MyAdvertisingPays send C&D after hotel events cancelled
For decades the hotel pitch was the acquisition method of choice for Ponzi fraudsters.
And although largely eclipsed by online webinars, Facebook groups and Google Hangouts, today the hotel pitch is still a staple for many MLM businesses.
One of them, MyAdvertisingPays, attemped to organize a series of events earlier this month, only to have the hotels had booked them at cancel at the last minute.
Research reveals the first of these cancellations appears to have taken place in late June, with The Cumberland Hotel pulling the plug on a planned July 4th pitch.
The Cumberland Hotel in located in London, England, with the planned pitch to be presented by Simon Stepsys:
It is believed The Cumberland Hotel cancelled the event after receiving an email or emails alerting them to the fraudulent nature of MyAdvertisingPay’s business model.
Two days later the July 4th event, now rescheduled to take place at The Holiday Inn in Regents Park, was again cancelled.
In an email to Tara Glassia (owner of the linked blog “Tara Talks”), The Holiday Inn staff wrote:
I would like to assure you that this event is not taking place at our hotel, and the gentlemen is not someone we have associations with.
The unnamed gentlemen in question is believed to be Simon Stepsys.
Stepsys (above), is credited as a MyAdvertisingPays top earner.
Stepsys was recently written up in the UK’s The Mirror. Given the opportunity to explain why MyAdvertisingPays wasn’t a Ponzi scheme however, he instead chose to decline The Mirror’s attempts to contact him.
Sometime after June 26th a third hotel, the Park Plaza Victoria Hotel, was booked for the event – but they too cancelled on July 2nd.
Faced with little to no time to rebook for a fourth time, MyAdvertisingPays called off the event.
This defeat didn’t go down well with MyAdvertisingPays, who rely on newly recruited investors to sustain payouts to existing investors, with the scheme engaging lawyers in the US.
Presumably at some point one of the three hotels to cancel the planned July 4th event, revealed the email address(es) that sent them a heads up about MyAdvertisingPays.
MyAdvertisingPays have now engaged the Illinois lawfirm Hart & David LLP, who sent a cease and desist to Google.
It is believed the cease and desist was sent to Google due to a Gmail address being used (Google own Gmail).
Referenced in the July 21st notification are the three hotels who cancelled MyAdvertisingPays events:
Reference is made to a series of emails sent via the online handle (removed) (hereinafter “account” or “the account”) and directed toward one of, or a combination of, the following businesses:
a) Holiday Inn – London – Bloomsbury
b) Park Plaza Victoria London
c) The Cumberland – Guoman HotelsWe are informed and believe that the original purpose of these emails was to materially affect the nature and course of
business being conducted by MAP at the aforementioned hotels.As you may well know, this action, as well as its well anticipated result, constitutes tortious interference with business relationships, tortious interference with contract, and tortious interference with business expectancy.
We are further informed and believe that you have been, and continue to be, engaged in defamation, placing MAP in a false light, (further and repeated) tortious interference with MAP’s economic advantage, and unfair business practices.
It is MAP’s belief that your conduct is tortious and highly suggestive of a fraudulent scheme designed to artificially drive down the public perception of MAP while simultaneously improving your own public perception through theoretical “Scam Busting” and/or self-proclaimed “public service”.
Applicable law provides remedies for such conduct. Moreover, MAP believes that these actions may be part of a broader campaign to further affect the business practices and contractual relationships of MAP in the future.
Your tortious conduct must cease and desist immediately and be corrected.
Hart & David LLP don’t clarify why the hotels in question cancelled MyAdvertisingPay’s bookings or why whatever the reason(s) those decisions were based on are wrong.
MAP hereby demands that you:
(1) cease and desist the above defamatory, false light, tortious interference, and unfair business practices;
(2) provide written confirmation of your compliance with this demand; and (3) retract and correct, publicly, previously made false and misleading statements.
Accordingly, you are hereby placed on written notice that MAP and its partners have claims against you for violation of federal and state laws.
You are hereby required to take immediate action to preserve all documents and information, including electronic communications, which in any way relate to MAP.
Failure to maintain and preserve relevant documents and information will be deemed spoliation and may subject you to further damage and sanction by a court of law.
