English:

If you are trying to upgrade your Forum from phpbb2 to phpbb3 and you get some mistakes stopping this upgrade, then it´s possible that your problem could be solved with this solution:

Edit this file: 

phpbb3/install/install_convert.php

Find:

<?php
/** 
*
* @package install
* @version $Id: install_convert.php,v 1.50 2007/07/16 01:06:34 davidmj Exp $
* @copyright (c) 2006 phpBB Group 
* @license http://opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license.php GNU Public License 
*
*/

/**
*/

After these lines add these ones:

@set_time_limit(40);
@ini_set(’memory_limit’, ‘256M’);
@ini_set(’upload_max_filesize’, ‘128M’);
@ini_set(’post_max_size’, ‘256M’);
@ini_set(’max_input_time’, ‘-1′);
@ini_set(’max_execution_time’, ‘-1′);
@ini_set(’expect.timeout’, ‘-1′);
@ini_set(’default_socket_timeout’, ‘-1′);

Then find:

var $batch_size = 4000;

And change it to:

var $batch_size = 6000;

That´s all. If you previously installed phpbb3 and now you are going to convert your forum from phpbb2 to phpbb3, then click on Convert and follow the steps.

If you have some doubts let me know and I will try to help you.

Regards.

Español:

Si estáis intentando actualizar vuestro Foro desde phpbb2 a phpbb3 y recibíis errores que paran esta actualización, entonces es posible que vuestro problema pueda ser arreglado con esta solución:

editad este archivo:

phpbb3/install/install_convert.php

Luego encontrad estas líneas:

<?php
/** 
*
* @package install
* @version $Id: install_convert.php,v 1.50 2007/07/16 01:06:34 davidmj Exp $
* @copyright (c) 2006 phpBB Group 
* @license http://opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license.php GNU Public License 
*
*/

/**
*/

Tras estas líneas añadir las siguientes:

@set_time_limit(40);
@ini_set(’memory_limit’, ‘256M’);
@ini_set(’upload_max_filesize’, ‘128M’);
@ini_set(’post_max_size’, ‘256M’);
@ini_set(’max_input_time’, ‘-1′);
@ini_set(’max_execution_time’, ‘-1′);
@ini_set(’expect.timeout’, ‘-1′);
@ini_set(’default_socket_timeout’, ‘-1′);

Luego encontrad esta línea:

var $batch_size = 4000;

y cambiadla por:

var $batch_size = 6000;

Eso es todo. Si habéis instalado previamente (botón install) vuestro Foro desde phpbb2 a phpbb3 y ahora lo que queréis es convertirlo a esta versión, entonces haced click en Convert y seguid los pasos.

Si tenéis dudas hacedmelas saber y os ayudaré en lo que pueda.

Saludos.

English:

I have upgraded my Investment Forum from phpbb2 to phpbb3.

Previously you could enter through this link: http://noponzi.com/phpBB1 and now it´s: http://noponzi.com/phpBB3, but if you was entering through this link before: http://forum.noponzi.com then it´s the same and you don´t need to change anything (I have updated the same link to enter in the new address).

I also remember you that I have created a new Forum about Forex in this address: http://forex.noponzi.com and nobody has registered in it yet. Please think in that possibility if you are really trading in Forex or if you are simply interested.

Thanks,

Jose (Admin)

Español:

He actualizado mi Foro de Inversiones de phpbb2 a phpbb3.

Previamente podías entrar a través de este enlace: http://noponzi.com/phpBB1 y ahora es el siguiente: http://noponzi.com/phpBB3, aunque si ya entrabas a través de este enlace: http://forum.noponzi.com entonces puedes seguir entrando igualmente (he actualizado este enlace para entrar en la nueva dirección).

Os recuerdo que he creado un nuevo Foro sobre Forex en esta dirección: http://forex.noponzi.com y nadie se ha registrado aún. Por favor pensad en esta posibilidad si estáis realmente tradeando en Forex o si simplemente estáis interesados.

