PatrickPretty.com

Month: March 2014

EDITORIAL: MIXED MLM MESSAGING: As Herbalife Announces FTC Probe, TelexFree Cheerleaders Plant Seed That Obama Gave Their ‘Program’ An Exemption From Securities Laws

From a Blog leading dubious cheers for the TelexFree MLM “program.”

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 Herbalife is a pyramid scheme that plumbs and churns vulnerable population groups. (See Nov. 13, 2013, PP Blog editorial: “Herbalife And Polarization In The Latino Community.”)

A public company, Herbalife itself announced the probe on March 12, saying it had received a “Civil Investigative Demand” (CID) and will “cooperate fully” with the agency.

But even as Herbalife wore a confident face and shared the FTC news, others within the MLM realm were making the trade look ridiculous on a global scale. MLM already is known for train wrecks (see example) and spectacular PR gaffes (see example). The sorry circus taking place outside of Herbalife’s immediate sphere of influence (see below) couldn’t come at a worse time for the firm.

To Herbalife’s credit, there was no attempt to demonize the FTC or pretend the CID was unimportant. So, score an early point for the supplement-maker in the category of PR awareness.

The unfortunate reality for Herbalife, however, is that it is ensconced in an industry that serves up one outrageous scam after another. And because some quirky or downright bizarre MLM “programs” have shown an almost unbelievable ability to raise tremendous sums of money quickly, the issue is not simply about a PR deficit. It’s also about national and cross-border security.

That’s why Herbalife’s conduct while it is under investigation by the FTC matters to the entire trade.

Attempts by Stepfordian MLMers to paint law enforcement as the enemy and dismiss the importance of a CID sent by North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper to the Zeek Rewards MLM “program” in July 2012 made MLM look silly. Claims from Zeek’s Stepfordian wing that the receipt of a CID was “exciting” news made it look beyond clueless.

Whether the trade likes it or not, all of this Stepfordian behavior gets pinned on “MLM.” And MLM therefore looked particularly ridiculous when the SEC, a month after the North Carolina CID, described Zeek as a Ponzi- and pyramid scheme that had gathered hundreds of millions of dollars in less than two years and had ripped off hundreds of thousands of people by planting the seed it paid an interest rate of 1.5 percent a day and that earnings could be “compounded.”

So, if you’re a legitimate MLMer and need a comforting thought, here’s one for you: Unlike Zeek, Herbalife isn’t trying to sell the “exciting” angle to its legions of members during a government probe. And here’s a tip for legitimate MLMers and individuals considering signing up for an MLM: When someone tells you a government investigation is exciting news, get the hell off the list or stop reading the Blog. Recognize that you’re being splashed with sugary vomit and programmed by an MLM Stepfordian.

The PP Blog’s analysis of Zeek is that it was a criminal enterprise from the start that was designed in part to reel in participants dissatisfied with traditional MLM companies such as Herbalife that sell the dream but have low distributor success rates and high burn rates. Refugees from Herbalife and other traditional MLMs were perfect marks for Zeek’s MLM, a collection of predatory vultures unlike the MLM world had ever seen.

We’re bringing this up because MLM so often ventures into Stepfordland. So, odd as it sounds, Herbalife did itself (and the industry) a favor by avoiding the word “exciting” when describing a CID. For perfectly understandable reasons, it allowed only that it “welcomes the inquiry given the tremendous amount of misinformation in the marketplace” and that it is “confident that Herbalife is in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.”

Even though Herbalife did not fumble the ball when announcing the probe, the company still needs to work on its messaging. Last year, when the firm was confronting Ackman’s pyramid allegations and companion assertions that it was plumbing and churning Latinos/Hispanics to sustain growth, Herbalife described former U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona — a new appointee to its board — as “[b]orn to a poor Hispanic family in New York City.”

In highlighting Carmona’s circumstances as a newborn delivered into poverty in the Big Apple more than 60 years ago, Herbalife perhaps was projecting some stress. Whether it also was projecting an accidental hint of a Stepfordland within Herbalife remains on open question.

Given the disturbing plumbing-and-churning assertions against the firm, Herbalife would have done better by simply announcing Carmona’s appointment and including only his academic/business/public-service credentials in the announcement. It doesn’t matter that other enterprises with which he is involved have used the same line about hailing from a “poor Hispanic family” to describe him. They’re not being accused of pillaging vulnerable populations.

In short, Herbalife cannot afford to be seen as a Stepfordland company. Nothing can erode marketplace confidence faster.

Poor or even insidious messaging has harmed MLM for years. It is an industry that, unfortunately, is known for serial disingenuousness, absurd misrepresentations, gross distortions, impossible constructions and outright lies.

How Other Industry Messages Could Hurt Herbalife

On March 11, a day before Herbalife announced the FTC probe, members of the TelexFree MLM were taking to the web and planting the seed that President Obama had TelexFree’s back. The assertions are either a gross misunderstanding of the JOBS Act and the concept of raising startup capital through crowdfunding or a typical MLM lie to provide extra cover for the scheme. (See Google Translation from Portuguese to English here. See original here.)

