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Tag: U.S. Secret Service

  • Forex Ponzi Schemers Who Targeted Deaf Investors Hit With $6.2 Million In Sanctions; ‘Billion Coupons’ Case Drew Comparisons To Defunct Noobing Autosurf

    A Hawaii man and his company were hit with sanctions totaling $6.2 million in a case that alleged they targeted people with hearing impairments in a Forex Ponzi scheme.

    Both the SEC and the CFTC filed actions against Marvin Cooper and his Honolulu-based firm, Billion Coupons Inc. (BCI). The CFTC announced the judgment against Cooper and the company.

    Investigators said Cooper and BCI “solicited funds from deaf American and Japanese individuals for the sole purported purpose of trading forex,” luring them with payout promises of up to 25 percent per month.

    For his part, Cooper took “more than $1.4 million of customer funds for personal use, including for flying lessons and to purchase a $1 million home,” investigators said.

    He was ordered to pay $3.9 million in restitution to customers and more than $2.3 million in penalties. The company is liable for the same amounts.

    The “Billion Coupons” case drew comparisons to the now-defunct Noobing autosurf, which also targeted the deaf. Noobing became popular in the aftermath of the August 2008 federal seizure of tens of millions of dollars in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme case.

    Despite the federal seizure, some ASD members promoted Noobing. Noobing effectively went bust in July 2009, when the FTC charged its parent company — Affiliate Strategies Inc. — with pushing a scheme that promised “guaranteed” government grants of $25,000 from economic stimulus funds.

    Noobing later was named a receivership defendant in the case. Receiver Larry Cook sold the company’s assets lock, stock and barrel — right down to a lavatory wastebasket. Like ASD, Noobing’s parent firm also owned a jet ski. Cook sold that, too.

    Despite dramatic asset seizures and the federal actions against ASD and Noobing’s parent — and despite previous actions against autosurfs, including 12DailyPro, PhoenixSurf and CEP — some ASD members have continued to promote autosurfs.

    This has occurred against the backdrop of a racketeering lawsuit against ASD President Andy Bowdoin and public filings in which prosecutors claimed Bowdoin had signed a “proffer” letter in the case and met with members of law enforcement over a period of four days in December 2008 and January 2009.

    It also is known that Interpol is seeking the arrest of Robert Hodgins, whose Dallas-based debit-card company, Virtual Money Inc., is alleged to have agreed to launder drug money in the Dominican Republic and assist a Colombian drug operation launder money at ATMs in Medellin.

    ASD members said Hodgins’ company supplied debit cards to AdSurfDaily, and web records suggest that Hodgins or a Virtual Money designate attended an ASD function in the Orlando area in late 2006.

    Even though Bowdoin acknowledged in court filings that he had given information against his interests to the government, some ASD members continue to promote autosurfs and HYIPs. After signing the proffer letter and surrendering his claims to more than $65.8 million seized from his personal bank accounts, Bowdoin later reentered the case as his own attorney.

    One of Bowdoin’s 10 personal bank accounts contained more than $31 million, according to court filings. Another contained more than $23 million. Three other bank accounts contained the exact same amount — a little over $1 million.

    After submitting to the forfeiture in January 2009, Bowdoin fired his attorneys without notice and attempted to reenter the case weeks later as his own attorney. This set in motion a series of bizarre pleadings from Bowdoin, including one in which he claimed he had not been provided “fair notice” of his illegal conduct by the government. ASD members by the dozens then filed their own bizarre, pro se pleadings. U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer ruled against each of the filers, saying they had no standing in the case.

    Collyer since has ruled against Bowdoin, awarding title to more than $80 million seized in the case to the government, which said it intends to implement a restitution program. Bowdoin is appealing Collyer’s forfeiture decisions.

    Court filings show that Bowdoin told Collyer the seized money belonged to him. In September 2009, the U.S. Secret Service presented Collyer a transcript of a conference-call recording in which Bowdoin told members the money belonged to them. Although Bowdoin insisted he had big plans for ASD, records show that he let the firm’s registration lapse in the state of Florida — even as he was telling members they should be excited about the company’s future.

    In the recording, Bowdoin claimed his fight against the government was inspired by the compelling personal story of a former Miss America.

  • KABOOM! (Florida — Again): FTC Hits Bogus Credit-Repair Firm With $14 Million Judgment; Alleged Schemers Lose Cars, Real Estate In Miami-Dade, Broward Counties

    BULLETIN: (UPDATED 11:27 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The Federal Trade Commission has lowered the boom on Clean Credit Report Services Inc. of Florida and three individuals associated with the firm.

    In a settlement from a case brought in October 2008, the FTC has obtained a judgment of $14.4 million. The defendants must surrender their assets, including about $165,000 in frozen funds.

    The settlement agreement also includes “any proceeds received from selling their six commercial and three residential properties under foreclosure in Florida; commercial property in Bogota, Colombia; a 1992 Mercedes S300; and a 1997 Chevrolet Venture.”

    In total, Clean Credit Report Services Inc., Ricardo A. Miranda, Ruthy Villabona and Daniel R. Miranda are giving up “two cars, three houses, and six commercial properties in Broward and Miami-Dade counties in Florida, and in Bogota, Colombia,” the FTC said.

    The defendants admitted no wrongdoing.

