(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.