BULLETIN: With the MLM world only now coming to grips with the alleged $1.2 billion TelexFree Ponzi- and pyramid fraud, the special master in the Zeek Rewards criminal action has compared the Zeek case to the Bernard Madoff and Allen Stanford Ponzi schemes and the notorious Enron securities swindle involving former CEO Jeffrey Skilling.
Special Master Kenneth D. Bell made the comparison as a means of bringing some logistical efficiencies to the criminal case in which former Zeek executives Dawn Wright-Olivares and Daniel Olivares were charged in December 2013.
Like TelexFree, Zeek operated as an MLM HYIP “program.”
Bell, who also is the court-appointed receiver in the SEC’s civil case against Zeek, has proposed in his role as special master that the court impose electronic noticing procedures on the criminal side of things to keep victims informed.
The Madoff swindle, Bell noted, included “thousands” of victims. Stanford’s swindle, meanwhile, included “tens of thousands” of victims. So did the Enron case.
In each case, Bell noted, judges approved electronic noticing procedures because of the impracticality or downright impossibility of dealing with so many victims on an individual basis.
“In light of the vast number of potential victims spanning the globe in [the Zeek] case, it is difficult to envision a better candidate” for electronic noticing, Bell advised the court.
And, Bell noted, “[b]y many counts, the ZeekRewards scheme created more victims than any other Ponzi scheme in history. As a consequence of its internet-based focus, the scheme generated more than 700,000 victims in over 150 countries.”
Wright-Olivares and Olivares turned blind eyes to Zeek’s massive fraud, which gathered more than $850 million, according to court filings.
It is possible that the alleged TelexFree Ponzi/pyramid is even larger than Zeek in terms of both victims and dollars consumed, a circumstance apt to trigger alarm in the law-enforcement community because of the relentlessness and brazenness of the cross-border schemes. Until final TelexFree numbers become known, Zeek continues to hold the title of of the largest HYIP swindle in U.S. history.
As special master, Bell is proposing that the court permit noticing on both a U.S. Department of Justice website and the website of the Zeek receivership. Many Zeek victims already are familiar with the receivership website.
TelexFree figures James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler were charged criminally last week. They’re also defendants in an SEC civil action.
The SEC charged Zeek in August 2012. TelexFree may have surpassed it in raw fraud volume less than two years later.
Securities and Exchange Commission v. TelexFree, Inc. et al., Civil Action No. 1:14-cv-11858-DJC (United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts)
United States v. Carlos Nataniel Wanzeler and James Matthew Merrill, Case No. 14-MJ-4172-DHH (United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts)
Criminal Charges Filed Against Two Principals of Massachusetts-Based Telexfree
On Friday, May 9, 2014, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts charged James M. Merrill, of Ashland, Massachusetts, and Carlos N. Wanzeler, of Northborough, Massachusetts, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with the alleged TelexFree pyramid scheme previously charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Federal authorities arrested Merrill on Friday, and an arrest warrant was issued for Wanzeler, who the Department of Justice announced is a fugitive. The Department of Justice also announced it has executed 37 seizure warrants seizing assets relating to the fraudulent pyramid scheme.
The criminal charges against Merrill and Wanzeler related to the same conduct charged in a civil enforcement action filed by the SEC on Tuesday, April 15, 2014, against Merrill, Wanzeler, and others. Those charges were filed under seal, in connection with the Commission’s request for an immediate asset freeze. That asset freeze, which the U.S. District Court in Boston ordered on Wednesday, April 16, secured millions of dollars of funds and prevented the potential dissipation of investor assets. After the SEC staff implemented the asset freeze, at the SEC’s request the Court lifted the seal on April 17. On April 30, 2014, the Court entered preliminary injunctions extending the asset freeze as to defendants Santiago De La Rosa, of Lynn, Massachusetts, and Randy N. Crosby, of Alpharetta, Georgia. On May 8 and 9, the Court entered preliminary injunctions extending the asset freeze as to all the remaining defendants (Merrill, Wanzeler, TelexFree, Inc., TelexFree, LLC, Joseph H. Craft, of Boonville, Indiana, Steve Labriola, of Northbridge, Massachusetts, Faith R. Sloan, of Chicago, Illinois, and relief defendants (TelexFree Financial, Inc., TelexElectric, LLLP, and Telex Mobile Holdings, Inc.).