Gracias,

Jose (Administrador)

English:

Now you have a new room to talk about Forex and you can do it in English or Spanish language.

Please join my new Forum and share what you know about Forex with other Traders!

It´s totally new and I ask you to join and give it an opportunity to be a good place to talk about this great market as it is Forex. 

You can enter clicking on the link below or typing in your browser:

http://forex.noponzi.com

You can also see it as a new Page at the top of this Blog.

Thanks and enjoy!

Español:

Ahora tenéis un nuevo sitio para hablar sobre Forex y podéis hacerlo en lenguaje inglés o español.

Por favor uniros a mi nuevo Foro y compartid lo que sepáis sobre Forex con otros Traders.

Es totalmente nuevo y por ello os pido que os unáis y le déis una oportunidad para que sea un buen lugar de charla sobre este gran mercado como es el Forex.

Podéis entrar haciendo click en el enlace inferior o escribiendo en vuestro navegador:

http://forex.noponzi.com

También podéis verlo como una nueva página en la parte superior de este Blog.

¡Gracias y que lo disfrutéis!

According to the links below, e-gold has lost in a trial court in the disctrict of Columbia for violation of 18 USC 1960 which makes it a crime to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. So the problem is that e-gold requires a license to operate legally. 

I posted before in this post about this case: they got a favorable ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the district of Columbia to be heard. Now we have these bad news.

Now the question is: can they get licensed and operate legally again?

Tuesday, May 13, 2008
International Crimes: E-Currency subject to Licensing Requirement 

A trial court in the District of Columbia, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 37602, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. E-GOLD, LTD, et al., for violation of 18 USC 1960 which makes it a crime to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. According to the trial court, a business can clearly engage in money transmitting without limiting its transactions to cash or currency and would commit a crime if it did so without being licensed. “ The Court rejected the claim that 18 USC 1960 does not apply to their operations because they never deal in cash or currency”.

Last year, the DOJ announced Indictment of E-Gold as follows: “A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. has indicted two companies operating a digital currency business and their owners on charges of money laundering, conspiracy, and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeffrey A. Taylor announced today. The four-count indictment, handed down on April 24, 2007, and unsealed today, charges E‑Gold Ltd; Gold & Silver Reserve, Inc.; and their owners Dr. Douglas L. Jackson, of Satellite Beach, Fla.; Reid A. Jackson, of Melbourne, Fla.; and Barry K. Downey, of Woodbine, Md., each with one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, one count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business under federal law and one count of money transmission without a license under D.C. law.”

U.S. Dist. LEXIS 37602

Title 18 of the United States Code (”U.S.C.”) sets out federal law covering Crimes and Criminal Procedure. Title 31 of the U.S.C. sets out federal law covering Money and Finance, including the Internal Revenue Code. 18 U.S.C. § 1960 makes it a crime to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. Section 1960 defines what it means to be unlicensed and , what it means to engage in money transmitting. By those definitions, a business can clearly engage in money transmitting without limiting its transactions to cash or currency and would commit a crime if it did so without being licensed. The only definition in the United States Code for a “money transmitting business” per se is at 31 U.S.C. § 5330. Section 5330 defines a money transmitting business as one that, inter alia, is required to report certain cash or currency transactions to the Internal Revenue Service (”IRS”).

Sources:

Obtainingforeignevidence Blog

Nobsinvest

Thanks a lot to TraderJ for all these files and information that you can download from my server in a zip file:

Legisi

As I know Greg McKnight has been charged but the case has not began yet. The thinking is that he will get 10 years once it´s all over but who knows… the SEC just closed him down some days ago and it is the beginning of this process.

Thanks to member okosh who posted in Jude´s Forum about this news. I want to share it with my readers too:

Greg McKnight (Legisi´s Admin) has been indicted!

I posted about this program before in this post.

