Frank Calabro Jr. up on felony charges, house raided, assets seized
Frank Edward Calabro Jr., one of the USI-Tech Ponzi scheme’s top investors, is the subject of an ongoing investigation by North Carolina authorities.
In conjunction with a securities fraud cease and desist issued on March 8th, authorities raided Calabro Jr.’s Guilford County home on March 9th.
According to a March 8th search warrant provided by the Facebook page “Scam Page.”, authorities searched Calabro Jr.’s property at 9:45am and seized various items of interest.
An attached “application for search warrant form” confirms the warrant was issued in connection with the North Carolina Securities Division fraud case.
The application also reveals the Securities Division began investigating Calabro Jr. following his involvement in the My Advertising Pays Ponzi scheme
My Advertising Pays collapsed in late 2015.
The Securities Division’s investigation also tied Calabro Jr. to the Zeek Rewards and Traffic Monsoon Ponzi schemes.
This background information led the Securities Division to look into the current activities of Calabro.
It was found that Calabro was a prolific promoter of a new online investment program called USI Tech.
Calabro’s history is that he uses email, websites and social media to solicit potential investors into Internet investment programs.
On his website, Planet Millionaire, Calabro heavily promotes and sells USI Tech’s “BTC Package” investment program to the public.
Recently Calabro has stated in videos on the Internet that in the past four years he has brought in over 19,000 persons into these investment schemes.
He claims to have over 10,000 current members of his website Planet Millionaire.
Calabro recently told his internet followers that he had made $1.3 million in a recent, single month.
Whereas litigation pertaining to securities fraud is typically civil in nature, the Securities Division’s case ups the ante by hitting Calabro Jr. with felony charges.
Securities Division agents, working undercover, have collected evidence of Calabro Jr. promoting USI-Tech.
This includes Calabro Jr. stating
investors who purchase the BTC Packages will receive an average daily interest rate of 1%, Monday through Friday, for a term of 140 days.
Calabro has on several occasions sent emails to Securities Division undercover email accounts soliciting the recipient to watch promotional videos that directly link to the USI Tech website under the sponsorship of Calabro.
At no time during the undercover contact with Calabro did he provide information that the State of Texas had already determined that the BTC Packages were securities and that, as a result, USI Tech had been ordered to cease and desist in that state.
He provided no information about the assets, liabilities or other factors concerning the viability and liquidity of USI Tech and no particulars about the software processes that allegedly would provide returns to investors.
Calabro at no time mentioned to the undercover investigator that the BTC Packages were unregistered securities and thus the offer of the same was illegal in North Carolina and most other jurisdictions.
Calabro failed to tell his investors that if they too offered the investments to other persons than they themselves would be breaking the law and be subject to undisclosed penalties and liabilities.
The North Carolina Securities Division are going after Calabro Jr. for
- felony registration violations of the North Carolina General Statutes (NCGS)
- securities fraud violations of the NCGS
- criminal provision as per the NCGS
The search warrant was issued on “probable cause to believe evidence of (Calabro Jr.’s) crime is located” at his residence.
This was based on review of Calabro Jr.’s promotional videos, which typically showcased his residence and home office.