The SEC alleges that TelexFree, Inc. and TelexFree, LLC claim to run a multilevel marketing company that sells telephone service based on “voice over Internet” (VoIP) technology but actually are operating an elaborate pyramid scheme. In addition to charging the company, the SEC charged several TelexFree officers and promoters, and named several entities related to TelexFree as relief defendants based on their receipt of investor funds. According to the SEC’s complaint filed in federal court in Massachusetts, the defendants sold securities in the form of TelexFree “memberships” that promised annual returns of 200 percent or more for those who promoted TelexFree by recruiting new members and placing TelexFree advertisements on free Internet ad sites. The SEC complaint alleges that TelexFree’s VoIP sales revenues of approximately $1.3 million from August 2012 through March 2014 are barely one percent of the more than $1.1 billion needed to cover its promised payments to its promoters. As a result, in classic pyramid scheme fashion, TelexFree was paying earlier investors, not with revenue from selling its VoIP product but with money received from newer investors.
In related proceedings, on May 6, 2014, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the District of Nevada granted the SEC’s motion to transfer venue of those proceedings from Nevada to Massachusetts. The SEC had contended that the TelexFree entities hastily filed for bankruptcy in Nevada on Sunday night, April 13, 2014, in a transparent attempt to avoid Massachusetts. The SEC had noted that TelexFree does virtually no business in Nevada but rather was headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts. The SEC also argued that TelexFree did not have a legitimate business capable of reorganization under the bankruptcy code. The bankruptcy case will be transferred to Massachusetts for all further proceedings.
A man asserted to be a promoter of at least three fraud schemes, including TelexFree, has been hauled in front of TV cameras in Uganda. The report below is from NTV Uganda.
The embarrassing appearance of the suspect may raise the stakes for promoters of online fraud schemes and create even more disastrous PR for cross-border MLM schemes. TelexFree has been accused in the United States of operating a $1.2 billion pyramid- and Ponzi scheme. In court filings, the SEC repeatedly has pointed to TelexFree promos that appeared on YouTube.
Whether TelexFree, which now is batting civil and criminal fraud charges in the United States, would provide counsel for the alleged Ugandan affiliate was not immediately clear. Accused HYIP purveyors typically find themselves on their own, perhaps facing prosecution and the need to hire attorneys at their own expense.
Some HYIP promoters proceed from scheme to scheme to scheme. At least eight alleged TelexFree managers/executives and promoters face civil charges in the United States. Two of those — James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler — face criminal charges. The various probes are ongoing.
The United States had labeled Wanzeler a fugitive.
Brazil-based TelexFree figure Carlos Costa harrumphed for both TelexFree and Botafogo.
BULLETIN: (2nd update 5:10 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) The Botafogo professional soccer club in Rio de Janeiro has canceled its sponsorship contract with TelexFree and will strip the TelexFree logo from team jerseys, according to an announcement on the team website.
TelexFree figure James Merrill was jailed in the United States last week. Fellow TelexFree figure Carlos Wanzeler was labeled a fugitive by the U.S. Department of Justice. The company is alleged to have operated a massive Ponzi- and pyramid fraud that gathered more than $1.2 billion.
News that Botafogo had dumped TelexFree came on the same day it was learned that some TelexFree promoters sought to explain to a U.S. federal judge that TelexFree provided a valuable “branding” opportunity.
Botafogo’s stripping of TelexFree’s name from its jerseys appears to show that the soccer club now believes differently. Some Brazilians expressed concerns months ago that any association with TelexFree by the team could backfire.
TelexFree already was under investigation in Brazil when the company and Botafogo announced the sponsorship in January. Court records in the United States now show that TelexFree became the subject of an undercover probe in America months before the purported opportunity and team announced the deal in a video that showed a limousine, a press event and Merrrill and Wanzeler wearing team jerseys.
