.

    Hodgins, who provided debit cards for the alleged AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme and is believed also to have a tie to the PhoenixSurf autosurf Ponzi scheme and other autosurf and HYIP schemes, is wanted for helping a Colombian narco business launder money at ATM machines in Medellin and also for accepting $100,000 in purported drug proceeds for laundering money in the Dominican Republic.

    INTERPOL is searching for Hodgins.

    Read the Smirnow story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

  • ONLINE PONZI FORUM BOMBSHELL: Matt Gagnon A ‘Danger To The Investing Public,’ SEC Says; Federal Judge Freezes Assets Of Mazu.com Pitchman Who Promoted Legisi, Other Alleged Scams

    Matt Gagnon of Mazu.com

    Ponzi forum operator or moderator? Online HYIP aficionado? Think you’re safe pitching fraud schemes because you’re “only” a promoter or forum “expert” and not the operator of the programs?

    Have a secret partnership deal with an HYIP fraudster? Using fancy, professional-sounding terms such as “due diligence” in your forum posts? Claiming you’ve done thorough research before recommending an “opportunity.”

    Pitching programs that advertise unusually large returns — while at once showcasing your knowledge about investment scams and steering people away from certain programs because they sound too good to be true?

    In an action that may send shockwaves across the Web world and Ponzi forums such as ASA Monitor, TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup, the SEC has gone to federal court and filed an emergency action to halt “a series of fraudulent, unregistered securities offerings” made through Mazu.com.

    U.S. District Judge George Caram Steeh of the the Eastern District of Michigan has frozen the assets of Matthew J. Gagnon, 41, of Weslaco, Texas, and Portland, Ore. Gagnon is Mazu.com’s operator.

    “From January 2006 through approximately August 2007, Gagnon helped orchestrate a massive Ponzi scheme conducted by Gregory N. McKnight . . . and his company, Legisi Holdings, LLC,” the SEC said.

    The Legisi scheme raised about $72.6 million from more than 3,000 investors “by promising returns of upwards of 15% a month,” the SEC said.

    “Gagnon promoted Legisi but in doing so misled investors by claiming, among other things, that he had thoroughly researched McKnight and Legisi and had determined Legisi to be a legitimate and safe investment,” the SEC said.

    Among other things, the SEC alleged that Gagnon “had no basis for the claims he made about McKnight and Legisi.

    “Gagnon also failed to disclose to investors that he was to receive 50% of Legisi’s purported ‘profits’ under his agreement with McKnight,” the SEC said. “Gagnon received a net of approximately $3.8 million in Legisi investor funds from McKnight for his participation in the scheme.”

    Then, beginning in August 2007, “Gagnon fraudulently offered and sold securities representing interests in a new company that purportedly was to develop resort properties,” the SEC said.

    In this scheme, Gagnon “falsely claimed that the investment was risk-free and ‘SEC compliant,’ and guaranteed a 200% return in 14 months. In reality, however, Gagnon sent the money to a twice-convicted felon, did not register the investment with the SEC, and knew such an outlandish return was impossible,” the SEC said.

    Gagnon took in at least $361,865 from 21 investors, the SEC said.

    Still unfinished, Gagnon — in April 2009 — began promoting “a fraudulent offering of interests in a purported Forex trading venture,” the SEC said. “Gagnon guaranteed that the venture would generate returns of 2% a month or 30% a year for his investors. Gagnon’s claims were false, and Gagnon had no basis for making the claims.”

    Gagnon next turned to another Forex sceme, the SEC said.

    From October 2009 to November 2009, Gagnon “offered another purported Forex trading venture in which he claimed to have a trader in Europe who would trade foreign currencies for investors in exchange for 40% of any profits he generated,” the SEC said. “Gagnon removed this offer from his website in November 2009 when he received notice that the SEC had subpoenaed his bank records.”

    Despite his knowledge about Ponzi and fraud schemes, Gagnon repeatedly pitched such schemes, the SEC said.

    “Gagnon has been unrelenting in his efforts to raise money from the public through
    fraudulent, unregistered offerings,” the SEC said. “He remains a danger to the investing public.”

    Despite his sales pitches, “Gagnon has never been associated with a registered broker-dealer and has never been registered with the Commission as a broker or dealer or in any other capacity,” the SEC said.

