The Huffington Post, via The Canadian Press, is reporting that a purported freeman on the land has filed a lien against the property of an Alberta pensioner and declared her home his “embassy.”
Rebekah Caverhill, the property owner, has been reduced to tears in her dealings with Andreas Pirelli, according to the report.
Meanwhile, government officials have expressed sympathy for Caverhill, but apparently are viewing the matter as a civil dispute between a landlord and tenant, according to the report.
From the report (italics added):
No one came to the door at the home when The Canadian Press sought comment from Pirelli earlier this month.
A black Chevrolet Yukon with tinted windows was parked in front. A decal on the rear window said “No Weapons. No Agents. No Foreign Weapons within 3 metres of a Diplomat of a Foreign Nation.”
Many strange and unsettling events have surrounded purported “sovereign citizens” or “freemen on the land” in the United States and Canada. The schemes sometimes have focused on so-called “squatters” who divine paperwork constructions that flummox real-estate owners and litigation opponents, cloud property titles or transfer the ownership or control of property without the consent of the owners.
In the United States, there have been instances in which purported sovereigns have been charged with burglary after allegedly exercising unlawful control over real estate. Whether Canada’s burglary statute could be used in the matter reportedly pertaining to Caverhill and Pirelli was not immediately clear.
Some “sovereigns” have claimed government, diplomatic or royal titles and diplomatic immunity from prosecution. Others have sought to chill reporting on their schemes by divining constructions by which anyone who reports on such matters will be sued for trademark infringement or suffer other financial penalties.
Alberta’s Justice Minister reportedly told The Canadian Press he’d been sued for “$1,000 quadrillion.” A single quadrillion is one-thousand trillion. The U.S. Gross Domestic Product in 2012 was estimated to be about $16.3 trillion, a tiny fraction of the sum for which the Alberta minister reportedly was sued.
A tearful Caverhill reportedly told the Press she was concerned that the purported freeman was “taking away my rights as a Canadian citizen.”
The FaithSloan Blog bizarrely announces that TelexFree has “killed” GPG, a payment processor.
If continuing to recruit during multiple pyramid-scheme probes even as a judge and prosecutor reportedly had been threatened in Brazil with death were not enough, another MLM PR disaster is unfolding: The Blog of Faith Sloan, late of Zeek Rewards and Noobing, an HYIP Ponzi scheme that ripped off people with hearing impairments, wants TelexFree members to know why the alleged pyramid scheme no longer is using Global Payroll Gateway (GPG).
“We killed them,” FaithSloan.com reports flatly on the fate of GPG.
No so, according to FaithSloan.com, which is claiming TelexFree “killed” GPG because it “Could not handle the 50,000 accounts that came into their system.”
TelexFree now has turned to “ipayout’s globalewallet,” according to FaithSloan.com.
Whether TelexFree planned to “kill” IPayout if any hiccups developed in its purported processing of money for TelexFree was not disclosed in the undated post announcing that TelexFree had “killed” GPG. The apparent message in the TelexFree branch of MLM La-La Land, however, is that affiliates will ignore or downplay unsettling events in Brazil such as the pyramid probes and reported death threats and will blame any company that fails to find favor with TelexFree and its international army of cross-border pitchmen.
TelexFree appears to have sought to transition to GPG in mid-August, with affiliates trumpeting the firm on the web as the answer to TelexFree’s troubles. But problems developed within weeks (if not days), and TelexFree affiliates then announced the firm was switching to IPayout. In about a month, GPG went from the penthouse to the doghouse in the minds of certain TelexFree promoters. Now, IPayout apparently has been given the chance to occupy the penthouse in the incongruous world of TelexFree. Will it slip into the TelexFree doghouse and perhaps be “killed” by the firm, like rival GPG before it?
Within days of the announcement that TelexFree had brought IPayout aboard after the purported failure of GPG, TelexFree executive Carlos Costa announced that TelexFree was seeking bankruptcy protection in Brazil. While making the announcement, Costa curiously waved the flags of Portugal and Mediera. Like former AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin, Costa also suggested God was on the company’s side.
Bowdoin is serving a 78-month prison sentence in the United States. His ASD “program” was a $119 million Ponzi scheme. Among other things, Bowdoin claimed a 2008 raid on his “program” that promised a precompounding payout of 1 percent a day was the work of “Satan.”