Some TelexFree promoters had pointed to the Botafogo sponsorship as supposed proof that TelexFree was legitimate.
See earlier PP Blog stories that reference the Botafogo deal:
Some TelexFree members sent doodles to the federal judge presiding over the SEC’s fraud case. Redaction by PP Blog.
(UPDATED 9:24 am EDT MAY 14 U.S.A.) The PP Blog previously has reported on campaigns by members to petition judges to “bail out” TelexFree and consider the purported upside of the “program,” which may be the largest combined Ponzi- and pyramid scheme in MLM HYIP history. (Campaigns referenced in this May 10, 2014, PP Blog editorial.)
The docket of U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton of the District of Massachusetts now shows that members have written letters to the court in support of TelexFree. Gorton is presiding over the SEC’s civil case against TelexFree. The complaint was brought on an emergency basis on April 15. Assets of TelexFree and alleged managers and certain promoters have been frozen.
At least one TelexFree supporter contended in a letter to Gorton that he can “assure” the judge that “media disinformation” is responsible for the problems at TelexFree and that the company “revolutionized” MLM in a manner that “put out of extreme poverty thousands and thousands of people around the world, if not millions.”
TelexFree, according to the sender, was like a drop of “heaven for poor families.”
Some of the letters appear to be in Spanish, sent to the judge via fax. Some are handwritten. Some are typewritten. A few of them include doodles.
There are letters from the United States. There are letters from the Dominican Republic. Some of the letters appear to have used a shared template, which likely means TelexFree upline/downline groups organized the campaign.
In the 2008 AdSurfDaily case, shared litigation templates were used by certain members who appeared to be more interested in advancing conspiracy theories than understanding the facts of the case. Some of the letters/emails of “support” submitted by ASD in 2008 were used by the government to undermine ASD’s assertion it was not selling securities and was not a Ponzi scheme.
At least one TelexFree member asserted in a letter to Gorton that the “program” gave him an opportunity to earn money from TelexFree by posting ads on the Internet.
On Friday, it became known that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was involved in an undercover probe of TelexFree that began at least by October 2013.
In a criminal complaint and affidavit filed in support of wire-fraud conspiracy charges against TelexFree figures James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler, a DHS agent involved in the probe alleged an intelligence research specialist within DHS placed more than 700 ads for TelexFree online.
“The ads have resulted in no retail sales of TelexFree’s VOIP product,” the agent alleged.
And, the agent asserted, “the sites on which these ads were posted contained page after page after page of hundreds of nearly identical ads placed by various TelexFree promoters for the identical VOIP service.”
Zeek Rewards, an $850 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme shut down by the SEC in 2012, also had an “advertising” component. So did ASD, a $119 million Ponzi scheme shut down by the U.S. Secret Service in 2008.
MLM HYIP schemes have defrauded billions of dollars from participants in recent years. The combined hauls of TelexFree, Zeek and ASD alone may exceed $2.169 billion. That’s nearly double the size of the epic Scott Rothstein Ponzi and racketeering scheme in Florida in 2009.
MLM HYIP swindles typically are aimed at vulnerable populations, with MLMers who have big email lists and experience in one fraud scheme after another scoring tremendous windfalls.
MLM attorney Gerald Nehra at a TelexFree rah-rah event in California last year. Source: YouTube.
In case you missed the big news yesterday, TelexFree figures James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler were charged criminally.
Unofficially this brings the number of charged MLM HYIP “programs” (or clients) with links to MLM attorney Gerald Nehra to three in recent years. Nehra was an “expert witness” for AdSurfDaily in 2008. He testified that ASD, a 1-percent-a-day “program,” was a legitimate business and not a Ponzi scheme.
ASD operator Andy Bowdoin, who compared the men and women who guard the President of the United States to “Satan” and the 9/11 terrorists and clucked that “God” * was on his side, later was charged criminally and sentenced to a lengthy term in federal prison.
Nehra was brought in for marquee value and as an adviser to Zeek Rewards, Zeek operator Paul Burks said in late 2011 or early 2012. Zeek executives Dawn Wright-Olivares and Daniel Olivares later were charged criminally. Zeek was a 1.5-percent-a-day “program.”
