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Tag: Sann Rodrigues

SPECIAL REPORT: MyAdvertisingPays, Zeek Figures Sued In TelexFree Class Action; AdSurfDaily And Zeek Cases Cited Repeatedly; Alleged ‘Private Jet’ Also Referenced In 200-Page Complaint

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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 of the PP Blog is to make information available to a wide audience interested in Ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes, securities-fraud schemes and concerns about the interconnectivity of such schemes. The Blog was not consulted about the inclusion of its links or quoted material from the Blog. Nor was the Blog compensated. The PP Blog has no association with the class-action attorneys, who obviously are readers of the Blog and the other online publications.

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Still promoting MLM HYIP schemes in the face of evidence they cause intractable financial, legal and emotional pain that sometimes mushrooms to involve hundreds of thousands of people?

On March 9, 2015, the PP Blog reported that the name of “MyAdvertisingPays” was referenced in a TelexFree-related proposed class-action lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in December 2014.

The filing appeared to mark the first time MyAdvertisingPays, known in shorthand as MAPS, was referenced in a federal-court filing.

History shows that such references are closely watched by law enforcement. Indeed, they sometimes serve as unofficial triggering actions and presage federal regulatory action by civil authorities such as the SEC and even actions by agencies empowered to enforce criminal laws.

When the California Department of Business Oversight was investigating the WCM777 scam in 2013, for instance, TelexFree’s name popped up in the context of the cross-promotion of MLM HYIP schemes.

This was months before it became known that the SEC and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security were investigating TelexFree, alleged to have gathered at least $1.6 billion in a combined pyramid- and Ponzi scheme.

MyAdvertisingPays, a purported advertising “program” similar to the 2008 AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme and the bizarre Banners Broker scheme alleged in Canada to be a criminal enterprise, was not named a defendant in the proposed December 2014 TelexFree class action.

Instead, the complaint alleged that TelexFree huckster Daniil Shoyfer was “the largest single Promoter” of TelexFree “in the greater New York area.” Web records showed that Shoyfer also was promoting MAPS alongside MAPS colleagues such as U.K. hucksters Simon Stepsys and Shaun Smith.

Smith is alleged by the receiver in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi- and pyramid case to be one of the largest Zeek “winners” in the United Kingdom.

Willfully blind and supremely disingenuous MLM HYIP promoters moving from one cross-border fraud scheme to another has been a longtime problem. Such promoters may have little of their own money invested, but contribute to a condition under which banks and payment processors become warehouses for fraudulent proceeds cycling between and among scams.

New York is the financial center of the United States. The filing of the proposed TelexFree class action there contributed to questions about whether MAPS soon would be on the U.S. regulatory and enforcement radar.

The answer to that question remains unclear. What is clear is that the New York complaint was transferred to Massachusetts, the U.S. home base of TelexFree. And it’s also clear that Shoyfer has been named a defendant in an amended TelexFree class-action complaint filed April 30 in Massachusetts federal court.

Among the allegations against Shoyfer (italics added/light editing performed/formatting not precise):

TelexFree changed its compensation plan on or about March 9, 2014, much to the fury of affiliates, noted below. Shoyfer, however, continued to promote it unremittingly, sending group text messages to his network with such as the following:

Hey..my team Telexfree! ! And here we go again..Come to check out and learn about new compensation plan TF 2.0.. and how to grow it even faster and MUCH more aggressively and efficiently than the one we had before.…Here is this week’s schedule. . Monday 03/24 at Salon Delacqua (2027 86 str) at 8.00 pm (in English) ..Wednesday 03/26 at SOHO launch(2213 65th street) at 7.45 pm ( in Russian) and Thursday 03/27 at 7.30 pm at 63-112 Woodhaven Blvd in a real estate office. In my case, since I have started from absulute zero during this passed week Mon 03/17- Sun 03/23/14 I booked 11,500 from new one and 21,600 still coming from old plan..A total of 31,100 in 7 short days… Go Telex!!!

After the institution of the new TelexFree compensation plan in March 2014, Shoyfer took part in a closed meeting with TelexFree’s directors and owners in Marlborough, Massachusetts, at which Shoyfer was instructed not to discuss the new TelexFree compensation plan with others and non-insiders, as the new compensation plan was detrimental to Promoters and was adopted to forestall [TelexFree] filing bankruptcy.