Some TelexFree affiliates claim that $15,125 sent to the company fetches a profit of at least $42,075 in a year. Images of Jesus Christ have been used in TelexFree promos.
A court-appointed receiver determined that Noobing was impossibly upside-down. Affiliate Strategies Inc., the U.S.-based parent company, registered several corporations offshore, including Noobing, formed in the Caribbean island of Nevis; ASI Management Inc., formed in Belize on March 24, 2009; Landmark Publishing Group LLC, formed in Nevis on March 25, 2009; Landmark Publishing LLC, formed in Nevis on March 25, 2009; International Research and Writing Group LLC, formed in Nevis on July 1, 2009; and International Publishing Group LLC, formed in Nevis on July 1, 2009.
All in all, the receiver said in 2009, “the ASI defendants have formed and operated eighteen additional Kansas LLCs as subsidiaries of Defendant Apex Holdings International LLC.” The receiver proposed a plan by which all assets tied to Noobing’s parent would be sold — right down to a stainless-steel wastebasket in the women’s restroom.
In 2010, the PP Blog interviewed a 64-year-old woman with a profound hearing loss. The interview was conducted through the woman’s interpreter. The woman told the PP Blog she has lost $5,300 in Noobing and could not sleep at night. Noobing later was added as a receivership defendant. The receiver said that Noobing and 14 other companies under the ASI umbrella had become the subjects of “numerous inquiries” from “tax authorities,” creditors and “former independent contractors.”
TelexFree has U.S. footprints in Massachusetts and Nevada. The firm also now purports to be operating in England. TelexFree is the subject of multiple pyramid-scheme probes in Brazil, where it operates through an entity known as Ympactus Comercial Ltd.
There have been reports that at least one judge and one prosecutor involved in the Brazil probe have been threatened with death.
HYIP fraud schemes spread in part because promoters engage in serial disingenuousness and ignore red flags such as unusually consistent returns, claims of guaranteed payouts and the circuitous flow of money. Some TelexFree affiliates have provided ASD-like coaching tips to prospects on how to speed the flow of money to the firm.
Carlos Costa displays the flag of Madeira while announcing TelexFree is seeking bankruptcy protection.
UPDATED 7:21 A.M. ET Jan. 21, 2013, to correct misspelling. With pyramid-scheme probes under way in multiple Brazilian states and affiliates also filing actions against the company, TelexFree says it is seeking bankruptcy protection in Brazil. Early details are sketchy.
Here’s TelexFree executive Carlos Costa making the announcement while waving the flags of Portugal and Madeira and referencing God:
TelexFree operates in Brazil through Ympactus Comercial Ltd. The firm has U.S. arms in Massachusetts and Nevada. Affiliates appear to have established TelexFree-related firms in Florida and California.
“The denial of service attacks that began in 2012 and continue today drew the attention of our largest financial institutions. While they have been only minimally disruptive so far, we know that these types of attacks are just one of the many cyber threats that our financial system faces. The growing sophistication and frequency of cyberattacks is a cause for concern, not only because of the potential for disruption, but also because of the potential for destruction of the systems and information that support our banks. These risks, if unchecked, could threaten the reputation of our financial institutions as well as public confidence in the system. The financial services industry isn’t alone in facing the threat of cyberattacks. Almost every business sector, from newspapers to power utilities, faces similar threats. But the financial services industry is one of the more attractive targets for cyberattacks, and, unfortunately, the threat is growing, for several reasons.” — Thomas J. Curry, U.S. Comptroller of the Currency, Sept. 18, 2013
Thomas J. Curry
At a speech in Washington today before the Exchequer Club, U.S. Comptroller of the Currency Thomas J. Curry said cyberattacks have the potential to disrupt operations at banks large and small and that the “threat is growing.”
Among the problems is that the costs of carrying out such attacks are going down, while the “resources needed to identify, monitor, and mitigate against vulnerabilities and potential attacks are increasing,” Curry said.
“First, hackers have easy access to the necessary tools and infrastructure,” Curry said. “The global nature of the Internet means they can conduct their activity from almost anywhere, including in countries with regimes that, at worst, sponsor attacks and, at a minimum, act as criminal havens by turning a blind eye toward criminal behavior.”
Speaking to the whack-a-mole nature of the Internet, Curry said criminals are apt to switch their focus from larger to smaller institutions as the larger institutions bolster their security.
