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  • BULLETIN: SEC: Carlos Wanzeler Built ‘Small Real Estate Empire’ Consisting Of 34 Properties Mostly Acquired With Cash; Alleged Fugitive Also Acquired Yacht, 2 Ferraris, A Porsche And 3 Bimmers — And Put New Mexico Firm Set Up By Joe Craft In Charge Of Nevis Company

    Carlos Wanzeler. From You Tube.
    Carlos Wanzeler. From You Tube.

    BULLETIN: (8th update 9:10 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) In an amended complaint in the SEC’s pyramid- and Ponzi case against TelexFree, the agency says alleged TelexFree fugitive Carlos Wanzeler was using investors’ money to build a “small real estate empire” that consisted of 34 properties in Massachusetts and Florida.

    Wanzeler, 45, also allegedly acquired a 40-foot yacht for “$273,878 in cash,” along with two other boats and “a fleet of fancy automobiles.”

    “He paid $192,868 for two Ferrari F340 Spiders in March 2013 and $56,610 for a Porsche in February 2013. He also bought three BMW’s and a Toyota Highlander,” the SEC charged.

    TelexFree purported to be a VOIP firm branching out into apps, cell phones and credit repair.

    On the real-estate front, the SEC charged, Wanzeler went through at least $6.3 million — mostly in cash — to acquire the 34 properties, including $950,000 for the home he shared with his wife in Massachusetts and $450,000 for a home for his son in Florida.

    From the SEC’s complaint (italics added)

    “He made most of the acquisitions using companies under his control including: (i) JC Real Estate Management Company LLC, a Nevada limited liability company that was formed in July 2012 with Wanzeler and [James] Merrill as managers; (ii) Above & Beyond the Limit, LLC (“Above & Beyond”), a New Mexico limited liability company that [Joe] Craft formed for Wanzeler in September 2012, (iii) CNW Realty State, LLC, a Nevis corporation that was formed in October 2012 with Above & Beyond as manager; (iv) KC Realty State LLC, a Florida limited liability company that Craft formed in October 2012 with Katia Wanzeler as manager; (v) Acceris Realty Estate, LLC, a Massachusetts limited liability company that Craft formed in February 2013 with Katia Wanzeler as manager; and (vi) Makeover Investments LLC, a Florida limited liability company that was formed in July 2013 with Marilza Wanzeler, Wanzeler’s 65-year-old mother, as a manager.”

    James Merrill is TelexFree’s alleged co-owner with Carlos Wanzeler. Joe Craft is TelexFree’s former CFO. All three men are accused of fraud at TelexFree and receiving millions of dollars from the company.

    Nevis is an island in the Caribbean.

    Steve Labriola, another TelexFree executive accused of fraud, received $46,600 through the New Mexico entity in 2013 and only $8,500 from TelexFree, according to a preliminary analysis by the SEC.

    TelexFree filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States on April 13, with Wanzeler and Merrill effectively appointing Craft to the TelexFree CFO post, according to court filings. It’s almost certainly the case that TelexFree members at large did not know about the network of other companies associated in one way or another with the Wanzeler family, Merrill and Craft.

    In its bankruptcy filing, TelexFree sought to reject its contracts with members. The SEC has described the TelexFree “program” as a massive pyramid- and Ponzi swindle. A U.S. Bankruptcy Judge intends to appoint a trustee in the TelexFree case, the Wall Street Journal reported late this afternoon.

    “The information available to date indicates that, between November 2012 and February 2014, Wanzeler and members of his family received almost $13.7 million from TelexFree,” the SEC charged.

    Investor funds were used to make the real-estate acquisitions and to purchase the cars, yacht and boats, the SEC charged.

    Today’s amended complaint also alleges that TelexFree promoter Santiago De La Rosa used investor cash to support his lifestyle, including “$501,000 in cash for a house in Lynn, Massachusetts” and money spent on a BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

    Accused promoter Randy Crosby, meanwhile, “paid $70,000 in cash for a Porsche in September 2013 and $99,000 in cash for another Porsche in December 2013, the SEC charged, citing information available to date.