So, a man who allegedly promoted TelexFree and had inside information detrimental to ordinary TelexFree affiliates allegedly kept it to himself, continued to promote the scheme — and then moved on to MAPS. This naturally leads to questions about whether Shoyfer has kept information from ordinary MAPS members.

Purpose Of The Amended TelexFree Class Action

The complaint is an effort to consolidate for the sake of efficiency various TelexFree-related class actions filed in various courts. Such actions were filed in multiple U.S. states.

But that’s not the only news: The amended complaint also names TelexFree pitchman Scott Miller a defendant alongside Shoyfer and HYIP huckster Faith Sloan. In documents prepared by Zeek receiver Kenneth D. Bell, Miller’s name appears as an alleged winner in the $897 million Zeek scheme.

In 2013, Miller promoted TelexFree through a publication known as Home Business Advertiser. Another advertiser promoted a cash-gifting scheme. A columnist described Jesus Christ as the person who inspired modern network marketers through his recruitment of 12 disciples.

A Semacon cash-counting machine appeared as a stage prop in a cash-gifting video advertised in Home Business Advertiser. The promos appeared after two women in Connecticut were sentenced to federal prison for their roles in a cash-gifting scheme and tax fraud.

Sloan, charged by the SEC last year with securities fraud for her alleged role in TelexFree, also promoted Zeek. She also harrumphed for Profitable Sunrise, an abomination taken down by the SEC in 2013, and Noobing, an HYIP targeted at people with hearing impairments that effectively was litigated into the ground by a court-appointed receiver.

Also named promoter-defendants in the amended TelexFree class action are Sanderley Rodrigues de Vasconcelos (Sann Rodrigues), a two-time SEC defendant in pyramid-scheme cases who allegedly also claimed his actions were inspired by a deity; Santiago de la Rosa; and Randy N. Crosby.

All three men, plus Sloan, also are defendants in the SEC action. Rodrigues, who pushed the IFreeX scheme after TelexFree, was arrested last month on a charge of immigration fraud. Tight bail conditions were imposed on him.

How the promoter-defendants will pay for their defenses in the amended class action is an open question. One of the risks of promoting such schemes is to be left totally on your own if the government or class-action attorneys file lawsuits.

Another open question is whether other shoes will drop in the government actions. The government probes are ongoing. Some of the class-action defendants conceivably could become defendants in amended or new actions filed by the SEC or agencies that have criminal enforcement power.

The amended TelexFree class action asserts fraud claims under Massachusetts law against a slew of defendants, including financial vendors and MLM attorney Gerald Nehra, also a figure in the the Zeek scheme and the AdSurfDaily Ponzi-scheme story. ASD was a $119 million Ponzi scheme broken up by the U.S. Secret Service in 2008. ASD operator Andy Bowdoin was sentenced to federal prison in 2012, after authorities tied him to at least two other cross-border fraud schemes: OneX and AdViewGlobal.

ASD’s name is referenced repeatedly in the amended TelexFree complaint, as is the name of Zeek. When the complaint will be heard is anyone’s guess. That’s because there are unresolved criminal matters against alleged TelexFree principals James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler, both of whom are named defendants in the amended complaint and also are among the subjects of the SEC complaint.

Katia Wanzeler, Wanzeler’s wife, also is named a defendant in the amended complaint. So is TelexFree figure Joe Craft, another defendant in the SEC action. Brazilian TelexFree figure Carlos Costa also is named a defendant in the amended class action.

Also named a defendant in the amended class action is Jason “Jay” Borromei of Laguna Niguel, Calif. Along with a company known as Opt3, he is accused of “intentionally, knowingly, unfairly and deceptively set[ting] up TelexFree’s United States-based servers in Brazil with the intent of directly furthering, aiding or abetting their unlawful and fraudulent operation, including facilitating the placement of evidence of the Pyramid Scheme beyond the jurisdiction of the United States’ courts.”

With TelexFree itself in bankruptcy court, the class-action plaintiffs contend that “Opt3 and Borromei have a history of providing technical services within the multilevel marketing industry and hold themselves out as having related specialized knowledge. For example, Borromei previously served as chief information officer of Joystar, Inc., later renamed Travelstar, a multilevel marketing company that collapsed in approximately late 2008, and subsequently entered involuntary chapter 7 bankruptcy.”