“As our largest institutions improve their defenses, it is very likely that hackers will turn their attention to community banks,” he said. “These smaller institutions can provide a point of access into the system, and they may have less sophisticated defenses than large banks. For the most part, they depend upon third-party providers for their IT services, including security. That’s understandable, but they still have to be able to assure themselves that these service providers have adequate controls and solid processes in place to protect them and their customers. This can be particularly problematic for community banks and thrifts that may not have the resources or specialized expertise needed to identify and mitigate these vulnerabilities.
“So, we’re devoting more resources to cybersecurity — at all of our institutions, but especially at community banks and thrifts,” he said.
Also see Oct. 25, 2012, PP Blog story on cybersecurity remarks by Lisa Monaco, then Assistant Attorney General for National Security. Monaco is now President Obama’s chief counterterrorism adviser.
In 2011, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said a “staggering volume” of money was being stolen online.
Memphis has rescinded this 2012 proclamation that suggests a “sovereign theocratic government” independent of the existing governments of the Americas had been formed. (Source: screen shot.)
UPDATED 10:55 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The city of Memphis, Tenn., has joined the city of Fayetteville, N.C., in rescinding a 2012 “Moorish American Week” proclamation that apparently was rubber-stamped before the context of the proclamation was understood.
Among other things, the proclamations in both cities claimed a “sovereign theocratic government” had been formed inside the United States. But the Memphis proclamation appears to have gone one step farther than the document heralded last year in Fayetteville. Indeed, the Memphis proclamation appears to suggest a “sovereign” Moorish” government independent of the existing governments of North America, Central America and South America had been formed.
From a statement by the office of Memphis Mayor A C Wharton, as reported by WREG (italics added):
The proclamation in question was presented to Mayor Wharton for his signature. Mayors from other major cities have signed the same proclamation from this group which demonstrates that most mayors’ offices do not routinely investigate every group or individual that requests this document. We did not issue a proclamation to this group in 2013.
Some purported “Moorish Americans” claim the laws of the United States do not apply to them, even though they live in the country. This has led to bizarre confrontations with police in (at least) Illinois, Maryland, Georgia and Tennessee.
Will it be the shot heard ’round the HYIP world — or will serial Ponzi-board and social-media fraudsters continue to pretend it is meaningless?
Matthew John Gagnon, a 45-year-old pitchmen for the $72 million Legisi HYIP Ponzi scheme and other online fraud schemes, is listed as an inmate at Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Sheridan, Ore.
In July, Gagnon was sentenced to 60 months in prison, ordered to pay $4.4 million in restitution and further ordered to serve three years’ supervised probation after his prison release. He was permitted to self-report to prison. That appears to have occurred yesterday.
Gagnon colleague and Legisi operator Gregory N. McKnight was sentenced to a prison term of more than 15 years. McKnight’s age is listed as 53. He was sentenced last month and was ordered taken into custody immediately. He is listed as an inmate at the FCI in Milan, Mich. McKnight was ordered to pay more than $48.9 million in restitution and further ordered to serve three years’ supervised probation after his prison release.
Legisi was promoted on Ponzi-scheme forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup. In 2007, Legisi became the subject of an undercover investigation by state regulators in Michigan and the U.S. Secret Service. Both criminal and civil charges followed.
In court filings on June 6, Legisi receiver Robert D. Gordon said more than 85 percent of the $72.6 million directed at Legisi had flowed through e-Bullion.
e-Bullion is a now-defunct processor. One-time e-Bullion operator James Fayed is on California’s death row after being convicted of ordering the brutal contract slaying of Pamela Fayed, his wife and a potential witness against him.
AdSurfDaily, a $119 million Ponzi scheme also promoted on the Ponzi forums, also accepted money from e-Bullion, according to court filings.
Legisi’s Terms of Service read like an invitation to join an international financial conspiracy. Members had to affirm they were not associated with the SEC, the IRS, the FBI and the CIA — along with “Her Majesty’s Police,” the Intelligence Services of Great Britain and the Serious Fraud Office.