    Among the people to whom Gagnon directed money was the late Bryan K. Foster, who was convicted in 1997 of five felony counts of wire fraud and sentenced to 41 months in prison. These convictions were recorded in U.S. District Court in Montana, according to records.

    In 2000, Foster was convicted in Colorado of one felony count of wire fraud and sentenced to five years in prison, according to records.

    Between July 13, 2007 and September 17, 2007, Gagnon sent at least $800,000 to accounts in the name of Trails Home LLC, which was controlled Foster, the SEC said. Money from the illegal Legisi program was included in the sum transferred to Foster for his purported investment program, the SEC said.

    The Legisi Program

    In 2005, McKnight was an underemployed General Motors worker living outside Flint, Mich., the SEC said, adding that he had financial problems.

    “In December 2005, McKnight began offering and selling interests in a pooled investment program variously called Legisi.com or Legisi,” the SEC said. “McKnight promoted the offering around the globe through an Internet website at www.legisi.com,” promising monthly returns of up to 15 percent.

    By February 2006, “McKnight incorporated a shell company called Legisi Holdings, LLC in the bank-secrecy haven of Nevis in the West Indies,” the SEC said.

    “McKnight asserted on the Legisi website that the Legisi program was merely a ‘loan program’ through which investors would ‘loan’ money to Legisi and, in return, Legisi would pay investors high rates of interest.

    But Legisi actually was “a classic pooled investment vehicle, in which investors invested money into a common venture with the expectation that the money would be used to generate profits, for McKnight and the investors, solely through the efforts of McKnight or others working on his behalf. The Legisi program was a security in the form of an investment contract,” the SEC said.

    “The Legisi program was also a massive Ponzi scheme,” the SEC said.

    In January 2006, McKnight and Gagnon discussed a deal by which Gagnon would promote Legisi on the Mazu.com website, the SEC said.

    “McKnight and Gagnon had known each other for several years after Gagnon recruited McKnight into a multilevel marketing business called ‘Mannatech,’” the SEC said. “McKnight became part of Gagnon’s ‘down line,’ meaning that a portion of McKnight’s commissions from selling Mannatech products went to Gagnon.”

    McKnight paid Gagnon “a total of approximately $4,532,512 between January 29, 2006 and April 14, 2008,” the SEC said. “All of the money Gagnon received from McKnight consisted of investor funds. There were no ‘profits’ generated by Legisi.”

    Gagnon netted about $3.8 million in the scheme, the SEC said.

    “On behalf of McKnight, Gagnon solicited investors around the world through the publicly available Mazu.com website,” the SEC said. “Gagnon wrote and/or reviewed and approved the content of the Mazu website. No valid registration statement was filed or was in effect with the Commission in connection with Gagnon’s offer and sale of Legisi program investment contracts.”

    SEC: Forum Moderators Helped Push Ponzi Scheme

    “Between approximately January 2006 and August 2007, Mazu employees working on Gagnon’s behalf and at his direction promoted the Legisi program in emails, in Mazu Business Packs and DVDs they sent to investors, and on the Legisi Forum,” the SEC charged.

    “The Legisi Forum was an on-line chat room accessible through the Legisi.com website. Several Mazu employees served as ‘moderators’ on the Legisi Forum. Mazu’s support services also included answering questions over the telephone and email,” the SEC said.

    Forum shills performed services for Legisi and deflected concerns when CNN carried a negative report on the company, the SEC said.

    “The Mazu employees acting as moderators encouraged readers to invest in Legisi, assisted them in transferring money to Legisi, encouraged investors to bring in new investors, and offered investors personal assistance in bringing in referrals,” the SEC said. “They also encouraged investors to keep their monthly earnings with Legisi, rather than withdrawing them, in order to achieve purportedly higher returns. They made sure transfers of money between investors and Legisi went smoothly. The moderators updated investors on changes to the Legisi program like new minimum investment amounts and referral fee rules.

    “The moderators made posts on the Legisi Forum to prevent and diffuse investor rumors and concerns,” the SEC continued. “After an article questioning Legisi’s legitimacy appeared on the CNN Money website on May 8, 2007, one moderator wrote, ‘I think it is worth mentioning that the Forum is probably being read by people who are not Legisi members. So let’s not raise red flags to any bulls out there shall we. . .. Of course so far as any discussion on the [CNN Money] article is concerned I’m sure that everyone is aware that Greg went into Legisi knowing the law and planning for this eventuality. So keep a cool head and stop worrying about what you should do.”