At some point in 2012 or 2013, Nehra began to advise TelexFree. TelexFree executive Steve Labriola, like Zeek’s Burks before him, also saw marquee value in Nehra, according to Labriola’s comments in a TelexFree promo on YouTube. Now, Merrill and Wanzeler face the prospect of jail. Because the investigation is ongoing, others may, too.
TelexFree’s bogus returns were not tied to sales of its VOIP product and computed to more than 200 percent a year, making the “program” a classic Ponzi- and pyramid swindle, according to court filings. Some promoters claimed $15,125 returned $57,200. One promoter allegedly told an undercover federal agent that he’d scored $1.6 million in TelexFree “without selling a TelexFree product.”
This is a column about willful blindness and feigned obtuseness. (Think Faith Sloan.) It’s also a column about missed signals, whether they’re missed purposely or otherwise. (Think: Why would TelexFree hire Nehra after ASD and Zeek — and why would Nehra ever accept the work, which was bound to lead to racketeering allegations? Put another way, if you’re at the scene of too many highly suspicious fires, you shouldn’t be surprised if serious people start to believe you’re the arsonist or the arsonist’s helper. Even assuming Nehra is no MLM arsonist or racketeer, accepting the TelexFree work potentially put him in the position of being extorted or otherwise abused by the trade’s arsonists and racketeers.)
Spot any common themes or information roadmaps in the quoted material below?
AdSurfDaily “is not” a Ponzi scheme. “It is a legally structured, direct selling business model with multilevel compensation.” — Gerald Nehra, MLM attorney, Aug. 18, 2008. (Context: Nehra’s submitted testimony as defense witness in civil forfeiture action in the $119 million AdSurfDaily MLM HYIP Ponzi case. **)
“[AdViewGlobal] is the next iteration of the Ponzi scheme auto-surf programs, which [are] staffed with former [AdSurfDaily] executives and Bowdoin disciples.” — Class-action attorneys suing AdSurfDaily operator Andy Bowdoin and AdSurfDaily attorney Robert Garner of North Carolina, June 30, 2009. (Context: Motion in member-filed lawsuit against Bowdoin and Garner that alleged RICO (racketeering) violations.)
“With all of our efforts to punish and deter this criminal enterprise, the rights of innocent parties are protected and will subsequently be returned.” — A.T. Smith, assistant director, U.S. Secret Service Office of Investigations, Sept. 26, 2011. (Context: Successful forfeiture actions and remission (restitution) in AdSurfDaily MLM HYIP Ponzi case.)
“We will continue to use every tool at our disposal to bring justice to the citizens defrauded by these insidious schemes.” — Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer, U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Sept. 26, 2011. (Context: Successful forfeiture actions and remission (restitution) in AdSurfDaily MLM HYIP Ponzi case.)
“Just having him on retainer and having him on our team, it goes a long way from keeping anybody from launching an attack. Because generally when Gerry Nehra is involved, the Feds know that he’s cleaned up the act really well.” — Paul Burks, Zeek Rewards operator, c. December 2011. (Context: Burks’ remarks to early Zeek members that MLM attorney Nehra was on board.)
“I am pleading guilty because I am in fact guilty of the offense(s) identified in this Plea Agreement.” — Andy Bowdoin, AdSurfDaily operator, May 2012. (Context: Plea agreement to wire fraud in which Bowdoin disagreed with MLM attorney Nehra and acknowledged AdSurfDaily was a Ponzi scheme.)
“Capitalizing on the strength of our financial task force partnerships, we aggressively pursue criminals using computer experts, forensic specialists, investigative experts and intelligence analysts.” — Dennis Ramos Martinez, special agent in charge, U.S. Secret Service Orlando Office, Aug. 29, 2012. (Context: Prison sentence imposed on AdSurfDaily operator Andy Bowdoin.)