An inventory of items seized from Calabro Jr.’s home is as follows:
- boxes of documents seized from an upstairs office
- 2 “bitcoin” gold coins
- $8000 in cash stashed in a black filing cabinet
- $1241 in cash from a wooden jewelry box in the master bedroom
- $3364 in cash from a metal drawer in the master bedroom
- 28 silver 1 oz. coins with a value of $9296 stashed in the master bedroom closet
- 18 silver 10 oz bars valued at $2988 stashed in the master bedroom closet
- 8 silver 5 oz dollar coins valued at $664 stashed in the master bedroom closet
- 20 silver 1 oz bars stashed in the master bedroom closet
- 1 bag of silver bullion containing 14 silver 1 oz coins valued at $232.40, stashed in the master bedroom closet
- 1 bag of silver bullion containing 82 silver 1 oz coins valued at $1361.20, stashed in the master bedroom closet
- 11 silver coins in cases stashed in an upstairs room
- 6 old quarters from a wooden case stashed in an upstairs room
- 4 one gram gold bars stashed in an upstairs room
- 4 2.5 gram gold bars stashed in an upstairs room
- a “crystal ward” stashed in an upstairs room (lol)
- two legal pads (one in the master bedroom the other in an upstairs room)
- a Samsung N950 smartphone
- five laptops stashed in various locations around the house
- various USB sticks
- two Ledger Nano S cryptocurrency hardware wallets (one in a filing cabinet, one in the upstairs office)
- various SD cards stashed in different locations around the house
- $50,000 in cash stashed in a Nissan Frontier
Calabro Jr. wasn’t at his property when it was raided. His current whereabouts are unknown.
Meanwhile the seizure of Calabro Jr.’s cryptocurrency wallets are of particular significance.
In an October, 2017 Facebook post Calabro Jr. stated he’d
never turn my coin back into paper.
The strategy is to multiply, stack and live off of BTC!!!
How much of Calabro Jr.’s cryptocurrency stash has been seized is unclear.
No doubt any additional amounts held in exchanges will be recovered once authorities begin forensic examination of the laptops seized.
The day after his home was raided, Calabro Jr. stated on Facebook that
all is well … be back in a few days!
Other than declaring “god is on his side”, Calabro Jr. has yet to publicly address the Securities Division investigation or seizure of his assets.
Stay tuned…
And you scammers thought I was kidding when I posted about the rumor of a government data base being compiled of MLM/Ponzi participants.
Not so funny now is it?
Glad to see the scammers finally paying the price. Unfortunately many new people can’t tell the difference between a serial scammer like Frank and all of the legit online marketers.
The other USI-Tech scammers probably will need fresh underwear after reading this update.
a felony conviction would mean the midget loses his guns too. lol.
think deese is shittin’ about now?
LOL!
Thanks Oz,
You have been are over this turd for how many years? Frank is finally getting his what he deserves.
I don’t take any credit for Calabro’s bust. Other than documenting scams he’s been in I don’t recall following his scamming career.
That said you’ll probably find plentiful mention of him by readers in our comments.
I have been an avid reader of Behind MLM for a couple of years and I am glad to see Frank finally getting what he deserves.
Hopefully this will prevent many losing their precious money that they can ill afford to lose but are duped into thinking they are on a good thing.
I am looking forward to many more Ponzi Pimps suffer the same fate and that there is a big turnaround in the online marketing scene.
At 72 years of age I certainly hope so. Thank you Oz for your great reviews.
I hope “Septic Si” is next on the athorities hit list!
i’m reading ‘felony’ and ‘criminal’ in the charges and wondering if this is a civil suit or a criminal one?
does colabro go to jail for this or just pay fines and promise to be a good boy?
if some more of these career ponzi scammers are smoked out like this it will really help in reducing online investment scams.
this is just great news!
well, he’s on facebook spouting wisdom about positivity, strength, spirituality and hohum.
lost all yer monay colabro! all you got is spirituality now dumbass.
someone left this kind message under colabro’s FB nonsense:
can colabro afford vaseline?
Great news, and I noticed his personal site directing people to sign up under him in the CWE scam is also down. The other top promoters/scammers of CWE may be feeling a bit uneasier tonight.
It would be nice if they shut down these top promoters that jump from one Ponzi to the next.
I hope the authorities have seized all his “moaney”.
@anjali
As I understand it the C&D was civil. The Securities Board investigation has criminal counts in it.
I presume this means the investigation in criminal in nature but will include civil securities fraud violations.
It seems that whereas the SEC can only go after criminal at a civil level, states’ Securities Boards can pursue them with criminal cases.
The actions we have seen recently at the state level against promoters has the potential to be a real game changer.
