PatrickPretty.com

Tag: Sann Rodrigues

Banks Should Have Googled Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho, Attorney Tells Bloomberg Business

The lede in a story this morning by Neil Weinberg of Bloomberg Business:

“The U.S. requires banks to know their customers. Looks like several big ones, including Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co., may have missed getting acquainted with Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho.”

Here’s a link to the story, titled “Ponzi Suspect’s 17 Accounts Raise Questions Over Bank Safeguards.”

The PP Blog first wrote about Filho in May 2010 in the context of the deeply disturbing Evolution Market Group/ FinanzasForex scheme. Money was linked to the narcotics trade.

As we reported more than five years ago (italics added):

Research by the PP Blog suggests the purported investment program was so sordid that promoters even claimed some of the funds were being used for the “humanitarian” purpose of assisting kidnapping victims in Colombia. In a sickening display of marketing theatrics, a claim was made that investors could “adopt” kidnapping victims for a payment of $1,000 and that the company would set aside $500 in corporate funds for each victim so that their families could have bright futures if the victims ultimately were released by their captors.

The HYIP scheme allegedly was associated with an entity known as Evolution Market Group (EMG), which purportedly had a Forex component known as FinanzasForex. Investigators alleged in January that there were schemes within schemes in a tangled web of domestic and international deception that featured dozens of bank accounts, shell companies and various fronts for money-laundering enterprises, including companies purportedly in businesses such as real estate and car washes.

The scheme was so corrupt, according to court filings, that some investors were told that, in order to leave the program whole, they had to recruit new investors, have the new investors pay them directly — and use the proceeds from the new investors to “recover” their initial outlays.

“If the banks had just Googled this guy, they would have known enough to stay away,” Evans Carter, a Framingham, Massachusetts-based attorney, told Bloomberg.

Filho’s name later would surface in the preposterous DFRF Enterprises’ scheme that has led to civil and criminal charges against him. The SEC has linked Filho to TelexFree figure Sann Rodrigues. Those ties may prove to be more troubling as the litigation winds its way through the courts.

See BehindMLM.com story dated today: “Sann Rodrigues laundered assets through DFRF Enterprises.”

Oct 8, 2015
BRIEF: DFRF’s Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho Indicted; Feds Establish Victims’ Page

Arrested and jailed in July, alleged Ponzi schemer Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho earlier was tooling around in this gold Lamborghini. From a YouTube video. Highlights by PP Blog.

Federal criminal prosecutors in the office of U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz of the District of Massachusetts have moved to stay discovery in the SEC’s civil case against DFRF Enterprises and alleged Ponzi- and pyramid-scheme operator Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho.

Initially charged in July 2015 via criminal complaint with wire fraud, Filho was indicted by a grand jury on Aug. 5 and charged with three counts of wire fraud. Prosecutors have established a page here and are soliciting information from potential victims.

In essence, criminal prosecutors are arguing that a stay is warranted as a means of assuring Filho does not use the relaxed discovery standards in the civil action to gain an unfair advantage in the criminal case.

As of yesterday, Filho did not have counsel in either the civil case or the criminal case, prosecutors said.

They also thumb-nailed the criminal allegations. From prosecutors’ motion to intervene in the civil case (italics added):

The investment pitch that Filho and others gave was, in sum and substance, as follows: By sending DFRF as little as $1,000—or as much as an individual wanted to invest—and becoming a DFRF “member,” potential investors could share in the large profits DFRF was generating through highly profitable gold-mining operations in Africa. Investor money would first be sent to a private bank in Switzerland, where the money would be “leveraged” or increased. DFRF would then invest “member” money in the gold-mining operations, resulting in even greater profits, of approximately, or up to, 15% per month. “Members’” investments would be 100% insured and they could get their principal investment returned anytime they wanted.

According to the Indictment, many of the representations that Filho and others working at his direction made were false and misleading. For example, DFRF never transmitted any investor money to a private Swiss bank and never transmitted any investor money to gold-mining operations in Africa. The Indictment also alleges that Filho concealed his scheme in various ways, such as distributing debit cards, which “members” could purportedly use to withdraw funds, but which did not actually work. In Ponzi-scheme-like fashion, Filho also recycled money provided by some investors to pay other investors who were expecting their principal or returns thereon.

Investigators have tied Filho to Sann Rodrigues, a figure in the TelexFree pyramid- and Ponzi case.

Criminal prosecutors successfully intervened in the SEC’s civil case against TelexFree, believed to be one of the largest pyramid- and Ponzi schemes in U.S. history and to have gathered on the order of $1.8 billion through the firm’s MLM program.

