The following is for anyone still wondering what is happening with PIPS currently or what is up with the websites, etc. Please do not broadly distrribute this data beyond sending it to your own friends and associates. It comes from irishbilly, pips pioneer, so I think it is reliable. It is from about 4-5 days ago.
Message:
I wanted to get this out to you quickly because so much
speculation and misinformation tends to keep floating around regarding PIPS in it's current state.
Some information says that Bryan and Sharon have been arrested and is totally negative,, while others were putting out information that they though PIPS would be back online and operating early this week... and have a new payment platform ready to start
and hundreds of millions of dollars that they are about to have released to them to get members paid... WRONG WRONG WRONG... people on both ends of the extreme tend to be just that..... EXTREME... I just wanted to give everyone a brief update.. and then again we hope for the best..plan for the alternative.. and move forward knowing that if Bryan manages to pull PIPS forward in one way, shape or form, it will still be in our group of programs.. but we will have enhanced it with diversification and if the worst happens.. we are moving forward and it becomes more of a disappointing annoyance rather than a devastating blow.
Anyway..rather than saying that I have it from a knowledgeable source... I will start with this .....Bryan Marsden called me last night. Yes that is right and it was a surprise..but I got to speak with him for a while.
We had a reasonably good conversation and he gave me an update on where everything stands and wanted members to know that he is working diligently this week to see what he can do to get things done to preserve
what can be preserved and see if he can get a structuring approved by Bank Negara so that the enterprise can move forward in an altered form with the permission of Bank Negara.
As I said. the conversation was a bit generalized but I
anticipate being able to speak with Bryan again this week to follow up and try to keep informed on what is going on. This email will be general and later this evening I will try to give a bit more specific information but that information will need to be private and will therefore only be able to be placed in the members area of the BreakThroughs site. However this email
and other follow ups WILL be enough to keep you pretty much up to date on what I learn from Bryan if he continues contact with me.
OK.. General update... Again.. to be simple about it.. it is
that my updates of the 18th and 19th ( actually both the 18th I think) were on the mark and a good summary of what the current status is. Here are some other Facts as Bryan stated them
1. He has not been arrested . When I asked if he had been arrested. he said "Well I bloody well couldn't be calling you right now if I had"
2. The servers have been taken...and PIPS and PicPay and PIPS AID are all down... Negara wants to go through the records on the servers to see if there in fact have been any violations or anything to validate
claims made in Letters to Bank Negara. Bryan was looking to meet with them today and throughout the week to show cooperation with the investigation and also to see if the servers could be put back online
during any investigation so that other areas of the business will not be negatively impacted as PicPay and PIPS would be thoroughly gone through.
No new members taken and those areas staying down while Bryan could work with Bank Negara to answer questions .. make sure they fully understand it and then explore the restructuring that he would like to propose to see if it could meet approval.
3. Some people were reporting that PIPS would be back online this week I asked Bryan and he said that is highly unlikely. He would hope he got get them to put servers back online this week but he will not venture what the odds would be and said that we can't count on it.
4. He was terribly upset at the prospect that after speaking with me..the next thing he had to do was meet with the staff and furlough them until further notice. We talked a bit about the various divisions and I asked him about the restaurant development and real estate purchases etc about funds frozen with processors and banks etc and in general terms that is
still a problem and as he saw it was still the primary problem that exists that hampered getting payments to members. I also addressed the PicPay and merchant problems that had caused some of this action and how
just more communication could have possibly prevented a good amount of this.. but that was more conversational rather than a "tongue lashing" of any sort.
I would like to see something salvaged of this so a
restructured business could continue and provide benefit to the members.
5. Bryan hopes that in meeting with Bank Negara and answering questions and educating them as to all the details of how funds were spent/invested, the problems and challenges faced, the viable and profitable divisions
that have been built and how everything at present could be restructured to satisfy the issues and solve the problems that had been plaguing PIPS that and do it all with the approval of Bank Negara. However there is no
telling at this point what will happen.
It is in Bank Negara's hands right now.. Bryan said it could take weeks.. it could take months depending on how meetings go with them and what they decide is their posture on what they desire the outcome to be.
So don't look for any quick solutions.. don't believe that
there is a payment platform ready to go .. with funds soon to be released.. ( Bryan said that he doesn't know where that information or any of those figures are coming from and that it is total misinformation)..
Bryan said that all that can really be said is that things are in Bank Negara's hands right now and he is working diligently to resolve the issues.. get the servers back online even if only to serve the related businesses so that they their records and operating systems and that he will do everything in his power to work see if the enterprise can be preserved.
It is my opinion that if a restructuring, compliant with Bank Negara and requiring no further funding from members could be put in place, and that Bryan is convinced he can do it.. under the supervision of Bank Negara I would like to see him get a shot at it. As we know, that would probably require the assistance of consultants, possibly new management, etc.. all
things put in place to ensure compliance etc. Actually it is possible that if members were to dash of a quick note to Bank Negara in support of some bank supervised restructuring in the interest of members recovering
losses and and having some ongoing enterprise that is
transparent and compliant and can be structured to the benefit of all involved, perhaps there is positive that could come from all this. Those who had real problems got to write Bank Negara and rightfully so. but perhaps those who support restructure should have voices heard with them too. Always good to get both sides right?
I will see if I can provide the appropriate information later this evening in the members area or more likely the FORUM of BreakThroughs later this evening. Please don't write me and ask me for it as I have been receiving hundreds and hundreds of emails lately and
cannot respond to any request if you do make one..
Now remember.. even if you choose to dash something off in support of restructure or read this and get concerned.. do it and then GET OFF IT and move to productive things.. IT IS WHAT IT IS and we have
to continue to diversify...
Thanks again.
Bill
END OF MESSAGE
PS: if you are wondering about Bank Negara, here is the link, check it out.
http://www.bnm.gov.my/index.php?ch=7 (Bank Nagara, Central Bank of Malaysia)