CEO COP: Ex-Internet honcho Steven Kirsch is pulling out the stops to bust up global money-laundering operations. Photo: AP
Posted on 04/25/2006 4:24:16 AM PDT by Liz
CEO COP: Ex-Internet honcho Steven Kirsch is pulling out the stops to bust up global money-laundering operations. Photo: AP
Steven Kirsch, who founded search engine Infoseek and sold it to Disney in 1998 for about $200 million, has transformed his annoyance with receiving a penny-stock touting fax into a pivotal role in last week's indictment of an international tax-fraud ring......the US Attorney's office in the Western District of North Carolina indicted four people for running the ring, including Samuel Currin, a former federal prosecutor and state judge in North Carolina.
The ring, masterminded by husband-and-wife team, Howell and Vernice Woltz, helped several infamous stock promoters stash their cash away from the government by using numerous credit cards.
Kirsch, who had been researching a connection between the Woltz's and a host of stock-pumpers and e-mail and fax spammers since 2004, told The Post he initially only sought to help people whose fax machines were being clogged by the outrageous promises of several stock promoters.
In addition to developing some software programs for e-mail, Kirsch said he put up a Web site where he shared his tips for stopping faxes and where he happily chronicled his adventures suing the junk faxers.
But a series of e-mail exchanges in 2004 with a mortgage broker and Internet search buff named Floyd Schneider helped Kirsch realize he was on to something bigger than just a sleazy stock pumper.
In the middle of suing Thomas Heysek, a stock promoter with a history of regulatory trouble for violation of anti-faxing laws, Schneider discovered Howell Woltz was the owner of WinningStockPicks.net, a site that featured Heysek's calls.
"It wasn't too long to where we were looking at who Woltz was. It seemed like he had dozens of businesses where you could park cash," Kirsch said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
If anyone wants to "park cash" in my business, be sure to leave the keys.
You mean the thousand shares of Koala Figs & Machinery I bought for $100 from Pump 'n Dump is going no where? Darn!
Well, let's see how Bre X is doing this morning...oops.
(Sniffle) Yeah. Sorry 'bout that.
Well, let's see how Bre X is doing this morning...oops.
OMG, Bre X---one of the biggest scams---made a great book, too.
Speaking of parking (which is illegal), funny this guy didn't run into tax-cheat king Mark Rich-----ROTFLMCO.
Last we heard, Rich-o was running a couple thousand -----"trading companies."
I wonder just how many foreigners in this country are running the same scam???
I know that offshore trusts are now used extensively by Corporate America as well as foreign companies doing business within the US, so why is it OK for a company to do this, but not an individual??
Thanks for the link---nice find.
Kirsch is a major (multi-million dollar) Dem supporter.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/706244/posts
"...so why is it OK for a company to do this, but not an individual??"
They didn't use a Goldman Sachs credit card...
Geeeez, amazing how mean the gov and companies get when they don't get a chance to 'handle' your money.
Sam Currin's chairmanship of the NCGOP was before my time, but I've never heard anything good about him.
"You're kidding me?" said state Republican Party chairman Ferrell Blount. "You mean, Sam Currin, who was party chairman? I'm speechless, and I'm not speechless much." link
I've met Currin on several occasions at political fundraisers.
Like you, I've heard lots of rumors about him, many of them bad.
Ping incoming.
It is no surprise to see a member of the corrupt NCGOP being taken down. I am surprised, however, that Helms was taken in by him.
I helped get Currin elected as NCGOP chair. So did Ferrell Blount, as I recall.
This is the first time I've heard of any actual malfeasance by him, but I'm not all that surprised. I worked for him when I used to believe in the "lesser of two evils" lie. Here we have yet another illustration of why that approach is so bankrupt.
At the time, the biggest problem with Currin was the fact that he seemed to lose all interest in the party after he got elected. He ran as a reform candidate and the only thing he did to reform the party was make the executive hierarchy less accountable to the rank-and-file. That wasn't exactly the reform we had in mind.
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