Though allegedly smaller than TelexFree with an estimated haul of about $23 million, DFRF allegedly targeted some of the same affinity groups targeted by TelexFree.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

Oct 2, 2015
NEW STANDARD FOR MLM DISINGENUOUSNESS: Words DON’T Mean Things

Sann Rodrigues

Has a globetrotting serial huckster facing a civil-contempt proceeding in the SEC’s pyramid- and Ponzi case against TelexFree, key executives and promoters set the new standard for vomitous MLM?

Accused of repeatedly violating U.S. court orders, Brazil native, TelexFree promoter and two-time accused securities fraudster Sann Rodrigues now effectively is hoping to convince a federal judge that spoken words don’t mean things. In the face of multiple videos showing him speaking English, Rodrigues is claiming through attorneys that he “does not speak English” and that he “is almost completely unable to read English and has between no proficiency and an elementary proficiency in speaking in English,” according to the SEC.

And, Rodrigues contends, he “did not understand the asset freeze orders because he can barely speak English,” the SEC contends.

The claims amount to “nonsense,” the SEC argued in a memo to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton. The memo included links to two videos showing Rodrigues speaking English. (One of them is below.)

Whether Rodrigues will be able to convince the judge that spoken words don’t mean things is a question likely to be answered in the days immediately ahead — and the task perhaps just got harder.

That’s because the SEC today filed an affidavit from a Florida banker who says he spoke with Rodrigues in person approximately every two weeks from August 2014 to May 2015.

Rodrigues had eight corporate accounts, and all of them were closed by the bank, according to the banker.

Moreover, all the conversations took place “entirely in the English language,” the banker said.

And, the banker said, all of the forms “filled out and signed by Mr. Rodrigues were entirely in the English language.”

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

Sep 29, 2015
Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho, Accused In Alleged DFRF Enterprises Ponzi Scheme, Made Donation To 2012 Obama Campaign: What Is Platinum Trade Bancorp?

Federal Election Commission records list this donation from Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho to the 2012 reelection campaign of President Obama. Filho’s employer is listed as Platinum Trade Bancorp. Red highlight/redaction by PP Blog.

In 2012, Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho, purportedly an employee of an entity known as Platinum Trade Bancorp and using the address of a mansion in Boca Raton, Fla., made a $250 campaign contribution to Obama for America, according to Federal Election Commission records.

The PP Blog is declining to publish the address of the 6,742-square-foot (est.) waterfront property, which appears not to have been owned by Filho. Records suggest the six-bedroom home has at least 6,200 square feet with air-conditioning and a separate quarters for domestic staff.

It sold for $2.025 million in August 2013, but Filho was listed neither as buyer nor seller. If he ever lived in the mansion, it appears he was a tenant, not an owner.

The donation to President Obama’s reelection campaign in Filho’s name (and listing the address of the Boca Raton mansion) was recorded on Oct. 16, 2012, just three weeks before the Nov. 6 general election that returned Obama to the White House for four more years. Obama is a Democrat.

Filho, now implicated criminally and civilly by the FBI and the SEC in the alleged DFRF Enterprises Ponzi- and pyramid scheme that traded on an international gold-mining theme, is not a U.S. citizen, according to court filings. Rather, he is a citizen of Brazil.

Campaign donations by “foreign nationals” are illegal under U.S. law. There is an exception for U.S. residents who have a green card “indicating his or her lawful admittance for permanent residence in the United States,” according to the FEC.

It is unclear whether Filho has a green card and is in the country lawfully. Federal prosecutors in Massachusetts described him July 22 as an Orlando resident and fugitive arrested the day before “coming out of a restaurant in Boca Raton.”

Sann Rodrigues, a defendant in the epic TelexFree Ponzi- and pyramid case and an alleged Filho business associate, was arrested in May 2015 on a charge of immigration fraud. Like Filho, Rodrigues is a citizen of Brazil. Prosecutors said Rodrigues lied to get a green card.

Both men have listed addresses in Florida and Massachusetts and have been implicated in alleged frauds targeted at people who speak Portuguese or Spanish.

FEC records show that the donation in Filho’s name lists him as “Chairman of the Board” of Platinum Trade Bancorp. Where the purported business was based is unclear. No such company appears to exist in Florida.

The name of the purported firm, however, is similar to the name of Platinum Swiss Trust, a company the SEC said played a role in the DFRF fraud.

Platinum Swiss Trust, the SEC alleged, is a “purported Swiss private bank that is not actually authorized to conduct banking activities in Switzerland.” It purportedly is associated with Heriberto C. Perez Valdes, 46, of Miami. Valdes is a DFRF codefendant in the SEC’s civil case.

DFRF, the agency said, advanced a story that it has a $3.1 billion line of credit with Platinum Swiss Trust and used investors money to “leverage the credit line and generate a total return of 600%.”

Darren Covar, a Florida immigration attorney who appeared with Filho and others in a DFRF promo, is listed in FEC records as a contributor to Democratic causes. He has not been accused of wrongdoing.

