| Thousands to get refunds for gas pills
Soon 5,850 consumers in 49 states will receive checks of $500 to $1,000 each as restitution for buying a "top-secret gas pill" from a Texas company that advertised the product as a way to boost gasoline mileage. Another 4,983 consumers also are likely to receive refunds when Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott verifies the amount each person says he is owed. All told, 10,833 people are likely to receive a combined $6.4 million in restitution, assistant attorney general John Owens told 73rd District Court Judge Andy Mireles in a hearing Thursday. The money will come from the seized assets of BioPerformance Inc. of Irving. The attorney general sued the company in May 2006, alleging its owners were operating a pyramid scheme and that the gasoline additives it sold didn't boost mileage.
Multi-Level Marketing, a Hidden Peril in China
HONG KONGMulti-level marketing (MLM) 1 , also know as pyramid schemes ( chuanxiao ), has become prevalent again in China in the past two years 2 . Millions of people, including students and farmers, are involved in this sector, drawing 50 billion yuan (US$6.66 billion) into the scheme. Chinese authorities continue, however, to be wary of direct sales on a number of grounds, among them pyramid scheme frauds, strong networking capabilities and loss of social stability. With such a large and well-organized sales force, MLM has caused panic on the authorities. In July and August of this year, the authorities significantly strengthened the co-operation with related departments in fighting illegal pyramid selling. According to Oriental Daily News in Hong Kong, MLM salespeople, dissatisfied with the authority's bans, often gather a crowd to attack governmental agencies.
Wife who skipped religious pyramid scheme sentencing back in court
Cynthia Setser, who was in hiding for a year after skipping out on a sentencing hearing before a Dallas federal judge in a multimillion-dollar securities fraud case, pleaded not guilty this week to a charge of failure to appear. The FBI located and arrested Ms. Setser, 50, at a home in Florida on Dec. 6 after she missed a Jan. 16, 2007, sentencing hearing in Dallas. Ms. Setser was to be sentenced for her role in a multimillion-dollar pyramid scheme spearheaded by her husband, Gregory Setser. The scheme, aimed largely at Christian investors including televangelist Benny Hinn, bilked hundreds of people from Texas and California out of more than $170 million before the FBI shut down the Setsers' sham import company, IPIC Investments, in 2003. Mr. Setser received 40 years in prison.
SEC probes transactions by Clifton investment firm Kay Services
Federal securities regulators are investigating whether a Clifton business that allegedly promised investors 100 percent risk-free returns is a fraud. Securities and Exchange Commission attorneys are looking at the dealings of Kay Services LLC and the potential that millions of dollars from the operation may have gone to its principal and her family. The investigation is in its early stages and there has been no finding Kay Services or those involved violated any securities laws. But in court documents, SEC attorneys said the investments in Kay Services may be part of a Ponzi or pyramid scheme and noted the improbability of such guaranteed annual returns. "Such astronomical returns, promised risk-free, are hallmarks of fraudulent schemes," regulators wrote in a federal court filing earlier this week.
UK Times:Sibel Edmonds Speaks on BCCI and Proliferation
I've been waiting for years to hear this story... I was stunned that a "hip conservative" WOMR morning-comedy radio host/Cape Cod Times reporter pal was considering supporting Dubya in '04... called him up on-air and pointed out Kerry's work in exposing the BCCI pyramid scheme in '92. My buddy then blindsided me by demanding to know 'where I'd heard this' leaving me no time to get to the computer and Google a footnote... like what? Read out a long URL over the radio? I was amazed to hear that some of you hadn't even realized that the CCT endorsed Dubya. PLEASE pass this around before this too goes down the Memory Hole. This is why I'd prefer Obama over Hillary, because the Clintons are implicated as well in the dope-for-nukes badness(please don't provide distraction with kneejerk Clintonbashing comments- that is NOT the issue here)...
Glimmer of hope for Canadian chef in Mexican prison
A Canadian woman imprisoned for nearly two years in Mexico was denied her most basic legal rights and our consulate did nothing to help her receive due process, her new lawyer says.
"The Canadian consulate has asked for information about her case, but I have not seen any evidence that (those) officials have tried to help Brenda Martin obtain her legal rights under international law," said Guillermo Cruz Rico.
The Mexican attorney works in the Toronto office of high-profile Canadian lawyer Eddie Greenspan.
Martin has been imprisoned since Feb. 17, 2006, charged with money laundering and being part of a criminal conspiracy. The 50-year Trenton, Ont. native had worked as a chef for Allyn Waage, who operated a sophisticated Internet-based pyramid scheme from a Puerto Vallarta mansion.
A new world currency?
In a sense, it was like a giant pyramid scheme. As long as everyone believed the dollar was strong, it remained strong. But as soon as a crack appeared, the edifice shuddered. If the American dollar were just America's dollar, none of this might matter. Indeed, a lower U.S. dollar, by boosting American exports, will help the U.S. get through any downturn sparked by that country's housing and mortgage crises. But the U.S. dollar is not just America's. It is the world's currency; it provides a platform of stability on which other countries can operate. French president Nicolas Sarkozy sounded the alarm yesterday in his address to the U.S. Congress. For America to stand by and let its dollar collapse, he said, is to risk a trade war of global dimensions.
Chandler man admits his guilt in church-fraud case
One of the owners of a Christian non-profit company accused of defrauding churchgoers in Arizona and 12 other states has admitted funneling millions in investors' money into offshore accounts as part of a pyramid scheme. The Arizona Attorney General's Office announced Tuesday that Gregg Wolfe of Chandler has agreed to turn state's evidence against his partner, Edward Purvis, as part of a plea deal in a case that involved bribing a Chandler police officer and filing bogus legal claims against public officials. Purvis has denied any wrongdoing in the case. .
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