According to statements made to Federal prosecutors, two Russian-speaking immigrants earned millions by fraud, with the help of financial schemes. Edition of Slavic Sacramento was able to learn the details in this case.
Vladimir Egida and Marina Bondarenko are accused of creating a financial pyramid, with which they deceived more than 7 thousand people. Financial scheme operated through the company Trend Sound Promoter, by which fraudsters illegally seized millions of dollars, and the company has caused damage in size to 11 million.
TSP was presented as usual Internet marketing the criminals promised participants easy work at home that brings a significant income with minimal effort and without requiring special skills. Egida and Bondarenko assured that this is a legitimate company with their investors, which is engaged in the promotion of goods and online music. In fact, TSP was an ordinary financial pyramid based on email marketing.
Scammers sell his scheme under the guise of Internet marketing programs to earn money at home. The main point of this work was to promote music and different goods and services through Internet marketing. The programme was based on the newsletters by email, which belonged to the company. Promoters engaged in sending of advertising messages on a special list, which the company sent them daily. The message is sent with a click that cost 40 cents. This allowed to attract new members, mainly among their friends and relatives. Due to the wide distribution, the TSP has sold a significant amount of their marketing programs. As a result, in late 2013 and early 2014, the company was forced to increase spending to pay for the work of the promoters. By the end of January 2014, TSP sold packages in the amount of $ 21 million, but revenue amounted to only 400 thousand dollars.
In order to start earning, the participant had to pay an initial fee in the amount of from 150 to 12 $ 350, and the annual «administrative fee» which was $ 120. In addition, buyers were required to purchase a special «package» value 9 220 to $ 500, which allowed him to work as an «independent promoter-distributor» (IPD). The essence of the scheme is simple — the higher the price of the package, the more the buyer can send messages, and eventually, earn. In 2014 the company expanded the number of packets to eight, costing from 150 to 12 $ 350, while reducing the rate of sending messages to new buyers of the original seven packages. The majority of participants bought packages price over $ 1,000, were also those who spent more than 5000.
Pulling money out of the company in various ways, Egida and Bondarenko spent on their personal needs, carefully hiding it from program participants. In January 2014, the fraudsters transferred 1.45 million and 95 thousand dollars from the company account to the account of controlled trusts Lakeshore Enterprise Trust and the Villa Property Company Trust. The criminals claimed that the money went to pay debts of their company in front of the Studio SoundT, however, it became known that the money the couple purchased a home on lake Washington and paid the initial payment for the purchase of a condominium in Seattle. Egida and Bondarenko tried to deceive the court of bankruptcy, giving false testimony and concealing the true path costs TSP.
At the moment the company Trend Sound Promoter AMG, Corp. is considered inactive. Her office was registered on 28 Nov 2012 in Bellevue, Washington, with a branch in Miami. 2 years later, 25 April 2014, TSP filed for bankruptcy. During the existence of the TSP, from the machinations of Pigida and Bondarenko suffered about 1 850 residents of the state of Washington and approximately 6 750 people from different countries around the world. The main goal of the fraudsters were representatives of the Russian Diaspora, as in the United States and around the world.