    At the same time, the SEC charged while citing information available to date, accused promoter Faith Sloan “received more than $160,400 from TelexFree investors and $51,000 from TelexFree itself.”

    Accused promoter Sanderley Rodrigues (a/k/a Sann Rodrigues) received $317,220 from TelexFree between September 2012 and March 2013 through entities known as WWW Global Business Inc. and VICSS Inc., the SEC charged, again citing information available to date.

    The SEC further alleged that Rodrigues had claimed to have made $3 million through TelexFree.

    “Rodrigues used investor funds to buy expensive automobiles, including a Lamborghini, a Ferrari, and two Mercedes Benz,” the SEC charged.

    NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

  • TelexFree Faces Prospect Of Regulatory Probe In Oregon; [UPDATE: Judge To Appoint Bankruptcy Trustee, WSJ Reports]

    Redactions by PP Blog.
    Redactions by PP Blog.

    UPDATED 5:06 P.M. EDT U.S.A. See Comments thread below for breaking news that the judge overseeing the TelexFree bankruptcy case in Massachusetts will appoint a trustee. First reported by the Wall Street Journal. Original story on separate TelexFree matter in Oregon is below . . .

    ** ______________________________ **

    The staff of the Oregon Public Utilities Commission has recommended that the agency open an investigation into TelexFree, citing the MLM “program’s” bankruptcy filing, civil actions against it by the Massachusetts Securities Division and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the criminal charges against alleged TelexFree co-owners James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler.

    Should TelexFree not respond appropriately in Oregon, the PUC staff said, the commission should strip it of its telecom license.

    TelexFree faces similar regulatory encounters in Nevada and Minnesota.  On May 23 in Minnesota, the state Department of Commerce added to its TelexFree file by pointing the Public Utilities Commission to a May 20 Boston Globe story with a headline of “TelexFree co-owner to stay in custody until trial.”

    It was a story about a U.S. Magistrate Judge’s decision not to grant Merrill bail. The Globe story notes Wanzeler is considered a fugitive by the U.S. Department of Justice.

    TelexFree’s licensing in Alabama also is at risk, and there could be trouble brewing in other states even as TelexFree continues to pursue Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

    In addition, TelexFree faces multiple prospective class-action lawsuits, including at least two that allege violations of the federal racketeering statute. A report in Peruvian media last week suggests that racketeering at TelexFree cut both ways.

    With U.S.-based litigants asserting TelexFree was a racketeering enterprise, La Republica in Peru published a report that suggested a TelexFree promoter in the country  was kidnapped by fellow members last week and ordered to go to a bank to withdraw funds to make them whole. The extortion plan reportedly failed.

    TelexFree has asserted in bankruptcy-court filings that its future business prospects involving VOIP and app products are exciting. A U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee argued that TelexFree was advancing a “rabbit hole” narrative and expecting the judiciary to follow it.

    From the Oregon filing by the PUC staff (italics added):

    The allegations facing the Company raise serious issues as to whether or not the Company should be permitted to retain its certificate of authority. Staff has been unable to reach anyone from the Company to obtain further information. Staff stated in its communications that the Company may request that the Commission cancel its certificate under the current circumstances. It is unlikely that any services will be offered in Oregon as the Company’s assets are frozen, it is in bankruptcy proceedings, and its offices are the target of federal government activity. Nevertheless, cancelling the Company’s certificate to provide services in Oregon would foreclose the possibility.

    TelexFree asserts on its website that it has “suspended all business activity.”

  • DISTURBING: Report Of TelexFree-Related Kidnapping And Extortion Bid

    telexfreelogoLa Republica, a newspaper in Peru, is citing information from police and reporting that a TelexFree promoter in the country was kidnapped Thursday afternoon and held in a van. The PP Blog cannot independently verify the report, which suggests the kidnapping was carried out by TelexFree members who ordered the man to withdraw money from a bank to make them whole.

    In Peru and across the world, individual TelexFree members recruited others into MLM downlines. La Republica’s report suggests the kidnappers’ extortion plot failed, but one person reportedly was captured while others fled.