Failure to comply with all of the above cease and desist demands by August 1, 2015 will result in MAP pursuing all available
legal remedies, including but not limited to(a) bringing a lawsuit against you for defamation, false light, tortious interference, and unfair business practices, among other claims; and,
(b) seeking monetary damages, injunctive relief, and attorneys’ fees against you and any person associated with or employed by you who has participated in your unlawful conduct.
Needless to say, your liability and exposure under such legal action will be considerable.
Before taking these steps, however, my client wished to give you one opportunity to discontinue this harmful conduct by
complying with this demand within ten (10) days.
In a nutshell, Hart & David LLP are seeking written assurance that the owner of the Gmail account in question will not be sending out any more “scam busting” “public service” emails.
Or they’re threatening to take the owner of the address to court.
Whether or not Hart & David LLP themselves have done any due diligence into MyAdvertisingPays’ business model is unclear.
BehindMLM reviewed MyAdvertisingPays back in May 2014, concluding that it was yet another advertising credits based Ponzi scheme.
MyAdvertisingPays affiliates invest in $49.99 positions, through which ROIs are advertised, paid out of subsequently invested funds.
I myself don’t have access to, nor have I seen, what information was sent to the three hotels in question. I believe however that if cross-referenced against MyAdvertisingPays’ business model, that they likely pertain to MyAdvertisingPays being a Ponzi scheme.
If that is the case then I wholly agree. And if anyone at Hart & David LLP is familiar with securities law, specifically in the area of offering unregistered securities, then they probably want to be looking into MyAdvertisingPays’ business model sooner rather than later.
I did check the Hart & David LLP website, noting that neither securities or MLM law appears on the firm’s list of specialties.
why is MAP’s not suing the hotels for cancelling the events?
they should sue the hotels for relying on a few emails to cancel the events, hence causing MAPs business losses?
is it because hotels are Big Business and may take up the challenge, and go to court with MAPs and question their scheme?
so, stepsys goes after ‘individual’ scam alerters, in the hope he will scare them away!
and how can google stop people from sending emails complaining about anything to anybody? does google read everyone’s emails!
Be it individuals or hotels, I suspect suing for Ponzi investment losses in court isn’t going to go down too well.
true, but the problem is that litigation costs are so high that individuals are forced to back out.
Well truth is always a defense.
And no doubt many a lol will be had by all if the “but we sell advertising!” schtick actually made it before a Judge.
by sending these C&D’s MAPS has at least brought itself under british jurisdiction.
they are not registered in the UK, but in anguilla and no one is very clear about the ownership of MAP’s.
but now the company has itself admitted that it is running it’s business in the UK [they cannot blame it on ‘distributors], so they come under british jurisdiction now.
Huh? The law firm is in the US. So is Mike Deese.
well, i guess anguilla must not have a good many law firms, so a US firm has been hired.
MAPs has admitted it does business in the UK by mentioning the hotels that threw them out.
is mike deese Really the owner of MAPs?
The public owner, yes. Behind the scenes? Who knows…
mike deese, in 2014 at least, was failed MLM marketeer living in a low income neighborhood . MAPs was registered to his home address but since then the registration has been dissolved.
so, registration of MAPs has only recently been shifted to anguilla.
MAPs is not a US company anymore and neither is it a UK company. but the C&D admits it does business in the UK and this brings it under UK jurisdiction.
What “litigation” ???
It’s a letter, no more, no less.
The fact it is from a law firm makes no difference.
Anyone who cares to pay a law firm can arrange to have one sent and anyone who exposes fraud and fraudsters will eventually receive at least one.
My Advertising Pays willingly in a courtroom ???
I don’t think so.
it’s a ‘threat’ of litigation which is enough to put ‘individual’ people off.
eg, there was someone doing some great individual investigation and reporting on onecoin. onecoin sent him a stupid C&D letter which was not even properly framed.
some onecoin reps also emailed him, threatening him with legal action. that guy shut down his onecoinscam website, saying he was not interested in trouble.
normal citizens, even if they expose frauds as a service in their free time, can get scared off by the idea of courts and litigation, and how that will affect their time and finances.
if stepsys/MAPs C&D is addressed to tara glassia, she might stand up to it, because she has been exposing scams for a while, and knows the ropes. normal FB type people may not be able to take the heat.
