BULLETIN: Government Of Colombia Investigates TelexFree, Ties
BULLETIN: The government of Colombia appears to be seizing assets linked to four Colombians with alleged ties to TelexFree, which authorities in the United States have described as a massive cross-border pyramid- and Ponzi scheme.
La Superintendencia de Sociedades, Colombia’s Superintendency of Companies, has published notices of the action. (See link to document (Spanish) below.)
At a 2013 TelexFree event in California, then-TelexFree President James Merrill suggested from the stage that the Colombian government “feared” network marketing.
The precise context of Merrill’s remark on Colombia made at the Newport Beach TelexFree confab last year was unclear. In an April 2014 pyramid- and Ponzi complaint against TelexFree, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission referenced comments made by Merrill and TelexFree figures Carlos Wanzeler and Steve Labriola at the Newport Beach event.
TelexFree’s presence in Newport Beach may create a tie to Zeek Rewards, another alleged massive pyramid- and Ponzi scheme that crossed national borders.
See the Colombian government’s document.
Also see story at Portafolio.co.
The WCM777 scam — another recent MLM HYIP “program” — led to a police raid in Peru. The PP Blog reported in March 2014 that there were promotional ties between WCM777 and TelexFree.
Brazilian federal police have conducted TelexFree-related raids, as have the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the FBI in the United States.
The infamous D.M.G. Group (DMG) “program” in Colombia and other nations had ties to money-laundering and narcotics trafficking, with U.S. federal prosecutors saying hundreds of “subsidiary and affiliated companies” were established in a bid to cleanse dirty money.
In 2010, after DMG operator David Murcia had been extradited to the United States, U.S. prosecutors called DMG “a vehicle for a multi-level marketing scheme.”
Quick notes: The PP Blog learned today of the Colombian TelexFree action referenced in the story above.
Sometime this afternoon, the political campaign of Brazil-based TelexFree figure Carlos Costa released a video of Costa getting a home visit — apparently from some other Brazilian politician.
Costa was released only a few days ago from a Brazilian hospital. He reportedly had suffered a heart attack. His campaign apparently believed that showing Costa hooked up to heart-monitoring machines while hospitalized created good political optics — and there also was video of people and a car procession from when Costa was released from the hospital.
In any event, the apparent home visit from a fellow politician was posted on the Costa campaign site today.
Colombia, the United States, the Dominican Republic, Rwanda, and Uganda have raised serious concerns about TelexFree.
Brazil has, too — dating back more than a year. [Sept. 12 edit.]
Juxtapose those concerns against the video above.
Friends, this is dangerous, dangerous pandering from Costa. The words “unbelievable” and “incongruous” hardly do this story justice.
Patrick
Quick note: Also see:
http://co.reporte.us/Post.aspx?id=55017
Translation from Spanish to English by Google Translate:
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fco.reporte.us%2FPost.aspx%3Fid%3D55017&edit-text=
Patrick
one of the great leaders Telexfree Brazil exited the testimony impressed with what you have been informed about the investigations, he believed neither be happening in São Paulo. He said: “I was surprised to see the research that is taking place behind the scenes of the MP, where I thought everything was stopped.”
– seems out of there converted –
is now making tutorial on how to report on public ministry businesses and people of bad faith
http://carlaoevc.com.br/como-fazer-uma-denuncia-ao-ministerio-publico-mmn/
Man…how cinical can these two clowns get…I’m honestly felling sick after watching that video…
If they cannot rule themselves, then someone will rule them, then they have no cause to complain.
DSA in the US exists for a reason. While some have claimed that DSA have lost its purpose and is no longer weeding out the bad companies, it does provide *some* level of certification and required disclosure and “ethics” of its own members.
I rather like the Indonesia model… There’s a separate civilian organization, but sanctioned by government that approves of MLMs. MLMs that do not register as MLMs are automatically illegal. Legally registered MLMs then must join APLI, which will then let them in as provisionary members while they are thoroughly checked until they are allowed. TVI Express the scam tried to get around this by first claiming to be some other business, then claimed it is NOT MLM. Eventually all businesses licenses were revoked.