    Court records in the United States allege that some TelexFree sponsors collected money from individual recruits, rather than directing the recruits pay TelexFree directly. Such a practice may establish a dangerous black-market economy while setting the stage for scams to occur inside of scams.

    How the asserted Peruvian kidnapping victim handled TelexFree transactions is unclear. Even if recruits paid TelexFree directly, however, it’s no guarantee against an angry mob. In a 2009 Ponzi case in the United States, the FBI warned against Ponzi victims taking matters into their own hands. Four persons were charged criminally in an alleged shakedown bid associated with the 2009 case in California.

    “In their guilty pleas the defendants admitted to creating an environment that was intimidating and causing the individuals to believe that they were not free to leave,” the FBI said in 2010.

    On April 1, 12 days before TelexFree declared bankruptcy in the United States, unhappy affiliates jammed the “program’s” office in Massachusetts. Police were called to defuse the situation.

    Here is La Republica’s May 24 report in Spanish. Access the Google Translate tool here.

    It’s often the case in the HYIP sphere that individual promoters push multiple scams simultaneously, potentially setting the stage for recruits to take multiple baths. It is known, for example, that some TelexFree promoters also were pushing WCM777 and Wings Network.

    The SEC has called WCM777 an $80 million fraud scheme. Wings Network has been accused in Massachusetts of selling unregistered securities as investment contracts. Vulnerable populations often are targeted in HYIP scams.

    There have been reports of at least two TelexFree-related suicide deaths. Some TelexFree affiliates spammed reports of the deaths with offers to join the “program,” which the Massachusetts Securities Division has described as a combined pyramid- and Ponzi scheme that gathered more than $1.2 billion.

    In April, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued TelexFree and eight managers/executive or promoters, alleging a massive fraud scheme.

    Some promoters continued to promote TelexFree after a Brazilian court froze TelexFree-related assets last year and suspended new registrations in that country. Promoters’ solicitations to prospects to join the “program” continued even after a judge and prosecutor in Brazil were threatened with death.

    As the PP Blog reported on May 22, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have established a website for TelexFree victims. So has the Massachusetts Securities Division, as the PP Blog reported on April 25. As the PP Blog reported on May 15, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has published TelexFree information in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

    NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

  • Katia Wanzeler No Longer In Custody Of U.S. Marshals Service

    UPDATED 11:49 A.M. EDT U.S.A. Katia Wanzeler, the wife of accused TelexFree Ponzi-schemer and alleged fugitive Carlos Wanzeler, no longer is in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS). Whether she has concluded an appearance before a federal grand jury in Massachusetts is unclear.

    If the appearance occurred, it is possible it was delayed by 24 to 48 hours. Grand jury proceedings are secret.

    In a brief statement to the PP Blog late Friday afternoon in response to a question from the Blog Thursday inquiring about Katia’s whereabouts, the USMS in Boston confirmed only that Katia “was in U.S. Marshals custody from May 15-23.”

    Carlos Wanzeler, 45, is described as a fugitive by the U.S. Department of Justice. Katia, 49, was arrested May 14 on a material-witness warrant at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, and was issued a subpoena to appear before a grand jury on May 21 at 10 a.m., according to court records cited by her attorneys.

    On Wednesday (May 21), Katia’s attorneys argued in Massachusetts federal court that their client had not been brought back from New York by USMS to make the scheduled appearance.

    Kevin Neal, supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal in Boston, said late Friday afternoon that “The Marshals Service does not disclose information related to individual prisoners, including details about prisoner transportation, for security purposes.”

    The office of U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz did not respond to a request for comment.

    Katia Wanzeler had been held at a detention center in New York.

    For background, see May 15 and May 19 and May 20 PP Blog posts.

  • BULLETIN: Nevada Public Utilities Commission Staff Recommends Denial Of TelexFree’s Telecom Application; ‘Financial Statements . . . Cannot Be Relied Upon At This Time’

    newtelexfreelogoBULLETIN: The staff of the Nevada Public Utilities Commission has recommended that TelexFree’s telecom application be denied, saying the firm filed the application and then almost immediately filed for bankruptcy protection.