Though not named a defendant in the amended class action, TelexFree and Zeek figure Tom More also is referenced in the 200-page complaint.

‘Private Jet’ Gets A Mention

On March 9, 2014, the PP Blog reported that a person who took the stage at a TelexFree rah-rah fest in Massachusetts asserted that TelexFree had access to a “private jet” that recently had ventured to the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

The “private jet” also was referenced in the class-action complaint. Details about it remain unclear.

At the moment, the April 30, 2015, amended and consolidated complaint is posted here at the website of class-action attorney Robert Bonsignore.

Jun 15, 2015
Judge Orders Sann Rodrigues Off The Road

From YouTube.

UPDATED 3:19 P.M. EDT U.S.A. TelexFree and IFreeX MLM promoter Sanderley Rodrigues de Vasconcelos (Sann Rodrigues) won’t be putting the pedal to the metal of his Lamborghini anytime soon — unless he wants to risk going back to jail.

That’s because U.S. Magistrate Judge Steven C. Mannion of the District of New Jersey issued an order May 21 for Rodrigues to surrender his driver’s license as one of the conditions for his release on a charge of immigration fraud. There are other tight conditions, including home confinement, electronic monitoring, secured bond and passport surrender.

And if any doubts remained that U.S. authorities were unaware of the TelexFree-related allegations of securities fraud against Rodrigues in Massachusetts federal court when he was busted in New Jersey earlier his month on the immigration charge, those doubts have been put to rest.

That’s because Mannion specifically referenced the TelexFree case. Indeed, the New Jersey judge informed Rodrigues that he’d deem it “evidence of the defendant preparing to flee” if the Massachusetts court determined the Brazil native had “moved assets” after the immigration bust and violated an injunction flowing from the SEC’s civil case against Rodrigues and seven others filed in April 2014.

Such gamesmanship would be treated as a violation of his bail conditions in New Jersey, Mannion warned.

Mannion also ordered Rodrigues to obtain “[m]ental heath testing/treatment” at the direction of pretrial services. No reason was cited.

The SEC alleged last year that Rodrigues had claimed on YouTube that “God” made MLM and “binary” and that Rodrigues had claimed he’s “never going to stop this.”

In 2006, Rodrigues was named an SEC defendant in a complaint that charged he operated a pyramid scheme known as Universo Fone Club that involved phone cards. TelexFree, which surfaced about six years later, purportedly sold VOIP services.

In May 2014 — a month after the SEC brought the TelexFree-related action against Rodrigues and seven others — Rodrigues appears to have become involved in an unsuccessful effort to create the impression he’d been accorded honors by the Brazilian Senate.

Rodrigues, according to court filings, informed Mannion that he owned two cars — one of them a 2007 Lamborghini of “unknown” value used for the purposes of “Business.” The other car, said to be worth $60,000, was not described.

A “Sann Rodrigues” YouTube account shows Rodrigues posing with three flashy rides, including a Lamborghini, a Ferrari and a Mercedes-Benz.

Prior to his immigration arrest, the TelexFree huckster was seen tooling around in a Ferrari and playing highway cowboy. Rodrigues has a wife and two young children, according to court filings.

Meanwhile, Rodrigues owns two “unencumbered” homes — one worth $400,000, the other $175,000 — and currently makes $80,000 a year, according to court filings.

As the PP Blog reported on May 25, the IFreeX site went offline sometime after Rodrigues was arrested on the immigration charge. The reason why remains unclear.

One thing that is clear is that Mannion also ordered Rodrigues not to break any federal, state or local laws while he was out on bail.

The state of Massachusetts — the U.S. base of TelexFree — put out an IFreeX warning last year.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

May 28, 2015
IFreeX Site Offline; At Least 2 U.S. Officials Involved In TelexFree Ponzi Prosecution Also Involved In Sann Rodrigues Prosecution On Immigration Charge

From a 2014 YouTube promo for iFreeX. Masking by PP Blog. In 2014, T-Mobile told the PP Blog that it was seeking to determine if IFreeX was misusing T-Mobile’s intellectual property.

The website of IFreeX.com is offline. The PP Blog could not immediately determine why. Visitors are seeing a GoDaddy.com page.

A PP Blog reader reported the outage at 6:49 p.m. EDT today. The outage occurred one week to the day after TelexFree and IFreeX figure Sann Rodrigues was arrested at a New Jersey airport on allegations related to visa fraud.

