Charis F. Johnson was the founder and administrator of the
investment
Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort.
In finance, the purpose of investing i ...
autosurf 12DailyPro. Johnson founded LifeClicks, LLC, the company which owns 12DailyPro, in her apartment home in
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...
, United States.
Ponzi scheme
12DailyPro was a version of what is commonly known as a “paid
autosurf” program where “investors” deposited money, ranging from US$6.00 to US$6000.00 per account, and received an extremely high profit (144%
) within a short period (12 days). Under the umbrella of her company, LifeClicks, and through the use of her experience in marketing and web development, Johnson created one of the largest modern day versions of the
Ponzi scheme
A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors. Named after Italian businessman Charles Ponzi, the scheme leads victims to believe that profits are comin ...
. Through the use of her website, she manipulated thousands of people to join and deposit money.
In the later stages of the fraudulent scheme, she managed to retain investors' trust by repeatedly bouncing blame and failures on other companies, groups, and individuals, including
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...
students and professors,
StormPay,
ABC4 News of
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
and even the government of the United States. “Ms. Johnson was extremely successful in attracting investors and raised approximately $50 million in less than nine months.”
It was later discovered that Johnson had been siphoning money from the funds she generated using 12DailyPro (an excess of US$1.9 million) into her personal bank account since mid-2005. When the company was shut down many of these people lost large sums of money, although the earliest “investors” remained in profit.
SEC involvement
On 24 February 2006, the
SEC entered into a
stipulation In United States law, a stipulation is a formal legal acknowledgment and agreement made between opposing parties before a pending hearing or trial.
For example, both parties might stipulate to certain facts and so not have to argue them in court. A ...
with 12DailyPro and its parent company LifeClicks LLC for a
permanent injunction
An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in par ...
.
On 28 February, a Los Angeles judge ordered all company assets and records to be turned over to Thomas F. Lennon, an appointed receiver, for investigation, who published his first interim report on 1 September 2006 (see below). Charis F. Johnson now faces criminal and civil suits from both state and federal agencies. She no longer resides in the Charlotte, NC area. Her current whereabouts are unknown.
References
External links
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ''Litigation Release No. 19579'', 27 February 2006*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Charis
Living people
1973 births
Pyramid and Ponzi schemes