    Based on the bankruptcy filing, the financial information provided by TelexFree during the application process “cannot be relied upon at this time,” the PUC staff said.

    Records in the state show that TelexFree applied to be a Nevada telecom provider on April 1, but filed for bankruptcy only 12 days later. Class-action litigants who’ve alleged racketeering at TelexFree have said “massive discrepancies” exist in the firm’s accounting.

    Meanwhile, the Nevada PUC staff said it was aware TelexFree had been charged civilly with fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and that its assets had been frozen. At the same time, the staff said it was aware TelexFree also is the subject of state-level civil action by the Massachusetts Securities Division.

    Moreover, TelexFree did not provide the required “biographies for its company officers or other relevant information” to verify assertions that it possesses the necessary technical capability to provide interexchange services in Nevada, the staff said.

    When the staff tried to call a toll-free number provided by TelexFree to verify the company had a working customer-service operation, “the call did not go through and Staff was unable to reach a company representative.”

    Among other things, TelexFree says this on its website (italics added):

    TelexFREE has suspended all business activity while we address certain issues in the Bankruptcy Court and address pending proceedings by the SEC and other government agencies. Since we are not currently in a position to support our network, it is likely Customers will experience either interruption or discontinuation of service. Independent Associates and Promoters should not be representing TelexFree on a going forward basis absent approval of a new compensation plan by the Bankruptcy Court.

    TelexFree also may face licensing challenges in Minnesota, Alabama and other states.

    MSD has alleged TelexFree was a combined pyramid- and Ponzi scheme that gathered more than $1.2 billion. The firm’s bankruptcy petition initially was filed in Nevada, but a judge there transferred the case to Massachusetts, which the SEC described as the company’s nerve center.

    Alleged TelexFree co-owners James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler have been charged criminally in federal court in Massachusetts with wire-fraud conspiracy.

    See April 21, 2014, PP Blog story.

     

     

     

     

  • FBI, Homeland Security Establish Site, Questionnaire For TelexFree Victims

    In this TelexFree promo, former President James Merrill posed with a giant SUV.
    In this TelexFree promo, former President James Merrill posed with a giant SUV.

    The FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have established a website for individuals who believe they were defrauded by TelexFree, an alleged pyramid- and Ponzi scheme the Massachusetts Securities Division says gathered more than $1.2 billion.

    Here is a link to a statement by the FBI and DHS. The page includes a link to a questionnaire.

    Alleged TelexFree co-owners James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler have been charged criminally with wire-fraud conspiracy. Merrill, 53, of Ashland, Mass., is jailed in the United States. Wanzeler, 45, of Northborough, Mass., is alleged to have fled to Brazil. The U.S. Department of Justice describes him as a fugitive.

    TelexFree, Merrill, Wanzeler and six other alleged TelexFree managers, executives or promoters also are defendants in a major civil prosecution by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

    By some accounts, TelexFree had between 700,000 and 1.5 million participants.

    From the FBI/DHS statement (italics added):

    The large number of possible victims necessitates that we ask for your assistance by completing the secure questionnaire online. Your responses are voluntary, but would be useful in the federal investigation and to identify you as a victim.

    The office of U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz of the District of Massachusetts is prosecuting the criminal cases against Merrill and Wanzeler.

  • TOPIC TELEXFREE: View Wall Street Journal Spreecast Featuring PonziTracker’s Jordan Maglich

  • UPDATE: TelexFree Figure James Merrill Will Remain Jailed; [MAY 21 DEVELOPMENT: Merrill’s Brother Subpoenaed In State Probe, Boston Globe Reports]

    breakingnews72(UPDATED 11:30 A.M. EDT MAY 21 U.S.A. See Update at bottom of this brief, originally published May 20.)

    TelexFree figure James Merrill was unable to persuade a federal magistrate judge to free him, the PP Blog has learned.

    Judge David Hennessy declined Merrill’s bail application today, the office of U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz said moments ago.

    Merrill, 53, was arrested and detained May 9 on wire-fraud conspiracy charges. TelexFree co-owner Carlos Wanzeler, 45, has been labeled a fugitive. Wanzeler’s wife Katia, meanwhile, was arrested last week and detained as a material witness.