Klingler for instance… https://behindmlm.com/companies/usi-tech/us-regulatory-investigation-into-usi-tech-confirmed/
Now Calabro, wonder who might be next?
As satisfying as the SEC’s intervention in Traffic Monsoon was, this is 10X in my book. Speaking of, I hope North Carolina left a few 3.5e Magical Rings for the TM Receiver to pinch.
Bankruptcy, it’s whats for dinner.
barnettfalls.com/Articles/An-overview-of-civil-asset-forfeiture-in-North-Carolina.shtml
What ever happened to Calabro promoting flop Speedfeeder Matrix, founded by his Ponzi Bro, Clay Montgomery?
Both Serial Ponzi Pimps, both Veterans, Superb Scammers, both brotherly promoters of all the proven shut down pyramids.
Will Oklahoma Securities be swooping in on Montgomery next?
So everyone is ok with the government taking your assets – selling them before trial?? These are accusations right now with no guilt verdicts…
Ponzi Midget Frank will have a better chance arguing that water isnt wet and snow not cold then he will getting out of these charges.
Couldnt happen to a nicer guy!
Civil asset forfeiture laws in this country are screwed up. In past years efforts were being made to reform them and some progress was being made. In the last year or so that progress has been stopped and in some ways reversed.
That being said I very much doubt Frank’s assets will be sold off prior to full due process. I sincerely hope they aren’t.
I’m not saying this out of sympathy mind you, Jesus loves Frank, I think he’s garbage wrapped in skin.
Pre judicial civil asset forfeiture does happen but it really really shouldn’t.
Who says they’ve been sold? The authorities will almost certainly hold them as evidence. If Calabro has done nothing wrong, he’ll get them back.
Frank is guilty. It’s pretty obvious. What’s interesting is if you look around Facebook a lot of fellow USI-Tech scammers are desperately trying to untag themselves from pics with Frank and delete any association with him.
This is just the beginning.
I have a HUGE LIST of home address’ for these guys. If you need them for reporting purposes I am Dickie Turner on FB. Darth Vader cartoon profile pic.
It does not matter how big or small someone is. In ole Frank’s case, he KNEW he was scamming people and kept doing it many times over and over again.
He truly turned to the dark side. That’s gonna always get you caught eventually.
Selling, no.. not that they are doing that.
Seizing and freezing: unfortunately it’s the lesser of two evils IMO. The alternative is letting these crooks hide their assets during or while awaiting trial.
Frank Jr’s latest FB post this morning …
Yesterday’s post …
@Chris Bailey, Malthusian
Think you guys need to look up Civil Asset Forfeiture in the USA.
Simply – if property is SUSPECTED of being used in a crime it can be seized. You do NOT have to be charged with anything.
Since it’s a civil forfeiture it’s NOT returned – unless you can PROVE that the property was honestly obtained and not involved in the commission of any crime. The burden of proof is yours.
Expect nice attorney bills and good luck.
@RRoss
I guess we’ll know soon enough if that’s the case here or not.
I’d expect charges to be filed. But do agree with GlimDropper regarding the laws, or what little I know of them. We have so many screwed up laws here.
In this particular case, no sympathy on this end as I’ve observed the kind of “opportunities” he’s promoted the last handful of years.
Yes, that’s what I said. “If Calabro has done nothing wrong, he’ll get them back.” Burden of proof schmurden of proof.
If I was in Frank’s position I could trivially prove that every penny I own was honestly obtained. But then I’m a schmuck who works for The Man, and therefore has payslips and bank statements, rather than a serial scammer with Bitcoin hardware wallets and $50,000 in cash in the back of the Nissan.
I’m as suspicious of unchecked Government power as any red-blooded American, but in this particular case, fuck him.
The reason governments have the power to freeze assets is to stop people like Calabro running off to Brazil with their hardware wallets and their Krugerrands while we wring our hands about burden of proof.
