U.S. Secret Service

On Jan. 22, 2011, nearly two years ago and long before the SEC brought the Zeek Ponzi scheme case in August 2012, the PP Blog proposed a new term in an effort to distill the economic and logistical nightmares of viral Internet crime to their essence: fraud creep. This followed our Dec. 12, 2010, post, […]

UPDATED 5 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) Various members of the Florida-based AdSurfDaily 1-percent-a-day Ponzi scheme advanced various theories that judges, prosecutors and investigators committed various felonies during the course of the probe and follow-up actions in court. The claims were absurd on their face and, when the arguments were rejected, they were replaced by conspiracy theories. […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: ASD was a multilevel-marketing scheme that planted the seed it paid a return of 1 percent a day on top of two-tiered affiliate commissions totaling 15 percent for recruiters. Federal prosecutors described the purported “opportunity” as a Ponzi scheme based in the the small town of Quincy, Fla., and operated by recidivist securities […]

The PP Blog has received a report that some members of Zeek have received subpoenas issued by the court-appointed receiver in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme case. The SEC alleged in August that Zeek was a $600 million Ponzi and pyramid scheme operated by Paul R. Burks and Rex Venture Group LLC. Receiver Kenneth B. […]

“The Intelligence Community’s most recent Worldwide Threat Assessment confirms that U.S. networks have already been subject to ‘extensive illicit intrusions.’ The head of the National Security Agency and the Pentagon’s Cyber Command, for one, believes such intrusions may have resulted in ‘the greatest transfer of wealth in history.’” — Lisa Monaco, Assistant Attorney General for […]

BULLETIN: A former Texas Department of Criminal Justice parole officer has been accused of honest services wire fraud and federal programs bribery, amid allegations she developed an “improper relationship” with one of her “assigned parolees” and enabled him to pull off a massive oil-and-gas swindle. Nichelle Derricks, 37, of Cedar Hill, Texas, “secretly used her […]

AdSurfDaily figures Todd Disner and Dwight Owen Schweitzer — later to become pitchmen for the alleged Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme — have appealed the dismissal of their ASD-related lawsuit. In August, U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer dismissed claims by the ASD duo that their 4th Amendment rights had been violated when ASD computer records were […]

After he was charged with filing false liens and other crimes and jailed near Seattle, AdSurfDaily story figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming apparently thought it prudent to sue President Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Leaming, 56, advanced a theory that Obama was not born in the United States, was not […]

BULLETIN: (5TH UPDATE 6:13 P.M. EDT) The court-appointed receiver in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme case says he discovered that Zeek has “at least one foreign account” that has not been seized. It was “not clear” whether the funds would be recoverable despite the fact the bank that holds the account has been served with […]

AdSurfDaily figures Todd Disner and Dwight Owen Schweitzer should not be permitted to reopen their lawsuit against the government for alleged misdeeds in bringing the ASD Ponzi-scheme case in August 2008, government lawyers said in court filings today. Moreover, the bid by Disner and Schweitzer to force U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer of the District […]

On Aug. 29, the PP Blog reported that U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer has authorized the U.S. Department of Justice to reopen remissions claims for victims of the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme who missed the January 2011 filing deadline. Earlier in August, prosecutors advised Collyer that “it is entirely possible” ASD’s database did not contain the […]