Google cache suggests IFreeX.com was online earlier today.

As part of its reporting, the PP Blog has reviewed certain documents pertaining to the criminal prosecution of TelexFree figures James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler and documents pertaining to the immigration arrest of Rodrigues. The documents show that the same U.S. federal prosecutor is involved in both the Merrill/Wanzeler case and the immigration case involving Rodrigues.

At the same time, the documents show that the same Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agent also is involved in both prosecutions. In addition to filing paperwork against Rodrigues in the immigration case, the agent filed paperwork that led to the 2014 arrest on a TelexFree-related material-witness warrant at JFK Airport in New York of Katia Wanzeler.

Katia is the wife of Carlos Wanzeler, who has been described by the United States as an international fugitive. Katia later was released. HSI, which conducted a TelexFree-related undercover operation beginning in 2013, is an arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler were indicted in July 2014 on eight criminal counts of wire fraud and one criminal count of wire-fraud conspiracy. Earlier, in April 2014, Merrill, Carlos Wanzeler, Rodrigues and five others were charged civilly with fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

TelexFree, which hawked a VOIP service, has been described in Bankruptcy Court filings by a court-appointed trustee as a cross-border pyramid scheme that gathered $1.8 billion in about two years.

Separately, BehindMLM.com is reporting in a story dated May 26 that a website known as 2PayNet also is offline. The site may be connected in some way with IFreeX.

In September 2014, Massachusetts Commonwealth Secretary William Galvin described IFreeX as something that appeared “to be nothing more than a rebranded TelexFREE fraud for mobile phones.”

On Oct. 1, 2014, T-Mobile told the PP Blog that it was seeking to determine if IFreeX was misusing T-Mobile’s intellectual property in online promos for IFreeX.

The Department of Homeland Security also is involved in intellectual-property cases. It is unclear if the agency investigated IFreeX for abuse of intellectual property.

Says DHS on its website (italics added):

Intellectual property rights theft is not a victimless crime. It threatens U.S. businesses and robs hard-working Americans of their jobs, which negatively impacts the economy. It can also pose serious health and safety risks to consumers, and oftentimes, it fuels global organized crime.

NOTE: In an affidavit accompanying the immigration complaint against Rodrigues, a footnote leads to a report on Rodrigues by the PP Blog. The story was published on Feb. 6, 2014. It is titled, “MORE FROM MLM LA-LA LAND: Former SEC Defendant In Pyramid-Scheme And Affinity-Fraud Case To Headline TelexFree Event In Spain.”

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

May 25, 2015
REPORTS: TelexFree Figure Sann Rodrigues Arrested In New Jersey

Sann Rodrigues. From a promo for the TelexFree international convention in Spain in 2014.

BULLETIN: (Updated 9:27 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) TelexFree and iFreeX figure Sann Rodrigues has been arrested in New Jersey, according to the Blog of Joaldro Dalla “Billy” Costa, citing a report on radio station WSRO 650 AM in Framingham, Mass.

Billy’s story is in Portuguese. Here is the English translation by Google Translate.

Rodrigues — listed as Devasc Sanderley Rodrigues in online booking records and believed to be a native of Brazil who has lived in the U.S. states of Massachusetts and Florida — appears to have been arrested May 18.

On the same day, U.S. and Brazilian law-enforcement officials met in Washington, D.C. Whether the international talks and the arrest were a coincidence was not immediately clear.

The records suggest Rodrigues was detained at the Essex County Correctional Facility.

Billy’s story suggests the booking was immigration-related. The PP Blog could not immediately confirm the information.

The Essex County site provides a link to http://www.eccorrections.org/inmatelookup. When the name Sanderley Rodrigues is typed into the form and viewers click on a follow-up link, a booking photo of Rodrigues appears.

No release date appears, suggesting Rodrigues, 43, still is being held. Information on bond and a specific charge was not posted.

Rodrigues was one of eight TelexFree figures charged civilly with securities fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He is a recidivist securities violator, according to the SEC.

TelexFree, an alleged Ponzi- and pyramid scheme that may have gathered on the order of $1.8 billion in about two years, is under investigation by the SEC and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Alleged TelexFree operators James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler have been charged criminally.

U.S. authorities have called Wanzeler an international fugitive perhaps living in Brazil.