“While [Gregory] McKnight himself referred to Legisi as a “loan” program, and demanded that “members” not refer to their “loan” and an “investment,” Legisi was, in reality, an investment contract, which is considered a security and therefore regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. This semantic obfuscation was quite obviously an attempt to sidestep the securities laws.” — Office of U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade, Eastern District of Michigan, September 2012. (Context: Sentencing memo against Gregory McKnight in Legisi $72 million HYIP swindle.)
“I’m not sure how many of you have heard the name ‘Gerry Nehra.’ But it is a very big name in this industry.” — Steve Labriola, TelexFree executive, Newport Beach, Calif., July 2013. (Context: Labriola introducing Nehra to TelexFree members at “Super Weekend” MLM rah-rah fest.)
“ZeekRewards used the enormous power of the Internet to rip off $850 million from hundreds of thousands of victims in less than two years. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to take down greedy scam artists who think nothing of stealing the savings of hard working people.” — U.S. Attorney Anne M. Tompkins, Western District of North Carolina, Dec. 20, 2013. (Context: The filing of criminal charges in the Zeek Rewards MLM/HYIP case.)
“The Massachusetts Securities Division charged TelexFREE Inc., with running a Ponzi scheme targeting Brazilian-Americans that has raised over $90 million from Massachusetts residents and around $1 billion globally.” — U.S. Department of Homeland Security,April 17, 2014. (Context: U.S. financial infrastructure protection. Sourced from DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report.)
“At this [TelexFree] ‘super weekend’ event, Attorney Nehra spoke at length to attending investors, assuring them of the legality of TelexFree’s operation stating: ‘It is legally designed . . . you are on very solid legal ground.’” — Class-action attorneys, May 3, 2014. (Context: The filing of a prospective class-action against TelexFree and Nehra that alleged RICO (racketeering) violations.)
“Attorney Nehra’s extensive experience in multi-level marketing, and particularly his involvement with the Ponzi schemes involving AdSurfDaily and Zeek Rewards, armed him with the knowledge of what constitutes violations of United States securities law. Indeed, Attorney Nehra was well aware that the use of semantics and obscured phraseology to obfuscate securities laws fails to legitimize TelexFree’s illegal Pyramid Ponzi Scheme.” — Class-action attorneys, May 3, 2014. (Context: The filing of a prospective class-action against TelexFree and Nehra that alleged RICO (racketeering) violations.)
“Investigating the flow of illicit money across U.S. borders and the criminal enterprises behind that money is one of our top priorities.” — Bruce Foucart, special agent in charge, Homeland Security Investigations, May 9, 2014. (Context: Comment on the filing of criminal charges in the TelexFree Ponzi- and pyramid case.)
“As alleged, these defendants devised a scheme which reaped hundreds of millions of dollars from hard working people around the globe.” — U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz, District of Massachusetts,May 9, 2014. (Context: Comment on the filing of criminal charges in the TelexFree Ponzi- and pyramid case.)
* Like jailed AdSurfDaily operator Andy Bowdoin, TelexFree figure Carlos Costa contends God is on his side. While Bowdoin talked of “Satan,” one TelexFree promoter has called a prosecutor in Brazil a “blonde she-devil.”
** Two members of AdSurfDaily who went on to become members of Zeek Rewards liked Nehra’s opinion so much they used it in a failed lawsuit (2011) against the U.S. government. The members, Todd Disner and Dwight Owen Schweitzer, both are listed as “winners” in the $850 million Zeek Rewards’ scheme. Disner’s Zeek haul was alleged to be more than $1.875 million.
Screen shot of part of criminal complaint filed today.
BULLETIN: (18th Update 8:15 a.m. EDT, May 10, U.S.A.) TelexFree figures James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler have been charged criminally with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Merrill, 53, was arrested in Worcester, Mass. Wanzeler, 45, of Northborough, Mass., has been labeled a “fugitive.”
In similar prosecutions, U.S. authorities have notified INTERPOL about the subjects of U.S. arrest warrants in HYIP cases. How authorities intended to proceed against Wanzeler was not immediately clear.
“The scope of this alleged fraud is breathtaking,” U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz of the District of Massachusetts said. “As alleged, these defendants devised a scheme which reaped hundreds of millions of dollars from hard working people around the globe.”