    No Due Diligence

    McKnight was operating a classic Ponzi scheme fueled in part by Gagnon’s cheerleading on Mazu.com, the SEC said.

    Despite the relentless hype, Gagnon performed no due diligence and simply fabricated information or passed along claims as though they were factual, the SEC said.

    “Gagnon did not obtain or review any of McKnight’s trading records, bank and brokerage account statements, or e-currency account records at any point prior to, or during, Gagnon’s promotion of Legisi,” the SEC charged.

    SEC: Gagnon ‘Recklessly Disregarded’ Scam Warning Signs

    “Throughout the time that Gagnon promoted Legisi, he simultaneously warned readers about a type of fraud referred to as a high yield investment program. High yield investment programs, commonly called ‘HYIPs,’ typically involve off-shore companies promising very high rates of interest generated by investment in foreign currencies and a variety of other vehicles, along with repeated hyping of the legitimacy of the program,” the SEC said.

    Gagnon understood the HYIP fraud universe, but nevertheless pitched Legisi, which had promoted an unusually high rate of return and had other markers of the exact kind of scam Mazu.com warned about on its website, the SEC said.

    “From at least April 2006 through at least May 2007 Gagnon provided on the Mazu website an accurate description of a HYIP by stating that they (emphasis added by PP Blog):

    collect funds from lenders as investment capital or deposits and promise a return that is usually extremely high in exchange for ‘borrowing your money.’ The result? Generally after a period of time you are free to withdraw your capital and or your profits, or you can ‘reinvest’ them to earn additional profits. In theory, the compounding can create a crazy return on investment given time . . .

    * * * * * *

    Sadly, most HYIPs are offshore fronts that don’t lie within U.S. jurisdiction and you have no recourse when they steal your money. Most HYIPs realize this and they bank on it! They’ve got you right where they want you. Most also allude to making their profit in legitimate investment vehicles when in reality, you have no idea where they’re making their profit.

    And Gagnon also warned readers about Ponzi schemes.

    “On the Mazu website between at least April 2006 and May 2007, Gagnon accurately described a Ponzi scheme as an ‘investment program touting huge returns in a short period of time. Any returns someone sees are paid out of monies gathered from the investors. No real product, investment, or business takes place,’” the SEC said.

    The Legisi Ponzi began to unravel by September 2007, its decay brought about in part by “the federal seizure of an e-currency provider that was holding $1.8 million for McKnight,” the SEC said.

    Gagnon then “attempted to extort money from McKnight,” the SEC said.

    “On September 9, 2007, Gagnon informed McKnight that he was ending the partnership between Legisi and Mazu,” the SEC said. “Gagnon offered McKnight a choice: send Gagnon and several of Gagnon’s associates approximately $2.5 million, tell the Legisi members that Gagnon was starting a real estate fund, and that Mazu and Legisi were parting amicably, or Gagnon would email the entire Legisi membership and tell them ‘the truth’ about McKnight’s fraud.”

    Read the SEC complaint.

  • KABOOM! Agents Tie Alleged ‘Evolution Market Group’ Ponzi And HYIP Fraud Scheme To Narcotics Case In Arizona; Tens Of Millions Of Dollars Seized; Firms Promoted On ASA Monitor, TalkGold Forums

    Kaboom! It has happened again. Explosive court filings by the government show that kneejerk apologists and defenders of High Yield Investment Programs (HYIPs) and autosurfs are quickly running out of cover when they assert that anything is noble or even real about the programs they relentlessly push for their share of purported profits from introducing others to the schemes.

    A law-enforcement task force consisting of the U.S. Secret Service, the IRS and veteran investigators from other agencies that specialize in reverse-engineering complex money-laundering networks have tied funds from a widely promoted online HYIP to the international narcotics trade and a murky money-services business. Research shows that the program and offshoots could have gathered between $100 million and $200 million before the wanton criminality was exposed after exhaustive investigations. The program was advertised as lucrative and harmless on the Ponzi-friendly ASA Monitor and TalkGold forums.

