Driven Affiliates shuts down - Affiliates not paid

[remocomp]

Driven Affiliates had closed its Affiliate program and haven't paid affiliates for January.
They fired the person responsible for their affiliate program - John Stern (real name is David something). He can't be reached by neither Skype, phone or email.
So looks like they aren't going to be paying affiliates at all.
I have over $40k there so very worried about all this.

Any information on the situation or connected individuals would be much appreciated:
Cyber Rock Entertainment
Josh Cartu
David Koenig
Sandstorm holdings
Bestpay Partners

They have an office in Israel so if I had the address I'd definitely go there in person.

Thanks

 

[punditter]

What??

 

[TheGooner]

They have an office in Israel so if I had the address I'd definitely go there in person

You are stuffed.

That office will be long gone - and they'll already be up and running in a new location under new names.

Israeli gambling and binary option programs are an embarrassment to their country, with their hard sell, and frequent shady and underhand dealings. They give Israel and the whole industry a bad name.

I believe that the Israeli government is having a hard crackdown on these operations and the way that they are run.

 

[Biti]

I'm afraid that € 40k is lost. Late payments, closement of the affiliate program, working with fake names, other groups to which this clip joint is connected...

Don't know if it makes much sense to go to TLV.

 

[CL-Ed]

Josh Cartu and David Koenig (aka John Stern) are outright crooks. Cartu and family were behind the scammy bunch of TopGame casinos such as Rome Casino that had a massive bust up a few years ago. Cartu uses the casinos to fund his try-hard race car driver lifestyle. I'm sure he shouldn't be too difficult to track down given how much he loves to show off where he is and what he's doing on social media.

That said you really should have looked into this stuff before signing up with them. It was never going to end well for you or the players you were referring to their clip joints.

 

[KasinoKing]

Always been "Very dodgy" at best.
They stole all my players before I knew what sort of people they were and gave them a chance (in 2012).
Money is lost forever - move on...

KK

 

[remocomp]

Going to TLV won't be a problem.
I take full responsibility for not doing an extensive research before sending traffic.
Though I believe it can happen to any affiliate at any given day even with research. When you send traffic in geos like AU and US you just increase your chances of getting screwed.

The "let it go and move on" advice given here may be the wise one but I think it's still early to give up.
I have enough names of individuals and companies involved to get a lawyer on this and preferably show up in person.

 

[Zuga]

David Koenig (aka John Stern)

was it him who threatened and asked you to remove some complaints from CL, couple yrs ago?

 

[CL-Ed]

Yeah that's the one. IMO he's a semi-literate halfwit keyboard warrior. Cartu likes threatening people with his "found my license in a cornflakes box" lawyer, usually over mentions of his name in connection with his casinos. This despite the fact that he issued countless press releases that are preserved online for all eternity with his name on them describing himself as the CEO or owner of Rome and related casinos. They may be tools, but they certainly aren't the sharpest tools in the shed.

Interesting reading re Cartu and Rome Partners in a court case brought against his company by investors that were ripped off.
https://www.leagle.com/decision/infdco20160202g54

 

[Biti]

Going to TLV won't be a problem.

It's not that it is a problem, but you think there's a bag of money waiting there for you?

I take full responsibility for not doing an extensive research before sending traffic.

That's a fact.

The "let it go and move on" advice given here may be the wise one but I think it's still early to give up.
I have enough names of individuals and companies involved to get a lawyer on this and preferably show up in person.

I would ask a lawyer to have a look at it. Having names of companies and persones is one, but link formally to the company you had a contract with, is a second thing.

 

[melcb]

@remocomp - we have be in contact with John today and he has confirmed Driven affiliates has shut down (7 Feb 2018). Please send him an email with an invoice for your owed payments. Email address: john@drivenaffiliates.com

"Any driven affiliates should be in direct contact with me if they think driven still have to pay them, since i will make sure everyone that has still outstanding payments will be paid.

Management confirmed to me that everyone will be paid, that still has any outstanding payments with driven."

 

[remocomp]

It's not that it is a problem, but you think there's a bag of money waiting there for you?