    Clean Credit Report operated from North Miami, according to court filings. The company used a website (now defunct), radio ads and televisions ads to fleece customers, the FTC charged.

    Here is how the company pitched its offer on its website, according to the FTC:

    “DEROGATORY ACCOUNTS ARE DISPUTED CCRS will help you to legally dispute all your negative remarks directly with the 3 credit reporting agencies.”

    ***

    “Get ready to see DELETED, DELETED, DELETED, DELETED, DELETED, on the responses from the credit reporting agencies.”

    The alleged schemers targeted people going through rough financial times and illegally charged them upfront fees, the FTC charged.

    They also fraudulently claimed that they could remove accurate and timely information from credit reports, charging $400 to do so and debiting the amount from customers’ bank accounts, the FTC said.

    The agency noted in court filings that eight of nine properties the defendants will be giving up already are in foreclosure.

    Florida has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the United States. Certain MLM and Internet Marketing companies — in efforts to recruit financially strapped customers — routinely use the word “foreclosure” in sales pitches, positioning the business “opportunity” as the remedy for the foreclosure problem.

    Such ads often feature a dire drum beat, as images of people down on their luck flash on the screen. Biz Ad Splash, a failed autosurf, used such an ad. The company disappeared with an unknown amount of money sent in by members earlier this year — and then issued an announcement that it was “sad” about the development.

    Biz Ad Splash and it dire drum beat and “foreclosure” message targeted members of Florida-based AdSurfDaily, which was implicated in a Ponzi scheme by the U.S. Secret Service in August 2008. More than $80 million was seized in the ASD case.

    Some ASD members now are recommending a Florida-based program called MPB Today, which also uses a dire drum beat and the word “foreclosure” in its sales pitch.

    It is known that some members of ASD also were in the credit-repair business. One ASD supporter claimed in court filings that he could undermine a bank’s interest in a foreclosure case by filing “twenty-one dollars in silver coinage” at a courthouse in Missouri.

  • BULLETIN: Ponzi Scheme Figure William Walters To Be Extradited From Argentina, FBI, Colorado AG Say; Another ‘Offshore’ Myth Exposed

    William Walters: Extradited from Argentina to face Ponzi charges in Colorado.

    BULLETIN: (UPDATED 9:32 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) William L. Walters has been extradited to the United States from Argentina to face Ponzi scheme charges in Colorado, prosecutors announced.

    “This extradition is the culmination of years of work and cooperation between my office and the FBI,” said Colorado Attorney General John Suthers. “In this case, justice delayed will not result in justice being denied. We look forward to presenting our case against Mr. Walters and securing justice for his victims.”

    Walters, 45, fled the United States prior to being indicted in 2007. Interpol “flagged” his passport, and the FBI traced him to Argentina, prosecutors said.

    The Walters’ case exposes a common myth on HYIP and autosurf Ponzi boards that “offshore” locations insulate Ponzi schemes from prosecution and that the schemers themselves can avoid arrest by operating outside the United States or fleeing from the United States to a foreign country after a scheme is exposed.

    “Pursuant to the FBI’s Project Welcome Home, the Denver Division was able to work closely with the Colorado Attorney General’s Office to insure that William Walters was returned to Colorado for prosecution,” said James H. Davis, FBI special agent in charge. “This is yet another example of law enforcement cooperation in Colorado and our commitment to pursue fugitives from justice, even if they attempt to flee outside of the United States.”

    Walters is accused of operating a “day-trading” Ponzi scheme that gathered more than $23 million from investors in Colorado, California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wyoming.

    He operated companies known as Samurai Capital and Mana Trading Inc. A court in Argentina approved the extradition to the United States.

    Read the Walters’ indictment.

    Read more about the FBI’s “Project Welcome Home.”

    Read about the U.S. Secret Service case against Vladislav Horohorin, who was arrested in France earlier this month after undercover agents infiltrated an online crime forum.

    Horohorin allegedly operated an overseas fraud scheme targeted at U.S. residents.

    Court records show that the Secret Service infiltrated the AdSurfDaily autosurf by employing undercover agents. Records also show that the agency employed undercover operatives in the investigation of the INetGlobal autosurf.

    In the INetGlobal case, records show that undercover agents attended an INetGlobal function in New York earlier this year. The Secret Service said one of its agents was introduced to INetGlobal by an ASD member.

    In the ASD case, the Secret Service said it believed that ASD President Andy Bowdoin was planning to flee the United States prior to the seizure of tens of millions of dollars in August 2008 — amid Ponzi allegations.

  • KABOOM! Feds Release Info On ‘Alpha Trade Group’ Forex Scheme With Ties To Mexico, Panama; Records Suggest Scheme Was Collapsing Even Prior To Promos On TalkGold, MoneyMakerGroup Forums

    Yet another HYIP scheme pushed on the TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup forums has been outlined by federal prosecutors — this time in Florida.

    The name of the scheme was Alpha Trade Group (ATG), and web records show that the scheme was pitched on TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup beginning on Oct. 7, 2009. Court records, meanwhile, show that ATG already was under investigation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security when the first posts to promote the scheme appeared on the forums.

    Just days earlier, on Sept. 25, 2009, a U.S. bank closed an account prosecutors later linked to the scheme, according to court records. Taken together, the court and web records strongly suggest that the ATG investment “opportunity” first was advertised on MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold when the scheme already was in a state of collapse because one of its key money conduits had been blocked.