“While reviewing the ASD website in the District of Columbia, [an undercover agent] found a posting within ASD’s News section, apparently posted by ASD on July 2, 2008. The title of the posting was, “Alert Pay & Direct Deposit are being phased out July 31, 2008.” According to ASD’s posting, “We have notified BOA not to accept cash or personal checks for deposit account – English or Spanish.” ASD further stated, “Please remember that the preferred method of purchasing Ad Packages is by mailing a Check or by Solid Trust Pay . . . Solid Trust Pay is a Canada based money transmitting and payment company that, like the e-Gold system, operates over the Internet. It appears that beginning August 1, 2008, Solid Trust Pay will be ASD’s preferred method for receiving funds from members, and for paying rebates and commissions to members . . . Within the past two weeks, ASD has wired several million dollars to Solid Trust Pay from its BOA Accounts. A TFA also learned that earlier in July 2008, a bank other than BOA closed the last account that was controlled by Bowdoin or family members after that bank determined, and explained to them, that an investigation by the bank determined that Bowdoin appeared to be operating a Ponzi scheme.” — AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme forfeiture complaint, August 2008
TelexFree affiliate promos encouraging participants to register for International Payout Systems (I-Payout) began to appear online in recent hours. Just last month, TelexFree affiliates were encouraged to register for Global Payroll Gateway, another e-Wallet vendor that supposedly would solve TelexFree’s payment problems as a pyramid-scheme probe moved forward in Brazil. There now are reports online that GPG has dumped TelexFree, leading to questions about whether TelexFree is trying to port its alleged fraud scheme to yet another vendor — I-Payout. Source: Google search results.
In 2008, the U.S. Secret Service effectively accused the AdSurfDaily MLM “program” of playing a game of payment-processor roulette as U.S. law enforcement put the squeeze on certain money-movers, the willfully blind enablers of online fraud schemes.
ASD, a $119 million HYIP Ponzi scheme that led to a 78-month prison sentence for operator Andy Bowdoin, started out by accepting “e-Gold and Virtual Money,” according to a Ponzi-scheme forfeiture complaint filed in federal court in August 2008.
But ASD, according to the complaint, realized e-Gold had come under investigation for enabling the laundering of money, something that could put the heat on ASD.
“Shortly after publicity surrounding the government’s investigation into e-Gold appeared, ASD discontinued using the e-Gold system as a means for receiving member funds,” the complaint alleged.
And even as these events were occurring, according to court filings in the ASD case and in other cases, Robert Hodgins, a supplier of debit cards and the operator of Virtual Money Inc. — now listed by INTERPOL as an international fugitive — came under investigation in Connecticut amid allegations he was assisting in the laundering of narcotics proceeds in Medellin, Colombia, and prepping himself to assist in the laundering of funds in the Dominican Republic.
Virtual Money, whom some ASD members said was supplying debit cards to ASD, also was linked to the PhoenixSurf Ponzi scheme, according to court filings.
In December 2010, federal prosecutors alleged that ASD also had accepted money from e-Bullion, a California firm that processed payments for Ponzi schemes, including the $72 million Legisi HYIP scheme in Michigan that led to prison sentences for operator Gregory McKnight and pitchman Matthew John Gagnon. E-Bullion operator James Fayed has been sentenced to death for ordering the brutal contract slaying of his wife, a potential witness against him. Pamela Fayed’s throat was slashed repeatedly in the shadows of a Greater Los Angeles parking garage, her husband seated on a nearby park bench “like he doesn’t have a care in the world.”
ASD, according to court filings, also used AlertPay and SolidTrustPay, money-movers based in Canada that have been linked to multiple Ponzi schemes, including the alleged $600 million Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme broken up by the SEC last year.
Not even Bowdoin’s arrest in 2010 stopped him from pitching fraud schemes, according to court filings. Facing serious criminal charges for his actions in ASD, Bowdoin (in 2011) became a pitchmen for the OneX “program,” which federal prosecutors later alleged to be a pyramid scheme recycling money in ASD-like fashion. Among Bowdoin’s fellow OneX pitchmen was T. LeMont Silver, later of Zeek and later of JubiMax and GoFunPlaces, two MLM “programs” that are suing each other amid allegations of financial fraud.
At one time, OneX claimed to have a relationship with SolidTrustPay. It then claimed to have ended that relationship and to have started a relationship with I-Payout. Earlier, I-Payout had listed the uber-bizarre TextCashNetwork MLM “program” with ties to the Phil Piccolo organization as a “selected client.” TextCashNetwork now appears to have disappeared, but still is operating with the acronym “TCN” — this time as TrueCashNetwork. How the “new” TCN is processing payments is unknown. What is known is that someone associated with the “new” TCN has sent emails to “winners” in the Zeek scheme in an apparent bid to get them to flog for the new iteration, an apparent investment arm of which is being promoted as an opportunity to earn an interest rate of 50 percent.
