Tag: the Bilderbergers

HYIP apologists dating back (at least) to the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme in 2008 ($119 million) have bizarrely sought to defend their favorite scams by steering discussions off the track. Why talk about the recidivist securities felon who presided over ASD (Andy Bowdoin), for instance, when the “real menace” is the Bilderberg Group?

And, hey, since the United States is a participatory Democracy, why not further cloud the issues by launching petition drives designed to derail the prosecutions of major Ponzi schemes (such as AdSurfDaily and Zeek Rewards) and even filing bogus liens for billions of dollars against judges, prosecutors and investigators?

If you encounter an HYIP Ponzi scheme these days that perhaps purports to pay interest of 2 percent a day or more, it’s a safe bet you’ll encounter one conspiracy theorist after another on well-known fraud-scheme forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup — especially if the evilGUBment brings a criminal or civil action against the purported “opportunity.”

It was against this delusional backdrop that conspiracy theorist Alex Jones appeared on the BBC’s “Sunday Politics” program hosted by Andrew Neil. The subject was the annual meeting of the Bilderberg Group, sometimes known  simply as the Bilderbergers.

One of the best moments of the program occurred near the end of the Jones segment, when Neil made the universal “[batspit] crazy” gesture after Jones shared a FEMA concentration-camp conspiracy theory and screamed that “you will not stop freedom! You will not stop the republic! Humanity is awakening!”

Neil declared, “We have an idiot on the program today.”

Among the bizarre claims of the AdSurfDaily apologists was that all commerce is lawful as long as the parties to a “contract” agree that it is lawful, a position that would legalize Ponzi schemes — and slavery and human trafficking and narcotics trafficking, for that matter. The U.S. Secret Service took down ASD, and promptly was called “Satan” by ASD operator Andy Bowdoin, now serving a 78-month prison sentence for wire fraud for his 1-percent-a-day scheme.

The SEC took down Zeek Rewards in August 2012, amid allegations it was conducting a $600 million, international Ponzi- and pyramid scheme by duping people into believing they were receiving a legitimate return that averaged about 1.5 percent a day. A federal judge appointed a receiver, who quickly was described as a felon by a Zeek litigant. (The Zeek receiver is a former federal prosecutor who once successfully prosecuted a Hezbollah terrorist cell operating in the United States.)

Back in 2008 and 2009, some of the ASD apologists accused a federal judge appointed by President George W. Bush of committing dozens of felonies and conspiring with a chief judge to deny ASD members justice.

Why HYIP scammers seem to embrace the conspiracy theories of Jones long has been left to the imagination. One thing that is clear is that ASD and Zeek combined allegedly gathered $719 million. Some recent HYIP scams such as Legisi ($72 million) and JSSTripler/JustBeenPaid (unknown take) have required participants to avow they were not with the “government.” Legisi specifically named the CIA, FBI, SEC, “Her Majesty’s Police,” the Intelligence Services of Great Britain and the Serious Fraud Office, among others.

Late last month, the United States — working with other countries — took down a major payment processor for fraud schemes. Its name was “Liberty Reserve.”