For starters, TelexFree, which appears to have gathered $1 billion or more in less than two years, wants the public to believe it is not selling securities, despite affiliate claims the “program” delivers “passive” income. Moreover, it is not raising capital under the JOBS Act, which is a work-in-progress. In October 2013, the SEC formally proposed that a “company would be able to raise a maximum aggregate amount of $1 million through crowdfunding offerings in a 12-month period.”

The sum of $1 million is less than the sum TelexFree pitchman and former SEC defendant Sann Rodrigues says he’s earned from TelexFree since Feb. 18, 2012.

Rodrigues started pitching TelexFree before the JOBS Act even became law and before the SEC even promulgated rules. So, strike the JOBS Act claim.

Beyond that, TelexFree is under investigation by the Securities Division in its home state of Massachusetts. There’s also at least one probe in Africa, specifically in Rwanda, where a genocide occurred in the 1990s. Meanwhile, in South America, Brazilian prosecutors have called TelexFree a pyramid scheme. Police in Europe have issued warnings about TelexFree, amid concerns that the “opportunity” is targeting the Madeiran community.

At a minimum, TelexFree is at least as clueless as Zeek, home of the “exciting” CID. As noted above, TelexFree pitchman Sann Rodrigues is a former defendant in an SEC pyramid-scheme and affinity-fraud case. If that weren’t enough, TelexFree executives and reps apparently have access to a “private jet” that recently made a flight between the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

Passengers on the “private jet” reportedly were met by the motorcade of Haiti’s Prime Minister, according to a TelexFree rep who was selling a credit-repair “program” from the stage of a Massachusetts hotel while telling the Haiti story.

If there’s a surefire way to destroy the public’s confidence in the emerging JOBS Act, it’s for a bunch of MLMers to go around planting the seed that the President of the United States has authorized TelexFree as a crowdfunding company — and to water that seed by talking about “private jets” that can be flown by the TelexFree MLM into Haiti to line up struggling Haitians to sell credit repair and financial advice to struggling Americans.

Yes, we know: It’s altogether too much to believe. But the bitter reality for MLM — and therefore for Herbalife — is that it’s actually happening.

TelexFree says it’s in the communications business, and is expanding from VOIP into cell phones and, highly curiously, credit repair and financial advice. This is an MLM quagmire if ever there was one, especially since American MLMers say sums from $289 to $15,125 sent to TelexFree virtually triple or quadruple in a year.

If MLMers ever wonder why the trade has so many critics, they need look no further than TelexFree or Zeek before it.

With Zeek smoldering in the ashes of Ponzi/pyramid history and TelexFree serving up a current symphony of the bizarre, the MLM trade now also is confronting yet-another epic PR disaster — namely, a “program” known as WCM777 that, like TelexFree, is under investigation in multiple countries.

Like TelexFree and Zeek, WCM777 also promoted preposterous returns.

But that might be just the beginning of WCM777’s problems. Among other things, WCM777 has claimed it is “Launching The Way TV to transform nations & Joseph Global institute to train a group of Josephs to bless the world.”

But the “Joseph Global Institute” and a companion enterprise that trades on the name of Harvard appear to be shams. And The Way TV launched long ago through an entity known as Media for Christ, which became the center of an international firestorm over a production known as “Innocence of Muslims.”

Particularly disconcerting now are reports that tens of millions of dollars may have gone missing from the WCM777 coffers. In 2013, the SEC alleged that a “program” known as Profitable Sunrise may have gathered tens of millions of dollars before disappearing.

Don’t kid yourself: There is no doubt that the circumstances surrounding some MLM “programs” are affecting economic security and contributing to concerns about national security.

MLM Minefields

As noted above, precisely why the FTC is investigating Herbalife is unclear. The Zeek case initiated by the SEC, however, could supply a clue or even a specific reason for the U.S. government to be concerned about Herbalife. A look at the list of alleged “winners” by the court-appointed receiver in the Zeek case suggests that Zeek became popular in immigrant communities, which may signal MLM affinity fraud on top of Ponzi and pyramid fraud.

It also may signal immigrant-on-immigrant crime under the MLM umbrella.

This information is preliminary, meaning a more thorough analysis is needed. But it at least suggests that some MLMers are proceeding from fraud scheme to fraud scheme and either laying waste to immigrant communities in the United States or setting the stage for immigrant populations to become immersed in litigation and MLM scams.

The surname name of “Johnson,” for instance, is one of longstanding in America. So, it can be expected that a major fraud scheme with 1 million or so members such as Zeek would pull in a number of people with that last name. There are about 45 people with that name on the Zeek list.

At the same time, there are about 60 people on the list with the Asian name of “Li.” So, “Li” has significantly more appearances than “Johnson.”

And what about “Smith,” another traditional American name? Well, there are about 52 “Smiths” on the list. Contrast that with the names “Nguyen” (about 146) and “Chen” (about 137).

There also are many Latino/Hispanic names on the Zeek list. Mind you, this is the list of alleged Zeek winners, not losers. The list of losers — perhaps as many as 800,000 — is not publicly available. (Because it is believed that many Zeek members had multiple user IDs, the number of user IDs may exceed the actual number of losers. But even if the 800,000 figure only incorporates user IDs, it remains troubling. The early data on the winners’ names suggest that immigrants could have been targeted as marks by other immigrants and also by long-established American MLMers.)

