Screen shot: Troy Wragg, whom the SEC said was a manager at a janitorial company before becoming CEO of Mantria Corp., next to President Clinton at the annual meeting on the Clinton Global Initiative in New York on Sept. 25, 2009.
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Using direct, no-nonsense language, U.S. District Judge Christine M. Arguello has ruled Mantria Corp. a Ponzi scheme that operated with “sociopathic greed” to defraud investors of millions of dollars.
Some investors were encouraged to drain equity in their homes to invest with Mantria, according to the ruling.
The ruling was a straight-line win for the SEC, which charged the firm, its principals and chief pitchman in November 2009 amid allegations that Mantria had orchestrated a colossal fraud targeted at people interested in “green” energy and protecting the environment. Mantria executives Troy Wragg and Amanda Knorr were charged in the caper, as was pitchman Wayde McKelvy of an entity known as “Speed of Wealth LLC.”
Arguello found that Mantria had scammed more than $54.5 million “by egregiously, recklessly, knowingly, and shamelessly perpetrating a fraudulent scheme” that used “misrepresentations, omissions, and blatant lies to induce unsuspecting and unwitting victim investors to liquidate the equity in their homes and take out bank loans to invest in Defendants’ scheme, which was nothing more than smoke and mirrors.”
The judge’s ruling specifically points to internal Mantria emails uncovered by the SEC during the probe.
One email from Wragg to McKelvy read, “Mantria Speed of Wealth = MSOW = Many Souls Owe Wayde.” Another from McKelvy to Wragg allegedly touting seminar registrations and a new crop of suckers read, “110 registered for tonight 75% names I don’t recognize. Let’s blow them away my brother!” An email attributed to Knorr read, “Let’s just make some f*****g money.”
Mantria traded in part on the name of former President Bill Clinton, who once presented Wragg an award for commitment to the environment. Prospective investors were shown a video that included footage of Clinton and other famous politicians and business figures.
Fraud schemes often spread virally by planting the seed that famous people endorse the “opportunities” when they do not. In fraud case case after fraud case, celebrity endorsements, which are used to disarm skeptics and create positive feelings, have been manufactured out of wholecloth.
In the alleged AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme, for instance, the U.S. Secret Service said promoters claimed that ASD President Andy Bowdoin had received an important award from then-President George W. Bush. The “award” actually was a memento for campaign donations to the National Republican Congressional Committee, according to court filings.
The Secret Service is known to have seized a significant volume of email during the ASD probe. Some of it has been described in court filings as incriminating to Bowdoin.
Reporters who emailed McKelvy for comment after the SEC brought it charges against Mantria and Speed of Wealth received invitations to join the Trump Network multilevel-marketing opportunity.
“YOU MUST START YOUR OWN BUSINESS Renee!” McKelvy advised a reporter in one email, according to the Denver Business Journal. “What You Have Been Taught About Building Wealth is DEAD WRONG!”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Blogger Chuck Miller, who posts on the website of the Albany (N.Y.) Times Union, has a post today on the unique circumstances under which he became a self-described “mark” for an MLM pitch nearly 20 years ago. Seems Miller’s MLM memories linger after nearly two decades. (You’ll learn why by clicking on the link to Miller’s column at the bottom of this post.)
First, though, some introductory remarks are in order . . .
McKelvy is a defendant in the Mantria/Speed of Wealth case, which the SEC filed in November 2009. Just days after the case was filed, McGaw began to receive a steady stream of email from McKelvy, who had a $30 million Ponzi scheme case hanging over his head and still was pitching offers for MLMs.
“How the heck can I help you become financially independent if you do not take the action steps that I recommend to you?” McKelvy memorably nudged the columnist just days after the SEC announced its intent to sue McKelvy back to the Stone Age.
Of course, untold numbers of Stepfordian members of Florida-based AdSurfDaily continued to pump autosurf MLMs — even after ASD President Andy Bowdoin had tens of millions of dollars seized from his personal bank accounts and was accused by some of his own members of racketeering.
Mantria CEO Troy Wragg in a music video by ICEBLOC.
A federal judge has issued an order that effectively puts a court-appointed receiver in control of dozens of entities related to Mantria Corp. and Speed of Wealth LLC in a search for “recoverable assets.”
One of the receiver’s duties is to determine if fraudulent transfers occurred between or among companies, according to the order.
The order, which is designed to prevent the dissipation of assets and maneuvering to hide or transfer money, is breathtaking because it covers not only Mantria and Speed of Wealth, but also “all of their subsidiaries, parent companies, and. . . interests in any affiliated entities of any kind.”
