Tax Problems Mount For TelexFree In Brazil, As Criminal Investigations Continue

Carlos Wanzeler of TelexFree allegedly fled from the United States to Brazil while U.S. investigators were closing in on the company in 2014.

It’s easy enough to forget that TelexFree and its principals have epic legal problems outside the United States, where the company has been found a Ponzi- and pyramid scheme and alleged operators James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler are under criminal indictment.

History shows, however, that the problems began in the Brazilian state of Acre in 2013. That’s when the state government seized millions of dollars tied to the MLM “program,” amid pyramid-scheme allegations. In Brazil, TelexFree operated through a company known as Ympactus.

Certain U.S. TelexFree promoters who allegedly pushed the “program” after the Acre action have been charged with fraud in the United States by the SEC.

Now, GazetaOnline (Brazil) is reporting in Portuguese that TelexFree may owe billions of reais in back taxes to Brazil’s federal government. (See translation to English by Google Translate.)

At the same time, the publication is reporting that two criminal probes into TelexFree by Brazil’s government for “suspicion of tax evasion, money laundering, and to act without authorization in the financial and capital markets” continue, according to a Google translation.

Brazil’s government may have a claim to a large portion of the money seized in Acre. For starters, it appears to be going after about R$130 million (roughly $36 million U.S.) of the R$600 million seized. If the federal government is successful, the $36 million would be transferred from state court in Acre to federal court in Espirito Santo.

#Telexfree pode ter bens bloqueados transferidos para o Espírito Santo https://t.co/KO4w20AIcl pic.twitter.com/WB5B1VlVDU

— Gazeta Online (@gazetaonline) April 8, 2016

NOTE: Our thanks to Mikaella Campos of GazetaOnline.