    See May 16 PP Blog story. See related story dated today.

    May 21 update: The Boston Globe is reporting (see Globe Tweet in Comments thread below) that John F. Merrill, the brother of James Merrill, has been subpoenaed by the Massachusetts Securities Division led by Commonwealth Secretary William Galvin. John Merrill is a banker at Fidelity Bank.

    See March 9, 2014, PP Blog report. The report references a February 2014 document on file at the Washington State Utilities and Transportation Commission that purported to be a TelexFree LLC “Balance Sheet.” The document lists two accounts at Fidelity Bank and outlines purported TelexFree loans to other TelexFree-related enterprises, including TelexElectric LLLP, Telexfree Financial Inc., TelexMobile and Ympactus.

    When the Massachusetts Securities Division filed an action against TelexFree last month, the state alleged that TelexFree financial filings with the Washington State Utilities and Transportation Commission were at odds with information TelexFree had provided the investigators in Massachusetts.

  • Realty Firm Linked To Carlos And Katia Wanzeler Also Linked To Former TelexFree CFO Joe Craft

    (2nd Update 2:12 P.M. EDT U.S.A.) Acceris Realty Estate LLC, a Massachusetts company that listed Katia Wanzeler as its registered agent, was formed by Joe H. Craft in February 2013, according to corporation records in Massachusetts.

    Craft, accused by the SEC last month of securities fraud at TelexFree, is TelexFree’s former CFO. The appearance of Craft’s name in the Acceris document raises new questions about the length and breadth of his ties to TelexFree. It also raises questions about his knowledge of ancillary businesses with ties to TelexFree and his objectivity when appointed TelexFree CFO on April 13 in what effectively was a board meeting conducted by  co-owners Carlos Wanzeler and James Merrill.

    Both Carlos Wanzeler and Merrill now are accused of felonies in the operation of TelexFree, with federal prosecutors alleging they engaged in a wire-fraud conspiracy. Merrill was arrested and jailed on May 9. Carlos Wanzeler has been labeled a fugitive. Records show both men also are under criminal investigation for securities fraud and money laundering.

    Massachusetts resident Katia Wanzeler, the wife of Carlos Wanzeler, was arrested last week on a material-witness warrant at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Court papers link her name to Acceris and say she sought to board a plane bound for Brazil.

    The extent of her knowledge about TelexFree, Acceris and her husband’s business activities is unclear. A court document in the material-witness case signed by Katia Wanzeler asserts her husband “owns [a] real estate company” and that “some houses” may be in the name of Katia Wanzeler.

    The document further asserts that Katia Wanzeler received an “unknown” amount of compensation from a real-estate business and had $3,000 in cash on her person when arrested in New York. The source of the cash and how she had traveled to JFK Airport are unclear in court filings.

    Carlos Wanzeler ducked into Canada and flew to Brazil after raids on TelexFree’s office in Marlborough (Mass.) and his home in Northborough (Mass.) in April, according to prosecution filings.

    Records in Worcester, Mass., link Acceris to at least four properties: two on Coburn Avenue, and one each on Barnard Road and Mount Avenue. The $162,600 Barnard Road property lists “WANZEIER, CARLOS” as the assessed owner, apparently misspelling the TelexFree co-owner’s last name. “WANZELER, CARLOS” is listed as the assessed owner of the $120,300 property on Mount Avenue. The two Coburn Avenue properties list Aurora Loan Services LLC, a Colorado firm in the mortgage-lending and servicing business, as the assessed owner. The properties have an estimated combined value of $337,100. Aurora appears to have no ties to TelexFree.

    The Craft link to Acceris may suggest that TelexFree money was diverted to acquire real estate, not for operational purposes at TelexFree, which says it is a VOIP company. A TelexFree-related entity in Brazil (Ympactus) linked to Carlos Wanzeler and TelexFree figure Carlos Costa also purportedly was in the real-estate development business, perhaps using funds from TelexFree members to fund a purported project involving Best Western Hotels.

