TelexFree Members Blame MLM Debacle On ‘Media Disinformation’; Judge Presiding Over SEC Case Receives Doodles
Some TelexFree members sent doodles to the federal judge presiding over the SEC’s fraud case. Redaction by PP Blog.
(UPDATED 9:24 am EDT MAY 14 U.S.A.) The PP Blog previously has reported on campaigns by members to petition judges to “bail out” TelexFree and consider the purported upside of the “program,” which may be the largest combined Ponzi- and pyramid scheme in MLM HYIP history. (Campaigns referenced in this May 10, 2014, PP Blog editorial.)
The docket of U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton of the District of Massachusetts now shows that members have written letters to the court in support of TelexFree. Gorton is presiding over the SEC’s civil case against TelexFree. The complaint was brought on an emergency basis on April 15. Assets of TelexFree and alleged managers and certain promoters have been frozen.
At least one TelexFree supporter contended in a letter to Gorton that he can “assure” the judge that “media disinformation” is responsible for the problems at TelexFree and that the company “revolutionized” MLM in a manner that “put out of extreme poverty thousands and thousands of people around the world, if not millions.”
TelexFree, according to the sender, was like a drop of “heaven for poor families.”
Some of the letters appear to be in Spanish, sent to the judge via fax. Some are handwritten. Some are typewritten. A few of them include doodles.
There are letters from the United States. There are letters from the Dominican Republic. Some of the letters appear to have used a shared template, which likely means TelexFree upline/downline groups organized the campaign.
In the 2008 AdSurfDaily case, shared litigation templates were used by certain members who appeared to be more interested in advancing conspiracy theories than understanding the facts of the case. Some of the letters/emails of “support” submitted by ASD in 2008 were used by the government to undermine ASD’s assertion it was not selling securities and was not a Ponzi scheme.
At least one TelexFree member asserted in a letter to Gorton that the “program” gave him an opportunity to earn money from TelexFree by posting ads on the Internet.
On Friday, it became known that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was involved in an undercover probe of TelexFree that began at least by October 2013.
In a criminal complaint and affidavit filed in support of wire-fraud conspiracy charges against TelexFree figures James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler, a DHS agent involved in the probe alleged an intelligence research specialist within DHS placed more than 700 ads for TelexFree online.
“The ads have resulted in no retail sales of TelexFree’s VOIP product,” the agent alleged.
And, the agent asserted, “the sites on which these ads were posted contained page after page after page of hundreds of nearly identical ads placed by various TelexFree promoters for the identical VOIP service.”
Zeek Rewards, an $850 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme shut down by the SEC in 2012, also had an “advertising” component. So did ASD, a $119 million Ponzi scheme shut down by the U.S. Secret Service in 2008.
MLM HYIP schemes have defrauded billions of dollars from participants in recent years. The combined hauls of TelexFree, Zeek and ASD alone may exceed $2.169 billion. That’s nearly double the size of the epic Scott Rothstein Ponzi and racketeering scheme in Florida in 2009.
MLM HYIP swindles typically are aimed at vulnerable populations, with MLMers who have big email lists and experience in one fraud scheme after another scoring tremendous windfalls.
Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.
The doodles are a new twist I guess. lol
From an FBI statement on the criminal charges filed last week against Merrill and Wanzeler:
___________________________________________
If you believe that you are a victim of the alleged TelexFree Inc. scheme, please send your contact information to the following address: USAMA.VictimAssistance@usdoj.gov
___________________________________________
Source:
http://www.fbi.gov/boston/press-releases/2014/owners-of-telexfree-charged-in-1-billion-pyramid-scheme
Patrick
Quick notes from the claims in the letters:
* TelexFree “came to restore families and individuals alike.”
* “I believe taking the decision to close the company will harm more than it will help.”
* “To whom this concerns . . . I beleive [sic] Tel-X [sic] to be a good company to invest in . . .”
* “I am confident that TelexFree will continue their integrity . . .”
* “Subject: Reinstatement and Return of our dear TelexFree.”
* “Hello Dear Federal Court . . . I will like TelexFree to be open because I don’t have a job, and it’s great business opportunity for my life change . . .”
* “Dear Federal Court . . . I want TelexFree open because it’s cheaper to call my country and it the best business [in] multilevel marketing.”
* “Dear Federal Court . . . I . . . will love to have TelexFree open because it’s a good business economy to my financial life.”
I’m having a bit of trouble reading one of the letters. It seems to say that without TelexFree, a promoter would have been unable to bury his/her mother in December 2013.
Patrick
More:
* Hi ALL . . . “God bless TelexFree . . .”
* ” I want support to TelexFree because I’m a promot[e]r.”
* “I’m . . . from New York and I support TelexFree because it has help[ed] me and my family . . .”
Patrick
Os estelionatários são especialistas em copy and paste, de anúncios, cartas e outros textos…. muitos sofrem da síndrome de estocolmo, pois, em sua grande maioria são evangélicos da congregação crista, onde não admite ílicito, sendo assim, preferem não acreditar na verdade que prática pirâmide financeira, e sim marketing multi nível… infelizmente a verdade é uma só, estelionatário disfarçado de trabalhador….
Google translation from Portuguese to English of ronaldo’s comment:
“The swindlers are experts in copy and paste, ads, letters and other texts …. many suffering from Stockholm syndrome, because the great majority are evangelical congregation crest, which does not admit unlawful, so prefer not believe actually that practical financial pyramid, but multi level marketing … unfortunately the truth is one, crook disguised as a worker ….”
Patick
To all the ones that say that they don’t have a job and want TF back to feed their kids. You are taking food from other families to feed yours.
If it’s good for your financial life, it is with someone else’s money who is getting into a difficult financial sitation. Are you paying and declaring taxes on that money you are taking “earning”?
The only $ that is your is what you paid to get into this scam. Other than that is not.
MA
**[UNCONFIRMED] Reports on Twitter that someone who pushed TelexFree, Adfast and something called Tesco has been arrested in Uganda. [UNCONFIRMED] **
There was an HYIP called Tesco in roughly 2006, according to posts on the Ponzi boards.
Patrick
Quick note: At least one of the TelexFree supporters who wrote the judge asserted that TelexFree helped on matters of “branding.”
The Botafogo soccer club appears to disagree. This just in:
https://patrickpretty.com/2014/05/12/bulletin-botafogo-soccer-club-dumps-telexfree/
Patrick