Banners Broker Ponzi Scheme busted by Toronto Police

[drriley]

Source:
$125M Internet advertising pyramid scheme busted | Toronto & GTA | News | Toront

A Toronto-based pyramid scheme that raked in more than $125 million from thousands of victims around the world has been dismantled.

Toronto Police say a complicated, multi-jurisdictional investigation into the suspected global Ponzi scheme, known as Banners Broker, began in January 2013. Two men now face an assortment of charges.

?We?re alleging that this was a pyramid scheme from the get-go,? Det.-Sgt. Ian Nicol, of the Financial Crimes Unit, said Wednesday. ?And regardless of how they dressed it up with smoke and mirrors, and industry language, at the end of the day this was pyramid scheme from start to finish.?

He said Banners Broker operated out of an office on Church St. from October 2010 to March 2013 and allegedly offered participants the opportunity to double their money by investing in an advertising company that claimed to have access to a ?globally renowned network.?

?It was marketed as an Internet banners investment scheme, so it involves banners that you would click on that lead to a different website,? Nicol alleged, explaining participants were led to believe their investment would grow as the banners generated web traffic to commercial sites.

He said the scheme was ?entirely dependent upon the fee-based entry of new members and little or no real product or service was provided.?

?There?s lots of twists and turns here, but the essence of it is that the people who were duped into entering into the scheme believed that they were investing in a (legitimate) Internet advertising business.?

By the end of 2012, Nicol said thousands of people from around the world had invested more than $126 million.

About $61 million was actually paid out to investors ?at the top of the pyramid,? Nicols said, adding the remaining participants were ?left holding the bag.?

It?s believed another $61 million was funnelled into offshore accounts in Belize, St. Lucia, Cyprus, and other countries.

Christopher George Smith, 45, of Toronto, and Rajiv Dixit, 45, of Vancouver, were arrested Wednesday.

The duo is charged with defrauding the public and other offences. They also face charges under the Competition Act, including operating a scheme of pyramid.

[sandman!]

[j3rkules]

Finally good news.