Elder Financial Abuse, and Affinity Scam

Another case of a scam targeting seniors was busted by the SEC.

"We The People", a fraudulent investment scheme in Florida, was closed by SEC, but not before it defrauded hundreds of seniors out of 75 million dollars across 23 states. Apparently, its sales people are promised between 7 to 10% of whatever amount they can entice people into putting into the scheme. In other words, if they can convince people to put in a million, they'll clear at least 70K.

The SEC's complaint stated that the scheme claimed to offer "charitable gift annuities". The scheme basically had seniors giving the scheme organizers stocks, bonds, real estate, and other valuables, in exchange for this "charitable gift annunity" that pay them back. Most of the money went to the organizers and their salespeople (remember, 7-10%), instead of to charities. Even when they *do* give to charities, they are only involved peripherally, like contributed a few thousand dollars for transportation of a 22 million dollar project.

You can read more about it here:

http://www.patrickpretty.com/2013/02/04/urgent-bulletin-moving-purported-charity-we-the-people-inc-of-the-united-states-was-only-a-front-to-sell-bogus-investment-products-to-senior-citizens-sec-charges/

Unfortunately, this is quite common, as seniors have diminished capacities, and their loneliness lead them to talk to any one that will listen, and scammers are very good at sound like "such a nice young man..."

ZeekRewards Receiver shows proposed online claim form, claim will start before April 2013

According to report from PatrickPretty.com, who kept track of all Zeek Rewards related court matters, Zeek Rewards receiver Ken Bell have just filed a "mockup" of the claims website with the administrating judge. The claims website is where victims of Zeek Rewards enter their losses and such and thus officially register with the receiver in order to receive any compensation out of Zeek Reward's remaining assets.

Major Zeek Rewards Receiver Update: more funds located, investigation still ongoing

PatricPretty.com has reported that Zeek Rewards receiver Ken Bell have posted a massive update where he outlined progress done to refund all victims (not the winners) their money. Additional money have been located in an East European nation and has not been returned yet. Records and such are still being analyzed, and US Secret Service is still investigating.

For full update, check

http://www.patrickpretty.com/2013/01/30/bulletin-receiver-says-12-million-in-zeek-money-located-in-an-eastern-european-country-but-has-not-been-returned/

Ponzi Perps Must Plead Guilty, judge ruled

According to a report on Ponzitracker, in a courtroom first, a Federal judge has REFUSED to accept a proposed settlement between the SEC and the two Ponzi scheme perpetrators, over the language "neither accept nor deny". In other words, the court refuse to allow the perps to walk away without any admission of guilt. Unfortunately, SEC is likely to appeal to the circuit court where the decision is likely to be overruled.

William Sullivan and Jane Turnock operated an insurance company called Bridge Premium Finance, which SEC shut down in August 2012 as a $15 million ponzi scheme. From 1996 on the two claimed to allow investors put money into insurance policies that are low risk and 100% collateralized, but generating high profit. Before the scheme's collapse, one perp supposedly admitted that it was all a Ponzi scheme over the phone.

SEC reached some sort of agreement with the perps and filed a motion to enter "final judgement" with the judge, John Kane, where the perps agree to cough up 12 million, but neither admit nor deny any guilt. The motion was filed on January 15, 2013. In a sharply worded denial, Judge Kane tossed the motion back as being vague, as the final judgement failed to include any sort of findings of facts and such where the public who look up these court records will know what really happened based on SEC investigations of this Ponzi scheme. By reaching this settlement, and thus sealing off the records, what these scammers did will likely NEVER see the light of day.

Breaking News: FTC shuts down Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing (FHTM) as Pyramid Scheme

English: Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing, Inc. (FHTM) Logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Looks like 2012 and 2013 will be a busy year for the authorities as both SEC and FTC are going after more prominent scams.

FTC just announced on 28-JAN-2013 that it has filed a court injunction to shut down Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing, a MLM organization that claims to be selling everything from DISH satellite service, magazines, to roofing, and more, but in reality it encourages its own reps to consume the products AND to recruit more people to do the same in order to qualify for larger "residual" commissions.

The website now points to a court-appointed receivership website.

Andy "Ad Surf Daily" Bowdoin is now officially in Federal Prison

The United States Secret Service star logo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The 78-year old Ponzi schemer Andy Bowdoin, who ran "Ad Surf Daily", one of the more popular "auto-surf" fakers, who convinced people to buy "ad packages" and somehow that watching ads qualified them to earn a lot of money, tens of thousands a month, is now officially in Federal Prison, according to PatrickPretty.com

Bowdoin had been documented to be swindling since the 1990's (fraud in Alabama). When Ad Surf Daily (ASD) was shut down in 2008 by Federal raid, Bowdoin went as far as calling Secret Service "terrorists", and US Government "Satan".

Bowdoin's ASD also attracted many names that will be VERY familiar to the later Zeek Rewards scam... Todd Disner, Jerry Napier, Trudy Gilmond, and many others. Though besides Bowdoin, few are as outrageous as Kenneth Wayne Leaming. Leaming is one of the more bizarre HYIP promoters, who openly provoke law enforcement by filing false liens against law enforcement agents, prosecutors, and judges by claiming his own "sovereign" interpretation of laws. He tried to pass off a $1 million "permissory note" as well as harbored two Federal fugitives, and even founded a militia group that was eventually raided by FBI's Anti-Terrorism Task Force, resulting in his arrest and current jail sentence in Federal prison.

Herb Greenberg (CNBC) on Herbalife... and MLM's future

Should MLM be cleaned up? Herb Greenberg thinks so.

Starting with Herbalife.

So far, the opponents basically retorted that 1) Herbalife is NOT a pyramid scheme, and 2) even if it is, FTC and SEC won't do anything about it.

Neither are "safe bets"

http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130114160252-29478030-selling-the-american-dream?goback=