    This screen shot shows the first post about Alpha Trade Group appeared at the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum on Oct. 7, 2009 — days after a U.S. bank already had closed an account linked to the scheme amid fears it was being used to launder money.
    This screen shot, taken from Paragraph 23 of a federal affidavit in the ATG Ponzi case, shows that a U.S. bank closed an account later linked to the scheme at least 12 days prior to the ATG promo on the MoneyMakerGroup forum. Court records show the scheme already was under investigation by federal authorities before the sales posts were made on the MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold forums.

    It is possible that the scheme was in a state of collapse even earlier than September 2009. Court records show that at least one bank account tied to the business was closed on June 18, 2009 — nearly four months prior to the first posts promoting the scheme on MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold.

    One MoneyMakerGroup poster — apparently angry that the program was being advertised in public — scolded the poster who started the thread.

    “Please take down your posts,” the scolder wrote. “ATG asked all of the members not to advertise. Otherwise your account with the company will be closed. Go to recent e-mails from the company. This is serious. Please comply.”

    The post scolding the advertiser appeared on Oct. 29, more than three weeks after the original sales pitch appeared on the forum and more than a month after federal agents began their probe into ATG.

    By Feb. 22, 2010, federal prosecutors and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, were in federal court in Orlando filing a forfeiture complaint.

    The Feds sought the seizure of $316,418.50 in a bank account linked to the scheme, according to court records. The forfeiture complaint alleged a Forex Ponzi scheme, and prosecutors linked the fraud to ATG, a Florida company known as Online Market Solutions and at least four individuals: Jose Cecilio Martinez Beltran, Francisco Amaury Suero Matos, Yehodiz Padua Valentin and Welinton Bautista Castillo.

    Unnamed “others” also were referenced in the complaint.

    “Investment opportunities offered by Alpha Trade Group promised participants unusually high monetary returns on investments and for referring other persons to the programs,” prosecutors said, in a statement to victims. “In reality, the investment opportunity was little more than ‘Ponzi’ or ‘Pyramid’ scheme, in which if participants actually received funds, those funds were generated by investments made by other Alpha Trade Group investors.”

    A federal judge ordered the money forfeited on July 26, according to court records.

    The case was brought by the office of U.S. Attorney A. Brian Albritton of the Middle District of Florida. Albritton’s office is handing a number of highly complex financial-fraud schemes.

    Websites such as TalkGold, MoneyMakerGroup, ASAMonitor and MyCashForums have promoted one fraud scheme after another. TalkGold, MoneyMakerGroup and ASAMonitor are specifically referenced in court documents filed in the Pathway To Prosperity (P2P) fraud scheme.

    P2P’s Nicholas Smirnow was charged in May by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and federal prosecutors in Southern District of Illinois with operating a massive HYIP Ponzi scheme that affected investors across the world.

    MoneyMakerGroup also is referenced in court filings by the SEC in the alleged Legisi Ponzi scheme.

    Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that the U.S. Secret Service had helped bring about the arrest in France of an alleged international thief in part by monitoring criminal forums.

    Vladislav Anatolievich Horohorin, 27, was arrested by French authorities in Nice. Court filings show that the Secret Service used undercover agents and “undercover communications” to develop the case.

    Federal records show that ATG purported to be registered in Panama and was using “various corporations and fictitious names registered in Florida” to pull off the scheme.

    Among the names used was “Orsa Investment Group LLC,” according to an affidavit filed in the case. The scheme began in April 2009, according to court filings.

    An ICE agent said in an affidavit that the Internet and “business opportunity meetings” in Central Florida were used to promote the scheme.

    Read the ATG forfeiture complaint, which paints a picture of a commission-based, multilevel-marketing (MLM)  scheme within a Forex fraud scheme — and other schemes within schemes.

  • Son Says AdSurfDaily’s Andy Bowdoin Used Religion To Fleece Masses And Disgraced Family Name; Huckster’s Scheming Dates Back To 1960s, Another Family Member Says; ‘He Has A Criminal Mind’

    Andy Bowdoin

    Growing up a child of Andy Bowdoin and advancing through adolescence and adulthood was hard because of Bowdoin’s habitual scheming, according to Scott Bowdoin, Andy Bowdoin’s son.

    “He uses religion — always,” Scott Bowdoin, 42, said flatly of his 75-year-old father, noting he had not spoken to Andy Bowdoin in about 15 years because the elder Bowdoin had ripped off his own mother, Scott’s late grandmother, in a credit-card scheme.

    The elder Bowdoin left his own mother “with nothing,” Scott Bowdoin asserted. “The electricity was about to get cut off, the water was about to get cut off. He is a man with no conscience.”

    Scott Bowdoin made the remarks about his father in an interview with the PP Blog this morning. The younger Bowdoin said his father had disgraced the family name — and that it was high time the public in general and AdSurfDaily members in particular knew that Andy Bowdoin did not enjoy the uniform support of his family as the ASD Ponzi case winds its way through the courts.

    There was a long-ago scheme involving telephone calling cards, Scott Bowdoin said.

    And there was an “air-conditioning scam” in Florida, he added, saying his father traded on faith.

    “He’d go around and evangelize,” Scott Bowdoin said. “That was a scam. He did something with cell-phone towers. That was a scam.”