All in all, the order applies to a staggering total of at least 55 entities, a figure that demonstrates the enormous task of unraveling a modern-day fraud amid a maze of corporations.
The SEC sued Mantria and Speed of Wealth in November, amid allegations that Mantria was running a “green” Ponzi scheme that focused on biochar and a “carbon negative” housing community in rural Tennessee that purported to be environmentally friendly. Speed of Wealth allegedly helped Mantria get investment clients.
Appointed receiver in the case was John Paul Anderson of Alvarez & Marsal Dispute Analysis & Forensic Services LLC.
U.S. District Judge Christine M. Arguello listed dozens of names, perhaps signaling that the order could become even broader by noting that it was “not limited to” the names on the initial list. She also ordered Anderson to come up with a liquidation plan and warned the entities and their agents not to meddle in receivership affairs.
Anderson was granted the authority to seek the court’s permission to place the entities in bankruptcy if the circumstances warrant such an approach. Arguello minced no words when ordering parties not to meddle. She specifically warned them not to “harass” Anderson or interfere in his duties as receiver (italics/bold added).
“The Receivership Defendants and all persons receiving notice of this Order by personal service, facsimile or otherwise, are hereby restrained and enjoined from directly or indirectly taking any action or causing any action to be taken, without the express written agreement of the Receiver, which would:
A. Interfere with the Receiver’s efforts to take control, possession, or management of any Receivership Property; such prohibited actions include but are not limited to, using self-help or executing or issuing or causing the execution or issuance of any court attachment, subpoena, replevin, execution, or other process for the purpose of impounding or taking possession of or interfering with or creating or enforcing a lien upon any Receivership Property;
B. Hinder, obstruct or otherwise interfere with the Receiver in the performance of his duties; such prohibited actions include but are not limited to, concealing, destroying or altering records or information;
C. Dissipate or otherwise diminish the value of any Receivership Property; such prohibited actions include but are not limited to, releasing claims or disposing, transferring, exchanging, assigning or in any way conveying any Receivership Property, enforcing judgments, assessments or claims against any Receivership Property or any Receivership Defendant, attempting to modify, cancel, terminate, call, extinguish, revoke or accelerate (the due date), of any lease, loan, mortgage, indebtedness, security agreement or other agreement executed by any Receivership Defendant or which otherwise affects any Receivership Property; or
D. Interfere with or harass the Receiver, or interfere in any manner with the exclusive jurisdiction of this Court over the Receivership Estates.
Here is the initial list of entities covered under Arguello’s order:
Mantria Realty LLC
Mantria Communities Inc.
Mantria Real Estate Opportunities Group LLC
Mantria Investments LLC
Mantria Financial LLC
Mantria Capital Advisors LLC
Mantria Industries LLC
Carbon Diversion Inc.
Mantria Records LLC
The Mantria Foundation Inc.
Mantria Realty FL LLC
Mantria Communities LP
Mantria Real Estate Opportunities Group I LP
KITN Investments LLC
The Mantria Renewable Energy Fund LP
The Mantria Place Renewable Energy Site Development LP
The Mantria Industries Hohenwald Tennessee Eco-Industrial Center Site Development L.P.
Earth Mate Technologies LLC
Clean Energy Components LLC
EternaGreen Capital LLC
The EternaGreen International Carbon Economy Network LLC
EternaGreen University
EternaGreen Global Corporation
C&M Industrial Center LLC
Mantria Industries II LLC
Carbon Diversion Carlsbad New Mexico Manufacturing Plant LLC
Indian Trail Estates LLC
Mantria Village LLC
Mantria Bluffs LLC
IronBridge Properties LLC
Legacy Ridge LLC
Iris Village LLC
Mantria Place LLC
The Mantria Group LLC
Mantria Indian Trail Development LLC
Indian Trail Estates Phase I LLC
Indian Trail Estates Phase II LLC
Indian Trail Estates Phase III LLC
Indian Trail Estates Homeowners Association Inc.
Legacy Ridge Homeowners Association Inc.
The Mantria Place Homeowners Association Inc.
SOW Trust Deed LLC
SOW Hard Money Loans Investment Club LLC
SOW Hard Money Loans II LLC
SOW Trust Deed Group II LLC
Trust Deed Group I LLC
SOW Hard Money 50 Economic Stimulus Investment Club LLC
SOW Mantria Income LLC
SOW Mantria Diversification LLC
SOW Mantria 5% LLC
SOW Mantria Place 25% LLC
SOW Mantria 25% LLC
Speed of Wealth Investments Gold Club LLC
Trust Deed 3.0 LLC
SOW MI 25% Sale of Systems LLC
Arguello said she recognized “that not all of Speed of Wealth, LLC’s assets and/or business may be related, directly or indirectly, to the conduct alleged in the Commission’s Complaint.”