From the criminal complaint and affidavit filed by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), an arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (italics added):
An analysis of the bank and credit card processing accounts behind TelexFree’s publicly-stated income and revenue figures shows that TelexFree was deriving less than 1% of its revenue from its VOIP products, about 99% from investments by new promoters, and that it could not meet its massive payment obligations to existing promoters without equally large infusions of cash from new promoters.
The complaint, among other things, reveals that an undercover probe into TelexFree was under way before the company and certain arms filed for bankruptcy protection in Nevada on April 13.
One undercover agent made a TelexFree purchase on April 9, four days prior to the bankruptcy filing. The complaint/affidavit describes the purchase bid as “cumbersome,” taking “over two hours, including unusual steps like setting up an electronic ‘eWallet’ and uploading to TelexFree copies of [the undercover agent’s] drivers license and credit card.”
Information in the affidavit/complaint shows that the undercover probe began at least by October 2013, months ago:
From the affidavit/complaint (italics/carriage returns/minor editing applied):
During the investigation, a law enforcement officer arranged to have him/herself recruited as a TelexFree promoter, to confirm how portions of the TelexFree system operated.
On October 15, 2013, an undercover HSI task force officer (“UC”) met with a TelexFree promoter (“Person A”). During the conversation, Person A told the UC that the UC could make $100 a week using an “AdCentral Family Package” to post online ads for TelexFree, and could earn additional money by recruiting other people to join TelexFree.
The UC met Person A again the next day, and successfully joined TelexFree as a new promoter. The UC bought the AdCentral Plan for $1,425 (a $50 membership fee plus $1,375 for the AdCentral package), using a check made payable to Person A.
Person B, an associate of Person A, helped the UC register and verify the UC’s new TelexFree “back office” account. This consisted of entering a name, date of birth, Social Security number, cellular telephone number, email address, and mailing/billing address. In order to access the back office, the UC created a unique log-in name and password.
Starting on October 21, 2013, using the UC’s access to the TelexFree system, an HSI Intelligence Research Specialist placed online advertisements as a promoter for TelexFree.
Following the system discussed above, the Specialist copied advertisements created by TelexFree and made available to the Specialist in the back office area of TelexFree’s site, and pasted them to another website TelexFree recommended. As required under the AdCentral Family plan, the Specialist did this five times a day. The entire process took about 25 minutes per day.
Between October 21, 2013, and the date of this affidavit, the Specialist posted more than 700 advertisements. The ads have resulted in no retail sales of TelexFree’s VOIP product. As described above, the sites on which these ads were posted contained page after page after page of hundreds of nearly identical ads placed by various TelexFree promoters for the identical VOIP service.
The document also asserts the government — once inside TelexFree — used an undercover bank account and tied it to a TelexFree “eWallet” — and began to receive payments from TelexFree.
One TelexFree huckster, according to the complaint/affidavit, told an undercover agent that “he [the huckster] had earned $1,600,000 as a TelexFree promoter, without selling a TelexFree product.”
“I am very proud of the tireless efforts of my special agents,” said Bruce Foucart, special agent in charge of HSI. “Investigating the flow of illicit money across U.S. borders and the criminal enterprises behind that money is one of our top priorities. While pyramid schemes are nothing new, the potential scope of this case will hopefully serve as an educational lesson for all. The main point is clear; if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
Undercover agents even attended a TelexFree rah-rah fest in Boston on March 9, the day TelexFree announced a new compensation plan. That plan, according to documents, led to an effective storming by affiliates of TelexFree headquarters in Marlborough on April 1.
Bail information for Merrill was not immediately clear. Wire-fraud conspiracy is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison.
The Massachusetts Securities Division has alleged TelexFree was a combined Ponzi- and pyramid scheme that gathered more than $1.2 billion. The SEC also has sued.
Ortiz is the top federal prosecutor in the District of Massachusetts.
Ortiz’ office confirmed the Merrill arrest to the PP Blog at 3:13 p.m, adding that an arrest warrant has been issued for TelexFree figure Carlos Wanzeler.
