Mindpix Corp. (fka MPIX)

[David i INVEST]

Is this why Denny is in Hiding with his great friend who was trying to rip people off with the same scam MPIX IS RUNNING Jamie Piromalli were is Denny?

From http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/2004/03/29/story5.html?page=all

TAMPA -- A. Michael Jaillett's $19 million bill has come due.

A federal judge has sentenced the former president of Altamonte Springs' World Vision Entertainment Inc. to 51 months of prison and three years of probation for his role in the company, which drained millions from mostly elderly investors.

And he has been ordered to pay $19 million in restitution.

"Unfortunately, we will never recover enough money to make investors whole," says Roy Kobert, an Orlando attorney representing creditors. "So it's important to extract a pound of flesh from the criminals by way of jail time and restitution."

The Securities and Exchange Commission began legal proceedings against World Vision executives in June 2000, part of a large-scale crackdown on investment scams.

World Vision came to be known as the largest of the schemes targeted by the SEC in that roundup, having raised at least $64 million from its investors nationwide. The hook: nine-month promissory notes pledging a hefty double-digit return.

It sold those unregistered promissory notes to about 1,200 investors in 33 states. The financial advisers behind those sales profited handsomely: They received a 20 percent commission.

The investors' money purportedly helped the company's music distribution operations.

Instead, the operation was nothing more than a nationwide Ponzi scheme, according to the SEC, siphoning money from new investors to pay previous investors.

By the time World Vision filed for bankruptcy in September 1999, it had burned through $52 million.

There was just $353 left in the bank, making it unlikely that investors would see a penny of their money.

A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge ousted Jaillett and principal Steven Ray Brewer from World Vision in 1999, even before the SEC brought formal charges.

Tracking cash

Jaillett is the second company official to face time behind bars.

World Vision founder Jamie Piromalli previously pled guilty to multiple counts of securities fraud, wire fraud and mail fraud, and is serving a 42-month sentence.

The relatively light sentence stemmed from the company executive's willingness to pay back investors. Piromalli turned his assets over to the bankruptcy trustee, including homes in Maitland and Hawaii, which sold for $152,500 and $620,000, respectively.

At nearly $1 million, Piromalli's assets remain the largest single source of money recovered for investors.

A criminal sentencing hearing for Steven Ray Brewer, former vice president of World Vision, has been delayed until June 18.

Brewer pled guilty to a count of conspiring to defraud the United States and another count of fraud. Brewer's assets also may wind up paying back investors. R.W. "Bill" Cuthill Jr., a partner in the accounting firm Cuthill & Eddy, and bankruptcy trustee, says he has received a $983,000 judgment against the former executive.

There are other sources of repayment. Cuthill is suing a New York City brokerage firm involved in the sales to recover $100,000. The last piece of Piromalli's real estate, a home in Queensland, Australia, is expected to bring about $100,000 when sold later this year.

To date, more than $1.8 million has been recovered. However, that adds up to only about 1.4 percent of the total claims for money lost to the swindle.

Jaillett previously had been assessed a $110,000 civil penalty and ordered to cough up $346,689 in profits from the swindle.

That figure is based in part on the investment money Jaillett used for his personal expenses. When he leaves jail, the former company president's personal expenses will be handled differently: In addition to being barred from working in the financial industry, he has been barred from possessing a credit card.