    Andy Bowdoin has been married five times, Scott Bowdoin said, adding that Andy Bowdoin’s financial scheming devastated Scott’s grandmother late in her life.

    “He drained my grandmother,” Scott said.

    Separately, an Andy Bowdoin family member who spoke to the PP Blog on the condition of anonymity said Bowdoin “has been doing this since the 1960s.

    “I always knew he was a con man,” the family member said. “I just didn’t know he could do it at this level.”

    The “level,” according to federal prosecutors and the U.S. Secret Service, exceeds $80 million and may approach $100 million when a final accounting is done. Records show that agents seized more than $65.8 million from 10 Andy Bowdoin bank accounts, including one that contained more than $31 million and another that contained more than $23 million.

    In total, about $80 million was officially listed as forfeited in the case. Andy Bowdoin has appealed the forfeitures, which were ordered by U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer. An attempt last year by Bowdoin to force Collyer to withdraw as the presiding judge failed.

    Prosecutors claimed in court filings that ASD was a massive international Ponzi scheme masked as an “advertising” business.

    “I was a little surprised because I didn’t know he could pull off a scam that big,” Scott Bowdoin said. “But, by God, he did it.”

    After the elder Bowdoin scammed his own mother in the 1990s, Scott Bowdoin said, “I told him you are dead to me.” Andy Bowdoin later was implicated in a securities swindle in Alabama. Records show he was making restitution to the Alabama victims even as he was operating ASD in 2008.

    “I pity you when you have to face the Lord when you die,” Scott Bowdoin said he told his father after he had fleeced Scott’s grandmother.

    In July 2008, years after the Alabama swindle and while ASD was gathering tens of millions of dollars per month, ASD money was used to purchase a Lincoln automobile for nearly $50,000, according to court records. At the time, Bowdoin still owed the Alabama victims about $45,000.

    Even more ASD money — more than $1 million — went to acquire real estate, a Honda automobile, an Acura automobile, jet skis, a Cabana boat, marine equipment and haul trailers, according to records. A shell company linked to Andy Bowdoin’s company began to make the purchases in June 2008, less than two weeks after an ASD “rally” in Las Vegas.

    While in Las Vegas, Andy Bowdoin urged members to imagine themselves getting large checks from ASD and thanked God for making him a “money magnet,” according to records.

    Scott Bowdoin described his father as a “classic con artist.”

    “He is a very, very, very smart man,” Scott Bowdoin said. “He knows exactly what he is doing. He uses religion — always.”

    And Scott Bowdoin lamented his father’s appeals in the forfeiture case against his assets.

    “I don’t understand why this man is not sitting in prison,” Scott Bowdoin said. “He pulled off the ultimate [con] this time.”

    Scott said his father left when he was 14 and that father and son had been estranged for years.

    Asked what he would do if his father suddenly materialized in the same room with him, Scott said that Andy Bowdoin “won’t come around me.

    “I’d probably punch him in the face,” Scott said.

    Asked if he had any advice for ASD members, Scott said, “Don’t believe a word he says. He’s a great actor. He is a good bullshitter. He could sell a screen door to a submarine captain.”

    Calling his dad a “charmer,” Scott said he was aware that some ASD members continued to cling to hope that his father came as the “Christian” depicted in sales pitches and motivational talks.  After the company was raided in August 2008, Bowdoin asked his followers to trust in God, saying the government action against his autosurfing company was the work of “Satan.”

    “These people who feel sorry for him thinking he is a good Christian — they have blinders on,” Scott Bowdoin said. “He has hurt more people than just [members of] AdSurfDaily. I can guarantee it.”

    Andy Bowdoin wasted his talents chasing schemes, Scott Bowdoin maintained.

    “If he had gone the right way, he could have been a Donald Trump,” Scott contended. “[But] he wanted to start at the top, not at the bottom.”

    Meanwhile, the other Bowdoin family member interviewed by the PP Blog said that he believed Andy was “a sociopath.”

    “I know that whatever he puts his efforts in to is [designed to] con people out of as much money as he can,” the other family member said. “Andy is a sociopath. There aren’t many sociopaths, but he is one.”

    Both family members said they were not participants in ASD and learned about the alleged scheme on the Internet.

    The family member who spoke on the condition of anonymity explained he had done so in an effort to maintain as much privacy as he could as a sea of allegations swirled around Andy Bowdoin.

    “The man is a genius,” he said of Andy Bowdoin, “but he has a criminal mind. Anyone involved with his companies — they’d be sucked into a Ponzi. To me, he is a sociopath; he will drag other people down. People need to be [careful]. A good con has a little bit of truth to it.”

    Andy Bowdoin, said the family member, has lived a “sad” life.

    “It’s sad because he could have used his talent for good,” the family member said. “I don’t hate the man, but I pity him.”

    When he thinks about Andy Bowdoin, the family member said, he thinks about Bowdoin’s father.

    “Andy Bowdoin’s father was a good man,” the family member said.