Go ahead be cynical and kick a man down.
I'll go there with a lawyer, maybe record some conversations, maybe file a complaint to the local police which like previously mentioned is cracking down on illegal Israeli Binary/Casino operations, maybe take a few Israeli journalists with me who are nowadays very much into this - and see what happens.

I would ask a lawyer to have a look at it. Having names of companies and persones is one, but link formally to the company you had a contract with, is a second thing.

That's the easy part. I have incoming wires, emails from these domains, correspondences - everything.

Management confirmed to me that everyone will be paid, that still has any outstanding payments with driven."

Thanks for the update, I'll send an invoice even though I doubt they will pay now after shutting down the same way 3-4 times in the past without paying.

 

[NDG]

I would follow Mel's advice and make contact with them to try and sort things out and come to a settlement.

Legal issues when you are both in the same country is one thing, but legal issues when you
are in one country, the defendant is in another country, their company is licensed in a different country,
and international lawyers, travel, evidence gathering, experts, etc.. cost alot of money.. is another.

 

[AussieDave]

@remocomp - I'm sorry you got hammered here. Hope you get your money owed, but I'd be surprised.

Hopefully this a lesson learnt, don't promote anyone without first conducting due diligence. Granted there's no guarantee that a trusted casino/group/program wont turn rogue. However, working with a rogue operator from the get-go, is just crazy.

Given their MO of running away from debits, spare a thought for ALL the players stiffed, here.

 

[AussieDave]

Cartu uses the casinos to fund his try-hard race car driver lifestyle. I'm sure he shouldn't be too difficult to track down given how much he loves to show off where he is and what he's doing on social media.

Guess this is where both the player and affiliate commissions ended up.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Cartu
Relationship with Ferrari

Josh's first step into the Ferrari family was marked by him purchasing a black Ferrari 458 Spider (the first one to ever be delivered to a client), in 2012. Since that moment, he has owned the following models: [7]

Ferrari 458 Spider
Ferrari F12
Ferrari 458 Speciale
Ferrari 458 Speciale Aperta (one of 499)
Ferrari F12 TDF (1 of 799)
Ferrari 488 GTB
Ferrari 488 Spider
Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta (1 of 209)
Ferrari GTC4 Lusso
Ferrari 488 Spider
Ferrari 812 Superfast

Three of the Ferraris he owns are limited edition models. The 458Speciale Aperta was the first limited edition Ferrari he has purchased, and the car features a Rosso Scuderia color with black and white stripes. His second limited edition Ferrari is the F12 TDF, which came in a Bianco Avus configuration. His latest limited edition is represented by the Bianco Italia LaFerrari Aperta. [8]

Josh Cartu has been considering for some time to purchase a classic Ferrari, one of the models that appeals to him being the 275 GTB.

Apparently he still is, or was the Ferrari club president. If he still is, maybe putting some pressure on the club he's the president of. These guys don't like bad press; especially not the Prancing Horse!

 

[Biti]

Go ahead be cynical and kick a man down.
I'll go there with a lawyer, maybe record some conversations, maybe file a complaint to the local police which like previously mentioned is cracking down on illegal Israeli Binary/Casino operations, maybe take a few Israeli journalists with me who are nowadays very much into this - and see what happens.

It was not meant to kick you down.

I just think that cases with straw men, exotic mailbox companies, etc are quite difficult cases.

Sure thing that I hope you will get your money, but I got my doubts about it.

 

[CL-Ed]

That wikipedia article is laughable. I see its marked for deletion for being the obvious deluded, self promoting, spam that it is. Aaaaand its gone... poor guy probably spent weeks typing that up himself.

maybe file a complaint to the local police which like previously mentioned is cracking down on illegal Israeli Binary/Casino operations,

Oh look at what I just found.. here is brother David Cartu up to his neck in binary options scams. The Israeli police are likely to be already very familiar with this particular family.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/15-israel-based-companies-added-to-us-financial-watchdogs-red-list/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-fr...y-options-company-owner-in-alleged-16m-fraud/

 

[melcb]

@remocomp - did you email John and send the invoice? Please post proof of email sent so we can see that John received it.