Named individual defendants in the alleged $30 million fraud by the SEC in November were Mantria CEO Troy Wragg and Mantria COO Amanda Knorr, along with the company itself. Also named defendants were Speed of Wealth and its principals, Wayde and Donna McKelvy, formerly husband and wife.
One of the companies under the Mantria umbrella was Mantria Records LLC, which purportedly promoted a hip-hop duo known as ICEBLOC.
Two months after Troy Wragg accepted a kudo from former President Bill Clinton for environmentally friendly business practices, Wragg was implicated by the SEC in an alleged "green" Ponzi scheme. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) later issued an Investment Alert warning the public about a relatively new form of fraud: “green energy investments†that trade on investors’ affinity for keeping the planet clean.
The case became notable for reasons beyond its size and scope. Wragg, for instance, appeared alongside former President Bill Clinton at the 5th Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in New York Sept. 25.
CGI had lauded Mantria in part for helping to “mitigate global warming” through its business practices. Just two months later Mantria and Speed of Wealth were accused of a colossal fraud.
After the CGI event in New York, Mantria and Speed of Wealth seized on Clinton’s name and the names of prominent individuals who attended the event to produce marketing materials used to entice investors.
Even after the SEC brought the charges, reporters who tried to contact Speed of Wealth received email pitches to join money-making opportunities.
Video promotions by Mantria and Speed of Wealth were notable for dropping the names of President Obama, former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, President Laurent Gbagbo of the Ivory Coast, Mike Duke, CEO of Wal-Mart, Muhtar Kent, CEO of the Coca-Cola Co. and actor Matt Damon.
Leeching off the names of celebrities, famous businesspeople and politicians to sell fraudulent financial schemes is a common tactic among multilevel marketing (MLM) and Ponzi scammers. By implying that prominent people endorse a product or service, the fraudsters hope to turn skeptics into clients.
Claims were made in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme case, for example, that ASD President Andy Bowdoin had received an award from President George W. Bush for a lifetime of business achievement. The award proved to be the so-called Congressional “Medal of Distinction,” which is given for campaign contributions to the National Republican Congressional Committee and signifies only the ability to write a check for the purchase of banquet tickets.
In an SEC case last month, the agency alleged that a Staten Island investment-advisory business known as Gryphon Holdings Inc. told clients that famed businessman George Soros backed the company. A purported “testimonial” from Soros was fraudulent, the SEC said.
A federal judge has issued an order that enjoins Speed of Wealth principal Donna McKelvy from breaking securities laws and disgorges her ill-gotten gains from the alleged Mantria Corp./Speed of Wealth Ponzi scheme.
McKelvy, 43, of Parker, Colo., consented to the order without admitting or denying the allegations in a complaint filed by the SEC Nov. 16. The Speed of Wealth website, which once prominently featured a video containing images of President Obama, former President Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, now is returning a server error and will not load.
U.S. District Judge Christine M. Arguello entered the order against McKelvy yesterday.
“Donna M. McKelvy is prohibited, directly or indirectly, from accepting funds from investors for investment in any investment program,” Arguello wrote in the order.
She further ordered McKelvy to “pay disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, prejudgment interest thereon, and a civil penalty.” The amounts will be determined later, and Arguello said McKelvy “will be precluded from arguing that she did not violate the federal securities laws as alleged in the Complaint” and “may not challenge the validity of the Consent or this Order of Permanent Injunction.”
The SEC said McKevly was a principal in Speed of Wealth and used “the titles of president of Speed of Wealth in charge of investor relations and vice president of Speed of Wealth in charge of investor relations.
“She is a 25 percent owner of Mantria Industries LLC, one of the Mantria subsidiaries that has actively raised funds from investors, as well as three other Mantria subsidiaries. She does not hold any securities licenses, and she has never been associated with a registered broker-dealer,” the SEC said.
Also charged in the SEC complaint last month were McKelvy’s ex-husband, Wayde McKelvy, 46, of Sunny Isle Beach, Fla.; Mantria CEO Troy Wragg, 28, of Philadelphia, and Amanda Knorr, 26, also of Philadelphia. Knorr is Mantria’s COO.
Wayde and Donna McKelvy “particularly targeted elderly investors or those approaching retirement age to finance” Mantria’s “green initiatives,†the SEC said.
The SEC alleged that Mantria operated a $30 million Ponzi scheme pushed by Speed of Wealth.