Now — as incredible as it seems — promoters of the alleged TelexFree pyramid scheme operating in Brazil and the United States now are claiming that TelexFree is using I-Payout, known formally as International Payout Systems Inc. Equally incredibly, this is happening less than a month after TelexFree promoters advised TelexFree participants to register with Global Payroll Gateway (GPG), another eWallet company and supplier of debit cards, as a means of getting paid after payouts to Brazilian members of TelexFree were blocked in Brazil.
Just last month, TelexFree affiliates were encouraging prospects to register with Global Payroll Gateway (GPG). In recent hours — and amid reports GPG has given TelexFree the boot — TelexFree affiliates have been urged to register with I-Payout. Source: Google search results.
There are reports online, including on Facebook from self-identified members of TelexFree, that GPG gave TelexFree the boot in recent days. No sooner did those reports surface than videos went up on YouTube encouraging TelexFree members to register for I-Payout.
One of the reports that TelexFree suddenly had shifted from GPG to I-Payout is published on the MoneyMakerGroup forum. MoneyMakerGroup’s name appears in U.S. court files as a place from which Ponzi and fraud schemes are promoted. Both FINRA and the SEC have warned that HYIP schemes spread in part through social-media sites such as forums, YouTube and Facebook.
Because international MLM HYIP fraud schemes often have promoters in common — and because the schemes are promoted on Ponzi cesspits such as MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold — proceeds from the schemes can flow into banks at the local level, putting them in the position of becoming warehouses for the ill-gotten gains of participants, including winners and insiders. The use of stored-value debit cards such as those in play in HYIP schemes can lead to the quick dissipation of assets, meaning that victims of an HYIP scheme may have limited hope (or even no hope) that a recovery can be made for their benefit.
The most recent incongruous events involving TelexFree are occurring even as at least one judge and one prosecutor involved in the TelexFree pyramid probe in Brazil reportedly have been threatened with death. And, as was the case with ASD, some promoters of TelexFree have claimed an ability to expedite the flow of money to the scheme — perhaps through back-office transactions within the TelexFree system.
The judge presiding over elements of the TelexFree pyramid-scheme case in the Brazilian state of Acre again has been threatened with death and a police investigation is under way, according to Globo.com.
It is the second time the judge reportedly has received death threats related to the TelexFree probe. Earlier threats were made in June. (The link in the preceding sentence is to the Google English translation. Here is the Portuguese original from June.)
Despite the unsettling events in Brazil — indeed, a prosecutor also reportedly has been threatened with death — American MLMers continue to flog the purported TelexFree “opportunity.” Some promos claim a payment of $15,125 to TelexFree for the purchase of a “contract” fetches at least $42,075 in a year.
Also see Aug. 4, 2013, PP Blog editorial about a July MLM rah-rah event for TelexFree in California that occurred against the backdrop of reported death threats in Brazil aimed at judicial officers and while multiple pyramid-scheme probes were under way in Brazil.
Meanwhile, see July 8, 2013, PP Blog report that outlines some of the coaching about money flow TelexFree affiliates in the United States have received. (It is very reminiscent of the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme, which the U.S. Secret Service broke up in August 2008.)
For more information on TelexFree, use the PP Blog’s search function in the upper-right corner. Type in “TelexFree.”
The Castlegar Source, a publication in British Columbia, is reporting that the Nelson Police Department has issued a warning on a purported “women’s circle” gifting “program” making its way around the area.
“State and federal law prohibit all pyramid schemes because each one is a house of cards doomed to collapse,” Blumenthal said in 2009, noting that the “The Women’s Gifting Table” scheme in Connecticut positioned itself as a “sisterhood.”
It seems Blumenthal’s early assessment of the perniciousness of the Connecticut scheme was correct. It later was revealed that even members of Alcoholics Anonymous had been targeted in the scheme. In 2009, the Better Business Bureau warned that frauds associated with gifting programs and gifting clubs were flourishing on the Internet.
The schemes, according to the BBB, may use social-media to gain a head of steam and ultimately take advantage of families struggling to make ends meet during challenging economic times.
Flash forward to 2013. From yesterday’s edition of the Castlegar Source (italics added):
Police said because there is no new money created in the circle, the scheme is simply a fraud that allows the original recruiters to take money from the new members.