    Research by the PP Blog suggests the purported investment program was so sordid that promoters even claimed some of the funds were being used for the “humanitarian” purpose of assisting kidnapping victims in Colombia. In a sickening display of marketing theatrics, a claim was made that investors could “adopt” kidnapping victims for a payment of $1,000 and that the company would set aside $500 in corporate funds for each victim so that their families could have bright futures if the victims ultimately were released by their captors.

    The HYIP scheme allegedly was associated with an entity known as Evolution Market Group (EMG), which purportedly had a Forex component known as FinanzasForex. Investigators alleged in January  that there were schemes within schemes in a tangled web of domestic and international deception that featured dozens of bank accounts, shell companies and various fronts for money-laundering enterprises, including companies purportedly in businesses such as real estate and car washes.

    The scheme was so corrupt, according to court filings, that some investors were told that, in order to leave the program whole, they had to recruit new investors, have the new investors pay them directly — and use the proceeds from the new investors to “recover” their initial outlays.

    Members of the same Florida-based task force also are involved in the AdSurfDaily autosurf Ponzi scheme investigation. In the ASD case, records show that the company once advertised a debit card federal prosecutors in Connecticut say was offered by a Dallas-based firm that laundered money for a narco business in Medellin, Colombia. The Dallas firm, known as Virtual Money Inc. (VM), also agreed to launder purported drug proceeds in the Dominican Republic, according to court filings.

    Robert Hodgins, the operator of VM, is now an international fugitive wanted by INTERPOL.

    ASA and TalkGold are infamous for promoting international financial frauds, with posters routinely describing the programs as legitimate. The very first post about the alleged EMG scheme at ASA referenced yet another Ponzi scheme — 12DailyPr0 — and informed prospects that they could earn commissions by introducing the alleged Forex component of EMG to others.

    “I have been in internet business for 3 years now and in autosurf industry from 12dailypro,” an ASA poster began, while promoting EMG’s Finanzas Forex arm, which investigators now say was part of a grandiose scheme with tentacles in Central America, South America and Europe.

    “And the (sic) you can earn also money from people under you if you want, you get 0,5% (sic) from every one that you bring (0,5% (sic) from his investment),” the poster said in April 2008.

    Court filings in the EMG case paint a picture of an incredibly elaborate maze of companies and bank accounts set up to confuse both investors and law enforcement. At least 59 bank accounts, 294 bars of gold and nine luxury vehicles have been seized in the case. One of the cars was a 2008 Lamborghini Murcielago valued at more than $430,000.

    The EMG allegations are explosive because they showcase the now-undeniable fact that people who promote programs such as HYIPs and autosurfs because such programs may pay “commissions” to recruit new members may be operating as fronts or conduits for international drug dealers and money-launderers.

    Although ASD is not mentioned in a Task Force affidavit in the EMG case, forfeiture complaints against assets tied to both companies include similar allegations of wanton, relentless fraud. Compellingly, EMG allegedly sponsored “rallies” of members, an allegation in common with allegations in the ASD case. At the same time, research suggests that EMG touted offshore events in exotic locations.

    AdViewGlobal, an autosurf with close ties to ASD, also touted offshore venues and once sponsored at least one meeting on a ship at sea, according to members.

    Meanwhile, research suggests that both EMG and ASD went to great lengths to mask the schemes just prior to interventions by law enforcement and that both schemes had ties to narcotics traffickers and professional money-launderers.

    Both the alleged EMG and ASD schemes were operating during the same general time period, roughly between 2006 and 2008, according to court filings. Each of the schemes had components of investment fraud that targeted people who spoke Spanish or English. Task Force agents have been investigating entities and individuals linked to EMG since June 1, 2008, including a mysterious entity known as DWB Holding Co.

    “The conspiracy to commit wire fraud offenses that gives rise to this action is an international Ponzi/Pyramid scheme operated by Evolution Market Group (EMG) d/b/a Finanzas Forex, DWB Holding Company (DWB), Superior International Investments Corporation (SIIC), German Cardona (Cardona), Daniel Fernandez Rojo Filho (Rojo Filho), Pedro Benevides (Benevides) and others in which investors have been defrauded out of millions of dollars,” federal prosecutors said.