FEC records lists Covar as having made $2,800 in 2012 contributions, though none to Obama. These contributions consisted of $300 to the Democratic Executive Committee of Florida, and $2,500 to the Kristen Jacobs for Congress campaign. Jacobs, a Democrat running for seat in the U.S. House, lost the race to Democrat Lois Frankel, the former mayor of West Palm Beach and the former minority leader of Florida’s state house.

Whether bail has been set for Filho is unclear. The U.S. Attorney’s office in Massachusetts did not return an inquiry on the matter.

Filho made an appearance in federal court in the Southern District of Florida yesterday. Miami defense attorney David A. Howard made a “temporary” appearance for him, according to the docket of the case.

Howard did not immediately return an inquiry for comment on Filho’s bail status.

Court records suggest he is in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and will be returned from Florida to face the DFRF-related criminal charge of wire fraud in federal court in Massachusetts.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

Jul 29, 2015
DFRF Asset Freeze Affects Accounts At At Least 13 Banks; Judge Orders Repatriation, Blocks Flow Of New Money

UPDATED 6:55 A.M. EDT JULY 30 U.S.A. In the SEC’s civil case against DFRF Enterprises, a federal judge in Massachusetts has issued an order that freezes accounts at at least 13 banks and enjoins DFRF from soliciting or accepting any more money or opening any new accounts.

Dated July 28, the order by Chief U.S. District Judge Patti B. Saris also directs DFRF to “take such steps as are necessary to repatriate and deposit into the registry of the Court any and all funds or other assets that were obtained directly or indirectly from any investors in connection with the activities described in the Complaint and that are presently located outside of the United States.”

At the same time, the order prohibits DFRF from withdrawing, paying, dissipating, selling, encumbering, assigning and transferring assets wherever such assets may exist or diminishing their value “in any way.” The order further prohibits DFRF from charging on or drawing from any credit arrangements it may have.

In short, the order lays to waste claims from DFRF and certain individual promoters that the purported opportunity would simply conduct business outside the United States — despite the gravity of the pyramid- and Ponzi allegations the SEC filed last month and the arrest in Florida last week of accused operator Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho.

The order applies to DFRF, Filho and six promoters charged by the SEC June 30. The case was announced July 2. The SEC’s case is ongoing, and the order is not limited to the 13 identified banks.

The 13 identified in the order are Bank of America, Central Florida Educators Federal Credit Union, Citibank, Citizens Bank, Eastern Bank, First Bank of Puerto Rico, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Regions Bank, Santander Bank, Suncoast Credit Union, SunTrust Bank, TD Bank and Wells Fargo Bank.

It was not immediately clear whether any of the banks halted DFRF-related account activity prior to the SEC action. The identities of the individual account-holders also was unclear.

In its complaint last month, the SEC tied Filho to TelexFree figure Sann Rodrigues, a defendant in the agency’s April 2014 civil case that alleged TelexFree was a massive Ponzi- and pyramid scheme.

The PP Blog highly recommends that persons interested in the DFRF case visit the website of the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida to read up on the 2010 Evolution Market Group/Finanzas Forex case.

Then visit the website of the remissions administrator in the EMG/Finanzas case. You will find that accounts linked to Filho were seized in that case and that a gold theme and expensive automobiles — elements in the DFRF case — also were elements in the EMG/Finanzas case.

You’ll also find that some of the money tied up in the EMG/Finanzas case also was linked to the narcotics business.

Also see this story, published May 16, 2010, by the PP Blog: KABOOM! Agents Tie Alleged ‘Evolution Market Group’ Ponzi And HYIP Fraud Scheme To Narcotics Case In Arizona; Tens Of Millions Of Dollars Seized; Firms Promoted On ASA Monitor, TalkGold Forums

Also see this story, published March 25, 2011, by the PP Blog: URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: German Cardona Soler, Figure Associated With International Forex Scam Pushed On TalkGold And MoneyMakerGroup, Arrested By Spanish National Police; Agency Alleges $300 Million Ponzi

As was the case with TelexFree, the SEC said in court filings last month that some DFRF investors paid their sponsors directly, instead of paying DFRF.

“The amount of checks and cash that the individual defendants collected directly from investors is currently unknown,” the agency said last month.

Circuitous money flow is a core signature of an online securities scam. So are remarkable earnings tales, hotel pitchfests and sea cruises, all of which are elements in the TelexFree and DFRF cases.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

Jul 28, 2015
BULLETIN: ‘The DFRF Fraud Is Much Larger Than It First Appeared,’ SEC Tells Court

BULLETIN: (2nd Update 9:46 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) The SEC has gone to federal court in Boston, alleging that “the DFRF fraud is much larger than it first appeared.”

The agency also alleges that at least one DFRF investor told investigators that he first heard of DFRF in May or June 2014 from TelexFree Ponzi- and pyramid figure Sann Rodrigues, who attended the same church. If the information is correct, it would mean that Rodrigues had knowledge about DFRF within weeks of becoming a defendant in the SEC’s April 2014 action against TelexFree.