The U.S. Department of Justice has spoken about efforts to rattle individuals who expose cross-border fraud. The scammers try a number of tools, including “frivolous libel cases.”
From Deputy U.S. Attorney General James Cole, at the High Level Hemispheric Meeting Against Transnational Organized Crime, Mexico City, March 1, 2012:
Lots of folks will remember when the Ponzi racketeer Scott Rothstein tried to rattle local reporters in Fort Lauderdale.
Of course, K. Chang was on the receiving end of a purported complaint about libel, copyright infringement, trademark infringement and tortious interference from purported Zeek consultant Robert Craddock just weeks before the fall of Zeek Rewards.
The AdSurfDaily/Golden Panda Ad Builder folks tried to chill a newspaper in Georgia. ASD later was named in a prospective class-action lawsuit that alleged racketeering — and AVG was referenced in the case filings.
And Banners Broker — a “program” in which Stepsys was involved — tried to chill the entire membership just weeks before the fall.
AdViewGlobal threatened its own members with copyright/trademark infringement lawsuits and added threats about the loss of their ISP accounts.
Shaun Smith, a clawback defendant and alleged “winner” in the cross-border Zeek scheme, is also a figure in the MAPS scheme.
At least one TelexFree figure — Daniil Shoyfer — allegedly also was involved in MAPS.
I’d say MAPS is in a business that relies on the willful blindness and serial disingenuousness of folks such as Stepsys and Smith. At the same time, I’d say that MAPS relies on the exploitation of “legitimate actors” such as hotels, financial-services vendors and other vendors, perhaps even members of the Bar.
I’d further venture that MAPS is using wires that run through the United States, including wires that run through the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.
It ain’t good to use wires in those two particular districts if you’re up to, say, a cross-border Ponzi scheme.
This isn’t speculation, given that MAPS is referenced in a TelexFree-related prospective class-action lawsuit initially filed in the Southern District of New York and now consolidated into an action in the District of Massachusetts.
On another front, MAPS may be targeting members of the U.S. military. It just so happens that the featured speaker at the July 15 “Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst” Military Consumer Protection Day was the SEC’s Mary Jo White.
It’s also worth pointing out that the U.S. Secret Service once called ASD a “criminal enterprise” and that the Justice Department described ASD as “insidious.”
The phrase “criminal enterprise” also appears in the context of Banners Broker in filings in Canada.
Who else is promoting MAPS? Why, alleged Zeek winner Frank Calabro Jr., of course.
I’m thinking he must have missed White’s speech at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.
PPBlog
Hah, let’s not forget Craddock’s claim of libelous tort against business sent to Hubpages about my expose on Zeek! Phooey.
When a scam gets to this, they are on their last legs.
And Hart & Co is going to be ever infamous by associating with suspect schemes.
I didn’t forget it, which is why I mentioned it in #12 above. 🙂
PPBlog
Three National Hotel Chains received emails from a very small group of people stating that My Advertising Pays was a PONZI scam. This is the truth, so it can’t be refuted.
If these emails were sent regarding a LEGITIMATE company, do you really think these hotels would take any notice?
All these hotels needed to do was Google ‘MAPS’ to see that the internet is full to the brim with articles about My Advertising Pays being a SCAM.
All the emails did was point this out to them. And a C&D sent to an email address is worthless and completely unenforceable.
right. its okay to send a C&D via email if your intent is only to scare someone, but you have no intention of taking the matter to court:
simon stepsys and his ponzi MAPs are going to look like even bigger idiots, because they are not going to follow through with their stupid email C&D threats.
don’t be afraid of stupidstepsys, people!
i think the ponzi 101 excuses should be updated with immediate effect, because a MAPs crazy has just added one more ‘creative’ excuse as to why MAPs is better than other products like er gilette and cellphones:
hello, physical products will always have wear&tear and a finite life, imagine complaining about the nature of the physical universe!
so, just because MAPs is a virtual ‘product’ and has a ‘forced’ expiry date, it is legal and environmentally friendly! a random ‘forced expiry date’ to ‘force’ people to invest more!
hello, to participate in your MAPs people have to use computers or phones which end up in landfills….
The direct email action taken by these unknown scam busters has been very effective at slowing the MAPs scam. Well done.