  • KABOOM! Vladislav Horohorin Arrested In France On U.S. Warrant After Undercover Operation On Forums; Secret Service Will Traverse The Globe ‘In Pursuit Of Online Criminals,’ Agency Says

    EDITOR’S NOTE: The arrest of Vladislav Horohorin is notable on a number of levels. First, the arrest in Europe was a result of an online fraud scheme that allegedly crossed international borders and made its way to the United States, where criminal charges were filed.  At the same time, the crime allegedly involved the transfer of money though international payment processors. Perhaps more than anything, however, the case against Horohorin  demonstrates that the U.S. Secret Service is “plugged into” forums that promote international lawlessness. His arrest is very bad news for credit-card crooks and HYIP and autosurf Ponzi schemers — and their corrupt colleagues.

    Here, now, the story on the arrest of Horohorin . . .

    A credit-card trafficker based in Russia has been arrested in France on U.S. charges after the U.S. Secret Service infiltrated an online scheme operating internationally through Internet forums, the Justice Department said.

    Undercover Secret Service agents “negotiated the sale of numerous stolen credit card dumps,” the Justice Department said.

    Vladislav Anatolievich Horohorin, 27, was arrested in Nice.  He was indicted under seal in November 2009 on U.S. charges of access device fraud and aggravated identity theft. The seal was lifted today.

    Authorities said they believed he was “one of the most prolific sellers of stolen data” in the world, noting Horohorin was known in web forums as “BadB.” He lived in Moscow, and was a citizen of both Israel and the Ukraine.

    The Justice Department revealed today that the U.S. Secret Service used an “online undercover identity” to interact with operators of the international scheme, which featured the sale of stolen credit-card information known as “dumps.”

    Payments were transferred through online currency services, including a service known as “Webmoney” that was hosted in Russia, the Justice Department said.

    “Cyber criminals who target U.S citizens should not fool themselves into believing they can elude justice simply because they commit crimes outside of our borders,” said Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer.  “As this and so many other cases demonstrate, working hand in hand with our partners around the globe, we will do everything in our power to bring these criminals to the United States to answer for their alleged crimes.”

    Horohorin was arrested Aug. 7 as he attempted to board a flight to Moscow. He will be extradited to the United States, the Justice Department said.

    A top Secret Service official said the agency would be relentless in its pursuit of cyber-criminals.

    “This arrest is an illustration of the success that comes from international law enforcement and private sector partnerships and confirms the Secret Service commitment to traversing the globe in pursuit of online criminals,” said Michael Merritt, assistant director for investigations.

    In August 2008, Merritt was among the officials who announced the seizure of tens of millions of dollars in the alleged AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme.

    Assisting the Secret Service in the Horohorin probe were the French Police Nationale Aux Frontiers, the Netherlands Police Agency National Crime Squad High Tech Crime Unit, and the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office.

    Horohorin was one of the founders of a network known as CarderPlanet, a forum through which criminals sold stolen financial data to other criminals.

    Using his “BadB” forum identity, Horohorin “advertised the availability of stolen credit card information through these web forums, and directed purchasers to create accounts at “dumps.name,” a fully-automated dumps vending website operated by Horohorin and hosted outside the United States,” the Justice Department said.

    “The website was designed to assist in the exchange of funds for the stolen credit card information,” the Justice Department said.

  • MYTH-SHATTERING CASE: Local Prosecutors Extradite Ronald Paul Shade From Thailand To Face Real-Estate Ponzi Charges; Shade Also Accused Of ‘Financial Elder Abuse’

    Ronald Paul Shade: Source: Interpol

    EDITOR’S NOTE: The PP Blog has covered a number of stories in which U.S. residents living overseas were extradited to the United States to face Ponzi charges. The case against Ronald Paul Shade is another one — and it’s one that demonstrates that an extradition can occur even if a defendant is not charged with a federal offense.

    Indeed, the warrant for Shade’s arrest was issued by a state-level Superior Court judge in California, according to Interpol. Shade’s case is instructive because it defeats some of the myths propagated on Ponzi boards such as MoneyMakerGroup, ASAMonitor, TalkGold and MyCashForums. Among the myths is that “offshore” equals “safe” for both investors and Ponzi perpetrators.

    Don’t tell that to Shade, now jailed in California after being extradited from Bangkok by local — as opposed to federal — prosecutors in California. His bail was set at $3.9 million.

    And don’t tell it to Jeffrey Lane Mowen, extradited from Panama to face federal Ponzi charges in Utah and later indicted in an alleged murder-for-hire plot. Here’s a quick side note on the Mowen case: If you like the recruitment fees paid by HYIP, autosurf and corrupt MLM or commission-based investment programs and make claims about the “due diligence” you’ve performed and try to impress prospects with your insider knowledge, your willful blindness may put you at great risk.

    Mowen had three prior convictions in Utah for securities fraud and two for theft, according to records. Despite Mowen’s criminal record and history as a fraudster, promoters still did business with him. Their faith drained millions of dollars from investors, the SEC said. Using language apt to cause unease in the Ponzi-promoting world, the SEC said at least one promoter “either knew or was reckless in not knowing that Mowen had multiple recent felony convictions involving crimes of dishonesty.”

    Indeed, the SEC said, the promoter learned in approximately late June 2007 that Mowen had been convicted of securities fraud . . . [but] “continued to solicit new investor funds for several months while failing to disclose Mowen’s criminal history to any of the Promoters or their investors.” Downstream promoters who entrusted the promoter “conducted virtually no due diligence in connection with [his] purported investment opportunities, but transferred investor money to [him] without any documentation or limitation on his use of the funds,” the SEC said.