Eventually, when no new recruits come into the circle, the gifters will have lost their money.
Pyramid schemes are illegal under section 206 (1) (e) of the Criminal Code and Competition’s Act.
EDITOR’S NOTE: At the time of the publication of this story, the PP Blog was experiencing trouble loading graphics. The probable cause of this is a conflict between certain plugins used by the Blog. We are working to correct this problem . . .
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UPDATED 12:25 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) TelexFree, an alleged pyramid scheme operating as an MLM that has U.S. arms in Massachusetts and Nevada and effectively was shut down in June in Brazil (by court order in Brazil) but continues to operate elsewhere, seems on the cusp of cementing itself as a marquee example of cross-border fraud.
Several days ago, the company inexplicably began to publish the address of a purported office in the United Kingdom in Watford — near London. Today an apparent TelexFree promoter writing on a media site in Brazil appears to be instructing Brazilian affiliates to enroll with the firm by using any address in London, thousands of miles away. This coaching appears to originate from a hotmail address. (See story/comments thread in Portuguese; see translation of story/comments thread via Google Translate.)
The center of London is approximately 5,700 miles away from the center of Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian city that will play host to the 2016 Olympics. London hosted the 2012 Olympics. There are dozens of pyramid-scheme probes under way in Brazil, in the run-up to the 2016 Summer Games.
Even more troubling than the suggestion that Brazilians should fabricate a London address to enroll in TelexFree is a suggestion from another apparent TelexFree affiliate on the same site in Brazil that affiliates should appear at the door of a judge of the Supreme Court of Brazil. It is unclear from the English translation of the post whether any protest aimed at the judge would occur at the Supreme Court or at his personal residence. Plenty of peaceful protests occur in Brazil. But a protest at the residence of a judge potentially would introduce the specter of menacing — something that was present in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi case in the United States.
Purported American “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming — a figure in the ASD story — was convicted earlier this year of multiple charges, including filing bogus liens against public officials involved in the ASD case. The evidence in the case strongly suggested that Leaming intended to stalk the children of the Chief Justice of the United States at the school they attended — as part of a plot to serve paperwork on the Chief Justice.
TheTelexFree story is similar in certain key ways to the ASD story. For starters, some ASD members refused to believe that a crime had been committed against them and taunted prosecutors and the U.S. Secret Service with threats. There have been reports in Brazil of death threats against a judge and a prosecutor. Both the ASD and TelexFree schemes were targeted at Christians. Meanwhile, members of both “programs” were promised preposterous, unusually consistent returns. In the ASD case, the precoumpounding returns computed to an annual return in excess of 300 percent. Some TelexFree promoters have claimed that sending $15,125 to TelexFree results in a tripling or quadrupling of the money in a year.
Beyond that, it almost certainly is the case that some TelexFree affiliates also were pitchmen for ASD and for Zeek Rewards, an MLM “program” described by the SEC last year as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme. This leads to questions about whether criminal MLM combines are driving business to purported “opportunities” despite the legal, financial and social consequences. In April 2013, the SEC said a “program” known as Profitable Sunrise was using a mail drop in England as part of a massive scam that used a series of offshore bank accounts potentially to fleece people of faith of millions and millions of dollars.
Now, TelexFree purports to be operating from England. The mere listing of a business address is not proof that no scam is occurring, despite repeated bids by HYIP schemes to create an air of legitimacy by publishing an address or registering it with a government. Profitable Sunrise, for instance, had a registered address. So did Zeek. So did AdSurfDaily. Both of the TelexFree addresses in the United States appear to be virtual offices or mail drops.
And TelexFree affiliates have been sending confusing messages for months on how to send money to the firm. This sometimes signals that money-laundering, wire fraud or another crime is occurring. Some of the TelexFree affiliate bids strongly resemble events at ASD — events that led to the criminal indictment and subsequent sentencing of ASD President Andy Bowdoin to a 78-month prison term. (Also see Aug. 21 PP Blog story on a TelexFree shift to yet another payment processor.)
BehindMLM.com is reporting that “rampant fraud” may be affecting TelexFree’s operations.
UPDATED 3:37 P.M. EDT (SEPT. 6, 2013 U.S.A.) The portal for filing claims in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi-scheme case is closed. The deadline for filing claims passed at 11:59 p.m. EDT on Sept. 5.