    Federal agencies, including the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), seized “financial accounts” in DWB’s name during a drug investigation in Arizona, according to court filings in Florida. One account seized during the drug probe contained more than $24 million. The money was seized on Aug. 22 and Aug. 26, 2008, about three to four weeks after agents seized more than $80 million in the ASD case.

    A section of U.S. law referenced in the EMG forfeiture complaint refers to “cocaine” and “marihuana,” among other drugs.

    As the investigation progressed, agents established additional money-laundering links — and other bank accounts were seized, according to court filings. The precise mechanism by which purported investment money ended up in accounts seized in the drug case was not immediately clear.

    Shameful Behavior By HYIP And ‘Surf Advocates

    Still promoting autosurfs and HYIPs? Still selling yourself on the delusional theory that they’re harmless and that only “Socialists” or “Nazis” would support the government’s efforts to destroy them? Still arguing that journalists who write about the cases are “liberal” lackeys, have no understanding of the “real” issues and won’t be pleased until every single American entrepreneur is assigned an individual bureaucrat to make their lives miserable?

    Still calling for federal prosecutors and Secret Service agents to be investigated because you love your downline commissions gleaned from Ponzi proceeds and the sale of unregistered securities, don’t want to part with them and figure that, if only you scream loudly enough and long enough, you’ll be able to persuade your fellow Americans that the cops are the real crooks?

    In August 2009, the PP Blog reported that members of ASD, which is implicated in an autosurf  Ponzi scheme involving tens of millions of dollars, advertised that the company used the debit-card services of VM in Dallas. Research suggests that Hodgins or a VM designate attended an ASD function in Florida shortly after ASD’s launch in late 2006.

    Prosecutors said that VM helped the Colombian drug operation offload at least $7.1 million in illegal proceeds at automated teller machines in Medellin. Medellin once was home base of the infamous Medellin Cartel, operated by drug lord and terrorist Pablo Escobar. Escobar was killed by Colombia National Police in 1993.

    Escobar was implicated in the assassination of Colombian presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán and the bombing of Avianca Flight 203 over Colombia, which killed 110 people.

    Autosurf and HYIP promoters long have claimed that participation in the illegal enterprises is harmless. The indictment against VM — and the allegations that it laundered money for a Colombian drug organization — demonstrates the dangers of participating in murky businesses in which participants have no way of knowing what is in the hearts and minds of other participants.

    It was not immediately clear how long ASD used the VM debit card, which was heavily promoted in early 2007 when ASD said it was having cash-flow problems. By 2008, ASD said it was generating tens of millions of dollars of revenue per week. Some members said they observed huge sums of cash and brief cases full of cashier’s checks at ASD rallies in Florida cities.

    Two Colombian conspirators “directed their agents in the United States to provide proceeds of sales of controlled substances to agents of VIRTUAL MONEY, INC. to be sent to Colombia so the proceeds could be made available to the clients,” according to the indictment against Hodgins.

    VM “stored value cards were used by the members of the conspiracy to make available at a Daviviendo Bank ATM in Medellin, Colombia the peso equivalent of US $2,430,810.24 in April 2006; US $2,437,023.53 in June 2006; and US $2,257,761.45 in August 2006,” prosecutors charged.

    VM and its president, Robert Hodgins, were indicted under seal in 2008 in a case brought by the DEA. The seal was lifted in September 2008, a month after the U.S. Secret Service seized 15 bank accounts in the ASD case.

    ASD was accused by the Secret Service of operating an international Ponzi scheme.

    One of the alleged components of the ASD scheme was an autosurf named LaFuenteDinero, which targeted people who spoke Spanish. Records show that one of the Secret Service agents involved in the ASD investigation formerly was a member of a DEA Task Force in Florida and was experienced in “investigating large criminal organizations that distributed and sold controlled substances.”

    In November 2009, the PP Blog reported that the Secret Service expressed a fear in court documents originally filed under seal that ASD President Andy Bowdoin had become aware of scrutiny into his business affairs in 2008 and planned to flee the United States.