SEC investigators initially tied Rodrigues to DFRF and alleged operator Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho in a complaint last month. New documents filed by the agency yesterday hint that other DFRF insiders also were involved in TelexFree.

Filho, described by federal prosecutors in Boston as a fugitive, was arrested July 21 in Boca Raton, Fla. on a DFRF-related charge of wire fraud. The FBI is leading the criminal investigation.

From an SEC investigator in a July 23 filing in the agency’s civil case against DFRF Enterprises, Filho, Wanderley M. Dalman of Revere, Mass.; Gaspar C. Jesus of Malden, Mass.; Eduardo N. Da Silva of Orlando, Fla.; Heriberto C. Perez Valdes of Miami; Jeffrey A. Feldman of Boca Raton; and Romildo Da Cunha of Brazil (italics and bolding added/light editing performed):

Another investor (hereafter “Investor B”) told me that he and his spouse invested a combined $61,000 in DFRF. He first heard about DFRF in May or June 2014 from Sanderley Rodrigues de Vasconcelos (“Rodrigues”). (Rodrigues is the subject of a 2007 consent judgment in a Commission enforcement action concerning the “Universo Foneclub” pyramid scheme and a defendant in the Commission’s pending action concerning the “TelexFree” pyramid scheme.) Investor B knew Rodrigues from his participation in TelexFree and as a fellow member of his church.

Rodrigues told Investor B that the minimum investment in DFRF was $50,000. Investor B decided not to invest at that time.

Investor B told me that in July or August 2014, defendants Dalman, Jesus and Silva approached him about investing in DFRF. He knew the three men through TelexFree, because when TelexFree was operating, he would meet with individuals involved in the company on a weekly basis at a hotel in Revere.

Dalman, Jesus and Silva told Investor B about DFRF, explaining that Investor B could earn up to 15% per month. They also told him that he could earn a 10% commission for referring others to DFRF.

Investor B told me that Dalman, Jesus and Silva invited him to meet with Filho at a hotel in Boston, Massachusetts in July or August 2014, which he did.

Investor B told me that, in September 2014, he and his spouse went to a meeting at DFRF’s offices at 60 State Street in Boston. Six to ten other potential investors attended this meeting, at which Dalman, Jesus and Silva spoke about DFRF. Filho later joined the meeting and gave a presentation about investing in DFRF. One of the other attendees asked Filho how DFRF could afford to pay 15% per month. Filho responded that he could take the investors’ money and grow it by a factor of six.

The Rodrigues tie to DFRF now brings the number of fraud schemes in which he has been involved at least to four: Universo, TelexFree, DFRF and IFreeX, described last year by Massachusetts investigators as a TelexFree reload scheme. By victims count, TelexFree may be the largest Ponzi/pyramid scheme in U.S. history, rivaled only by Zeek Rewards in 2012.

Rodrigues, a Brazilian, is not a U.S. citizen. He was arrested at a New Jersey airport in May 2015, upon his return from a trip to Israel. He was charged criminally with immigration fraud, amid allegations he lied to get a green card.

Like DFRF’s Filho, Rodrigues had addresses in Massachusetts and Florida. Filho also is a Brazilian.

Prosecution filings today in the criminal case against Filho assert that he is not a U.S. citizen. He has not been charged with an immigration crime and apparently has a driver’s license issued by a U.S. state, given that he has been seen driving a Lamborghini in Florida.

SEC: DFRF Fraud Numbers Rise

The SEC initially pegged DFRF last month as a fraud that had hauled about $15 million. But further investigation has led to higher numbers — in both total haul and the sum Filho is alleged to have siphoned.

Dealing with Filho first, who was alleged last month to have siphoned more than $6 million. From an SEC filing yesterday (italics added):

The documents we reviewed indicate that, since June 2014, Filho has taken more than $8.6 million from DFRF accounts for himself or his family: He has withdrawn more than $2.7 million in cash. He has used DFRF funds to pay more than $2.2 million of personal and family expenses. He has used DFRF funds to pay more than $2.5 million for luxury automobiles (a 2014 Rolls Royce, a 2015 Lamborghini, a 2014 Lamborghini, a 2013 Mercedes, a 2012 Ferrari, a 2006 Ferrari, a 2015 Cadillac, and a 2014 Cadillac) and automotive-related expenses. He has used DFRF funds to pay nearly $250,000 to members of his extended family. He has used DFRF funds to send more than $1.1 million to the IOLTA account of an attorney in Hollywood, Florida. On June 30, 2015, he used DFRF funds to wire more than $1.1 million to an entity in the Bahamas that is believed to be a law firm. Some of these figures are probably too low, because the documents we have received to date are insufficient to classify approximately $3.5 million of withdrawals from DFRF corporate accounts in June 2015.