Perhaps the readers fom here, TaraTalks, Realscam, and former victims of Stepys could enlighten them.
They could all call and/or email Hart & David come Monday morning. The law firm is probably very busy and might appreciate the help.
in my view law firms have the duty to represent clients whether they personally agree with them or not. this is because every person good, bad, or ugly has equal recourse to law.
if a criminal is sick we wont ask the doctor to refuse him medical treatment, since life is a natural right. similarly we cannot ask a law firm not to repesent a criminal in the justice system, because freedom [his view of it – right or wrong] is a natural right.
here MAPs/stepsys, beleive they should have the freedom to run their business which they percieve as legal, without interference, and they should get legal representation.
why worry? the law will kick their ass. and they can never complain they got an unfair deal from society.
but alerting the public, making it difficult for ponzi criminals to run their business by exposing them, complaining to authorities, going to the press, are all very powerful avenues to stop people like stepsys in their tracks.
9 hours ago simon stepsys posted:
^ this would create the impression that all you have to do is join MAPs and you will start making money rightaway till you cant figure what to do with all the free money, right?
but the ‘income disclosure statement’ on the MAPs website says:
huh? Less Than 1%!!
so, why is stepsys selling MAPs like a path to instant financial nirvana for all??
its because he’s at the top of that 1% who will make money in MAPs.
everybody else loses their ‘wages’ money every hour, while they sleep, and will just get poorer!
poor stepsys. after a whole host of london hotels threw his ass out, he’s planning another event, this time with a ‘little stealth’.
so, he’s advertising that he’s holding an opportunity presentation in early august BUT wont disclose the name of the hotel [haha!]
i guess he’s just scared the hotel will be alerted to his nefarious plans!
i guess he knows his email C&D’s are ‘virtual’ crap.
i guess at the last minute, the name of the hotel will be shared – psst come to so&so hotel, top secret! do not share!
what a wonderful way to run a ‘legal’ business!
Interesting that Simon is advertising tickets for the next hotel event on 8/8/15 without confirming the venue.
if the public keeps hounding ponzi scammers, they will have to take their ‘ponzi advertising’ offline and their ‘presentations’ off commercial spaces and invite potential victims into their homes.
that’s good, let them live that way.
I’m all for the hounding of Ponzi scammers; but, people really need to be sending in complaints about MAPS to the Mississippi Securities Division, the Mississippi Attorney General, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Securities Exchange Commission.
a gent named jon walsh, who probably has a background in advertising, has posted a very good explanation of why MAPs is Not the “Advertising Platform” it projects itself to be.
instead of just talking about the payola he’s getting, simon stepsys should respond to such arguments. unless he’s just a stupid ponzi thief.
Conflation is a standard tactic of scamming.
Own a couple “mailbox” companies, one of them offshore? “International Conglomerate!”
On the internet and display banner ads? “Internet advertising platform!”
Sweeps garbage? “Sanitary engineer!”
Launched multiple failed biz on the internet? “e-Biz Entrepreneur!”
Buy energy drinks in hopes of $$$ and car? “Brand ambassador!” (ref: Vemma Verve)
Since they are forced to click on 10 ads daily, we all know that MAPS members are posting ads to other illegal pyramid scheme programs they’re involved in for others to view and possibly join under them.
That’s been true for traffic and banner exchanges, whether fronts for pyramid or ponzi schemes or not, for years.
Just filled with folks trying to peddle fraudulent schemes and/or make money on line … using (enter online scammer’s name) “secret formula” … fantasies.
A sad little world filled with sociopathic “gurus” shearing the sheep as quickly as they can.
I have it on good authority that this is Stepsys lawyers possible plan of action. (and it IS Simon Stepsys a UK citizen, behind this have no doubt)
They may file federal claims against each one of these individuals (possibly five or six people) citing defamation, false light, tortious interference, and unfair business practices, among other claims. Individuals that are unknown, or hide behind their email handles, will be filed against as “John Doe, aka (email address removed)” and subpoenas will be issued to the service provider seeking release of the individual’s name/information.
If this is true then how likely would that course of action be to succeed in any way seeing as most of the recipients seem not to live in the USA?
