EDITORIAL: MIXED MLM MESSAGING: As Herbalife Announces FTC Probe, TelexFree Cheerleaders Plant Seed That Obama Gave Their ‘Program’ An Exemption From Securities Laws
UPDATED 12:07 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) You can’t blame legitimate MLMers if they’re feeling a little jittery. Herbalife, one of the industry’s stalwarts, is under investigation by the FTC, which has many duties, including enforcing laws against false advertising and pyramid schemes. Precisely why the FTC is investigating Herbalife is unknown. Hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman says […]
In Alberta, 1 in 3 Report Being Approached With A Possible Fraudulent Investment, Securities Commission Says
Carefully checking and protecting before investing is part of the theme behind Fraud Prevention Month in Alberta, the Alberta Securities Commission said today. As part of its initiative, ASC rolled out a noontime “free lunch” in Calgary. The agency said it used the Mighty Skillet food truck at City Hall “to offer Calgarians a free […]
INVESTOR ALERT: Statement From Alabama Securities Commission On High-Yield ‘Opportunities,’ Bitcoin, Iraqi Dinars — And More
EDITOR’S NOTE: This statement from the Alabama Securities Commission is dated March 12, 2014. The PP Blog has applied in-house formatting elements to the statement. Other than that, the statement is verbatim. INVESTOR ALERT – Understanding high-risk investments What you don’t know CAN hurt you! MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA (March 12, 2014) As our state’s and the […]
Greater Dallas Firm Allegedly Sold Unregistered Securities, Pooh-Poohed Qualification Criteria — And Accepted Bitcoin Without Disclosing Risks
“Far from verifying that purchasers of the company’s investments are accredited, [Balanced Energy President Kirk] Johnson, according to the order, said ‘we don’t do any verification’ and ‘we’re not the paperwork police,’” — Texas State Securities Board, March 11, 2014 Balanced Energy LLC, an oil-and-gas firm based in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Southlake, is […]
Quebec Issues Investor Alert On WCM777
UPDATED 6:42 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) has issued an Investor Alert on the WCM777 MLM “program.” Quebec’s securities regulator now joins at least nine other jurisdictions issuing Investor Alerts or filing actions against WCM777, also known as World Capital Market, Kingdom777 and Global-Unity. Global-Unity recently used a photo of a […]
Alaska Issues Alert On WCM777; State Asks Local Investors To Contact Division Of Banking And Securities
The WCM777 “program,” also known as Kingdom777 and Global-Unity, is now the subject of an Investor Alert in Alaska. Alaska’s move brings the unofficial total of jurisdictions or regulatory agencies filing actions or issuing Investor Alerts against WCM777 to eight: The country of Peru, the state of Massachusetts, the state of California, the state of […]
Did TelexFree Affiliates Fund Millions Of Dollars In Loans To Various TelexFree-Connected Enterprises?
A document published on the website of the Washington State Utilities and Transportation Commission claims that TelexFree LLC has provided millions of dollars in loans to other TelexFree enterprises, including a Nevada entity known as TelexElectric LLLP. The loan sum was more than $2.022 million, according to the document. The business purpose of TelexElectric was […]
CLAIM: TelexFree Reps Took ‘Private Jet’ From Dominican Republic To Haiti And Were Met At Airport By ‘Prime Minister’s’ Motorcade
UPDATED 7:03 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) At a TelexFree pitchfest in a Massachusetts hotel this morning, a man promoting a credit-repair “program” linked to TelexFree claimed that TelexFree reps recently took a “private jet” from the Dominican Republic to Haiti. “I felt like a rockstar,” the man said from the stage. Once on the ground in […]
Spammers Push Bitcoin-Themed Reload Scams
You’ve probably heard about the debacle at Mt. Gox, a Bitcoin exchange. Reuters, meanwhile, is reporting that a Bitcoin bank known as Flexcoin is shutting down after it lost $600,000 to a hacker attack. Elsewhere there are stories about the tragic death of 28-year-old Autumn Radtke, CEO of First Meta Pte Ltd, a Bitcoin exchange. […]
BULLETIN: Entities Operating As Fleet Mutual Wealth Limited And MWF Financial Are Online Frauds, SEC Says; ‘Program’ Has Presence On TalkGold And MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi Forums; Money Ordered Frozen In SolidTrustPay, EgoPay And Perfect Money Accounts
BULLETIN: (7th Update 8:51 p.m. ET U.S.A.) Entities known as Fleet Mutual Wealth Limited, MWF Financial Limited and Mutual Wealth are frauds that filed invalid forms with the SEC to dupe the masses, the SEC said. An associated web domain styled MutualWealth.com also is a fraud, the SEC said in a statement and emergency court […]
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Zeek Receiver Sues Alleged Insiders, Winners; Emails, Skype Chats Helped Expose Fraud; ‘We’ve Already Attracted A Great Many Big Fishes,’ Wright-Olivares ‘Excitedly’ Told Paul Burks Early In Scheme, Kenneth D. Bell Alleges
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (8th Update 2:40 p.m. ET March 4, U.S.A.) The court-appointed receiver in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi- and pyramid-scheme case has sued alleged insiders and net winners, including members of the 2008 AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme. Parts of the complaint read like a re-living of the ASD scheme, with Zeek Receiver Kenneth […]