[1] Mark Pedley also uses a number of pseudonyms, including "Tzemach Ben David Netzer Korem" and "Branch Vinedresser".
[3] Later, it invented the Karitane Shoal in the South Pacific,[4][5] which is supposedly completely submerged for part of the day;[6]: 105 [7] Clipperton Island, an overseas possession of France which lies 1,500 miles west of Nicaragua; and Taongi, otherwise known as Bokak Atoll, an uninhabited Micronesian atoll falling under the administration of the Government of the Marshall Islands.
[16] Upon closer examination, a number of these are merely correspondence acknowledging various requests made of these established states,[17][18] or appear to be responses to offers of financial support.
"[3] An article in the Quatloos!, online anti-fraud site, noted that "Melchizedek has apparently obtained some sort of recognition from some smaller states ... all of which are notable for their corruption.
One of the men involved, Steve Peterson, later pleaded guilty to fraud and theft charges in another case in Arizona after using a company chartered in DoM.
[23][6]: 106 Later in the same year, and also in Texas, Leon Hooten's New Zealand-registered companies were prevented from selling insurance when they were found to be capitalised with worthless assets issued by the DoM.
[26][27][28][29] Six Portuguese perpetrators, who conned a total of 39 businesspeople (including Cavaco Silva) between 1996 and 1999, were sentenced in 2007 to several periods in prison, the longest of which was six years.
The ringleader, John Gillespie, an Australian felon who was involved in the Fine Cotton horse substitution scam, eluded capture.
[2] Across all the purported schemes DoM has been accused of involvement in, one source estimates that the total value of funds raised may exceed US$500 million.
[7] Mark Logan Pedley (born 19 July 1953),[3] later changed to Mark Wellington[14] and also known as "Tzemach Ben David Netzer Korem" and "Branch Vinedresser" (a translation of his Hebrew name Tzemach Korem),[6]: 111–2 is the son of David Pedley and was the Head of the House of Elders, Vice President, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the DoM.
Shortly after his release, he was again successfully prosecuted in 1986 for a $6 million currency fraud scheme that was operated in 1982–83; he was jailed for eight years and fined $25,000.
His parole was revoked in late 1991 due to a violation of his conditions, arising from his promotion of a fictitious country, and was returned to prison to serve the remainder of his sentence.
[1] In 2010, under the name Tzemach David Netzer Korem, he was charged with, and later pleaded guilty to, share manipulation regarding ZNext Mining.
[36] The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued Gamboa in 2009, alleging that she had used fictitious reports of gold mining operations to profit by fraudulently selling shares, siphoning off more than $1 million.