    “Based [on] ASD’s indication that it intends to cease accepting funds into [Bank of America] at the end of July 2008, Bowdoin’s indication that he has relinquished his interest in Golden Panda [Ad Builder], and an indication that Bowdoin intends to establish his offshore presence, and the recent complaints governmental authorities have received, I believe that Bowdoin is aware of increasing scrutiny and that he intends to move himself, his proceeds, and, until it collapses possibly his operation, offshore,” the Secret Service wrote in an affidavit.

    Golden Panda was the purported “Chinese” arm of ASD, according to court filings.

    The agency said Bowdoin had moved millions of dollars into Canada just prior to the seizure of his assets.

    Read a warrant originally issued under seal Aug. 1, 2008, by U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Kay, who ordered the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to seize a Bowdoin bank account that contained more than $31.6 million. The entire sum was in an account under Bowdoin’s name. Agents eventually seized at least nine other Bowdoin accounts that, in the aggregate, contained more than $34.2 million.

    In recent days, the PP Blog  reported that the alleged INetGlobal autosurf Ponzi scheme in Minnesota, which allegedly targeted Chinese prospects,  had ties to at least three other Ponzi cases, including ASD and a separate Florida case in which it was alleged that the same debit-card company that provided services for INetGlobal provided services for a company implicated in a $22 million Ponzi scheme with ties to Panama.

    Some INetGlobal members provided Chinese prospects instructions on how to offload profits onto debit cards that could be used to withdraw cash at ATM machines, according to promotional material for INetGlobal. About $26 million has been seized in the INetGlobal case.

    INetGlobal-related entities such as Cash Cards International (CCI) and V-Cash now have been linked to a fourth financial-fraud scheme known as Megafund. In the $13 million Megafund case, it was alleged that CCI and V-Cash provided services for certain participants in the Megafund HYIP scheme. At least $175,000 purportedly transferred by a mysterious entity known as MexBank S.A. de C.V. passed through CCC and V-Cash, according to court filings.

    The money was described in court filings as commission payments for the Megafund scheme. Authorities later determined that MexBank was “neither a bank nor a legitimate financial institution licensed” in Mexico, despite its official-sounding name.

    Bradley C. Stark, one of the defendants in the Megafund case, was convicted in 2003 of possessing counterfeit government securities. He was released from prison and was on probation while participating in the Megafund scheme, according to court records. The scheme targeted Christians, and investors were told money was being directed to humanitarian causes.

    Forbes magazine wrote about the Megafund case in July 2005, in a story titled “Too Good To Be True.”

    Less than four years later, the AdViewGlobal autosurf sent an email to members that included Forbes’ logo in a sales pitch. Research showed that the logo had been hotlinked from Forbes’ website and that AdViewGlobal members were attempting to create the appearance that the famous publishing company had endorsed the autosurf scheme. Like the Megafund and EMG schemes, participants in AdViewGlobal were told a portion of the money was devoted to humanitarian causes, including a purported fund devoted to preserving the rainforest.

    In the AdSurfDaily case, members said the company touted a contribution of 100,000 “ad packs” to a charity. The donation was used by promoters to position Bowdoin as a benevolent human being.

    At an ASD rally in Las Vegas in 2008, Bowdoin asserted that he thanked God daily for making him a “money magnet,” and he implored members to imagine themselves coming into large sums of money through rebates on ASD advertising purchases that not only would return 100 percent of the cost of the members’ advertisements, but also pay them at least 25 percent beyond that — more if they rolled over a percentage of their purchases.

    The payment-processing arm of INetGlobal also has been tied to a Ponzi scheme known as Learn Waterhouse, which purportedly advertised a presence in Mexico, according to court filings. Four people have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms in the Learn Waterhouse case, some of the underpinnings of which led to the successful prosecution of INetGlobal operator Steve Renner for income-tax evasion in December 2009.

    Filings in the Learn Waterhouse case assert that Renner, who operated both CCI and V-Cash, used customers’ funds as though they were his own.

    When the Learn Waterhouse receiver tried to reclaim the funds to make Ponzi victims as whole as possible, the money was not available because Renner had spent it on personal purchases, according to court filings.

    If you are playing the HYIP and autosurf games, the PP Blog suggests you read these documents from the alleged EMG Ponzi case.

    Task Force affidavit.

    Amended Forfeiture Complaint in U.S. District Court in Orlando.

    Still want to cheer for the HYIPs and autosurfs?