    Perhaps the biggest myth exposed by the Ronald Paul Shade case is that going offshore takes state attorneys general and local prosecutors totally out of play. Longtime PP Blog readers will remember that the “offshore” pitch was pivotal in promotions for AdViewGlobal, AdGateWorld, MegaLido and other autosurfs that surfaced in the aftermath of the seizure of tens of millions of dollars by the U.S. Secret Service in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme case. Some ads claimed that the “offshore” surfs neutralized state-level investigators.

    Shade, however, was brought back to the United States at the request of the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office in California to face state charges filed by local investigators.

    Still promoting investment-fraud schemes on the Ponzi boards and supplementing your pitches with myths about “safety” and how the overseas schemes are insulated from prosecution? Perhaps this story on the dramatic extradition of Colombian national David Murcia to the United States will help you snap out of your delusion that Ponzi and pyramid businesses cause no harm and represent “freedom” of choice. Perhaps this story on Robert Hodgins, who goes to bed at night knowing he’s wanted by Interpol, will help you shape your thinking.

    The cases of John and Marian Morgan, U.S. residents extradited from Sri Lanka, also are instructive.

    Finally, it’s worth noting that, after the United States charged Canadian national Nicholas Smirnow in May with operating an HYIP Ponzi scheme, a MyCashForums poster was quick to claim that “the USA has no extridition (sic) agreement ion (sic) place with the Phillipines (sic) . . . “

    The claim was false. Federal prosecutors said they are seeking Smirnow’s extradition. He was accused of operating a $70 million, international fraud known as Pathway to Prosperity (P2P).

    Here, now, the story of Ronald Paul Shade’s extradition . . .

    A California man living in Thailand was extradited to the United States to face charges he ripped off senior citizens in a real-estate Ponzi scheme, authorities said.

    Ronald Paul Shade, 39, formerly of Riverside, was arrested by local detectives Friday at Los Angeles International Airport. He was charged by investigators from the San Bernardino District Attorney’s Office with 29 felonies, including financial elder abuse, filing forged documents with the County Recorder’s Office and grand theft.

    San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael A. Ramos, who also is the president of the California District Attorneys’ Association, led the probe.

    Among the detectives involved in the Shade probe was Michael Leibrich, a senior investigator with the DA’s office.

    “From 2006 to 2008, Shade solicited money from numerous investors for his company, Orange Crest Realty,” investigators said. “Investors were promised a high rate of return for a short-term investment. Elderly victims later discovered that their life’s savings were being used to further a Ponzi scheme.”

    Shade had been living in Thailand for about two years, investigators said.

    In 2008, the California Department of Corporations issued a “desist and refrain” order against Shade and his company after alleging that they were selling unregistered securities and recruiting prospects  by urging them to “Get 18% APR Today” through the company’s “wonderful” investment.

    Shade and the company used a now-defunct website known as OCRFunding.com to pitch the purported program, authorities said.

    Among the misleading claims made to investors, according to authorities, were these:

    • That Orange Crest Realty was founded in 1993. (Authorities said Orange Crest Realty was not incorporated until June 2004.)
    • That Orange Crest Realty is a “registered investment advisor.” (Authorities said neither Shade nor the company and its associates were registered.)
    • That each investment was secured by actual title to specific existing real property. (Authorities said that “each investment was not secured by real property.”)
    • That a Deed of Trust And Assignment of Rents in the Property would be recorded with the Office of the County Assessor/Recorder and the investor would be provided with the recorded deed.  (Authorities said a deed promised an investor who sent in $50,000 was not recorded and the “investor never received a recorded deed.”)
    • That the investor would receive regular monthly interest payments. (Authorities said “payments ceased shortly after the investment was purchased.”)

    San Bernardino County investigators were assisted in the extradition by the Southwest Regional Fugitive Taskforce of the U.S. Marshals Service.

    The scheme, which allegedly gathered $14 million, also fleeced investors who responded to newspaper ads, investigators said.

  • SCAMMER’S GAMBLE BACKFIRES: Fraudster Who Chilled Customer With Lawsuit Threat Pleads Guilty To Mail Fraud; Philip Pestrichello Faces Up To 20 Years In Prison After Plea In ‘Work-At-Home’ Caper

    Source: FBI.Â

    UPDATED 4:51 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) A convicted felon who emerged from prison and almost immediately launched a $1 million fraud scheme known as PPSN threatened to prosecute and sue a consumer who had filed an online complaint, federal prosecutors said.

    Although the threat caused the consumer to withdraw the complaint against Philip Pestrichello, Pestrichello’s bid to rattle the consumer’s nerves ultimately backfired because he included a “fake lawsuit number” in a letter to the consumer. Prosecutors used the letter and Pestrichello’s checkered past to persuade a federal judge to deny him bail. He has been jailed since his February arrest, and now faces up to 20 years behind bars after entering a guilty plea in the case.

    In the threatening letter, Pestrichello advised the complainant that “we will proceed by filing a lawsuit against you in The State of New York and you will be subject to prosecution, fines and penalties including monetary damages,” prosecutors said.

    Pestrichello also threatened “victim-consumers who lodged on-line complaints warning others that PPSN was a scam,” prosecutors said.

    The Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service worked together in the Pestrichello case, which was brought in February as one of the undertakings of President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force.