On May 18, officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an arm of the Department of Homeland Security, met in Washington with officials from the Brazilian National Police.

The officials “discussed the joint commitment to continued information-sharing and conducting investigations into child exploitation, financial fraud and human trafficking, among other topics,” according to an ICE news release dated May 21.

May 23, 2015
[PART 1]: CLAIM: Major TelexFree Promoter Operated Out Of New York City Beauty Salon And Marriott Hotel

“Because that’s where the money is.” — Classic rejoinder attributed to Brooklyn-born criminal Willie Sutton, reportedly after he was asked why he robbed banks. The often-quoted line may or may not be apocryphal. (Also see “Sutton’s Law” on the need to consider the obvious and “When you hear hoofbeats, think of horses not zebras.”)

UPDATED 5:26 P.M. EDT U.S.A. If you had the means to throw down $140 for “Chocolate Body Therapy” or $260 to get the “Prince or Princess for a Day” treatment, would you also have the means to direct some cash to an MLM “program” purported to double or triple your money?

Daniil Shoyfer of Staten Island perhaps thought so. In a proposed class-action lawsuit against various TelexFree figures, the plaintiffs accuse Shoyfer of holding TelexFree pitchfests at Salon Delacqua, a beauty shop that offers moderately priced and upscale services on 86th Street in Brooklyn. The meetings appear to have occurred at 8 p.m., near or at the shop’s published closing time.

These pitches included promises of “fabulous wealth,” according to the plaintiffs. The salon also advertises a “Brazilian Karatine” hair-strengthening treatment that takes three hours and begins at $250.

And when Shoyfer wasn’t at the salon, he allegedly was at the Marriott Hotel Grand Ballroom at 102-05 Ditmars Blvd. in the Queens neighborhood of East Elmhust near LaGuardia Airport, pitching the “program” in a room that hotel says on its website can be configured to seat 400.

The demographics from the neighborhood (2010) suggest that 30 percent of its residents were born outside of the United States, with a Latino population on the rise. TelexFree was accused last year by the SEC of targeting immigrants.

Shoyfer pitchfests also were hosted elsewhere in the Greater New York City region, and allegedly were conducted in English and Russian. The sites included the SOHO Lounge in Brooklyn and a real-estate office in the Rego Park neighborhood of Queens.

Accused TelexFree executive Steve Labriola was a co-host at a Shoyfer Marriott pitchfest, dubbed a “Superweekend in NY,” according to the plaintiffs.

Shoyfer allegedly took his marching orders from Labriola and other TelexFree “founders,” including accused Ponzi schemers James Merrill, Carlos Wanzeler and Carlos Costa. Also within the alleged den of financial impropriety were accused TelexFree securities fraudster Joe Craft, an accountant, and Katia Wanzeler, the wife of Carlos Wanzeler.

Along for the ride in the TelexFree swindle, according to the plaintiffs, were Sann Rodrigues, Faith Sloan, Randy Crosby and Santiago de la Rosa, all four of whom were accused by the SEC last year of securities fraud and named defendants in the proposed class action. It is one of several tied to the alleged TelexFree Ponzi- and pyramid scheme.

“Defendant Shoyfer was the creator and leader of a large network of TelexFree Promoters based primarily in New York City, but extending into other states as well, including Massachusetts, and he is believed to have been the largest single Promoter in the greater New York area,” the plaintiffs alleged. “Under any view, Shoyfer funneled a portion of his ill-gotten gain up the food chain to TelexFree, its masterminds and other Defendants.”

The complaint includes alleged passages from Shoyfer text messages to his TelexFree group. These suggest he was gathering cashier’s checks from his downline, and included a claim that he had made “$142,320 in a single week in February 2014” from TelexFree.

According to the complaint, in December 2013, prior to TelexFree’s Sunday night bankruptcy filing in April 2014, Shoyfer told his group this on behalf of himself and TelexFree “founders” (italics added):

From my upper line “Happy New Year everyone!!! 2014 is gonna be the best year for Telexfree$$$! TelexMobil is about to be launched in January! ! And, on Thursday January 23rd at 6.30 pm I will be doing my first Telexfree Superweekend in NY with Steve Labriola (director of international marketing TF) at Marriott Hotel Grand Ballroom by La Guardia Airport at 102-05 Dimars Blvd, Flushing NY 11369 (parking available). Now is the time to meet with top corporate representative..and my top leaders in my rapidly growing team.. You MUST invite your people (forward this msg to them), especially those who r still sitting on sidelines, debating about legibility [sic] and future of this company. .Trust me after this event, all negativity will disappear. .and you will double and triple you earnings in this busine$$ venture in 2014…”

On Feb. 26, 2014, about two days before the Massachusetts Securities Division made public the news that TelexFree was under investigation, Shoyfer allegedly told his group this on behalf of himself and TelexFree “founders” (italics added):

I just received checks from everyone but will wait for u to bring it until 2 p.m… then I’m going to FedEx.