Latino groups have voiced concerns about Herbalife targeting vulnerable populations. With Zeek data suggesting such targeting occurred within Zeek, the MLM trade have may to confront some tough questions: Is a mature American MLM market being shored up by a disproportionate share of recent or relatively recent immigrants? And are American MLM companies prospecting in new lands creating losing propositions for the native inhabitants of those lands?

TelexFree certainly has targeted Portuguese and Spanish speaking populations — in the United States, Brazil and elsewhere. So has WCM777, which also has targeted Asians and Asian-Americans.

People are free to criticize Bill Ackman’s assertions that Herbalife is a pyramid scheme that is targeting vulnerable populations. But if MLMers who criticize Ackman expect to be taken seriously, they’d better be able to explain what appears to have happened at Zeek and what appears to be occurring now with both TelexFree and WCM777.

U.S. MLMers of any stripe — from longstanding citizens and naturalized ones to individuals hoping one day to proudly call themselves Americans — need to say no loudly to “programs” such as Zeek, TelexFree and WCM777.

And at a minimum, Herbalife needs to stop selling a message of “get rich quick” or turning a blind eye to it and stop trying to explain away its burn rate as the byproduct of affiliates who didn’t work hard enough to realize the dream.

Herbalife cannot be blamed for Zeek, but the burn rate may explain how Zeek and similar schemes rise to cherry-pick traditional MLMers and their recruits who have made little or no money with companies such as Herbalife.

No matter what the FTC has on its mind, any assertion by Herbalife that its current program is exemplary will be the strongest evidence of all that it, too, resides in MLM La-La Land. That would be a tragedy, given that Herbalife is viewed in the MLM community as a beacon of freedom.

Mar 16, 2014
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 sandwich and encourage them to make use of the ASC’s online resources.

The idea, ASC says, was to drive home the point that “No lunch is free – including today’s.”

As another key part of the initiative, Alberta created Checkfirst.ca, a site that includes a “quiz to educate Albertans about the risk for investment fraud,” ASC said.

“One in three Albertans report being approached with a possible fraudulent investment,” ASC said.

Read ASC’s statement on the fraud-prevention initiative. Visit the ASC website.

Mar 13, 2014
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 country’s economy slowly improves, Alabama citizens could still be at risk for losing their hard-earned money to high-risk investment products that guarantee or promote unrealistically high rates of return with little or no exposure to loss. The Alabama Securities Commission (ASC) receives numerous inquiries about exotic-sounding, high-yield investment “opportunities” that, in many cases, are revealed to be unregistered investments touted by unlicensed individuals who employ vague or unrealistic trading strategies.

And, with the rapid evolution and marketing potential of social media and the internet, investors may be lured by the illusion that most such opportunities are legitimate. The ASC alerts Alabama investors about two current, high-profile, high-risk investment opportunities that have the potential to seriously compromise their personal financial assets if not investigated thoroughly and carefully.

BITCOIN issues

Virtual or digital currencies, such as Bitcoin, have recently become popular as an alternative to cash or traditional lines of credit. Bitcoin and numerous other “crypto-currencies,” may be traded on online exchanges for conventional currencies, including the U.S. dollar, or used to purchase goods and services, usually online.

Unlike traditional currencies, virtual currencies’ value can fluctuate radically according to user demand. In some cases, investors who trade on virtual currency exchanges have experienced trouble redeeming the digital currency or in cashing-out. The potential for fraudsters to use crypto-currencies to perpetrate financial scams is enticing due to the currencies not being issued by a governmental authority or financial institution, and having less regulatory oversight than transactions in conventional currencies.

“The increasing prevalence of Bitcoin and other digital currencies has provided a fertile environment for financial criminals to make money on the increasing popularity and acceptance of these products,” said ASC Director, Joseph Borg. “The value of Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies can be highly volatile and investors should be aware that investments that incorporate ambiguous money systems can lead to very real risks, including the potential to lose one’s money!”

Iraqi Dinar issues

The Iraqi dinar “investment opportunity” is a scam that has existed for more than a decade and has regained some of its former popularity. As with many foreign exchange currency trading frauds, the dinar investment opportunity is often pitched as a “can’t miss” method by which the interested investor can profit from a severely undervalued Iraqi currency that is “certain” to appreciate in value in just a short time.

Fraudsters engaging in the dinar scam promise that extravagant profits can be realized if the investor buys the dinar at today’s values, typically 1,000 or more dinars to one U.S. dollar. The investor then exchanges the dinars for dollars at a later date, once the dinar exchange rate has improved.

ASC Director Borg cautions that foreign exchange currency trading is very risky for main street investors.

“Often, promoters of foreign exchange currency trading schemes, such as those involving the Iraqi dinar, lure investors with the promise of “control” over a large amount of foreign currency with a relatively small initial outlay. Fraudsters often predict inevitable increases in the currencies’ value, which will supposedly lead to huge returns over a short time, with little or no downside risk.”

According to Borg, investors should not be fooled by the promise of easy money.

“As with any traded commodity, investing in foreign currencies can be extremely risky and generally unsuitable for all but the most seasoned investors who can afford the high risk.”

