URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Superseding Indictment Against TelexFree’s Merrill and Wanzeler

Carlos Wanzeler.

UPDATED 4:21 P.M. EDT U.S.A. With trial set to begin on Oct. 24, an eye-popping superseding indictment has been returned in Massachusetts federal court against TelexFree figures James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler.

The indictment adds eight counts of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity and includes a money-laundering forfeiture allegation.

Merrill and Wanzeler originally were indicted in July 2014, with the charging documents alleging eight criminal counts of wire fraud and one criminal count of wire-fraud conspiracy.

The original charges remain intact in the superseding indictment. With the new charges, Merrill and Wanzeler potentially face decades more in prison if convicted.

Wanzeler allegedly fled the United States in 2014 and is described by U.S. prosecutors as an international fugitive.

Merrill recently failed in efforts to suppress certain evidence gathered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

TelexFree, alleged to be a cross-border pyramid and Ponzi scheme, may have generated more than $3 billion in illicit transactions.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.