    “The representation and other suggestions that TelexFree has a business relationship with Best Western is false,” the SEC alleged last month.

    It is somewhat common in the HYIP sphere for “programs” to plant the seed they have ties to major companies as a means of leeching off famous brands and sanitizing purported opportunities. It also is common for “programs” quietly to divert resources and plow them into investments or acquisitions external to the “opportunities.”

    Much to the surprise of members of the AdSurfDaily “advertising program” taken down by the U.S. Secret Service, now-jailed ASD operator Andy Bowdoin suddenly announced at a 2008 “rally” in Florida that ASD had a real-estate division. ASD later was alleged to have peeled off money from members to retire the mortgage on a Florida home occupied by Bowdoin’s stepson and the stepson’s wife, both of whom later emerged as alleged players in an ASD reload scheme known as AdViewGlobal.

    Other ASD money allegedly was peeled off to purchase a building and a lakefront property in Florida equipped with a Cabana boat, jet skis and other marine equipment. The Feds seized the properties and equipment as fraudulent proceeds of ASD’s $119 million scam.

    It is believed that AdViewGlobal’s start-up capital consisted at least in part of money not seized in the Secret Service probe of ASD because Bowdoin and others had hidden it to avoid capture by law enforcement. AdViewGlobal, for instance, appears to have had at least one bank account in Switzerland, along with access to cash held by offshore processors such as AlertPay and SolidTrustPay. Both AlertPay and SolidTrustPay later were linked to the $850 million Zeek Rewards Ponzi- and pyramid scheme.

    Acceris marks at least the second possible TelexFree offshoot linked to Craft. In April, the SEC said Craft incorporated an entity known as TelexFree Financial Inc. of Coconut Creek, Fla. TelexFree Financial, TelexFree Inc. of Massachusetts and TelexFree LLC of Nevada filed for bankruptcy two days before the SEC brought its fraud action.

    When federal agents raided TelexFree’s Marlborough (Mass.) headquarters on April 15, they allegedly found Craft in possession of 10 TelexFree-related cashier’s checks, including one made out to Katia Wanzeler for more than $2 million.

    New TelexFree CEO Stuart MacMillan said in bankruptcy court that he did not believe that “Mr. Craft was attempting to divert any of the Debtors’ cash or other resources.”

    Both MacMillan (as CEO) and Craft (as CFO) were appointed to their TelexFree positions by Carlos Wanzeler and James Merrill during what effectively was an emergency board meeting in the hours immediately before TelexFree’s April 13 bankruptcy filing.

    The Acceris corporation record in Massachusetts that identifies both Katia Wanzeler and Craft was filed 14 months before Craft was appointed TelexFree CFO and raises questions not only about his objectivity when appointed, but also whether he knew TelexFree had planned to divert resources into real estate.

    Under certain conditions, such diversions can constitute securities fraud and embezzlement.

    MacMillan said during the bankruptcy proceeding earlier this month that Craft resigned as CFO on April 17.

    NOTE: Thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

  • HYIP RIPPLES: FBI Issues ‘Wanted’ Poster For Florida Attorney Implicated In ‘Commodities Online’ Caper; Michael Ralph Casey Called ‘Armed And Dangerous’

    Michael Ralph Casey. Source: FBI.
    Michael Ralph Casey. Source: FBI.

    A Florida attorney the SEC has described as “anything but lawyerly” is now the subject of an FBI “Wanted” poster and is considered “armed and dangerous.”

    The FBI issued the poster after Michael Ralph Casey “failed to appear for a court hearing and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest by the United States District Court, Southern District of Florida.”

    Casey, 67, was required to appear in court on April 29, but did not show, the FBI said. Along with James C. Howard III and Louis N. Gallo III, Casey was charged both civilly and criminally in September 2012 for his alleged role in Commodities Online.

    The SEC has described Commodities Online as a securities swindle led by two convicted felons (Howard and Gallo) with narcotics rap sheets. The “program” allegedly was married to a boiler-room operation and tried to sanitize itself by bringing in Casey, who allegedly turned a blind eye to the scam.