So everyone is okay with the govt coming in .. declaring YOU guilty before trial… stealing all your money & leaving you with nothing. Are we okay with that type of govt because…
It’s NOT just Frank…
It’s my sister and brother in law who run a convenience store in South Texas… they deposit cash on a monthly basis… they made two cash deposits & the govt came in said they were doing some weird cash deposit… THEY STOLE THE $$$$$.
And now, my sister has to sue the federal govt to return their money… MEANWHILE they don’t have cash to RUN the business… that’s why THIS is absurd… stealing people’s money BEFORE trial.. is absurd.
UNTIL IT HAPPENS TO YOU!!!!
Yeah uh… that hasn’t happened.
Calabro Jr. is still a free man. And having assets frozen is par for the course in any securities fraud bust, federal or state. So I’m not sure why you’re getting your panties in a twist.
Fair enough what might happen outside of MLM securities regulation but that’s not applicable here.
indeed. hence why the slob had it confiscated.
You’re talking hypotheticals. His assets are FROZEN, not seized.
If it’s not frozen, he can dispose of them, like selling for pennies on the dollar, transfer them to relatives, bury them in a secret location, and otherwise “dissipate” them.
Divorce lawyers see this all this time. That’s why there are asset freezes.
it’s actually kinda funny to see you hopping mad over a bunch of hypotheticals that hadn’t even happened. Much ado about nuthin’, man.
John,
You are conflating two entirely different situations of asset forfeiture. This isn’t a thread about your kin, it’s a thread about a serial scammer that bankrupts the least among us.
In his case I am 100% comfortable with what the government has done, in fact it should have been done years ago.
One of the functions of government is to protect society and this is best served in Frank’s case if he can’t abscond with money that was unlawfully obtained.
A first year bottom of the class law student could tell you Calabro was violating securities laws for years.
Yes, declaring you guilty before trial is the job of a prosecutor, who is part of the Government.
If Calabro hadn’t stolen millions of dollars, another part of the government would be appointed to declare him innocent before trial and act as his defense attorney. But he has so he can pay for that himself.
You are mixing up the judge, who is yet another part of the government whose job it is to treat the accused impartially, with the government as a whole.
Apart from all the money listed in the above article, and whatever he’s got stashed out of the reach of the US authorities.
So the sister of a guy who likes to defend notorious MLM scammers made two cash deposits that were somehow inconsistent with the previous takings of her corner shop. And suddenly the government (who take months if not years to react to any kind of financial fraud) crash through her door. And there was nothing dodgy about these two cash payments at all. Right.
I don’t suppose she had a relative who was into MLM scams and had some money he wanted to conceal the source of, and persuaded her to launder it through the shop’s books?
What are the idiots who follow this losing ponzi promoter going to do now?
They have no direction in their lives. They will suffer with the stress of not knowing where to next lose more money.
They need some ponzi promoting leader to tell them to lose at “Dagcoin” or something similar. They are not confident to choose on their own.
They need a leading ponzi promoter to tell them what is a good ponzi scheme for their next loss. The stupid people also lack confidence in themselves.
Frank used to describe the 2014 Nissan Frontier pickup as his wife’s. If Frank is on the run, I guess he’s doing it peeking over the steering wheel of “Goliath”.
SD
Going to have to root for this Frank character here. Hope the underdog gets all his bitcoin and silver back that were taken without him haven been charged and arrested.
F’ing Nazis speculate and single out folks that work their butts off while those in the same programs doing nothing but watching reruns on cable all day claim to be victims needing Natzi protection.
(Ozedit: Offtopic derail attempts removed)
Yep, let’s hide behind a theoretical discussion about what theoretically may happen at some theoretical time in the future and ignore the fact a self confessed criminal fraudster has caught red handed with the proceeds of doing what he has publicly boasted about for years.
Being a career scammer doesn’t make you the underdog.