Commodity trading platforms are subject to federal and state regulations; potential investors may contact the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) at www.cftc.gov for more information; check registration status and disciplinary history of commodities at the National Futures Association (http://www.nfa.futures.org/) or call NFA at 800-676-4632; and contact the ASC at www.asc.alabama.gov or call 1-800-222-1253 to determine if an investment opportunity and the person making the office are properly registered.

What you can do

The Alabama Securities Commission encourages all Alabama citizens to learn and incorporate
sound and proven investment techniques as a means to grow and safeguard their personal financial assets:
- Check and verify. Before you buy, always independently verify with state and federal regulators who you are dealing with and whether the seller of the investment opportunity and the product is properly registered.
- Exercise skepticism. Be aware that many individuals who offer strategies for getting rich quickly make their money on the sales of their books or seminars. Ask yourself why they’re sharing their secrets with you instead of keeping it to themselves.
- Beware of guarantees. Be suspect of anyone who promises or guarantees an investment will perform a
- predictable way or will generate consistent or unreasonable returns.
- Be suspect of complex strategies. Avoid any investment opportunity that touts complex or exotic-sounding techniques to achieve unusual success. Investors should be able to clearly discern what kind of opportunity is being offered; who is offering it; how does it make money; what is required to get your money out of the investment; and what are the risks.
Avoid pushy salespeople and claims of urgency. No reputable financial professional should pressure you or insist that you “act now” when considering an investment opportunity. If it is such a good deal today, it will be a good deal tomorrow—after you have had a chance to check and verify.

Contact the ASC with inquiries concerning securities broker-dealers, agents, investment advisers, investment adviser representatives, financial planners, registration status of securities or debt management programs, to report suspected fraud or to obtain consumer information. The ASC provides free investor education and fraud prevention materials in print, on our website and through educational presentations upon request.
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Mar 13, 2014
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 not an HYIP in the classic sense of the term. But the company’s experience could presage danger to HYIP scammers who seek to hitch their wagons to Bitcoin and cherry-pick Bitcoin users.

In an emergency cease-and-desist order dated March 10, the Texas State Securities Board has accused Balanced Energy of accepting payment through Bitcoin without disclosing the risk of using the digital currency.

“Balanced Energy will convert some or all of the payments it receives through Bitcoin to traditional currency and use the money to pay for its business operations,” the board said, referring to its order.

“Balanced Energy has failed to disclose to investors the risks in using Bitcoin to purchase working interests in wells, according to the order,” the board continued. “The price of digital currency is subject to extreme swings, which could affect the amount of money available for business operations.”

Regulators conceivably could attack HYIPs accepting Bitcoin under the same theory, adding another layer of risk to the already insidious “opportunities.”

Balanced Energy also sold unregistered securities and solicited unaccredited investors, the board alleged.

Again the experience of Balanced Energy could signal bad news for HYIP scammers.

“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,’” the board alleged.

From a statement by the board (italics added):

The working interests are not registered with the State Securities Board and no permit has been granted for their sale in Texas. Rule 506 of Regulation D under the federal Securities Act of 1933 does allow an issuer to solicit and sell certain securities without first complying with state registration requires, but only to accredited investors. The Securities and Exchange Commission defines individual accredited investors as persons whose net worth is at least $1 million – excluding their primary residence – or who make at least $200,000 a year.

The issuer of a such an offering must also take reasonable steps to verify an investor’s accredited status.

HYIP schemes — always a den of criminality — increasingly may be trying to tie themselves to Bitcoin and appear even to be launching Bitcoin-themed reload scams targeting Bitcoin users who lost money at Mt. Gox. Soliciting investors regardless of their financial standing is one of the oldest tricks in the HYIP scammer’s playbook.

Consumers could be left holding the bag if a scheme goes south.

“Although digital currencies such as Bitcoin are often touted as a sophisticated, online alternative to traditional currencies, investors should realize these currencies are not tangible, they are not issued by a government, and are not currently subject to traditional regulation or monetary policy,” Texas Securities Commissioner John Morgan said last month.

Here are just two of the points made in an Investor Warning by the Texas board last month (italics added)

Digital currencies may provide promoters with a significant degree of anonymity. Unscrupulous promoters may be able to exploit the anonymous nature of certain digital currencies to conceal their true identity and assist in the concealment and laundering of the proceeds of a fraudulent investment offering.

Securities offerings that incorporate digital currencies may be highly dependent upon their growth and acceptance in retail and commercial marketplaces. Also, any change in consumer confidence, user demographic or governmental regulation, or the introduction of new and competing forms of digital currencies, may negatively affect the liquidity or value of such securities offerings.

Applied to the HYIP sphere, the message may be that you can get in with Bitcoin — but you might not be able to get out.

And a scammer, of course, could simply relieve you of your Bitcoins by plying you with offers of dazzling returns — and then simply hightail it to the next scam to do it all over again.

Mar 12, 2014
Quebec Issues Investor Alert On WCM777

This image of a golden pyramid appeared on the Global-Unity website last month.

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 golden pyramid on its website, a possible taunt at regulators.

Some WCM777 pitchmen claimed that $14,000 sent to the “program” returned $500,000 in a year.

“World Capital Market, Inc., WCM777, Inc. and WCM777 Limited and their officers and representatives, Ming Xu, Zhi Liu and Harold Zapata, are not registered with the AMF and did not obtain a receipt for a prospectus from the AMF,” AMF said. “Consequently, any solicitation of Québec investors by these firms and individuals could violate the Québec Securities Act.”