BULLETIN: In a blistering response to TelexFree’s bid to continue its business and move forward with its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, the United States’ trustee said the embattled firm has not engaged “in full and fair disclosure.”
“The former CFO and board members have disappeared with no explanation,” U.S. Trustee Tracy Hope Davis alleged. “The only declarations in support of the Debtors’ requests for relief have been signed by individuals that have been on the job for less than 3 weeks. Yet, Debtors are pressing forward with their motions for ’emergency’ relief so they can continue business ‘as usual.’ It appears that [James] Merrill, [Carlos] Wanzeler, and [Joe] Craft have all fallen down the rabbit hole and are now expecting the Court to follow.”
“At the hearing on April 17, 2014, Craft was not present in the Courtroom,” Davis argued. “Counsel for Debtors informed the Court during the hearing that Craft was no longer an officer, director, or authorized signatory of the Debtor. No explanation was offered to the Court for the sudden change of management and the short duration (3 days) of Craft’s tenure.”
And, Davis continued, MacMillan has provided “no explanation for why he felt it necessary to terminate Debtors’ entire former management team.”
Among the trustee’s witnesses is Julio J. Defigueiredo Jr., a sheriff’s deputy from Bristol County, Mass. In a declaration to the bankruptcy court, Defigueiredo said he was present at an April 15 raid of TelexFree’s Massachusetts office by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Defigueiredo, according to the declaration, observed Craft “entering an office and attempting to grab a laptop and bag.”
Craft, according to the deputy, claimed the items were “personal.”
But nearly $38 million in TelexFree-related cashier’s checks were discovered in the bag, the deputy said.
Davis described the situation as a series of “extraordinary changes of circumstances” and part of a confluence of events that makes it “unfathomable” that TelexFree is “still going forward on their cash management motions . . . as if business were proceeding as usual.”
“Currently,” Davis argued, “Debtors have no operating business. Due to the TRO [in the TelexFree fraud case filed by the SEC on April 15], their accounts have been frozen and remain frozen for the foreseeable future. MacMillan admits their offices in Massachusetts have been shut down since the Federal raid and all remaining employees have been laid off.”
MacMillan contended earlier this week that he did not believe that “Mr. Craft was attempting to divert any of the Debtors’ cash or other resources.”
Davis appears not to be buying that assertion, alleging that “Craft was apprehended attempting to walk out the back door of Debtors’ offices with $38 million in negotiable cashier’s checks.”
She further asserted that William Runge, a turnaround specialist hired to “to safeguard existing cash” by TelexFree three days before its bankruptcy filing, “[a]pparently . . . wasn’t able to perform his new job duties very well” given the circumstances surrounding Craft.
MacMillan contended earlier this week that Craft “was acting at the direction of Mr. Runge and me to secure the cashier’s checks in a safe and reliable location for the benefit of the Debtors’ constituencies.”
Key bankruptcy hearings for TelexFree are scheduled tomorrow.
But emergency motions filed by the firm “have not been amended to reflect any change of circumstances in Debtors’ business operations such as the raid on their offices by Special Agents from Homeland Security, or the freezing of all their banks accounts and sources of revenue, or the fact that Craft, their former accountant, Chief Financial Officer, Board Member and signatory is no longer associated with the Debtors in any capacity,” Davis asserted.
Santiago De La Rosa at a TelexFree pitchfest. Source: YouTube.
(UPDATED 8:05 A.M. EDT U.S.A.) Alleged TelexFree promoter and securities fraudster Santiago De La Rosa has been ordered by the federal judge presiding over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Ponzi- and pyramid case to sell two BMWs and a Land Rover Range Rover “back to the dealership” and to “repatriate all funds located outside the United States.”
De La Rosa resides in Massachusetts.
U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton of the District of Massachusetts issued the order. The automobiles were described as a 2014 BMW X5 XDrive, a 2010 BMW X5 XDrive and a 2013 Land Rover Range Rover Sport HSE. Precise details of the models were not available. A quick pricing search suggests De La Rosa was captaining roughly $150,000 worth of high-end rides.
There may be hundreds of thousands of victims of TelexFree’s excess, according to court filings.