Now, dealing with DFRF, alleged last month to have hauled $15 million. From an SEC filing yesterday (italics added/light editing performed):

The documents we reviewed indicate that, from June 2014 through June 2015, DFRF received approximately $22.8 million from more than 1,750 investors: The total may be slightly low, because the documents we have received to date are insufficient to classify approximately $160,000 of deposits to DFRF corporate accounts in June 2015.

The documents we reviewed indicate that none of the investors’ money has been used to conduct gold mining in Brazil and Mali, and that DFRF has received no proceeds from gold mining operations.

The documents we reviewed indicate that DFRF has received no proceeds from a line of credit with Platinum Swiss Trust and has had no banking transactions at all with that company.

The documents we reviewed indicate that DFRF has spent nothing on charitable activities in Africa or anywhere else.

The documents we reviewed indicate that, from June 2014 through June 2015, DFRF had no independent source of revenue except the money received from investors.

The documents we reviewed indicate that, from June 2014 through June 2015, DFRF paid approximately $1.94 million to approximately 250 likely investors for the return of investor principal or purported monthly payments.

Heriberto Valdes, who allegedly hauled $551,403 out of DFRF, has not been served the complaint, the SEC said.

“Valdes is the only defendant who has not been served and whose location is unknown,” the agency said.

Records suggest that Valdes, like Feldman, has a criminal record.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

Jul 24, 2015
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: DFRF Enterprises’ Figure Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho Wanted By FBI; Arrest Warrant Issued; Feds Conducting ‘Border Watch’

10th Update 10 a.m. EDT July 14 U.S.A. Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho, the alleged operator of the $15 million DFRF Enterprises LLC Ponzi- and pyramid scheme sued civilly by the SEC in late June, has been charged criminally with wire fraud and is wanted by the FBI. An arrest warrant has been issued.

Court filings show that the FBI was conducting a parallel criminal probe while the SEC was conducting its civil probe. The FBI filed a criminal complaint under seal on June 25, about five days before the SEC filed its civil complaint under seal.

The SEC announced its civil action on July 2. The complaint tied TelexFree Ponzi- and pyramid figure Sann Rodrigues to Filho. In terms of victims, TelexFree may be the largest Ponzi- and pyramid scheme in U.S. history. Having potentially gathered $1.8 billion, TelexFree may be among the largest Ponzi schemes of all time.

Filho, like Rodrigues, is a citizen of Brazil. Both men have used addresses in Massachusetts and Florida.

Federal prosecutors from the office of U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz of the District of Massachusetts moved to unseal the criminal complaint on July 8. U.S. Magistrate Judge Jennifer C. Boal lifted the seal on the same day, making the wire-fraud complaint and arrest warrant against Filho a public record.

In a July 10 filing, an SEC investigator said this (italics added):

“I have had several conversations with an FBI agent involved in the investigation and the recently-filed criminal proceeding against defendant Filho. I have been informed that the FBI has been unable to execute the arrest warrant issued for defendant Filho in this matter and that the FBI currently considers defendant Filho a fugitive. (A process server retained by the Commission has made several unsuccessful attempts to serve Filho at his residence.) I have been informed that the FBI is actively searching for Filho and has initiated a border watch.”

Filho is 47 and has an address in Orlando, Fla., according to an FBI affidavit. The SEC complaint gives his place of residence as Winter Garden, Fla., which Wikipedia says is 14 miles west of Orlando in Orange County.

The FBI affidavit alleges the FBI has received complaints about him from multiple individuals and that Filho has at least two co-conspirators.

At the same time, the affidavit alleges that DFRF opened “at least 19 bank accounts at different financial institutions” since 2014 and that Filho “is a signatory” on 17 of the 19 accounts.

Much of the FBI information is similar to the SEC’s allegations against Filho.

From the FBI affidavit (italics added):

Among other things, FILHO and others acting at his direction falsely represented that DFRF owned and operated gold mines in Africa and South America, that any investors’ money was 100% insured, and investors could withdraw their principal investments at any time. FILHO never invested the money as promised; instead, FILHO used the money for other purposes, including his own personal and other business expenses.

In its complaint last month, the SEC alleged that, “[s]ince June 2014, he has siphoned more than $6 million out of DFRF — approximately 40% of the total received from investors. This includes more than $1.8 million in cash withdrawals, approximately $1.8 million for personal expenses (including $500,000 for travel), and almost $2.5 million to acquire a fleet of luxury automobiles.”

The SEC further alleged that Filho caused more than $310,000 to flow to Rodrigues. Rodrigues, who once claimed to have hauled $3 million out of TelexFree, is not referenced in the FBI affidavit.

