Charis Johnson
Encyclopedia
Charis F. Johnson was the founder and administrator of the investment
autosurf
12DailyPro. Johnson founded LifeClicks, LLC, the company which owns 12DailyPro, in her apartment home in Charlotte, North Carolina
, United States.
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 (44%) 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
. 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
students and professors, StormPay
, ABC4 News of Salt Lake City, Utah
, the owners of Talkgold.com 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.” http://www.tlennonfor12dailypro.com/media/12DP_FirstInterimReport.pdf It was later discovered that Johnson had been siphoning money from the funds she generated using 12DailyPro (an excess of US$1.9 million dollars) 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.
On 24 February 2006, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) ordered 12DailyPro and its parent company to cease and desist all operations. On 28 February, a Los Angeles judge ordered all company assets and records to be turned over to 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.
Investment
Investment has different meanings in finance and economics. Finance investment is putting money into something with the expectation of gain, that upon thorough analysis, has a high degree of security for the principal amount, as well as security of return, within an expected period of time...
autosurf
Autosurf
Autosurfs are traffic exchanges that automatically rotate advertised websites in one's web browser. Therefore, they are capable of bringing a large amount of traffic to the advertised websites. Members earn credits for each site that they view, which can then be spent to advertise members' sites by...
12DailyPro. Johnson founded LifeClicks, LLC, the company which owns 12DailyPro, in her apartment home in Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
, United States.
12DailyPro was a version of what is commonly known as a “paid autosurf
Autosurf
Autosurfs are traffic exchanges that automatically rotate advertised websites in one's web browser. Therefore, they are capable of bringing a large amount of traffic to the advertised websites. Members earn credits for each site that they view, which can then be spent to advertise members' sites by...
” program where “investors” deposited money, ranging from US$6.00 to US$6000.00 per account, and received an extremely high profit (44%) 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
Ponzi scheme
A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to its investors from their own money or the money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from any actual profit earned by the individual or organization running the operation...
. 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
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
students and professors, StormPay
StormPay
StormPay was an electronic money auction payment processor run by Stormpay Incorporated, a Clarksville, Tennessee, United States company founded in October 2002 by John R. McConnell, Jr. and the CEO, Steve Girsky...
, ABC4 News of Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
, the owners of Talkgold.com 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.” http://www.tlennonfor12dailypro.com/media/12DP_FirstInterimReport.pdf It was later discovered that Johnson had been siphoning money from the funds she generated using 12DailyPro (an excess of US$1.9 million dollars) 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.
On 24 February 2006, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is a federal agency which holds primary responsibility for enforcing the federal securities laws and regulating the securities industry, the nation's stock and options exchanges, and other electronic securities markets in the United States...
(SEC) ordered 12DailyPro and its parent company to cease and desist all operations. On 28 February, a Los Angeles judge ordered all company assets and records to be turned over to 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.