AMF said the “scheme originated in California and is offered mainly as part of hotel presentations and through Internet ads and webinars.”

Quebec’s move brings the unofficial total of jurisdictions or regulatory agencies filing actions or issuing Investor Alerts against WCM777 to 10. The others are the country of Peru, the country of Colombia, the state of Massachusetts, the state of California, the state of Colorado, the state of Louisiana, the state of New Hampshire, the state of Alaska, the province of New Brunswick.

There are many mysterious things about WCM777.

From AMF (italics added):

If you have responded to solicitations related to WCM777 or any similar scheme, please contact an officer at our Information Centre.

Read the Quebec Investor Alert.

Mar 11, 2014
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 Colorado, the state of Louisiana, the state of New Hampshire, the state of Alaska, the province of New Brunswick.

“Investors have been promised returns of up to 140% in a period of less than one year,” said Kevin Anselm, director of Alaska’s Division of Banking and Securities. “This type of promise should raise serious red flags for investors, especially when traditional investments such as bank certificates of deposit are generally providing notably less return in the same period of time.”

Alaskans with information regarding World Capital Market may contact the Division at 907-269-8140 or through email.

Read Alaska’s Investor Alert on WCM777.

Mar 10, 2014
Did TelexFree Affiliates Fund Millions Of Dollars In Loans To Various TelexFree-Connected Enterprises?

Part of the TelexFree LLC “Balance Sheet” as it appears on the website of the Washington state Utilities and Transportation Commission.

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 not immediately clear. Also unclear is why the document was published on Washington state’s government website and whether members of the TelexFree MLM “program” knew they were funding intracompany loans.

TelexElectric was formed in Nevada on Dec. 2, 2013, according to Nevada records. TelexFree LLC also is a Nevada business. Both firms list TelexFree Inc. executives James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler as partners or managers. TelexFree Inc., headed by Merrill and Wanzeler, is based in Massachusetts. Brazilian TelexFree executive Carlos Costa, who is or was associated with TelexFree LLC, is listed in Nevada as a “historical” TelexElectric general partner.

From Google search results.

The Washington state document is dubbed “Telexfree LLC Balance Sheet As of December 31, 2013.” The document claims that, in addition to the $2 million-plus loan to TelexElectric, a loan of more than $3.8 million was provided to an entity known as Telexfree Financial Inc.

Telexfree Financial appears to be a Florida entity under the control of Merrill and Wanzeler. The firm, which was formed on Dec. 26, 2013, lists an address in Coconut Creek, Broward County, according to Florida records.

Meanwhile, the Washington state document lists a loan of more than $500,000 to an entity known as TelexMobile. Where TelexMobile is based could not immediately be determined.

In addition to the loans to TelexElectric, Telexfree Financial Inc. and TelexMobile, there is a loan listed of more than $291,800 to an entity described as Ympactus. A TelexFree-related entity known as Ympactus Comercial Ltd. is based in Brazil.

Listed as an additional asset by TelexFree LLC is a “Propay Reserve” account said to contain more than $4.4 million.

According to the Washington state document, TelexFree LLC has or had accounts at ProPay, TD Bank (three accounts), Citizens Bank, Fidelity Bank, Fidelity Bank Sweep and Middlesex Savings. Most of the accounts were said to have modest balances, but the Middlesex Savings account was said to contain more than $5.4 million.

An entity described as “e-Wallet” was said to have a much larger balance: more than $31.6 million.

TelexFree LLC, according to the document, listed “other assets” totaling more than $27.4 million. These included more than $18 million at Fidelity Investment, nearly $7.3 million at Waddell and Reed, an asset-management firm, and $2 million in a savings account at Middlesex Savings.

The document appears to be dated Feb. 20, 2014.

TelexFree also is using the name “TelexFree International.” Where that entity is based is unclear.

TelexFree is the subject of a securities investigation in Massachusetts. Investigators in Brazil have called TelexFree a pyramid scheme.

Some promoters have claimed that the TelexFree “program” triples or quadruples money in a year. There also have been claims that TelexFree was building 500 hotels in Brazil in the run-up to this year’s World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics.

The bottom lines of TelexFree Inc. and the other TelexFree-related entities are not addressed in the TelexFree LLC document. TelexFree LLC is said to have more than $76.1 million in “total liabilities and equity.”

Mar 9, 2014
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 Haiti, the man said, “we got in the Prime Minister of Haiti’s motorcade.”

This triggered “high-fiving,” the man said from the stage.

Things settled down when the TelexFree passengers observed throngs of poor people lining the road from the airport into the city, the man suggested.

Whether TelexFree executives were on the private jet and later purportedly traveled in a government motorcade is unclear. TelexFree executive Steve Labriola said last week that he and TelexFree “leaders” recently ventured to Haiti.

It also was not immediately clear whether the asserted TelexFree “high-fiving” and claims of a state motorcade providing shuttle service to TelexFree would prove embarrassing to Haiti’s government. Nor was it clear that the TelexFree reps were guests of the government. The Washington Embassy of the Republic of Haiti did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the PP Blog.