Mantria’s biochar, a carbon-negative charcoal, was used to appeal to environmentally conscious investors, the SEC said.
“Despite claims that Mantria was the world’s leading manufacturer and distributor of biochar and had multiple facilities producing it at a rate of 25 tons per day,†the SEC said, “Mantria has never sold any biochar and has just one facility engaged in testing biochar for possible future commercial production.â€
Both Mantria and Speed of Wealth showcased a video assembled in part from materials published by the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), one of President Clinton’s signature undertakings since leaving office in 2001.
Wragg appeared alongside President Clinton and Secretary of State Clinton at the CGI annual meeting in New York in September, and images of prominent attendees were placed in the video, including an image of President Obama.
Less than two months later the SEC alleged that Mantria was a Ponzi scheme.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The story below references a column by Renee McGaw in the Denver Business Journal. Make sure you read the column. The link is at the bottom of this story.
The column reminded us of what occurred in the opening hours of the prosecution against the assets of Florida-based AdSurfDaily Inc., accused in August 2008 of operating a $100 million Ponzi scheme. Reporters who called ASD got a recording featuring the voice of ASD President Andy Bowdoin and intoning that God was on the company’s side.
Within hours, Bowdoin’s supporters were complaining on Internet forums that the media refused to take ASD’s side of the story seriously. Rather than questioning why the media might find such a recording important enough to mention in stories, Bowdoin’s apologists then sought to discredit reporters by casting them as conspirators in a plot to defame Bowdoin and to discredit members of law enforcment by painting the government as “evil.” The attack even featured a campaign to have a Florida television station and Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum charged with Deceptive Trade Practices for daring to raise the issue of the legitimacy of ASD.
McGaw’s column on a Colorado company, Speed of Wealth LLC, is remarkable in a number of ways, perhaps principally in the sense that it shines a light on relentless email pitches to join online money-making “opportunities.” Not even serious Ponzi scheme allegations against Speed of Wealth principal Wayde McKelvy prevented McGaw from receiving pitches for other programs from him. The column leaves us with this question: Is it any wonder that much of America and the world views Internet Marketing as a vast wasteland filled with fraudsters and schemers?
On a side note, readers of the PatrickPretty.com Blog occasionally have chided us about our view that exclamation points should be used like garlic — sparingly. We’ve enjoyed the banter on the topic. McGaw’s column also raises the issue of exclamation points in marketing pitches.
Here, now, the story . . .
Denver Business Journal reporter Renee McGaw says she is being pounded with offers from Wayde McKelvy, a defendant in a Ponzi scheme lawsuit filed by the SEC last month.
McKelvy’s Colorado firm, Speed of Wealth LLC, was accused by the SEC of pitching a “green” Ponzi scheme for Mantria Corp. of Pennsylvania. The names of President Obama, former President Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were prominently featured in a Mantria video that played on the Speed of Wealth website. The video, now missing from the site, was based on events that occurred in September at the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), one of President Clinton’s signature undertakings after he left the White House in January 2001.
McKelvy describes himself as a wealth coach — and not even the assertion he was part of a $30 million fraud has slowed him down, McGaw reports.
In a column yesterday, McGaw said she sent McKelvy an email Nov. 16 to inquire about the SEC allegations. (The SEC had brought the allegations earlier on the same day.) McGaw’s email to McKelvy triggered what she described as automated pitches describing her as a “fellow Wealthalete” and urging her to join money-making programs.
“I am totally focused on one thing right now which I believe will be very, very fun and the opportunity to put money in your pocket by owning you’re own business with the help of ‘The Donald’,†McGaw quoted McKelvy as writing in an email Nov. 18, two days after the SEC filed civil charges against McKelvy, his former wife, and Mantria officers Troy Wragg and Amanda Knorr.
The columnist noted she did not correct McKelvy’s spelling or punctuation when reproducing the email for readers of the Denver Business Journal.
“Yes, I am talking about the ‘Trump Network,’†McKelvy stressed to McGaw.
McGaw reported that McKelvy’s pitches often featured subject lines consisting of all capital letters and ending with exclamation points.
“YOU MUST START YOUR OWN BUSINESS Renee!†McKelvy advised McGaw in one email. “What You Have Been Taught About Building Wealth is DEAD WRONG!â€
Through the Mantria video, Speed of Wealth also dropped the names of former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, President Laurent Gbagbo of the Ivory Coast, Mike Duke, CEO of Wal-Mart, Muhtar Kent, CEO of the Coca-Cola Co. and actor Matt Damon.
All of the individuals were among the prominent attendees of President Clinton’s CGI function. The video featured footage of Wragg appearing on stage next to Clinton.