Drawing attention to themselves and their ponzi and having to prove the legality of their scheme in court will definitely “SUCCEED,” just not in a way they want or need.
If they did follow through with their rumoured action, they would go down in the annals of history as the worlds’ dumbest ponzi operators.
IOW, ain’t gonna happen.
From what I have read here, MAPS/Stepsys have causes of action, and your description of their legal strategy seems workable, but whether or not pursuing anonymous e-mailers in various countries would lead to a success is anybody’s guess.
It’s difficult to silence a determined foe.
lol. I don’t think that with his past record in court and pushing scams for years, he is going to do anything.
Just like the alleged ‘book’ he was going to write. He really can’t be that stupid. But hopefully he is.
these john doe cases were initially used in copyright infringement cases, but are increasingly being used in defamation cases. but the standards used by US courts in ordering an ISP to disclose the identity of their clients are high.
first of all ‘anonymous speech’ is protected in the first amendment, second of all ‘opinion’ is protected as a right in free speech.
the plaintiff seeking an anonymous commentators identity, has to show that the speech of this john doe arises from ‘malice’. in the case of the MAPS’s scam busting FB page, the purpose is public interest rather than malice.
the plaintiff will further have to show the court that ‘false statements’ have been made against him. for example if i say ‘stepsys is a jackass’- this statement cannot be proven as true or false, and falls under the protection of ‘opinion’ which is not actionable.
if i say ‘stepsys is a criminal’- this is a testable statement. if stespsys has never been indicted or convicted, then my statement is false and ‘defamatory’ and becomes actionable.
if the MAP’s scambusters are outing that stepsys has been slapped by the ASA, or has an old court order against him, or is buying bentleys with ponzi money, the court will look into these issues and stepsys will have to convince the court that these are false statements.
defamation matters are far more complex than what i have presented here, this is more like a ‘beginners guide’ to understanding what ‘defamation’ is about.
so, not easy stepsys, go put your neck in the wringer if you’re feeling like macho man , but you wont make a pretty sight strewn across the floor when the court kicks you out.
is he really going to attempt to quiet a newspaper that has given him every chance to refute what was printed………before and after?
ha. stepsys does not have the guts to go after the ‘mirror’.
he is going after individuals who wrote to a few london hotels, informing them that the meetings stepsys was planning to hold there, were ponzi promotions.
they were merely alerting the hotels, the hotels took an independent decision to cancel stepsys meetings.
but, stepsys is not targeting the hotels either. he does not have the guts for that either.
instead he’s trying to bluff scare these emailers.
that’s the kind of big boy pants stepsys wears.
According to my source early this week Stepsys had at least 2 replies to his C&D orders. Names removed to protect the innocent.
Stepsys clearly hasn’t run My Advertising Pays past an attorney even remotely familiar with securities law in the US.
Until then anything coming out of the MAPS camp is just straight arse.
Can anybody, in their wildest dreams imagine Stepsys, his lawyers or, indeed, anyone representing My Advertising Pays, standing up in a court anywhere and explaining how and why MAP is NOT a fraud ???
Never gonna happen.
Lets look at this from a legal perspective, I may be wrong but this is how I see it.
We all know maps is a ponzi but as yet it has not been proven in a court of law.
Certain individuals have sent emails to these hotels warning of an impending ponzi scheme invasion… I am sure that this in itself warrants some form of legal action as it has directly affected the map business whether map is legal or not..
map is not under investigation and has not been proven a ponzi by the authorities, therefore any judge would probably dismiss any argument that the emails were sent because map is a ponzi, because it is not map that is under investigation here.
it is the few that sent the emails, and the few that sent the emails did affect a business whether the business is legal or not. The emailers are under investigation here not MAP.
Authorities and their investigations don’t make a business a Ponzi scheme, a business model does.
The emailers, through discovery, would easily be able to prove, as per US securities law, that MAPS is a Ponzi scheme.
And that would be the end of the lawsuit.
Assuming the emailers end up in court accused of interfering with the map business, a judge will probably say in reply to claims that we did it because map is a ponzi and that he is not here to judge MAP because he has no evidence in front of him and map is not on trial here today.
the judge is there to look at the evidence and the charges that the defendants face. It is not up to the judge to decide whether map is a ponzi because the case in front of him relates to the emails and not whether map is a ponzi.
