Traffic Monsoon claims process approval sought ($114 million)
Good news for those of you who keep asking when you’ll be able to file claims, the Traffic Monsoon Receiver has sought claims process approval.
Last month we reported the claims process was moving forward, and the first step now is getting court approval.
Unless there’s some extraordinary circumstances we’re not aware of, claims process approval is typically a formality.
The Receiver’s investigation into Traffic Monsoon has revealed
there are over 100,000 persons holding claims in excess of $114,000,000 against the Receivership Estate.
This is weighed up against the $53.1 million the Receivership is sitting on.
As per as supportive affidavit filed by the Receiver;
Although my investigation shows that there are over $114 million in claims, which is greater than approximately $53.1 million I currently hold, some investors with claims may not file them, thus reducing the claims pool and allowing more resources to pay others who make timely claims.
Also, some investors’ claims may ultimately be determined to be much greater than anticipated by me because of evidence they may be able to provide in support of their claims.
PayPal is also a potential spanner in the works, as they’re seeking a $3 million recovery due to Traffic Monsoon chargebacks they processed.
PayPal has informally asserted it has a claim in excess of $3,000,000 against the Receivership Estate.
Not only is this alleged claim almost three times larger than the largest estimated investor claim, but the nature of the claim is complicated and includes potential rights of subrogation by PayPal to the claims of investors.
That last part is worth noting, as you can bet there are going to be some Traffic Monsoon victims who try to double dip (filing a claim despite having received a PayPal chargeback).
The Receiver’s approval motion details the setting up of a Claim Portal, through which Traffic Monsoon victims will be able to file claims.
Note that these are claims for actual losses that are verifiable. Claims attempting to recover monopoly money Traffic Monsoon returns are guaranteed to be denied.
As I write this a Status Conference was scheduled for December 17th. It was scheduled on December 16th (the same day as the Receiver’s motion), so I doubt we’ll get a claims process decision out of it.
The Receiver’s motion does request a March 20th, 2020 bar date, so approval should be soon either way.
The Receiver has advised she has some 580,000 emails connected to Traffic Monsoon Traffic accounts, all of which will be sent notification of the claims portal once approved.
Pending approval of the Traffic Monsoon victim claims process, stay tuned.
Footnote: Any robo comments asking when claims can be filed or distributions made will be marked as spam.
Update 21st December 2019 – The Receiver’s proposed claims process received court approval on December 20th.
So someone or on behalf of some party has made a claim in the region of 1M? Wow
Yeah, not really sure if some dumbass pumped $1 mill legit into Traffic Monsoon, or it’s anticipation of a bogus claim.
So are these claims people seem to be making their initial investment or the supposed “EARNINGS” from Traffic Monsoon?
I think that would draw the total amount to be a lot less in claims being made. The majority of people surely would not be making huge deposits into traffic monsoon.
Answering that question is going to cause the next major delay to the refund process taking place.
History tells us there is likely to be a large number of inaccurate and deliberately falsified claims and claims based not on initial deposits, but including so called “earnings” which, of course don’t exist
TM was at one stage the “darling” of the ponzi playing set, so we can also assume a large number of members joined with fake usernames and accounts or multiple accounts, all of which need to be verified.
It’s not unreasonable to assume also, that a large number of deliberately overstated claims will be submitted, given the nature of many of the criminal participants in any “next-big-thing” moneygame such as Traffic Monsoon
Where is this 114 million number coming from?
Is it the total amount of claims? If that is the case, then I think it is safe to cut that number in half… Or does that number consist of something else?
I’ve lost count how many times a receiver has to deal with claims for projected earnings but in nearly every case the claim would only be approved for ‘initial investment’ and on the basis that ‘investment’ was not fulfilled meaning if someone dumped $1000 into Traffic Monsoon then received $1500 back during the life of the site and they tried then to claim for $1500 that claim would be rejected on the basis they received more than they put in.
Also if that claim were to be approved it means the member just received $3000 for a $1000 ‘initial investment’ so not a good start for the receivership as they just gave away $2000.
However if they ‘invested’ $1000 and never received anything back then the claim for $1000 is valid providing it can be proven.
Usually with these scams however the member would ‘invest’ $1000, get $1500 then ‘re-invest’ $1500, get $2000 and so on and in that case any claim made is bogus as it always comes down to the ‘initial investment’ rather than the accumulated ‘re-investment’ and also on the basis that ‘initial investment’ was never returned.
If the receivership have the database of payment information then they would base the claim on the first ‘investment’ someone made then check to see if that first ‘investment’ was returned ‘with interest’ or as we know the interest is just ‘subsequent members investment’.
So if you are going to make a claim you need to make sure it’s for an ‘investment’ that was not returned. anything after that like the ‘interest’ or ‘projected earnings on a ponzi’ aka ‘return on investment’ will likely be ignored otherwise the receivership itself becomes a ponzi lol.
$114 mill is the Receiver’s post-investigation estimated claim figure.
No indication on how accurate that figure will be until claims are filed.