Mantria was a “supposed ‘carbon negative’ housing community in rural Tennessee,†the SEC said.
Screen shot: Troy Wragg, whom the SEC said was a manager at a janitorial company before becoming CEO of Mantria Corp., next to President Clinton at the annual meeting on the Clinton Global Initiative in New York on Sept. 25.
But the “green†representations “were laced with bogus claims, and investors were falsely promised enormous returns on their investments ranging from 17 percent to ‘hundreds of percent’ annually,†the SEC said.
The agency charged that “Mantria’s environmental initiatives have not generated any significant cash, and any returns paid to investors have been funded almost exclusively from other investors’ contributions.â€
“These promoters fraudulently exaggerated Mantria’s green initiatives and used high-pressure tactics to convince investors to chase the promise of lucrative returns,†said Don Hoerl, director of the SEC’s Denver Regional Office. “In reality, the only green these promoters seemed interested in was investors’ money.â€
It what may become an embarrassment to President Obama, Former President Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a man the SEC now says was operating a $30 million Ponzi scheme appeared alongside President Clinton at the 5th Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in New York Sept. 25.
Obama’s name and the names of both Clintons were dropped in a video on the website of Speed of Wealth LLC, a Colorado company accused today of promoting the scheme for Mantria Corp. of Pennsylvania. Other names dropped on the site included former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, President Laurent Gbagbo of the Ivory Coast, Mike Duke, CEO of Wal-Mart, Muhtar Kent, CEO of the Coca-Cola Co. and actor Matt Damon.
All of the individuals were among the prominent attendees of President Clinton’s CGI function.
There are no assertions that any of the politicians, prominent business executives or celebrities who attended the CGI event had any knowledge of the alleged scheme. But Troy Wragg, CEO of Mantria Corp., one of the companies accused in the scheme, appeared next to President Clinton and Secretary of State Clinton on the stage in New York.
The Speed of Wealth video featured snap shots of famous people who attended the CGI event. It concluded with Bill Clinton’s remarks recorded on video, with Wragg, other attendees and the Clintons in a group pose.
Speed of Wealth was a sales outlet for the Mantria scheme, the SEC charged today.
Screen shot: Troy Wragg, whom the SEC said today was a manager at a janitorial company before becoming CEO of Mantria Corp., next to President Clinton at the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative in New York on Sept. 25.
Mantria Corp.’s 28-year-old chairman and CEO, Troy Wragg, whom the SEC said was “employed as a manager for a small janitorial services company” prior to getting into the Ponzi business, was prominently featured in a video on Speed of Wealth’s Website.
In the video, Wragg is standing next to President Clinton, who had acknowledged Mantria for its environmental commitment at the CGI event Sept. 25.
Mantria even got a mention in a CGI news release after committing “to help mitigate global warming through the use of its Carbon Fields site, where Mantria will perform trials on their product BioChar, a carbon-negative charcoal, to prove how this product can sequester carbon dioxide, improve soil quality when buried, and reduce emissions in developing countries.”
Today in Denver, however, the SEC said BioChar was part of the alleged Ponzi scheme, which may involve $30 million or more.
Despite claims that “Mantria was the world’s leading manufacturer and distributor of biochar and had multiple facilities producing it at a rate of 25 tons per day,” the SEC said, “Mantria has never sold any biochar and has just one facility engaged in testing biochar for possible future commercial production.”
One SEC official said there was little “green” about the firm, except perhaps for its love of money.
“These promoters fraudulently exaggerated Mantria’s green initiatives and used high-pressure tactics to convince investors to chase the promise of lucrative returns,” said Don Hoerl, director of the SEC’s Denver Regional Office. “In reality, the only green these promoters seemed interested in was investors’ money.”
Charged today were Speed of Wealth and two of its executives: Wayde McKelvy of Sunny Isle Beach, Fla., and Donna McKelvy, of Parker, Colo.
Also charged were Mantria and two of its executives: Wragg, who lives in Philadelphia, and Amanda Knorr, also of Philadelphia.
Wayde and Donna McKelvy previously were married, and “particularly targeted elderly investors or those approaching retirement age to finance such ‘green’ initiatives,” the SEC said.
Mantria was a “supposed ‘carbon negative’ housing community in rural Tennessee,” the SEC said.
But the “green” representations “were laced with bogus claims, and investors were falsely promised enormous returns on their investments ranging from 17 percent to ‘hundreds of percent’ annually,” the SEC said.
The agency charged that “Mantria’s environmental initiatives have not generated any significant cash, and any returns paid to investors have been funded almost exclusively from other investors’ contributions.”
