WSE - Current Status

My business partner is doing just that, only on another operation within the reach of the US Justice & Legal System.

He made the following post on SLX: (Citation follows)

I represent a group of BNT depositors who have been denied access to our accounts. I******** refuses to pay us back while he boasts record profits. We are sick of rude treatment and excuses; thus we are organizing a class action and pitch the case to a legal team in Palo Alto on 3/28. The goal of this action is to force BNT to liquidate properties and pay back depositors.

Time is short, sign up now! There is no obligation, it will not cost you anything to participate. We need a rough idea of how much Int has stolen from you in Lindens or Dollars. (note - these amounts have to be verifiable, meaning - transfers of lindens, checks you have written to I******** or BNT, or wire transfers / Western Union transactions) The dates, and copies of communications you may have had with him.

In the meanwhile, I strongly recommend you register with the IC3. The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). We are recommending that all potential members of the class file a complaint and have a case number assigned. My case number is I0803192346377471 and I recommend you reference it in your own complaint.

Please send me a IM in Second Life with your name, the amount - and a notecard with any additional details.

http://slexchange.com/ > SL Business > Majority of M2B Depositors Agree To BNT Trust Conversion

(Sorry about not citing names here, even for original poster. Just don't want to invoke the wrath of res mods on interpretation of TOS. All names are cited in the SLX link.)

I had about L$24,000 in Ginko. Learned my lesson, I did!

I'm in no way involved in any of this, nor do I condone anything done here...

...but the website wselive.com does seem to be available as of this moment.

Doesn't look like it is trading, though.

got to love *WSE TV - LIVE ADDRESS TO THE MARKET- 28/02/08 4PM PST, 12PM GMT/UTC*

OK this appears to be 89 minutes long and I've watched about 10 minutes, any minute now I will fall asleep

It was definitely down earlier, it's back now. Perhaps a hosting glitch or something.

It was a RP event to facilitate drama.

It allowed participants to play the role of panicked investors.

Yes fair comment Desmond, and yes its up again having just tested it.

well yeah it coming up again allowed those RP'ing panicked investors to breathe out a sigh of relief.

Still not trading though, that would be too much, too soon.

Is there still quite a bit of hope that this is not a Ponzi scheme that has run its course?

PRESS RELEASE

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Majority of M2B Depositors Agree To BNT Real Estate Investment Trust Conversion

As of today, Brautigan and Tuck Holdings (BNT) is proud to announce the accession of an additional L$660,000 worth of BNT Financial customers’ assets (many of whom were former My Second Bank depositors) into stock in the new IPO for the BNT Real Estate Investment Trust. This latest round of agreements concerning the compensation of BNT/M2B depositors now means that a majority of the L$4.2 million in deposits held by BNT Financial customers have now accepted the BNTFRE deal, establishing their acceptance as a class of the arrangement.

"It’s a real vote of confidence in the future of the Second Life economy to see an absolute majority of bank customers vote with their dollars in favor of this deal to salvage the asset value of their deposits," BNT CEO IntLibber Brautigan said. "Indeed, every depositor not seeking a direct withdrawal will be compensated with these IPO shares, giving these investors the chance to recoup their original worth and seek new profit opportunities in this growing market."

Former depositors in the closed M2B/BNTF are being compensated by non-depositor investors in the new IPO, for which over 40,000 shares were purchased just in the last day on the Ancapistan Capital Exchange (ACE), a subsidiary of BNT. Of the 4.2 million in deposits, over 2.2 million L$ worth of depositors have voluntarily accepted 100% conversion of their deposits into shares in BNTFRE.

A quick return on dividends is expected for investors of all stripes, as 10 BNT sims have been assigned to Trust management, with land sales generating dividends and the potential of stock buybacks as well. Land sales revenues in the sims is already over L$50,000 which will be paid out as a dividend following the IPO along with other land sales revenues. Tier profits will pay for the ongoing management of the sims. REIT investors can best support their investments by locating residences and businesses in the BNT sims.

"Net Asset Value is being maintained and accountability is our watchword as we restore the trust of depositors," Brautigan said. "Our sims are selling out and we have every expectation of making good on our pledge of restoring faith in the SL market."

M2B/BNTF was forced to close due to Linden Lab policies regarding fraud risk protection and prohibiting payment of fixed interest to depositors. Attempts to reopen under a "contractum trinius" arrangement were rebuffed by Linden Lab, so the bank was left with no choice but to convert to an REIT.

BNT Holdings can always be reached at www.bntholdings.com. For more information or to schedule interviews with BNT executives, please contact Media Relations Officer Charles Gemini at [email]charles.gemini@hotmail.com[/email].

-------------------------

Since this info is now in the public domain outside SL I feel its okay to post this.

My views, if they genuinly intend to convert to a REIT (Real Estaste Investment Trust) and if the NAV allocation is fair regarding previous shareholders then I might be inclined to oofer them the initial benefit of the doubt, subject to being paid dividends in Lindens (rather than Lukes WICs or DICs)

Just a personal view folks

If by Ponzi scheme you mean LC took everyone's Real money and gave them false promises in return - then yes.

But WSE the roleplaying game is just beginning!

Ah. I thought perhaps they had just taken the money and run, leaving behind a website to delay pursuit.

He has decided its a RP game now. Keeping all the USD$ and L$ and giving people WSE$ in exchange.

Well eventually thats the plan anyhow.

But is there any reason to think it will ever actually happen? I don't really know anything about this at all but I did sort of half listn to the 88min. video and it seemed a lot like flim-flam to me.

Other than the boring home video star in the weird new tie saying it will? (read the guy who got all the RL money)

I don't think so.

I must say that I always thought that a Ponzi scheme should really require more effort than just taking people's money and not giving them anything. I think that counts more as a straight con-job.

The definition of a ponzi scheme, I think, is that the first investors get good returns on their money paid entirely with the money put in by subsequent investors, who then get paid with money from those who join even later and so on. It works quite well for a while because when people see the large payoffs increasing numbers want to sign on. But no actual product or income is being generated so the whole thing collapses fairly quickly. The people wha haven't cashed out yet when it does are left holding worthless shares.

It's like those chain letters that say,"Send a dollar to the names at the top of the list, add your name to the bottom and get 20 more people to do the same."

If all these people just handed over money and no one ever got anything back then I'd say it was just a con-job.

But WSE used to have everyone snowed into thinking it was on the up and up , "unlike Ginko" ... they should get points for that.

there were returns and investment like stuff for over a year at least.

Where was that money coming from?

from all their other "investors" =) Ponzi Ponzi Ponzi!

Was there any actual investment to other business which gave WSE a real ROI or was it entirely new investor based? If that makes any sense.

yeah they were up to their elbows in the crooked gambling biz.

umm hmmm...

the most interesting part still was -

Just coincidently when the gambling ban was coming down .. and WSE stood to lose a lot of value ..

Total coincidence ..

A programer working for LC coincidently robbed him blind ..

and also ..

Another total Coincidence ..

Same guy won Ginko's 11th hour before the gambling ban Lottery ..

and rode off into the sunset never to be heard of again ..

Pure coincidence mind you.