In December 2014, Filho issued a bad check for $10,000 to a DFRF investor, according to the FBI affidavit.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

See PP Blog follow-up story dated July 14 here. The story discusses Jeffrey A. Feldman, one of Filho’s co-defendants in the SEC case. Feldman has an address in Boca Raton, Fla.

In 2010, the PP Blog reported that Filho was a figure in the alleged Evolution Market Group/Finanzas Forex fraud scheme in which money was traced to the narcotics trade.

Jul 13, 2015
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: SEC Charges DFRF Enterprises In Ponzi- And Pyramid Scheme Case; Agency Ties TelexFree Figure Sann Rodrigues To Charged DFRF Operator Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (15th Update 4:43 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) The SEC has gone to federal court in Massachusetts, charging DFRF Enterprises and alleged operator Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho with operating a combined pyramid- and Ponzi scheme targeted at “Spanish and Portuguese-speaking communities in Massachusetts, Florida, and elsewhere in the U.S.”

Six alleged promoters also were charged.

In its complaint, the SEC ties Filho to Sann Rodrigues, a figure in the TelexFree Ponzi- and pyramid-scheme case filed by the agency last year in Massachusetts.

A stunning allegation from the SEC complaint (italics added/light editing performed):

. . . Filho has caused DFRF to pay more than $310,000 for the benefit of Sanderley Rodrigues de Vasconcelos (“Rodrigues”). Rodrigues is the subject of a 2007 consent judgment in a Commission enforcement action concerning the “Universo Foneclub” pyramid scheme, and he is a defendant in the Commission’s pending enforcement action concerning the “TelexFree” pyramid scheme. On March 21, 2015, Filho caused DFRF to pay $50,000 to a business belonging to Rodrigues. (The payment was made less than one month after Filho publicly denied any link between DFRF and TelexFree.)

On March 30, 2015, Filho caused DFRF to pay $100,000 to the same business. On April 2, 2015, Filho caused DFRF to supply more than $160,000 so that another business belonging to Rodrigues could purchase a 2008 Lamborghini sports car. There is no evidence that Rodrigues provided any services or other benefit to DFRF.

All in all, according to the SEC, Rodrigues received more than $310,000 from DFRF’s fraud scheme. He has claimed he received at least $3 million from TelexFree.

After Rodrigues was arrested in the United States in May on charges of immigration fraud, he asserted his current income was $80,000 a year, according to court filings. He also claimed to own two homes — one in Massachusetts and one in Florida — free and clear.

The PP Blog reported on June 30 that a wanted notice on INTERPOL’s website said Rodrigues was being sought by Brazil for “Tax Evasion and not obey[ing] a Judicial Order.” Though granted conditional bail in the immigration case, Rodrigues now is being held in the United States on Brazil’s warrant.

He also is implicated in a scheme known as IFreeX, the subject of a warning by the Massachusetts Securities Division last year.

The British Columbia Securities Commission issued a fraud warning against DFRF in May.

In the SEC complaint filed under seal June 30 and made public today, the agency described DFRF as an ongoing offering fraud and Filho as a thief who had siphoned investors’ outlays from the scheme.

“Filho has also used the investors’ money for his personal benefit,” the SEC charged in its 22-page complaint. “Since June 2014, he has siphoned more than $6 million out of DFRF — approximately 40% of the total received from investors. This includes more than $1.8 million in cash withdrawals, approximately $1.8 million for personal expenses (including $500,000 for travel), and almost $2.5 million to acquire a fleet of luxury automobiles.”

The scheme allegedly gathered about $15 million, the SEC charged.

“DFRF and its operators falsely claimed that they were running a lucrative gold mining business when in reality they were operating a Ponzi and pyramid scheme that preyed on investors in particular ethnic communities who stand to lose millions of dollars,” said John T. Dugan, associate regional director of the SEC’s Boston Regional Office. “Investors were not given the full story about the true value and security of their investments.”

Charged promoters include Wanderley M. Dalman of Revere, Mass.; Gaspar C. Jesus of Malden, Mass.; Eduardo N. Da Silva of Orlando, Fla.; Heriberto C. Perez Valdes of Miami; Jeffrey A. Feldman of Boca Raton; and Romildo Da Cunha of Brazil.

On Jan. 19, 2015, the PP Blog reported that DFRF was the apparent sponsor of an event in Florida that featured an appearance by Brazilian racing legend Emerson Fittipaldi. Sann Rodrigues — now jailed in the United States on a warrant from Brazil — also was seen with Fittipaldi.

Like Rodrigues, Filho is a Brazilian who has conducted business in the United States. He previously was linked to the noxious Evolution Market Group/Finanzas Forex case in 2010. The PP Blog first wrote about Filho more than five years ago, in May 2010.

A federal judge has approved an asset freeze in the DFRF case, the SEC said.

BehindMLM.com reported in May 2015 that DFRF had dropped the names of the SEC and the FBI in a YouTube sales pitch uploaded in December 2014.