At the end of the day the emailers have broken the law regardless IMO
Discovery = all the evidence you need.
And that will be the end of the lawsuit.
Truth is an absolute defense, provable via discovery.
the case before the judge is whether the emails are based on ‘truth’ or falsity’.
in olden days the plaintiff just had to show that the defamation had occurred, to proceed against the defendants.
in modern times, courts increasingly require that plaintiffs have to prove that the defamation was ‘false’ , in order for the court to proceed against the defendants.
in US states where such ‘proof’ of ‘falsity’ is not required ‘truth’ remains the defense of the defendants.
the onus is on the plaintiff these days, to prove defamation due to ‘false statement’. even otherwise, the defendants have to be ‘more or less’ accurate that MAPs is a ponzi scheme, then they can demand full discovery.
does stepsys Really Want to get into a discussion with the court about MAPs? does stepsys Really Want discovery?
Why would anyone make that assumption in the first place ??
We’re not talking about Law and Order or some other TV program where a scriptwriter can alter reality or a small claims court run by Judge Judy.
Any complainant would have to explain what “MAP business” is being interfered with.
As I said: “Ain’t gonna happen”
Part of the truth may be that the e-mailers interfered with the contractual relations between the hotels and Maps. That aspect is, as Dave suggests, triable without considering the nature of MAPS’ business.
Whether justified by good intentions or not it does appear the e-mailers interposed themselves between the hotels and MAPS which may, all other considerations aside, be viewed as interference.
Activists may be morally right and still be subject to civil penalties and arrest and a judge has every right to limit discovery to the issues at hand.
If one were to ask the hotels why explicitly they cancelled the reservations, I suspect the answer wouldn’t be “because we received an email”.
The hotels would have done, even on a minimal level, their own research and that inevitably brings us back to the Ponzi issue.
Ponzi schemes like My Advertising Pays can’t enter the courts with issues specifically relating to their business and expect the glaring Ponzi issue to be ignored.
Furthermore, while I can’t recall the name, there was at least one opportunity that popped up on the regulatory radar following the filing of litigation. I think it was the SEC who directly referenced the fact they became aware of the opportunity through previously filed litigation against a third-party in their complaint.
Again, can’t recall the company name right now but I’d swear I’ve written about it sometime in 2014.
I’m willing to let it play out. I agree with many here. Nothing will come of it and these threats of litigation amount to nothing beyond bluster.
I believe maps was mentioned in the telexfree paperwork.
guess how many people attended stepsys great grand recruiting meeting on 8/8/2015?
the so called ‘growth&popularity’ of MAPS and stepsys attracted approximately 23 people! how do you get attendance at ‘secret’ meetings anyway.
and somebody recorded stepsys spiel on their phone. apparently stepsys is doing MAPS just to attract traffic to his website, because he was already making a Lot of money before MAPS.
anyway, the presentation was pathetic considering that stepsys is a self proclaimed ‘marketing guru’.
facebook.com/rahim.ellam/videos/867800613257826/
ding ding!
according to the FB page ‘myadvertisingpays is a scam’ the MAPs website is having problems! it shows up sometimes and sometimes it doesn’t. apparently it has become ‘slow’.
a few days ago the MAPs payment gateway VX gateway had also experienced problems, don’t know whether those problems have been resolved yet.
so people, when problems begin, and silly explanations are handed around, and calls for ‘patience’ start making the rounds, what can be inferred?
MAPs is dying. recruitment has dried up. even the great simon stepsys can no longer gather the sheeple at five star hotels.
simon stepsys [and hence MAPs] has been exposed by media, rapped by the ASA, hounded by MAPs critics online and the pressure has had the combined effect of blow to the jaw in slow motion!
tony booth is handing out excuses for MAPs website :
facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=996329983744726&set=o.788704724492200&type=1&theater
it’s september 4th, and yet MAPS website problems don’t seem to go away.
the site gets very slow and disappears from time to time.
withdrawals have been halted on at least two occasions, citing this or that problem.
UK companies house, says MAPS registration will be cancelled and the company dissolved within three months.
observers are commenting that the MAPs symptoms are reminiscent of the last days of banners brokers, where simon stepsys had been a big player too.