U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz

2ND UPDATE 6:27 P.M. EDT U.S.A. A government filing dated July 1 — a Friday before the long Independence Day weekend — says U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz of the District of Massachusetts “has been recused” from the prosecutions of TelexFree figures James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler. The document does not say why Ortiz no longer […]

UPDATED 1:22 P.M. ET U.S.A. There are reports in Brazil that a prosecutor who worked on a TelexFree action in that country has been found dead inside her apartment. She has been identified as Nicole Gonzales Colombo Arnoldi, 35, of the state of Acre. The government of Acre has issued a statement of sympathy (in Portuguese) on […]

Federal criminal prosecutors in the office of U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz of the District of Massachusetts have moved to stay discovery in the SEC’s civil case against DFRF Enterprises and alleged Ponzi- and pyramid-scheme operator Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho. Initially charged in July 2015 via criminal complaint with wire fraud,  Filho was indicted by […]

2ND UPDATE 6:23 P.M. EDT U.S.A. Ponzi-scheme suspect Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho of DFRF Enterprises has been arrested in Boca Raton, Fla. after an FBI investigation — but a new mystery is emerging on how he came into possession of a gold Lamborghini bearing Florida tag DJBU10. The extremely pricy automobile is shown in at […]

10th Update 10 a.m. EDT July 14 U.S.A. Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho, the alleged operator of the $15 million DFRF Enterprises LLC Ponzi- and pyramid scheme sued civilly by the SEC in late June, has been charged criminally with wire fraud and is wanted by the FBI. An arrest warrant has been issued. Court filings […]

At 5 a.m. yesterday — two hours before he died in the Boston neighborhood of Roslindale — Usaamah Abdullah Rahim called David Wright of the Boston-area community of Everett, according to an FBI affidavit from a member of Boston’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. Wright, 25, also is known as Dawud Sharif Wright and Dawud Sharif […]

2ND UPDATE 9:18 A.M. ET FEB. 13 U.S.A. On Oct. 16, 2014, Google was served a search warrant in the TelexFree criminal case against accused operators James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler, according to joint court filings by federal prosecutors in the office of U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz of the District of Massachusetts and Robert […]

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (Updated 6:24 P.M. EDT U.S.A.) The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has entered the TelexFree fray in Nevada Bankruptcy Court and has petitioned the judge to transfer the case to Bankruptcy Court in the Central District of Massachusetts, an area that is a potential TelexFree stronghold. The Central District covers […]

Richard Elkinson, the 78-year-old Ponzi swindler whose promissory notes scheme gathered $29 million over 20 years, has been sentenced to 102 months in federal prison. Elkinson resided in Framingham, Mass., and told investors he was in the business of providing uniforms to the government and other entities. But it was all a scam that lured […]

Still promoting HYIP frauds on the Ponzi boards and elsewhere? A Canadian citizen was arrested in British Columbia June 3 and now has been indicted in the United States on charges of wire fraud, mail fraud and money-laundering, authorities said. Randi A. Bochinski, 46, of Kelowna, B.C., potentially faces decades in prison and huge fines […]