Safe Haven | First PPD Gets SEC'd, Then it Gets FTC'd. It Seems to be a Bad Year for Ponzi Schemes

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November 20, 2009

First PPD Gets SEC'd, Then it Gets FTC'd. It Seems to be a Bad Year for Ponzi Schemes
by Reggie Middleton

When I first came out with the PPD research (which I released for free as a public service, may I add), many were doubtful as the market was literally manipulated upward. I feel my blog's patrons were confusing the alleged "scam's" fundamental viability over time (and ability to avoid regulatory discipline) with the overall movement of the market. As you can see below, things are not going well for this company. If one had faith in the research and rolled puts and protected shorts over, one should start seeing some decent gains. If I am right and this market is simply in a bubblicious bear market rally, any aggressive action by the SEC will drive this beta driven stock into the ground, making what you see today and last month look like an actual rally. Hey, it couldn't have happened to a better company.

Prepaid Legal press release:

Pre-Paid Legal Services Announces FTC Developments

ADA, Okla., Nov. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. announced that on November 18, 2009, we received a proposed draft complaint from the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") seeking permanent injunctive relief (there goes that revenue stream), disgorgement of proceeds (that will hurt, a lot) and other relief, including costs, relating to our Identity Theft Shield and Affirmative Defense Response System ("ADRS") Program. The proposed draft complaint alleges our ADRS program and related materials violate Section 5(a) of the FTC Act regarding asserted misleading representations, express or implied. The proposed draft complaint also names Harland Stonecipher, our Chief Executive Officer, and Mark Brown, our Chief Marketing Officer, as defendants (That is something. The officers of the company are named personally, as well as the entity itself). We previously received a Civil Investigative Demand from the FTC on March 23, 2007 on the ADRS program. We have made voluntary revisions to the marketing materials originally provided to the FTC in 2007 and 2009. The FTC may decide to commence federal court proceedings with this proposed draft complaint. The ultimate outcome of the matter is not determinable but we will vigorously defend our interests in this matter.

Let's see what comes of this. If the SEC hits them, I would consider this a penny stock.

Previous opinions, and more than a few "I told 'ya so"'s' on the Flim Flam Scam:

Flim, Flam, Scam: Would a PPD Ponzi and Pyramid scheme cause your wealth to Scram? Wednesday, 18 March 2009
Reggie Middleton's Continued Public Service Announcement on the Flim Flam Scam Friday, 03 April 2009
A Demonstration of How PPD Management is Destroying the Company Tuesday, 07 April 2009
Additional Commentary on PPD Tuesday, 07 April 2009
The Flim Flam Scam gets SEC'd - I'm not going to say I told you so, again! Tuesday, 06 October 2009

Reggie Middleton
Reggie Middleton, LLC
Perpetual Interests, LLCTM
http://boombustblog.com/

Who am I?

Well, I fancy myself the personification of the free thinking maverick, the ultimate non-conformist as it applies to investment and analysis. I am definitively outside the box - not your typical or stereotypical Wall Street investor. I work out of my home, not a Manhattan office. I build my own technology and perform my own research - in lieu of buying it or following the crowd. I create and follow my own macro strategies and am by definition, a contrarian to the nth degree.

Since I use my research as a tool for my own investing to actually put food on my table, I can stand behind it as doing what it is supposed too - educate, illustrate and elucidate. I do not sell advice, I am not a reporter hence do not sell stories, and I do not sell research. I am an entrepreneur who exists just outside of mainstream corporate America and Wall Street. This allows me freedom to do things that many can not. For instance, I pride myself on developing some of the highest quality research available, regardless of price. No conflicts of interest, no corporate politics, no special favors. Just the hard truth as I have found it - and believe me, my team and I do find it! I welcome any and all to peruse my blog, use my custom hacked collaborative social tools, read the articles, download the files, and make a critical comparison of the opinion referencing the situation at hand and the time stamp on the blog post to the reality both at the time of the post and the present. Hopefully, you will be as impressed with the Boom Bust as I am and our constituency.

I pay for significant information and data, and am well aware of the value of quality research. I find most currently available research lacking, in both quality and quantity. The reason why I had to create my own research staff was due to my dissatisfaction with what was currently available - to both individuals and institutions.

So here I am, creating my own research for my own investment activity. What really sets my actions apart is that I offer much of what I produce to the public without charge - free to distribute and redistribute, as long as it is left unaltered and full attribution is given to the author and owner. Why would I do such a thing when others easily charge 5 and 6 digits annually for what some may consider a lesser product? It is akin to open source analysis! My ideas and implementations are actually improved and fine tuned when bounced off of the collective intellect of the many, in lieu of that of the few - no matter how smart those few may believe themselves to be.

Very recently, I have started charging for the forensics portion of my work, which has freed up the resources to develop the site to deliver even more research for free, particularly on the global macro and opinion front. This move has allowed me to serve an more diverse constituency, which now includes the institutional consumer (ie., investment turned consumer banks, hedge funds, pensions, etc,) as well as the newbie individual investor who is just getting started - basically the two polar opposites of the investing spectrum. I am proud to announce major banks as paying clients, and brand new investors who take my book recommendations and opinions on true wealth and success to heart.

So, this is how I use my background and knowledge in new media, distributed computing, risk management, insurance, financial engineering, real estate, corporate valuation and financial analysis to pursue, analyze and capitalize on global macroeconomic opportunities. I have included a more in depth bio at the bottom of the page for those who really, really need to know more about me.

Visit his blog Boom Bust Blog.