by L.A.S.
In November the SEC charged four persons and two companies in a so-called 'green' Ponzi scheme. It targeted elderly investors or those nearing retirement to finance a supposedly green housing community that would use biochar charcoal substitute made from organic waste.
The SEC alleges that the "green" representations were bogus, and investors were falsely promised enormous returns ranging from 17% to "hundreds of percent" annually. In fact, the company's environmental initiatives did generate any significant cash, and any returns paid to investors have been funded almost exclusively from other investors' contributions, the SEC says.
Charged in the complaint were Mantria Corp., Speed of Wealth LLC, Wayde and Donna McKelvy, and Troy Wragg and Amanda Knorr in federal court in Denver. Mantria's only source of revenue has been from its resale of vacant lots for its purported residential communities in rural Tennessee, but those did not generate cash with which to pay investor returns because Mantria provided 100% financing for almost all of its vacant lot sales to buyers using other investors' funds.
Showing posts with label ponzi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ponzi. Show all posts
Monday, January 4, 2010
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
W.I.N. told to cease operations, but still trying to sell Utah on its plan
Maybe it sounds too good to be true, but it isn’t. This health insurer refuses no one, covers your health club membership or even your filtered water, and will even give you money for signing up another member.
Technically it is not health insurance, it’s a self-funded Association Health Plan, making it exempt from the intense rules and monitoring that insurers undergo. But the state of Utah wants to shut them down anyway, claiming the company is a Ponzi scheme.
The owner, Michael Bianchi, started the company because his wife could not get health insurance. Read the excerpt below or go to the link for the original story, and draw your own conclusions.
http://www.sltrib.com/News/ci_10028475
Michael Bianchi thinks he has the solution to the nation's health care crisis: Keep people out of the doctor's office by paying out benefits that encourage healthy lifestyles.
Want nutritional supplements? No problem. Bianchi's company, the W.I.N. Association, will pick up the tab. Need a massage, acupuncture or a gym membership? That's covered, too. Even air and water purification products are considered a benefit.
But "they have to be good ones," Bianchi told the Utah Legislature's Administrative Rules Committee on Monday, "because we really want them to be effective."
Sound too good to be true? The Utah Insurance Department issued W.I.N. a cease-and-desist order in March, forcing it to halt business operations here. The Texas-based firm, it says, isn't licensed to market insurance in Utah or any other state for that matter.
W.I.N. doesn't have to be, Bianchi asserts.
The association acts like an insurance company. Its members pay monthly premiums and in return are covered for major medical, dental and vision services, as well as prescription drugs and "wellness" benefits.
No one is denied coverage based on age or pre-existing medical conditions. W.I.N., a member of the Beech Street Corporation - costs 20 to 50 percent less than traditional insurance.
But here's the key difference: Because every person who enrolls in W.I.N. must sign an employment agreement, the company can call itself a self-funded Association Health Plan (AHP) - making it exempt from state and federal laws that regulate health benefit plans, Bianchi said.
Technically it is not health insurance, it’s a self-funded Association Health Plan, making it exempt from the intense rules and monitoring that insurers undergo. But the state of Utah wants to shut them down anyway, claiming the company is a Ponzi scheme.
The owner, Michael Bianchi, started the company because his wife could not get health insurance. Read the excerpt below or go to the link for the original story, and draw your own conclusions.
http://www.sltrib.com/News/ci_10028475
Michael Bianchi thinks he has the solution to the nation's health care crisis: Keep people out of the doctor's office by paying out benefits that encourage healthy lifestyles.
Want nutritional supplements? No problem. Bianchi's company, the W.I.N. Association, will pick up the tab. Need a massage, acupuncture or a gym membership? That's covered, too. Even air and water purification products are considered a benefit.
But "they have to be good ones," Bianchi told the Utah Legislature's Administrative Rules Committee on Monday, "because we really want them to be effective."
Sound too good to be true? The Utah Insurance Department issued W.I.N. a cease-and-desist order in March, forcing it to halt business operations here. The Texas-based firm, it says, isn't licensed to market insurance in Utah or any other state for that matter.
W.I.N. doesn't have to be, Bianchi asserts.
The association acts like an insurance company. Its members pay monthly premiums and in return are covered for major medical, dental and vision services, as well as prescription drugs and "wellness" benefits.
No one is denied coverage based on age or pre-existing medical conditions. W.I.N., a member of the Beech Street Corporation - costs 20 to 50 percent less than traditional insurance.
But here's the key difference: Because every person who enrolls in W.I.N. must sign an employment agreement, the company can call itself a self-funded Association Health Plan (AHP) - making it exempt from state and federal laws that regulate health benefit plans, Bianchi said.
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