    Pestrichello was running a scam enterprise known variously as “Preferred Platinum Services Network LLC” ; “PPSN LLC”; “Home Based Associate Program”;  and the “Postcard Processing Program,” prosecutors said. They added that he had been running scams since the early 1990s and had been sentenced to three years in prison in 2003 after being convicted of mail fraud in a work-at-home scheme known as “IMXT & Co.”

    His most recent scam began in 2007 while Pestrichello was on federal probation after serving his time for the 2003 mail-fraud conviction, prosecutors said.

    “For nearly 20 years, Philip Pestrichello has preyed on the especially vulnerable — the economically disadvantaged, the unemployed, the disabled, or elderly individuals — who are trying to supplement their income by working from home,” said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. “Pestrichello even began committing his work-at-home scam within one year from his release from prison for a prior scam. If Pestrichello thought he was unstoppable, he was wrong.”

    Pestrichello, 38, of Bayville, N.J., now has pleaded guilty to mail fraud in the PPSN case. He faces up to 20 years in prison when sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood on Oct. 26. A fraud case against Pestrichello’s wife, Rosalie Florie, is pending, prosecutors said.

    It is common for fraudsters to threaten to sue customers, critics and journalists. Such threats were present in the $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme case of disgraced Florida attorney Scott Rothstein, who eventually was disbarred. He repeatedly threatened to sue a reporter who questioned his business practices in the weeks leading up the the exposure of the scheme.

    Threats against customers and journalists also were part of the alleged AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme case. ASD President Andy Bowdoin, according to August 2008 court filings, told customers that he had set aside $750,000 to sue critics.

    “These people that are making these slanderous remarks, they are going to continue these slanderous remarks in a court of law defending about a 30 to 40 million dollar slander lawsuit,” Bowdoin said, according to federal prosecutors. “Now, we’re ready to do battle with anybody. We have a legal fund set up. Right now we have about $750,000 in that legal fund. So we’re ready to get everything started and get the ball rolling.”

    Less than a month after Bowdoin allegedly issued the threat in July 2008, the U.S. Secret Service raided ASD’s Florida headquarters. Prosecutors said the company was operating a $100 million Ponzi scheme and engaging in wire fraud and money-laundering.

    Even after the raid, some ASD members continued to threaten Bowdoin’s detractors. One ASD member suggested Bowdoin’s critics would be dragged off in handcuffs for speaking out against the autosurf firm, publishing his version of lyrics from the television program “COPS” to put a chill on the purported slanderers.

    “Bad Boys, Bad Boys, Whatcha Gonna Do?” he chanted on the now-defunct AdSurfZone forum, a predecessor site to the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum. “Whatcha Gonna Do>WHEN<THEY COME FOR YOU ?!!!”

    In June 2009, while the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf was failing, members were threatened with lawsuits for sharing information that purportedly was “copyrighted.” Members also were told that they risked losing their Internet service for questioning the firm in public. Journalists who published information about AVG were threatened with lawsuits.

    When the Pathway To Prosperity HYIP scheme was collapsing in 2008, members were threatened with “expulsion,” according to court filings.

    “When complaints were made externally to service providers or supposed payment agents,
    scathing rebukes were made to the ‘members,’” according to court filings.

    In February 2010, Hospitalera.com Blogger Sybille Yates announced she had been threatened with a lawsuit for calling the INetGlobal autosurf a “scam” in September 2009.

    On Feb. 23, the U.S. Secret Service raided INetGlobal’s Minneapolis offices. An affidavit by the U.S. Secret Service described the company as operating an international Ponzi scheme. A federal probe into INetGlobal’s business practices is ongoing.

  • 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.

  • Prosecution, INetGlobal Strike Interim Agreement That Frees Money To Pay Employees, Insurance Under Court Supervision

    UPDATED 6:14 P.M. ET (U.S.A., JAN. 20, 2011.)

    Employees of an Internet company under federal investigation amid allegations it was operating a Ponzi scheme have received some good news: a sum of $125,000 has been released to pay their past-due salaries and $25,000 has been released to pay their past-due healthcare benefits.

    Meanwhile, $200,000 per month will be released to pay the “ordinary and necessary operating expenses” of INetGlobal and affiliated companies as the probe into their business practices continues.

    News for commission-based affiliates of INetGlobal was not good. No money has been released to pay them.

    Dubbed an “interim agreement,” the release of funds was negotiated by attorneys for both INetGlobal and the government. It will be in effect “until such time as the government files an indictment or information containing forfeiture provisions, a civil forfeiture complaint against the funds seized on February 23, 2010 and in later days, or determines that there shall be no prosecution or forfeiture complaint,” according to the terms.

    The agreement does not mean that INetGlobal no longer is in legal jeopardy.

    A separate action against a San Diego property the government alleged was acquired with fraud proceeds has been suspended under the terms of the agreement. The case against the San Diego property has not vanished; under the terms of the agreement, it is being placed on hold “until the related criminal case or investigation is resolved or, in the event that the government determines that there shall be no prosecution, until the government either files a separate civil forfeiture complaint against the funds which were seized on February 23, 2010 and in later days, or determines that there shall be no prosecution or forfeiture complaint.”

    In February, the U.S. Secret Service said it believed INetGlobal operator Steve Renner was running an international Ponzi scheme. About $26 million was seized in the case.