From a statement today by the SEC (italics added):

The SEC alleges that DFRF Enterprises, named for its founder Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho, claimed to operate more than 50 gold mines in Brazil and Africa, but the company’s revenues came solely from selling membership interests to investors and not from mining gold. With the help of several promoters, they lured investors with such false promises as their money would be fully insured, DFRF has a line of credit with a Swiss private bank, and one-quarter of DFRF’s profits are used for charitable work in Africa. The scheme raised more than $15 million from at least 1,400 investors by recruiting new members in pyramid scheme fashion to keep the fraud afloat, and commissions were paid to earlier investors in Ponzi-like fashion for their recruitment efforts.

Rodrigues is not listed as a codefendant in the SEC’s case against Filho and the other defendants.

But the agency alleged that DFRF also had paid those defendants. Since June 2014: “approximately $521,000 to Valdes, $252,000 to Feldman, $221,000 to Silva, $56,000 to Jesus, $51,000 to Dalman, and $33,000 to Cunha.”

As was the case with TelexFree, some investors paid their sponsors directly, instead of paying DFRF, the SEC alleged.

“The amount of checks and cash that the individual defendants collected directly from investors is currently unknown,” the agency said.

Included among a “a fleet of luxury automobiles” acquired by Filho from investors’ money were a 2014 Rolls Royce, a 2015 Lamborghini, a 2014 Lamborghini, a 2012 Ferrari, a 2006 Ferrari, a 2013 Mercedes, a 2015 Cadillac and a 2014 Cadillac, the SEC charged.

Read the SEC’s DFRF complaint.

Jul 2, 2015
BULLETIN: Sann Rodrigues Subject Of INTERPOL Wanted Notice

Sanderley Rodrigues [de] Vasconcelos. Source: INTERPOL.
BULLETIN: TelexFree and IFreeX figure Sanderley Rodrigues [de] Vasconcelos (Sann Rodrigues) is the subject of an INTERPOL notice that says he is wanted by authorities in Brazil for “Tax Evasion and not obey[ing] a Judicial Order.”

Precisely when the notice was entered was not immediately clear. The notice drops the “de” portion of his last name, listing him as “Vasconcelos” as opposed to De Vasconcelos.

Rodrigues reportedly was detained yesterday in Boston by U.S. authorities at the request of Brazil.

The INTERPOL notice remains active online at the time of this PP Blog post.

Rodrigues was arrested last month in the United States on charges of immigration fraud. The SEC charged Rodrigues civilly last year with securities fraud for his alleged role in TelexFree, which allegedly gathered a sum on the order of $1.8 billion.

He is purported to be a world traveler.

The Brazilian judicial order appears to be in the context of IFreeX, the subject of a warning by the state of Massachusetts last year.

More as the situation develops . . .

Jun 30, 2015
DOCKET: Sann Rodrigues Released On Friday — And Reportedly Taken Into Custody Again Today

Sann Rodrigues (Sanderley Rodrigues de Vasconcelos).

EDITOR’S NOTE ADDED 10:10 P.M. EDT U.S.A.: About 16 minutes after the post below was published, PP Blog reader “Diego” sent a note and a link to an AP report dated today. The report says Rodrigues was arrested today in Boston at the request of Brazilian authorities. Our original story is below. The URLs to the AP story and a translation to English by Google are in the first two comments below . . .

**______________**

TelexFree and IFreeX figure Sann Rodrigues was released from the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service after meeting bail conditions June 26, according to the docket of the immigration-fraud case filed against him last month by federal prosecutors in the District of Massachusetts.

A person in Florida posted $200,000 cash, as part of the arrangement, according to paperwork in the immigration case.

Rodrigues, a citizen of Brazil who also has lived in the United States, was charged on May 16 with fraud and misuse of visas, permits and other documents, the office of U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz said on May 26.

He was arrested at Newark International Airport on May 16, after returning from a trip to Israel that began May 3 at Logan Airport in Boston, according to documents

Though prosecutors said Rodrigues initially was released on tight conditions May 21 from detention in New Jersey, the docket of the immigration case in Massachusetts suggests he was detained again on June 8 after not meeting all the bail conditions.

Those apparently now have been met.

In addition to requiring secured bail and other measures such as passport and driver’s-license surrender, U.S. Magistrate Judge Judge Marianne B. Bowler of Massachusetts ordered Rodrigues placed on home incarceration with electronic monitoring, to comply with a civil injunction in the SEC case against him and not to break any local, state or federal law while on release.

No trial date on the immigration-related charges has been set.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

Jun 29, 2015
TelexFree Figure Sann Rodrigues Reportedly Detained Again; MLM Huckster Is World Traveler, Documents Say

Sann Rodrigues is on the right in this TelexFree promo from 2014. Indicted TelexFree figures James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler are on the left.

