CFTC

EDITOR’S NOTE: As America’s fraud plague continues, some of the scammers are polluting the free market with incongruous and even bizarre schemes  — even as they purport to represent the best that freedom offers. The PP Blog highly recommends that readers check out this September 2011 document from the SEC that warns about scammers targeting [...]

If you’re a fan of “Mad Men,” the award-winning AMC television drama now back on the air after a 17-month absence, you’ve seen the cigarettes, the boozing and the debauchery weekly. (Perhaps not only in the show itself, but also in AMC’s promos for the series, a key element of which is the tagline “DEBAUCHERY [...]

BULLETIN: (UPDATED 4:14 P.M. EDT U.S.A. APRIL 14) The CFTC has gone to federal court in Idaho, alleging that Brad Lee Demuzio of Chubbuck was running a Forex Ponzi scheme that tanked. Unable to make payouts, Demuzio “fabricated a letter purporting to be from the CFTC and bearing the fraudulently copied signature of a CFTC officer, [...]

BULLETIN: A federal judge has frozen the assets of three Florida companies and their operator, after the Federal Trade Commission alleged a “precious metals” telemarketing scam aimed at senior citizens was under way and had collected nearly $9 million. Named defendants in the case were Anthony J. Columbo, Premier Precious Metals Inc., Rushmore Consulting Group Inc. [...]

BULLETIN: With seven defendants already convicted of Ponzi-related crimes and a North Carolina bank accused of turning a blind eye to the fraud, four new criminal defendants have been named in the Black Diamond Capital Solutions probe. A federal grand jury in Charlotte has returned an indictment against Jonathan D. Davey, 47, of Newark, Ohio; [...]

BULLETIN: The CFTC has gone to federal court in Texas, alleging that Christopher B. Cornett of the town of Buda was operating a Forex- pool fraud and misappropriation scheme that gathered more than $14 million in phases between June 2008 and October 2011. Cornett has been charged civilly with fraud, which allegedly operated through entities [...]

Charles G. Martin has been sentenced to 17 years in federal prison — and fellow Forex Ponzi schemer John E. Walsh has been sentenced to more than 12 years — in a case in which investors’ money went to pay for strippers, fine meals, fine hotels, a piano, high-end electronics, artwork, jewelry, flashy cars and [...]

“I dont care what the CONSOB or whatever says because I am not an Italian.” — TalkGold poster known as “WallStreetIsAPonzi,” Jan. 28, 2012 Even as CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator, is publishing an announcement on its website that promoters of a bizarre HYIP known as JSS Tripler are under investigation amid preposterous claims that [...]

UPDATE: Jeffery (also cited as “Jeffrey”) L. Groendyke, the Michigan man ordered by a federal judge earlier this month to pay nearly $1.4 million in restitution and penalties in a Forex Ponzi case brought civilly by the CFTC, now has pleaded guilty to a criminal charge of wire fraud, federal prosecutors in the Western District [...]

Jeffery L. Groendyke, the Michigan man accused by the CFTC in May of targeting people of faith and others in a Forex Ponzi scheme, has been ordered to pay $963,141 in restitution and a $420,000 civil penalty. U.S. District Judge Robert J. Jonker issued the order against Groendyke by consent, finding that he fraudulently solicited [...]

EDITOR’S NOTE: Although not reflected in the headline above, one of the alleged scammers referenced in a new case below — Nicholas Trimble of Colorado — is alleged to have targeted an alleged scammer in a months-old case: Jeffery Groendyke of Michigan. Details below.) URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: In Colorado, U.S. District Judge Philip [...]