Carlos Wanzeler

2ND UPDATE 9:18 A.M. ET FEB. 13 U.S.A. On Oct. 16, 2014, Google was served a search warrant in the TelexFree criminal case against accused operators James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler, according to joint court filings by federal prosecutors in the office of U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz of the District of Massachusetts and Robert […]

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (10th Update 8:53 p.m. ET U.S.A.) In his first formal report to the Massachusetts bankruptcy court, TelexFree Trustee Stephen B. Darr calls the company a “pyramid scheme” that may have involved 1 million or more participants globally and gathered as much as $1.8 billion through arms in the United States […]

The United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has moved TelexFree-related litigation pending in federal courts in other states to Massachusetts. A directive ordering the transfers for the sake of judicial efficiency was issued on Oct. 21. Some plaintiffs from outside of Massachusetts sued TelexFree and other defendants in federal courts in Florida, Georgia and […]

“We know of at least one victim who borrowed, I think, $50,000 from his mother and gave it all to [TelexFree]. And it was her entire retirement.” — Melissa Armstrong, assistant chief litigation counsel, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Oct. 29, 2014 UPDATED 12:19 P.M. EDT OCT. 30 U.S.A. Affinity fraud was one of the […]

EDITOR’S NOTE ADDED 1:32 P.M. EDT SEPT. 28 U.S.A. TelexFree.com appears to be back online. At this time, why the landing page wouldn’t load remains a mystery. Our earlier story is below . . . The website of TelexFree, alleged in April by the SEC and the Massachusetts Securities Division to have operated a billion-dollar […]

BULLETIN: (3rd Update 1:34 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) A Massachusetts bank that established accounts for TelexFree and whose president is the brother of alleged TelexFree Ponzi- and pyramid-schemer James Merrill has settled with the Massachusetts Securities Division for $3.5 million. The settlement between MSD and Fidelity Co-operative of Fitchburg means that an escrow account consisting of […]

BULLETIN: The government of Colombia appears to be seizing assets linked to four Colombians with alleged ties to TelexFree, which authorities in the United States have described as a massive cross-border pyramid- and Ponzi scheme. La Superintendencia de Sociedades, Colombia’s Superintendency of Companies, has published notices of the action. (See link to document (Spanish) below.) […]

UPDATED 6:20 P.M. EDT U.S.A. The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission rejected TelexFree’s telecom application on June 11, 2014, according to records in the state. TelexFree filed the application on March 24, requesting “CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT OF THE FINANCIALS OF TELEXFREE, LLC,” according to records. On April 13, TelexFree filed for bankruptcy protection in Nevada. On April […]

BULLETIN: Federal prosecutors in the United States have informed a federal judge that “evidence underlying this case is closely tied to certain foreign countries, especially Brazil” and that “it is likely that the parties will need to review evidence in foreign countries and arrange for foreign witnesses and/or law enforcement officers to travel to the […]

The staff of the Missouri Public Service Commission raised “grave concerns” that permitting TelexFree’s telecom registration to remain intact in the state could “assist in the perpetuation of a fraud on investors,” records show. Missouri approved the registration in March 2014. TelexFree applied for it the previous month, according to records. Those records included a […]

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (5th update 7:33 P.M. EDT U.S.A.) In a defense filing in the SEC’s securities fraud case against him, former TelexFree interim CFO Joseph Craft says he concluded TelexFree was a Ponzi scheme selling unregistered securities. The acknowledgement, which appears to be the first concession from the TelexFree inner circle that […]