Stealing from people in Ponzi schemes isn’t “working your butt off”.
Cries about speculation from regulators then proceeds to speculate whilst victim blaming. Here’s a tissue.
Hi Frank C !!!!! Thanks for stopping by…..
You got the dog part right. (subtract the “under”)
Attributing Franks innocence because it’s Cryptocurrency does not deviate from the fact he was doing this long before Crypto with fiat currency.
The man is guilty of deception and fraud whichever currency he chooses to solicit ill-gotten gains in.
Well to be honest, you can take all the above but it is still small money compared to what Frank had on his Nano S’s..
And if they have them or not, they will not have access to the 24 word codes that go with them.. And he has over 2 million on them in Bitcoin..
So all he has to do is get another Nano S’ for about $100 and put the 24 word code in and he has access to all of his bitcoin, Etherium and Litecoin..
Plus he makes about $12k a month or more with PLS as well.. Might still have access to that as well..
You don’t think they’ll be presented in court as evidence?
This isn’t a civil matter, it’s criminal. Much as “Dan from the office” might like to think, government investigators aren’t ignorant of cryptocurrency.
They knew exactly what they were looking at when they came across Calabro’s hardware wallets.
They know what they’re looking at, but can they access it? If they demand that Calabro releases the Bitcoin to refund the Ponzi losers, Calabro can play the “I forgot the password” trick.
I wouldn’t want to screw with the US legal system but they’re unlikely to start pulling fingernails.
Refusal to release the Bitcoin might get Calabro an extra ten years in jail – that’s probably optimistic – but when he eventually gets out, he’ll have $2 million waiting for him (unless Bitcoin has collapsed in that time).
$200,000 a year for sewing mailbags? Better than stacking shelves, no?
Hey, here’s an idea for Frank’s next scam. He could tell people that he’s got $2 million on a Bitcoin wallet, but the nasty Natzi Feds want $10,000 to release it from the evidence locker and all his money has been unjustly confiscated on the baseless pretext that he stole it all.
If someone could put up the $10,000, he’d gladly share 10% of the Bitcoin wallet with them. The old ones are always the best.
Some sort of watch on bank accounts? IRS monitoring?
I see cryptocurrency as an extension of the “hiding money offshore” game. Sooner or later it’ll have to be transferred back into fiat if it’s to be of any use.
IRS monitoring? Only if he’s dumb enough to stay in the US.
It is indeed exactly like offshore money – in that as soon as you’ve got out you can bugger off to Brazil or Dubai and spend it.
Duane Noble is Byron Sneeringer.
Very very interesting. I found the big guy. He went to great lengths to hide. Major pusher of USI-TECH.
What makes ya think Calabro and or any other of his Ponzi Bro’s even file taxes with the IRS?
The Feds really need ta b checking Calabro and his closest Ponzi Bro’s out on this topic.
These questionable tax evaders with their Narcissistic, Catch Me If You Can” tauntings seem obsessed with idiolizing Leonardo DeCaprio in the movie role, Wallstreet and defrauding the government.
Postings all over their Facebooks of Leonardo and his movie role quotes. Get Em Feds! Hiding cash not claiming it is a crime….
over the last five years US regulators have been seizing and auctioning a lot of cryptocurrency related to fraud, drug dealing, money laundering etc.
just in jan 2018 they auctioned some 40-50 million worth cryptocurrencies seized from several criminals.
how do you think they got access to the 24 word codes or private keys to these crypto wallets?
when you sit a criminal across the table and read him a long list of charges leading to a long jail sentence, s/he will shit the private code out pretty quickly.
petty thieves like frank colabro jr will probably have to be put in diapers before the regulators even begin their questions.
Of interest to NC residents in USI Tech and those crying about evil gubmit.
North Carolina is interested hearing from residents recruited into USI Tech. Especially if sponsored by a fellow citizen like Frank Calabro Jr. or Shawn Powell.
They should include their sponsor, amount invested, and a brief description of what they were told.