When some people invest a great sum of money into these ponzis they always think that those bad news are not true (I am sure you are also one of these if you have been scammed before), they maintain the hope to receive a refund from these scam artists and they also trust them until it´s too late. Meanwhile some of these scammers are sending your funds to different locations/digital accounts, thinking how to avoid authorities, or simply dissapearing from the map.

Others simply never show his/her real name, using anonymous proxys to hide the IP and the real country where they live. But this is not the case with Greg McKnight. He even showed his real name and identification to some investors and so he gained their confidence. You could even read his real name and address in the whois of the domain, a very strange case.

Please avoid hyips like a plague. If you want to invest your funds there are other solutions. For example you can open your own forex account where nobody can withdraw your money except yourself, and then you can find a good trader to make a reliable profit paying him a monthly fee.

Sunday, May 04, 2008 / FBI

SACRAMENTO, Calif.-United States Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced that JOEL NATHAN WARD, 49, of Turlock, California, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Garland E. Burrell, Jr. to nine years in prison for masterminding a Ponzi scheme in which nearly 100 investors lost over $11 million. WARD was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $11,275,501.53 and to serve three years of supervised release after the completion of his prison sentence. He was remanded into custody immediately following the sentencing hearing.

This case is the product of an extensive joint investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the federal agency that regulates commodity futures and options markets in the United States, has noted the sharp rise and increasing complexity of foreign currency exchange (forex) trading scams. WARD, a frequent commentator and seminar speaker on forex trading, ran an elaborate forex trading scam through an investment fund he controlled called the Joel Nathan ForexFund.

According to Assistant United States Attorneys Benjamin B. Wagner and Ellen V. Endrizzi, who prosecuted the case, sentencing documents filed in the case show that WARD offered investors the opportunity to invest in the foreign exchange interbank spot market through his fund. Between early 2003 and November 2006, WARD took in over $15 million from investors. Of that, about 85% was diverted to other purposes, including promoting WARDs business interests, salary, travel and other expenses, and purchasing a foreign exchange trading school in Sacramento called Learn:Forex. WARD also used about $3.7 million to make Ponzi payments back to investors who sought to withdraw funds. According to trading records, he only actually traded about $2 million, and lost virtually all of it in the foreign exchange market. WARD concealed his diversion of funds by sending false account statements to investors purporting to show trading profits. He also defrauded investors in a second scheme relating to a purported real estate investment project in Mississippi. Nearly 100 investors lost a total of over $11.3 million.

Joel Nathan Ward earned every minute of the nine-year sentence the court imposed. He brazenly defrauded scores of victims out of over $11 million, stated US Attorney Scott.

Several victims spoke during the sentencing hearing, telling the judge about the financial devastation caused by WARDs conduct, and their hopes for restitution. In sentencing WARD today, Judge Burrell stated that WARD defrauded many people. He caused losses over $11 million, and many investors suffered devastating losses.

The defendant had proposed that he be allowed to remain out of prison while he attempted to generate funds to repay investors. In rejecting that plan, Judge Burrell stated that the magnitude of his crimes, the manner in which the economic crimes were committed and concealed, and the duration of the criminal activities required a lengthy prison sentence.

Interview with the trader: 

http://www.modbee.com/local/story/253956.html

More news:

Bloomberg

Usnews

Modbee

Findlaw

You can read the last news in E-gold Blog:

April 21, 2008

Yesterday I read in a Spanish newspaper (El Mundo) a warning from CNMV (National Securities Market Commission, it´s the organism who regulates financial markets in Spain) about “Finanzas Forex” (commercial name) or “Evolution Market Group”:

- His owner: German Cardona Soler, was involved before in some different businesses since 2002,  with great losses to many people, these businesses were about telephony, betting, games…

-  This program offers to their promoters good comissions to attract new investors, even with bonds in the form of luxury cars and some helps to buy a house (60.000 eur). With this referral program the company is getting 600 investors/1.200.000 eur daily. 

- The profit they supposedly get trading in the Forex market is not realistic in a long term or constantly: from 10% to 21% monthly.