    Companies covered under the agreement include INetGlobal, Inter-Mark Corp. of Nevada,
    Virtual Payments Systems LLC of Wisconsin, V-Media Marketing LLC of Minnesota, Cash Cards International LLC of Minnesota and SMR Investments #1 LLC of Minnesota.

    NOTE IN BOLD ADDED JAN. 20, 2011: An Indianapolis-based company known as Virtual Payment Systems Inc. has contacted the PP Blog to let it know it is not affiliated with the Renner company Virtual Payment Systems LLC of Wisconsin, which is referenced in the paragraph above.

    SteveRenner.com described the agreement with the prosecution as “an incredible turn of events,” reporting it was “worth millions.” The website also reported that the firm has become “the 1st company ever” targeted in a government investigation to receive money back.

    Prosecutors told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis-St. Paul that the government agreed to the release of funds so employees could get paid. (See link to Star Tribune story below.)

    Payments will be administered under court supervision by a court-appointed attorney, according to the agreement. The agreement calls for the IRS to receive “up to” $650,000 and the Minnesota Department of Revenue to receive “up to” $150,000 for tax payments delayed by the probe. Renner will receive $151,484.75 upon providing “proof that Inter-Mark Corporation and/or V-Media Marketing, LLC and/or Cash Cards International, LLC” owe him that sum.

    Renner, 55, was listed last week as in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and “in transit” to a federal detention facility to begin serving an 18-month sentence for income-tax evasion. He was convicted in December 2009 and sentenced in May for actions that occurred prior to the INetGlobal Ponzi scheme investigation.

    Renner-related companies have ties to at least four other Ponzi or investment-fraud cases, according to records.

    Read the Star Tribune story on the interim agreement.

  • BULLETIN: KABOOM x 1,215! Feds Announce ‘Operation Stolen Dreams’ Mortgage-Fraud Sweep; 1,215 Defendants Charged In Largest Mortgage Scammer Takedown In U.S. History

    Attorney General Eric Holder announced the creation of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force last year.

    BULLETIN: UPDATED 1:10 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) At least 1,215 criminal defendants have been named in “Operation Stolen Dreams,” which U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder described as a “three and a half month takedown of mortgage fraud schemes throughout the country.”

    The mortgage-fraud operation began March 1 and is the largest-such undertaking in U.S. history, Holder said.

    “The staggering totals from this sweep highlight the mortgage fraud trends we are seeing around the country,” Holder said. “We have seen mortgage fraud take on all shapes and sizes — from schemes that ensnared the elderly to fraudsters who targeted immigrant communities. We have seen cases that have resulted in dozens of foreclosures and millions in losses, as well as fraudsters who have bankrupted entire companies and national lenders who were not playing by the rules.

    Holder said the defendants caused more than $2.3 billion in losses. “Operation Stolen Dreams” was brought as part of President Obama’s interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. The attorney general was joined in the announcement by Sallie Cooper, deputy director of the IRS Criminal Investigation Unit;  Ken Jenkins, special agent in charge of the U.S. Secret Service Criminal Investigative Division;  FTC Commissioner Edith Ramirez; Ken Donohue, inspector general of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; FBI Director Bob Mueller;  Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan;  Chief Postal Inspector Bill Gilligan; and Jim Freis, director of the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

    Investigators did not limit the operation to criminal cases.

    “[T]he operation involved 191 civil enforcement actions through which more than $147 million has been ordered recovered, with still millions more pending court approval,” Holder said.

    “This represents the largest collective enforcement effort ever brought to bear in confronting mortgage fraud,” he noted. “The success of this operation is a direct result of our unprecedented focus not just on federal criminal cases, but also on civil enforcement, recovering funds for victims and increasing cooperation with state and local partners.”

    Mueller said the FBI was “tracking” fraudsters aggressively.

    “From home buyers to lenders, mortgage fraud has had a resounding impact on the nation’s economy,” Mueller said. “Those who prey on the housing market should know that hundreds of FBI agents on task forces and their law enforcement partners are tracking down your schemes and you will be brought to justice.”

    Fraudsters lining their pockets at the expense of others have plenty to worry about, said Donohue.

    “The last several years have seen enormous and damaging developments in the mortgage and housing markets, and the government has stepped in to bolster unstable marketplaces and devastated communities,” Donohue said. “The HUD-OIG, in partnership with other agencies, is deeply committed to ensuring that scarce resources are not diverted to those who seek to enrich themselves at the expense of those who so desperately need assistance today.”

    Holder, who ventured to Florida in January and warned fraudsters that they were writing their own tickets to jail, also noted that law-enforcement had broken up yet another Ponzi- and affinity-fraud scheme in the state.

    Suspects were arrested in the case yesterday, which targeted Haitian-Americans in South Florida.

    Arrested were Maxo Francois, also known as “Max Francois,” Jean Fritz Montinard, Aiby Pierre-Louis and Maguy Nereus, also known as “Maguy Jean-Louis.”

    The scheme involved businesses known as Focus Development Center Inc. and Focus Financial Group Inc., also known as Focus Financial Associates Inc.

    Investors were promised annual returns of 15 percent, but it was a Ponzi scheme, authorities said.

    The fraudsters used church presentations to pitch the scheme, prosecutors said.