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If Brazil’s Federal Police wish to ask him about TelexFree’s involvement in wire fraud and an underlying conspiracy, James Merrill is required to provide a “complete and truthful proffer,” according to the terms of his plea agreement with U.S. prosecutors in Massachusetts. Merrill, 55, of Ashland, Mass., also is required to cooperate with U.S. agencies that […]

3RD UPDATE 2:56 P.M. EDT OCT 25 U.S.A. James Merrill, the president of TelexFree, has pleaded guilty to eight counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy in Massachusetts federal court. Merrill, 55, of Ashland, Mass., is scheduled to be sentenced in February. “The significance of a guilty plea in a case of this magnitude cannot […]

9TH UPDATE 2:08 P.M. EDT U.S.A. U.S. District Judge Timothy S. Hillman’s calendar shows a plea hearing for TelexFree operator James Merrill at 2:30 p.m. Monday at the federal courthouse in Worcester, Mass. The Boston Globe, citing the “U.S. Attorney,” is reporting Merrill will plead guilty “to fraud and other charges.”  The Telegram & Gazette also is reporting […]

Because we’re writing about the uber-bizarre HYIP wing of MLM/direct sales, we’ll emphasize at the beginning of this story that the WCM777’s receiver’s recommendation to a federal judge to disallow nearly 85 percent of filed claims DOES NOT MEAN she gets to pocket the money from the disallowed claims. HYIP hucksters are infamous for recklessly […]

  UPDATED 12:14 P.M. EDT U.S.A. Back in April 2014, the SEC charged online huckster Faith Sloan with fraud for pushing the TelexFree scheme. Two month later, in June 2014, the SEC accused Sloan of violating the TelexFree asset freeze by sending nearly $15,000 to an online scheme known as Changes Worldwide LLC for the purchase of “business […]

Nicholas Smirnow, the operator of the Pathway To Prosperity Ponzi-board “program” charged with fraud by U.S. authorities in 2010, has been sentenced in Canada to seven years in prison. News of the sentence appeared Sept. 30 at MuskokaRegion.com. Smirnow was arrested in Canada for P2P-related crimes in 2014. The United States has submitted an extradition […]

UPDATED 3:51 P.M. EDT U.S.A. Peggy Hunt, a partner at Dorsey & Whitney in Salt Lake City, is the court-appointed receiver in the SEC’s Ponzi- and securities-fraud case against Traffic Monsoon and Charles David Scoville. Her impressive Dorsey bio says she has worked in the areas of bankruptcy and receivership law for more than 25 years […]

BULLETIN: U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Melvin S. Hoffman has certified a defendant class-action lawsuit brought by TelexFree Trustee Stephen B. Darr against about 15,000 alleged TelexFree “net winners” in the United States. The ruling means “clawback” cases against alleged U.S. winners will proceed. Darr has alleged aggregate payments to the domestic net winners exceed $100 million and must […]

If you were a claimant in Zeek Rewards — and if you did not submit the required OFAC certification and release — you are at risk of not receiving a payment from the court-appointed receiver. OFAC stands for the Office of Foreign Assets Control. As receiver Kenneth D. Bell explained on the FAQs section of the receivership […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story, which easily could be titled “What NOT To Do In MLM,” summarizes a few of the witnesses and exhibits the U.S. government may use against TelexFree’s James Merrill when his trial gets under way Oct. 24 in Massachusetts. The background provided below is based on research by the PP Blog. Prosecutors filed their witness/exhibit […]

BULLETIN: (4th Update 7:23 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) Sann Rodrigues, a figure in the TelexFree Ponzi- and pyramid-scheme case, has agreed to plead guilty to a charge of immigration fraud, court documents say. The agreement potentially puts the native Brazilian at risk of deportation and a U.S. prison term of up to 10 years. He last was […]