Laurent Lamothe is Haiti’s Prime Minister. He is a former telecom executive.

Similar seeds about government ties from promoters of other MLM schemes have proved embarrassing to other governments, including the government of the United States. In the 2008 AdSurfDaily MLM/HYIP Ponzi scheme, for example, some members of the scheme planted the false seed that ASD had been endorsed by George W. Bush, then the President of the United States.

The false seeds about Bush were one of the things that prompted the U.S. Secret Service to open the ASD probe. Agents went on to discover a massive Ponzi scheme hidden inside ASD. ASD used “ad packs” from which purported “rebates” flowed to disguise its $119 million investment-fraud scheme.

TelexFree offers something called “AdCentrals.” Some promoters have claimed that sums of money from $289 to $15,125 sent to TelexFree triple or quadruple in a year. The $850 million Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme had a similar component. Like TelexFree members, Zeek members were told they got paid for posting ads about the company online.

“ZeekRewards told Affiliates that in order to supposedly ‘earn’ their points, they were required to place a short, free digital ad each day on one of the many free classified websites available on the internet,” the court-appointed receiver in the Zeek Ponzi- and pyramid-scheme case asserted in a lawsuit last month against alleged insiders.

“In reality,” Zeek receiver Kenneth D. Bell asserted, “the ads were just an attempt to manufacture a cover for what was nothing more than the investment of money by Affiliates with the expectation of receiving daily ‘profit’ distributions.”

One of Bell’s lawsuit targets is Scott Miller of Greenwood, Ind. Miller, an alleged winnner in Zeek’s massive Ponzi scheme, has spoken at at least one TelexFree event and may be one of TelexFree’s key pitchmen.

TelexFree Affiliates Claim Government Approval

It is somewhat common in the HYIP sphere for promoters to suggest a “program” has the backing of a politician, a government or a government agency.

At least one TelexFree-related Blog claimed in a post dated March 7 that the “program” has gained “SEC Approval from USA.”

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) does not issue such approvals. In 2013, some TelexFree members worded promos to suggest that the U.S. government itself had authorized TelexFree to operate in the United States. During roughly the same time period in the spring of 2013, affiliates made this assertion (italics added):

Steve Labriola, Director of Marketing for Telex FREE, Boston, announced via email earlier today that they are ‘pulling out of Bank of America.’

Earlier, in roughly January of 2013, TelexFree affiliates were urging recruits to make walk-in deposits at a Bank of America branch in Massachusetts. The instructions strongly resembled instructions AdSurfDaily gave its recruits in 2008. TelexFree also used TD Bank, according to affiliates.

It is possible — though not confirmed — that U.S. investigators began looking into TelexFree around the same period in early 2013 in which affiliates were soliciting deposits through Bank of America and TD — while simultaneously claiming that certain TelexFree members could speed the flow of deposits if recruits emailed copies of their deposit slips to a Gmail address.

TelexFree says on its website that tickets to “new comp plan training & overview” event at the Massachusetts hotel today cost $164 and were “Sold Out.”

TelexFree, a purported VOIP communications firm expanding into cellphones, apps and credit repair, is under investigation by the Massachusetts Securities Division. Investigators in Brazil have called TelexFree a pyramid scheme.

Haiti perhaps is the most economically disadvantaged country in the Western Hemisphere.

Mar 9, 2014
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.

Uncertainly about the future of Bitcoin and exchangers appears to be driving reload scams. These may be positioned as ways to recover Bitcoin losses incurred through Mt. Gox.

Something styled “BitcoinInvestmentFund” at a .net has appeared online. One of the links on the site, which appears have been registered in January 2014, leads to a forum in which this claim is made (italics added/verbatim):

Make millions EgoPay PerfectMoney Bitcoin SolidTrustPay in paying hyips fastest Real Investment

The PP Blog reported yesterday about a scam known as “Mutual Wealth” that allegedly was gathering cash though EgoPay, PerfectMoney and SolidTrustPay, which often are facilitators for fraud schemes.

Nothing is sacred in HYIP Ponzi Land. In a disturbing tale of disconnect, some promoters of TelexFree, an MLM “program” under investigation in North America, South America, Africa and the subject of warnings in Europe, more or less tried to cherry-pick recruits by posting in media accounts in Brazil about the suicide deaths of two TelexFree promoters.

Tacky doesn’t begin to describe it.

At 12:10 a.m. today, the PP Blog received a spam from someone (or something) tying to post in the Comments thread below this story about thousands of people being sued as a result of the Zeek Rewards scam. The would-be poster used the would-be user ID of “Hyip Egopay” and sought to plant a link to the purported Bitcoin recovery venture at the .net.

Within the would-be post was an assertion about “Investment Insurance.” It also issued this appeal: “Cover Your Lost [sic] on MTGOX.”

The would-be post appeared to solicit sums of between $300 and $250,000 — and the purported payouts were in the thousands of percent per hour.

Among the claims on the actual .net site is this: “Bitcoin Investment Fund is short term, high yield private loan program, backed up Our Newest system of Forex trading.”

Words fail me . . .

Mar 6, 2014
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

A website styled MutualWealth.com is fraudulent and is part of an international pyramid scheme, the SEC says.