- The company has got about 18.500 clients, managing a patrimony of 77 million of eur. This income is transferred to an American Company called Crowne Gold, and from this last company the funds are “supposedly” transferred to Dukascopy broker.

- One of the most active promoters is Santiago Fuentes, who posted in his website that they were in the process to be regulated by CNMV, but this organism denies it.

Source in Spanish language:

ElMundo newspaper 

According to this post, Global Pension Plan could be involved in some kind of investigation or fraud:

Feds seize more than $1M from Norfolk pastor

Posted to: Crime News NorfolkBy Tim McGlone

The Virginian-Pilot© April 4, 2008

Federal agents seized more than $1.1 million from a self-proclaimed pastor in Norfolk who is under investigation in an international investment fraud scheme, according to court filings unsealed this week. Benjamin Seigler of Pall Mall Street has not been charged but is the focus of an ongoing inquiry into several of his investment programs, says an affidavit filed in federal court this week by U.S. postal inspectors.

More than 4,000 individuals in this country and abroad placed investments with Seigler, but none has seen any returns, the affidavit says. “Seigler is defrauding individuals by selling fraudulent insurance and securities products” says the affidavit, filed by postal inspector Eric Brown. “This scheme is ongoing.”

Postal inspectors have been investigating Seigler since November, when managers at the Norview post office, near Seigler’s apartment, noticed he was receiving more than 50 letters a day containing money orders made out to him in amounts ranging from $44 to $1,000, which Seigler cashed at various post offices around the city, the affidavit says.

The mail originated from states across the country as well as from Canada, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Many of the money orders noted they were payment to the “Global Pension Investment Trust” or some variation. Further investigation discovered that Seigler had deposited, from October to March, more than $900,000 in cash in a Chartway Federal Credit Union account, Brown said in his affidavit.

The inspectors obtained warrants to listen in on Seigler’s phone calls. During daily conference calls with investors, Seigler said his investments would yield greater returns than traditional bank accounts or stock programs, Brown wrote.

For example, an investment for as little as $42.62 in an insurance contract would yield $3,000, $79,000 or as much as $154,000, Brown’s affidavit says.

The investments were purportedly to be made through an online entity called Global Pension Plan, which has a Web site with no phone number, address or contact information, nor does it identify exactly what insurance program funds are invested with.

“Because we want to succeed in this business, we need to protect the privacy of all our partners. This may sound confusing and shady, but please try to take another perspective,” Global Pension Plan says on its Web site.

Postal inspectors interviewed a number of people, mainly in Arizona and Louisiana, who invested with Seigler but have not received any returns. Those investors were not identified in the court filings. Postal inspectors did not return calls for comment. Officials in the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment on the ongoing investigation.

Messages left for Seigler at his home were not returned. Over the past several months, about 15 people who invested with Seigler signed an online petition stating that Seigler “has caused great consternation among some in the group” by not investing in the Global Pension Fund. The petition signatures are collected at ipetitions.com, an independent Web site. The petition asks that officials at Global Pension Fund “take appropriate action” to divorce Seigler from the program.

Postal inspectors say they believe Seigler used some of the investors’ money to pay for his own investments, but largely had stocked the money in his Chartway account, according to the court records. Last month, the inspectors took more than $1 million from Seigler’s credit union account plus another $150,000 in cash from his home as well as 27 boxes of documents, two computers and a handgun, according to a federal search warrant unsealed this week.

Agents also seized three brand-new vehicles Seigler purchased recently: twoChevy Malibus and a Chevy Trailblazer. When he purchased the vehicles, Seigler identified himself as a pastor with a church called “Talking by Faith Global Deliverance Anointed,” according to Brown’s affidavit.

Public records show that Seigler held a Virginia home improvement contractor’s license from 2000 to 2004 and that he lived in Virginia Beach at the time. In 1996, Seigler and his wife filed for bankruptcy in Pennsylvania and emerged with their debts discharged, according to court records.

Tim McGlone, (757) 446-2343, tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com