    Commodities Online is alleged to have gathered tens of millions of dollars. The “program” operators were accused of moving millions of dollars offshore while the SEC was closing in in 2011.

    The alleged Commodities Online swindle also is notable for peripheral ties to other HYIP debacles. A Nevada company known as SSH2 Acquisitions sued James Clark Howard in 2010, alleging it had been ripped off in a Ponzi scheme. AdSurfDaily Ponzi figure Terralynn Hoy, later listed as an alleged winner in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme, was listed in Nevada records as a director of SSH2.

    Meanwhile, BWFC Processing Center LLC, the registered agent of SSH2, is associated with Joseph Craft, a figure in the alleged TelexFree pyramid- and Ponzi scheme.

    ASD was an alleged $119 million Ponzi scheme; Zeek was alleged to be a combined Ponzi- and pyramid swindle that gathered $850 million, and TelexFree has been described by regulators as a combined pyramid- and Ponzi fraud that gathered $1.2 billion.

    Hoy was a moderator at the now-defunct “Surfs Up” forum that cheered for ASD Ponzi schemer Andy Bowdoin. She also moderated a defunct forum that led cheers for AdViewGlobal, an ASD reload scam that collapsed in 2009. Surf’s Up disappeared mysteriously in early 2010. Earlier this year, the court-appointed receiver in the Zeek case identified Hoy as a Zeek winner.

    She has not been accused of wrongdoing.

    View the FBI’s “Wanted” poster on Casey.

  • Katia Wanzeler, Wife Of Alleged TelexFree Fugitive, Remains In Federal Custody As Couple’s 22nd Wedding Anniversary Nears

    newtelexfreelogoUPDATED 11:13 A.M. EDT U.S.A. Katia Helia Wanzeler, the wife of alleged TelexFree fugitive Carlos Wanzeler, remains in federal custody, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website.

    Katia, 49, is listed as an inmate at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, a federal facility situated in the largest (by population) of New York City’s five boroughs. She is expected to be moved to Massachusetts to make an appearance before a grand jury investigating TelexFree, an alleged pyramid- and Ponzi scheme that gathered $1.2 billion.

    Details of the move are unclear. Katia, a resident of Northborough, Mass., was arrested as a material witness last week at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, after “someone in Brazil” allegedly purchased her a one-way ticket to fly there. Her husband allegedly flew to Brazil on April 17, after ducking into Canada late on the evening of April 15. TelexFree’s offices in Marlborough, Mass., were raided at approximately 2 p.m. on that date.

    Records in Worcester, Mass., show that the former Katia Helia Barbosa wed Carlos Nataniel Wanzeler on June 20, 1992. If Carlos Wanzeler remains in Brazil, it means he does so as the couple’s 22nd wedding anniversary approaches and his wife is being detained by U.S. authorities.

    It also means that he remains in Brazil while James Merrill, his TelexFree business partner, remains in a U.S. jail. Merrill was arrested in Worcester on May 9 on a charge of wire-fraud conspiracy. Both Merrill and Wanzeler also face civil actions by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Massachusetts Securities Division, the state-level regulator. In addition, they face at least two prospective class-action lawsuits, including one that alleges violations of the federal racketeering (RICO) statute.

    At a TelexFree confab in Spain earlier this year, Merrill spoke of Carlos Wanzeler in glowing terms, calling him one of “the greatest leaders” he’d ever met. He said the same thing about Carlos Costa, a business partner and TelexFree figure in Brazil.

    Whether Merrill continues to hold Carlos Wanzeler and Carlos Costa in high regard is unclear.

    TelexFree appears to have had at least one video personality with the surname of Barbosa: Helio Barbosa. Whether he is related to Katia Helia (née Barbosa) Wanzeler was not immediately clear. At least one YouTube video in Portuguese shows Helio Barbosa with Carlos Wanzeler. The video appears to have been shot at a TelexFree event in Newport Beach, Calif., in July 2013.

    A TelexFree report aired in recent hours on the Brazilian television show “Fantastico” suggested that TelexFree continued to operate in Brazil. A link to a print version of the report was posted by a reader of BehindMLM.com.