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 filing that alleges a pyramid scheme in which promoters become referral agents or purported “accredited advisors” to earn recruitment commissions.

“Mutual Wealth used Facebook and Twitter as well as a team of recruiters to spread a steady stream of lies that tricked investors out of their money,” said Gerald W. Hodgkins, an associate director in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.

Some recent scams have purported to operate out of Hong Kong, something that appears also to be the case with Mutual Wealth.

“[A]lmost nothing that Mutual Wealth represents to investors is true,” the SEC said. “The company does not purchase or sell securities on behalf of investors, and instead merely diverts investor money to offshore bank accounts held by shell companies. Mutual Wealth’s purported headquarters in Hong Kong does not exist, nor does its purported ‘data-centre’ in New York. Mutual Wealth also lists make-believe ‘executives’ on its website, and falsely claims in e-mails to investors that it is ‘registered’ or ‘duly registered’ with the SEC.

And, the SEC said, Mutual Wealth may operate through entities in Panama and the United Kingdom “and through Russian or Belarussian nationals.”

From the SEC complaint (italics added):

Investors who complete an account application are instructed to transfer money to Mutual Wealth either by wire transfer to banks located in Latvia and Cyprus or through third-party payment processors such as SolidTrust Pay, EgoPay, or Perfect Money.

Like other fraud schemes, Mutual Wealth has a presence on the MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold Ponzi forums.

U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee of the Central District of California has ordered an asset freeze on all accounts “at any bank, financial institution, brokerage firm, or third-payment payment processor (including those commercially known as SolidTrust Pay, EgoPay, and Perfect Money) maintained for the benefit of Mutual Wealth,” the SEC said.

Assisting in the probe are the FBI, the Financial and Capital Market Commission of Latvia, the Ontario Securities Commission and the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, the SEC said.

From the SEC’s statement (italics added):

According to the SEC’s complaint, Mutual Wealth operates through entities in Panama and the United Kingdom and uses offshore bank accounts in Cyprus and Latvia and offshore “payment processors” to divert money from investors. Mutual Wealth’s sole director and shareholder presented forged and stolen passports and a bogus address to foreign government authorities and payment processors.

As in previous scams, the Mutual Wealth fraud spread on social media, the SEC said.

“Mutual Wealth maintains Facebook and Twitter accounts that link to its website and serve as platforms through which it lures new investors,” the SEC said. “Some of Mutual Wealth’s ‘accredited advisors’ then use social media channels ranging from Facebook and Twitter to YouTube and Skype to recruit additional investors and earn referral fees and commissions.

“Mutual Wealth’s Facebook page spreads such misrepresentations as ‘HFT portfolios with ROI of up to 250% per annum. Income yield up to 8% per week,’” the SEC said. “A Facebook post on Aug. 12, 2013, boasted ‘$1000 investment into the Growth and Income Portfolio made on April 8th, 2013 is now worth $2,112.77.’ Mutual Wealth regularly posts status updates for investors on its Facebook page, and the comment sections beneath the posts are often filled with solicitations by the accredited advisors. Mutual Wealth also tweets announcements posted on its Facebook page.”

Regulators have been warning for years about scams spreading on social media.

Scammers recently have been purporting they are conducting IPOs or pre-IPOs or are registered with the SEC.

“Mutual Wealth has filed three Securities Act Forms D with the Commission,” the SEC said. “Each Form D purports to give notice of offerings of securities that are exempt from registration with the Commission under Regulation D of the Securities Act.

“But Mutual Wealth’s offers and sales of securities do not qualify for the exemptions cited in the Forms D or any exemption under from registration under Regulation D of the Securities Act. Consequently, the Forms D are invalid and of no legal effect,” the SEC said.

About 150 U.S. investors opened Mutual Wealth accounts, plowing “at least” $300,000 into the scheme, the SEC said.

Note: Thanks to Jordan Maglich at PonziTracker.com.

Screen shot of section of SEC complaint alleging that Mutual Wealth is a pyramid scheme. Red highlights by PP Blog.

Mar 5, 2014
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

Dawn Wright-Olivares

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 D. Bell alleging Zeek’s penny-auction arm (Zeekler) was in trouble early on and that Zeek operator Paul Burks borrowed money from another insider to keep things going. The fraud later expanded massively, Bell alleged.

At one point, according to Bell, former Zeek COO Dawn Wright-Olivares “excitedly” told Burks, “I think we can blow this OUT together — we’ve already attracted a great many big fishes.”

But the insiders “were aware that the payouts to Affiliates would be funded by new participants rather than retail profits from the penny auctions,” Bell alleged.

Named defendant “insiders” were Burks of Lexington, N.C.; Wright-Olivares of Clarksville, Ark.; Daniel Olivares of Clarksville, Ark.; the estate of the late Roger Anthony Plyler of Charlotte; Alexandre “Alex” de Brantes, the husband of Wright-Olivares and a resident of Clarksville, Ark.; and Darryle Douglas of Orange, Calif.

Burks, the receiver alleged, received “in excess” of $10 million from Zeek; Wright-Olivares received more than $7.8 million; Daniel Olivares received more than $3.1 million; Plyler, who once lent money to Burks, received more than $2.3 million; Douglas received more than $1.975 million. An amount was not listed for de Brantes.