This is the link.
sosnc.gov/divisions/securities/file_a_complaint
On the assets seized.
The C&D is “Administrative Law” (regulatory authority) – Which is a kind of Civil law. In North Carolina the Department of the Secretary of State has Special Agents with law enforcement authority who conduct the Criminal investigation.
So, there is an administrative investigation and a criminal investigation. They run “parallel” to each other but are, in fact, separate and apart.
On the asset side, and important – in NC all funds that are recovered in a securities fraud investigation are usually given back to the investors if they can prove that they in fact were investors and suffered a loss.
This, however, is done through the authority of a judge and usually with a receiver appointed by that judge.
In cases such as securities fraud, where identifiable victims have lost money, the government gets NOTHING.
The real scam here is the sec and govt agencies operating where they have no jurisdiction or authority.
The govt is not here to protect you. But most are too ignorant to know better.
Spotted the scammer.
I think you’ll find the SEC has jurisdiction over scammers in North Carolina promoting and profiting off of unregistered securities.
Maybe you could send the North Carolina Securities Division an angry sovereign citizen rant letter? They’re always good for a laugh.
The SEC hasn’t done anything to Calabro, yet. When/if they certainly have jurisdiction. Maybe understand what you’re all huffy about first.
North Carolina absolutely has the authority to shut down promoters in their state selling unregistered securities.
Sorry about your loss and basic comprehension skills.
Frank is moving to Puero Rico, so is Justin D Verrengia, PR is where investors are well protected and tax exempt from investment capital gains. It’s on their Facebook.
He’s going on about some tax code.
puertoricotaxincentives.com/act-22-individual-investors-act/
The Securities Division didn’t go after Calabro for dodging taxes, that’s the IRS. They went after him for being a serial scammer.
Editing my last comment. He never mentioned he is moving to PR, he only mentioned PR is safe place for entrepreneurs.
given he’s not an entrepreneur, he has no idea what he’s talking about.
Calabro is an idiot preying on even bigger idiots. The shit he was peddling in North Carolina is just as illegal in Puerto Rico.
usinvestorlaw.com/state-securities-law/Puerto-Rico-English.php
Any updates?
Calabro agreed to stop committing securities fraud and then… went straight back to committing securities fraud. Lowkey but.
And moved states.
Currently believed to be operating from Texas
So his felony charge was dismissed or is he on probation?
Moving to texas could be his final destination for many years. They will not let him off easy. They might even add a few extra drug charges just for fun. For decades of “therepy”
Here’s the resolution. Beyond that the NC Securities Division hasn’t taken any further action.
Ok so he agreed not to do it in NC. Now there are other states he can try it at outside of NC and he will not violate the settlement since its outside of NC. They let him off easy but then again he was just a promoter, not admin.
Makes sense now. But the laws are very weird.
If an 18 year old pushes his friend and steals his hat as a joke. IF his friend calls the police. They would rush into the area with 10 cars and arrest his friend for robbery and keep him in jail until court, which he will get 5-10 years. But if u defraud thousands, they Make u promise not to do it again in that state. Very weird laws.
Oz has there been anyone that was arrested in the usa over promotions? Or admins? I just remember other crimes.
Sanderley Rodrigues was arrested for contempt in the TelexFree case. He was a promoter not executive.
I’m not aware of the DOJ moving on promoters of scams. The SEC have only recently started going after promoters but only when they shut down a company.
The FTC’s Chandler et al. action is interesting in that it specifically targets promoters. Don’t know how that will end up though as it’s still playing out.
Hes still scamming on anything and anyone hes in Cheyenne Wyoming. I would love him to go down to rock bottom.
I am homeless living in my car and without food st this time he asked me to sell my car so he could collect an inheritance 5/5 million.
he’s a worthless scum I want to see him hit rock bottom homeless I wanted to feel it feels like has no conscience. I’m thinking he’s worthless.