Tax Problems Mount For TelexFree In Brazil, As Criminal Investigations Continue
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 […]
Second Guilty Plea From Purported JAG Lawyer Linked To SVM Global Initiative
The docket of of New York’s Kings Supreme Court (Brooklyn) shows that Kenneth Goldstein has pleaded guilty to a charge of unlicensed practice of law and a charge of offering a false instrument for filing. Goldstein, a purported JAG lawyer and figure in the SVM Global Initiative story, earlier pleaded guilty to the same charges […]
RECEIVER: (1) Zeek Defendant Class Action May Conclude This Year; (2) Some Claimants Still Haven’t Signed Required Release; (3) $10 Million Settlement With NewBridge Bank
Three significant pieces of news from Kenneth D. Bell, the receiver in the Zeek Rewards’ Ponzi- and pyramid-scheme case: In a March 28 announcement on the receivership website, Bell wrote that a defendant class-action lawsuit against more than 9,000 alleged Zeek winners in the United States may conclude this year. “We hope to bring to […]
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Zeek Vendor Pleads Guilty To Obstructing Probe
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (12th Update 2:57 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) In what may be a warning shot fired across the bow of payment vendors who hope to profit from Ponzi schemes, Zeek Rewards’ vendor Jaymes Meyer of Preferred Merchants Solutions LLC has pleaded guilty to a criminal charge of obstructing investigators in the Zeek Ponzi- […]
Hoax Weaves Conspiracy Theories And Taunts Rep. Gabby Giffords, Victims Of Arizona Mass Shooting
Jan. 8, 2011, was a horrifying day in U.S. history. It’s the day Jared Lee Loughner shot then-U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in the head. Grievously wounded, Giffords, remarkably, survived. Six others died in the Tucson attack, including U.S. District Judge John Roll of Arizona. In this Jan. 9, 2011, story, the Washington Post remembers Christina-Taylor Green, a 9-year-old slain by […]
SEC, Lawyer Clash Over Representation Of TelexFree Figure Sann Rodrigues; Lamborghini Once Owned By Accused DFRF Enterprises’ Ponzi Schemer Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho Was Used To Pay Sann’s Legal Fees
3RD UPDATE 9:36 AM EDT MARCH 17 U.S.A. This one features highly questionable dealings between an alleged MLM securities fraudster (TelexFree’s Sann Rodrigues) and an alleged Ponzi schemer (Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho of DFRF Enterprises). Filho also has been linked to the alleged 2010 Finanzas Forex/Evolution Market Group Ponzi scheme, a Ponzi-board “program” that allegedly had ties to the narcotics trade. Suffice to […]
In Wake Of Herbalife Probe And Vemma Litigation, ESPN Asks If AdvoCare Is Pyramid Scheme And Pusher Of False Hope
“And while the company claims its primary objective is selling products, many of its distributors tell a different story. ESPN interviewed more than 30 current and former salespeople, the vast majority of whom said their focus, and the focus of their superiors, was on recruiting other distributors. These new members, many of whom are drawn […]
SEC: Binary Options Case Triggers Investor Alert
Is there a double whammy in your MLM future — first being ripped off in a binary-options “program,” only to be ripped off a second time by scammers posing as government agencies and offering purported refunds for a fee? Naturally some MLMers have added binary options to their offerings, with some incredible solicitations and tales being told […]
At Chicago Symposium, SEC Highlights Pyramid Scheme Task Force And Notes ‘Whack-A-Mole’ Nature Of Online Scams
“These frauds are easily duplicated, and at times, we find ourselves playing ‘whack-a-mole,’ chasing the same set of fraudsters who, after feeling a bit of heat, simply close down one scheme and quickly set up a new one under a different name.” — Andrew Ceresney, SEC Enforcement Division director, March 2, 2016 EDITOR’S NOTE: Type […]
DEVELOPING STORY: TelexFree Rep Sued By Trustee Claims Herbalife ‘Executives’ And ‘Personnel’ Helped Sell Him On Alleged Ponzi/Pyramid Deal
DEVELOPING STORY: (Updated 9:23 p.m. ET U.S.A.) A TelexFree rep being sued by the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee for the return of more than $2.6 million in alleged winnings from the judicially declared Ponzi- and pyramid scheme claims that Herbalife “executives” and “personnel” attended a March 2014 TelexFree event in Boston and helped sell him on the ill-fated […]
‘BidsThatGive’ Operator Listed As Oregon’s Biggest Tax Scofflaw
UPDATED 12:41 P.M. ET U.S.A. Remember “BidsThatGive,” the bizarre auction “program” linked to MLM huckster Randall Jeffers that surfaced just prior to the spectacular collapse of Zeek Rewards in 2012 amid Ponzi-scheme allegations? Among other things, BidsThatGive was notable for reckless name-dropping and claiming it existed to feed children and prevent them from becoming sex slaves. […]