Joe Craft

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story, which easily could be titled “What NOT To Do In MLM,” summarizes a few of the witnesses and exhibits the U.S. government may use against TelexFree’s James Merrill when his trial gets under way Oct. 24 in Massachusetts. The background provided below is based on research by the PP Blog. Prosecutors filed their witness/exhibit […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: Certain reports by the PP Blog that are available to any person with an Internet connection are referenced in a consolidated, amended prospective class-action complaint that makes claims against various defendants with an alleged association with TelexFree. Information from other publicly available sites, including BehindMLM.com, RealScam.com and others, also is referenced. The purpose […]

Billing records in the TelexFree bankruptcy case show that advisers to court-appointed Trustee Stephen B. Darr held an hour-long teleconference with McGuireWoods, counsel to Zeek Rewards’ receiver Kenneth D. Bell. This appears to mark the first time that Zeek’s name has surfaced in TelexFree-related court matters. The two cross-border MLM/network-marketing fraud schemes allegedly gathered a […]

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 […]

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 […]

Longtime HYIP huckster and TelexFree figure Faith Sloan has been banned by Illinois from selling securities. The prohibition order is dated June 9. It was issued by the Securities Department of Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White. The state found that Sloan, an Illinois resident, operated a TelexFree-related website and acted as an unregistered securities […]

UPDATED 10:48 P.M. EDT U.S.A. A plaintiff bringing a prospective class-action lawsuit in Massachusetts federal court has accused 10 TelexFree figures of committing crimes and — as a group — committing racketeering violations through an “association-in-fact enterprise.” Unlike other prospective TelexFree-related class-actions, this one names neither attorneys nor banks nor TelexFree itself defendants. Rather, it […]

MLM attorney Gerald Nehra, his law partner Richard Waak and their law firm are now lawyered up in the TelexFree bankruptcy case. Groups of TelexFree members have sued them in bankruptcy court, alleging violations of the federal racketeering (RICO) statute and violations of federal securities laws. TelexFree filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on a […]

UPDATED 12:25 P.M. EDT U.S.A. Immersed in litigation on at least 10 fronts in the United States while also confronting licensing challenges and asset freezes, TelexFree did not appear last month at a hearing it requested to consider its telecom application before the Alabama Public Service Commission. As things stand, the company is not authorized […]

BULLETIN: U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Melvin S. Hoffman of the Massachusetts Central Division in Worcester has ordered the appointment of a trustee in the TelexFree Chapter 11 bankruptcy case. The U.S. Trustee, the U.S. Department of Justice’s watchdog arm in bankruptcy cases, pressed for the appointment last month. “There are reasonable grounds to suspect that the […]

BULLETIN: (8th update 9:10 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) In an amended complaint in the SEC’s pyramid- and Ponzi case against TelexFree, the agency says alleged TelexFree fugitive Carlos Wanzeler was using investors’ money to build a “small real estate empire” that consisted of 34 properties in Massachusetts and Florida. Wanzeler, 45, also allegedly acquired a 40-foot […]