UPDATED 12:55 P.M. EDT JUNE 24 U.S.A. Once alleged by a class-action plaintiff to be part of an international racketeering enterprise, TelexFree and IFreeX figure Sann Rodrigues, on May 3, 2015, allegedly told U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Boston’s Logan International Airport that he was about to travel to Israel.

Rodrigues, charged civilly by the SEC with securities fraud 13 months earlier in a case that alleged TelexFree had targeted affinity populations, “stated that he was embarking on a trip to the holy land with a church group for a week visit,” according to a May 7, 2015, affidavit by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). HSI is an arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The asserted church group was not identified in the affidavit. Also unclear is whether Rodrigues conducted business in Israel while there. What is clear is that Rodrigues had been conducting business in the United States for years. On at least one occasion, he allegedly failed to disclose to U.S. immigration officials that the SEC had brought a fraud action against him.

“Aliens” is a term under U.S. immigration law to describe foreign nationals. Rodrigues is a citizen of Brazil. Under U.S. law, aliens who’ve engaged in acts of terrorism, narcotics trafficking or seek to engage in “commercial vice” are ineligible to enter or reside in the United States, according to the affidavit.

Commercial vice typically covers crimes such as prostitution, but immigration law also addresses a “serious criminal offense” such as “any felony.” If Rodrigues is charged criminally with any Ponzi-related or other felony, it almost certainly will further cloud his immigration status. Since Rodrigues was arrested last month in the United States on a charge of visa fraud, that status already is under the U.S. microscope.

Among the allegations against Rodrigues, whose full name is Sanderley Rodrigues De Vasconcelos, was that he had obtained his U.S. green card fraudulently, the office of U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz said on May 26. Green cards provide for lawful, permanent U.S. residency.

Prior to receiving his green card in 2011, Rodrigues, in 2009, lied to the U.S. Consulate in Rio de Janiero to obtain a “B2” tourist visa with the stated purpose of visiting Las Vegas for eight days, according to the affidavit.

Upon his May 16 return to the United States from Israel, Rodrigues was arrested at a New Jersey airport (Newark International). He initially was jailed, but later was released on tight conditions.

But Rodrigues now has been detained again, BehindMLM.com reported today. The issue? Rodrigues, now an alleged visa fraudster in addition to being an alleged cross-border securities fraudster, reportedly has not met his bail conditions.

From BehindMLM (italics added):

[An] 8th of June hearing saw Rodrigues ordered to remain in the custody of the [U.S. Marshals Service], ‘until an SEC accounting or alternate funds are made available for bail‘.

Put another way, Rodrigues may not have enough clean money to comply with bail conditions.

U.S. federal court filings link Rodrigues to the alleged $1.8 billion TelexFree cross-border pyramid- and Ponzi scheme broken up by HSI and the SEC last year and to a 2006 pyramid scheme known as Universo Fone Club. Massachusetts investigators, meanwhile, have linked him to the IFreeX scheme.

Court records suggest Rodrigues has been in the United States at least on and off since at least 2003. And, according to the records, Rodrigues claimed in the 2009 B2 U.S. visa application for the trip to Las Vegas that he previously had traveled to Brazil, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The TelexFree huckster allegedly failed to disclose that he’d also traveled to the United States, had lived in the United States for years and was deposed in the United States by the SEC in the 2006 Universo Fone Club case.

In fact, according to court filings, Rodrigues claimed in 2009 never to have been in the United States — this allegedly despite the SEC deposition and his own claim that he had lived in the United States between 2003 and 2006.

Cross-Border Scamming MLM-Style

Precisely how long Rodrigues has been involved in MLM/network marketing is unclear. The SEC says it’s been since at least 2006, potentially meaning the huckster who reaches across borders via the Internet and allegedly claims to be a world traveler has been scamming recruits for at least nine years.

While pitching prospects, Rodrigues publicly claimed he hauled at least $3 million out of TelexFree. The SEC said that the Universo Fone Club enterprise gathered more than $3 million. (See June 2007 story in Forbes.)

TelexFree, in 2014, advertised Rodrigues as its “TOP PROMOTER IN THE WORLD” and as a headliner at its purported international convention in Spain on March 1 and 2. He later was charged civilly by the SEC with securities fraud.

Rodrigues was among TelexFree’s purported honorees at the Madrid confab. Whether he had a large TelexFree organization in Spain remains an open question. It has been reported that 50,000 Spaniards had become involved in the “program.”

Affinity fraud in the form of schemes targeted at people who have something in common — from common nationality and common religion to common financial problems and common political beliefs — is a growing menace. The Internet in large part drives the schemes across national borders. But cross-border travel also plays a role. Pitchfests are performed in grand hotels and in budget properties. Ships at sea also have been used.

If the visa and securities charges against Rodrigues are proven, it will mean that you can add immigration fraud to the mix of ways modern network marketers are duping the public.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

Jun 23, 2015