Named winners were former AdSurfDaily member Todd Disner of Miami (more than $1.875 million); former ASD member Jerry Napier of Owosso, Mich. (more than $1.745 million); Trudy Gilmond of St. Albans, Vt. (more than $1.75 million); Durant Brockett of Las Vegas (more than $1.72 million); Darren Miller of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho (more than $1.635 million); Rhonda Gates of Nashville (more than $1.425 million); Michael Van Leeuwen, also known as “Coach Van” of Fayetteville, N.C. (more than $1.4 million); David Sorrells of Scottsdale, Az. (more than $1 million); T. Le Mont Silver Sr. of Orlando, Fla. (more than $773,000 under at least two user names, and more than $943,000 through a Florida shell entity known as Global Internet Formula Inc. with one or more Zeek user names).

One of Silver’s usernames was “mentor,” Bell alleged.

Also named winners were Karen Silver, Silver’s wife (more than $600,000); veteran HYIP pitch team Aaron and Shara Andrews of Lake Worth, Fla. (more than $1 million through a Florida shell entity known as Innovation Marketing); David and Mary Kettner of Peoria, Az. (more than $930,000 via one or more user names and shell companies known as Desert Oasis International Marketing LLC and Kettner & Associates LLC); Lori Jean Weber of Land O’Lakes, Fla. (more than $1.94 million through a shell company known as P.A.W.S. Capital Management LLC).

Bell also sued a “Net Winner Class” of as many as 9,000 U.S. residents or entities who allegedly harvested illicit gains of $1,000 or more from Zeek. Lawsuits against international winners will come later, Bell said.

In December 2013, Wright-Olivares and Olivares were charged criminally. They pleaded guilty last month for their roles in the scheme and are liable for more than $11.4 million in restitution and penalties, the SEC said.

As the SEC previously alleged, Zeek relied on a so-called “80/20” program to sustain the Ponzi deception. Bell today built on that theme. From the complaint against insiders (italics added/spacing modified):

Dawn Wright-Olivares explained and promoted the plan in a Skype chat as follows:

Here’s a scenario here where you could be receiving $3,000 per month RESIDUALLY. Let’s use a 1% daily cash-back figure in this example (Please note: This is only an example and the actual amount will vary day to day).

When you reach 50,000 points in your account, then you could start doing an 80/20 cash-out plan. Pay close attention? When you hit 50,000 points in your account, if the daily cash-back percentage is 1%, ZeekRewards will be awarding you with $500.00 each day. First of all, did you catch that? … you’re making $500 per day … it’s your money! Ok, the 80/20 plan works like this, take 80% of that $500 (or $400) and purchase more VIP bids to give away to new customers as samples to continue growing your points balance.

Then, keep doing what you’ve been doing every day, which primarily consists of giving free bids away as samples and placing one free ad per day for Zeekler.com’s penny auctions and submitting into your ZeekRewards back office. Then, pull out 20% of the $500 (or $100) and request a check weekly. That’s $700 per week, or about $3,000 per month in residual income! And keep in mind, these amounts can continue to grow day after day and month after month.

HYIP schemes, including ASD and Zeek, often implement deceptions such as 80/20 programs as part of a bid to reduce cashout amounts to let the scheme continue to live. Insiders and veteran Ponzi pushers typically know they’re a crock.

Daniel Olivares, Bell said, has a Zeek user name of “dcolive.”

On June 14, 2012, about two months prior to the collapse of Zeek, RealScam.com moderator and PP Blog poster “Glim Dropper” posted a link on the PP Blog that established a tie between Zeek promoters and ASD promoters. ASD was a $119 million Ponzi scheme operated by now-jailed operator Andy Bowdoin.

RealScam.com is an antiscam forum.

The link “Glim Dropper” posted was at a URL styled “dcolive.com.”

From “Glim Dropper’s” observations at the time (italics added):

I’d draw your attention to about five minutes into the call when Dawn recalls a conversation with Jerry Napier. Jerry was quoted as loving ZR and never wanting to have to build another organization with another program and mentioned a previous program and the litigation it was still facing and he mentioned “similarities” between ZR and that previous program.

It is common in the HYIP sphere for promoters to move from one fraud scheme to another.

Napier’s exposure to ASD is unknown. But the Zeek receiver now says Napier received illicit gains of more than $1.745 million. The alleged illicit Zeek gains of former fellow ASD member Todd Disner are even higher: $1.875 million.

Precisely how many ASD members went on to join Zeek is unclear. What is clear is that both firms used similar business models and sweetened the deal for certain members.

Bell alleged today that Zeek had a “Sweet 16” deal in which participants paid $999 to mine even more “passive” gains.

“The Sweet 16 was another means by which [Rex Venture Group] made payments on a passive investment,” Bell alleged. “It did not involve the sale of a product, nor did it require a member to recruit other participants into the program.”

Zeek operated through Rex Venture.

To read the lawsuits, visit the ASD Updates Blog.

Disner once filed suit against the United States, alleging its ASD Ponzi case was a “tissue of lies” and a “house of cards.” A federal judge tossed the lawsuit, after Bowdoin pleaded guilty to wire fraud and admitted ASD was a Ponzi scheme.

Visit the receiver’s website.

Mar 3, 2014