TelexFree also had access to a “private jet,” a pitchman said in Boston two months ago.
News of Gorton’s order first appeared on BehindMLM.com, which also reported on the conditions imposed in an injunction against accused TelexFree promoter Randy N. Crosby of Georgia.
On April 15, the PP Blog reported that the office of Massachusetts Commonwealth Secretary William Galvin had uncovered a check with a memo line that read, “Cars for Extravaganza . . .” Galvin oversees the Massachusetts Securities Division (MSD).
MSD alleged the check was associated with more than $100,000 in TelexFree-related purchases at a Mercedes-Benz dealership in Orlando, Fla. TelexFree held an event in Orlando in May 2013. The firm filed for bankruptcy protection in Nevada on April 13, 2014.
Gorton was appointed to the federal bench by President George H.W. Bush in 1992.
Accused TelexFree promoter Sann Rodrigues captains a Ferrari.
(UPDATED 8:21 P.M. EDT U.S.A.) The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission says in new court filings that accused TelexFree promoter and securities fraudster Sann Rodrigues appeared in an April 16 YouTube video and asserted that “God” made MLM and “binary” and that Rodrigues claims he’s “never going to stop this.”
Rodrigues is now a two-time SEC defendant. He settled charges in 2007 that he was operating a pyramid scheme targeted at the Brazilian community through the purported sale of phone cards.
TelexFree is a combined Ponzi and pyramid scheme with a phone product that masked a massive, underlying fraud that gathered more than $1.2 billion, the Massachusetts Securities Division alleged on April 15. The SEC said the TelexFree scam mainly was targeted at Brazilian and Dominican immigrants.
Fellow TelexFree defendant Faith Sloan, meanwhile, appears to have removed certain videos but nevertheless has invoked “divine authority” elsewhere, according to SEC filings.
On March 15, the SEC alleged, Sloan claimed on her website that the TelexFree compensation plan was changing and was not in final form — “[b]ut is Getting BETTER as Jesus said.”
Sloan, a former promoter of the Profitable Sunrise and Zeek Rewards securities swindles, earlier claimed that the SEC was “picking on” her.
Separately, the agency alleged that TelexFree may be violating a temporary restraining order by putting its website back online.
“It appears that TelexFree and/or one or more of the individual defendants may be improperly using investor funds for that purpose,” the SEC alleged.
Moreover, the SEC said, none of the defendants has submitted the written accounting required under the order.
Sloan and Rodrigues are among four promoters charged by the SEC. TelexFree executives or co-owners James Merrill, Carlos Wanzeler, Joe Craft and Steve Labriola also were charged. The firm and related entities filed for bankruptcy protection in Nevada April 13.
Claims of divine authority or inspiration are not unusual in MLM HYIP frauds. In the 2008 AdSurfDaily case, for instance, accused operator Andy Bowdoin claimed God was on his side and compared the U.S. Secret Service to “Satan” and the 9/11 terrorists.
Bowdoin, who also fraudulently traded on the name of then-President George W. Bush to sanitize the ASD scam, had experience as a securities swindler prior to ASD, according to court records. He is now serving a 78-month term in federal prison for his role in the $119 million ASD swindle. One of his business partners, according to federal records, was implicated by the SEC in the 1990s in three prime-bank swindles, including one that touted a return of 10,000 percent.
Brazil-based TelexFree figure Carlos Costa also routinely invokes God over TelexFree-related issues.
On Dec. 19, 2013, the PP Blog reported that TelexFree puff pieces were appearing in a publication that featured a columnist who asserted Jesus Christ was the person who inspired modern network marketers through his recruitment of 12 disciples.
Ads for an apparent cash-gifting scheme appeared in the same publication.
Images of Jesus Christ also were used in the alleged Profitable Sunrise and WCM777 HYIP swindles.
BULLETIN: With the MLM world only now coming to grips with the alleged $1.2 billion TelexFree Ponzi- and pyramid fraud, the special master in the Zeek Rewards criminal action has compared the Zeek case to the Bernard Madoff and Allen Stanford Ponzi schemes and the notorious Enron securities swindle involving former CEO Jeffrey Skilling.