On Feb. 28, the very day news broke that MSD was investigating TelexFree even as the company was reaching into Spain and conducting an event at an ornate hotel in Madrid, Shoyfer allegedly told his group this on behalf of himself and TelexFree “founders” (italics added):

Bring me certified checks now I will send them to ewallet by federal express and they will post it immediately.

TelexFree is alleged to have changed its compensation plan on March 9, 2014, much to the fury of affiliates. Shoyfer, however, continued to promote it, according to the plaintiffs (italics added):

Hey..my team Telexfree! ! And here we go again..Come to check out and learn about new compensation plan TF 2.0.. and how to grow it even faster and MUCH more aggressively and efficiently than the one we had before.…Here is this week’s schedule. . Monday 03/24 at Salon Delacqua (2027 86 str) at 8.00 pm (in English) ..Wednesday 03/26 at SOHO launch(2213 65th street) at 7.45 pm ( in Russian) and Thursday 03/27 at 7.30 pm at 63-112 Woodhaven Blvd in a real estate office. In my case, since I have started from absulute zero during this passed week Mon 03/17- Sun 03/23/14 I booked 11,500 from new one and 21,600 still coming from old plan..A total of 31,100 in 7 short days… Go Telex!!!”

The import of this, according to the plaintiffs, is that [a]fter the institution of the new TelexFree compensation plan in March of 2014, Shoyfer took part in a closed meeting with TelexFree’s Directors and Owners in Marlborough, Massachusetts, at which Shoyfer was instructed not to discuss the new TelexFree compensation plan with other, non-insiders, as the new compensation plan was detrimental to Promoters and was adopted to forestall filing bankruptcy.”

In short, the plaintiffs accuse Shoyfer of working in concert with TelexFree management to dupe people into enrolling “right up until TelexFree’s bankruptcy filing.”

Filings in the TelexFree bankruptcy case suggest Shoyfer received nearly $88,000 from TelexFree in two separate payments just prior to the April 13 bankruptcy filing. The first, for $9,902.37, occurred on March 21, and the second, for $78,037.33, occurred on March 28.

NOTE: Part 2 of this two-part PP Blog series on the class-action lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, will be published later. Part 2 will cover other allegations from the complaint, filed Dec. 12. A copy of the complaint is available through TruthInAdvertising.org. (Link to complaint temporarily disabled by PP Blog at 9 p.m. EDT March 9, 2015.)

Mar 8, 2015
TelexFree/iFreeX Figure Sann Rodrigues Appears In Car With Emerson Fittipaldi; Is Brazilian Racing Legend Being Duped By MLM Huckster?

Racing legend Emerson Fittipaldi somehow ended up in a car with TelexFree figure Sann Rodrigues. Source: Video on DailyMotion.

UPDATED 2:14 P.M. ET U.S.A. It is not unusual for financial fraudsters to seek to rub elbows with famous people or to imply ties to them as a means of sanitizing purported “opportunities” or accenting their own bona fides. Recent examples of this include Florida-based Ponzi-schemer/racketeer Scott Rothstein, who mixed with the elite as his epic fraud scheme spiraled out of control.

Florida-based AdSurfDaily Ponzi schemer Andy Bowdoin (and any number of his promoters) falsely implied that then-President George W. Bush was on ASD’s train. The Mantria Corp. Ponzi scheme in Colorado traded on images of former President Bill Clinton and famous politicians or business executives.

The WCM777 scam traded on purported ties to Siemens and scores of famous companies. Siemens publicy refuted the WCM777 claims.

TelexFree, alleged to have gathered hundreds of millions of dollars in a combined Ponzi- and pyramid scheme targeted in no small measure at Brazilians and people who speak Portuguese or Spanish, aligned itself with the Botafogo soccer club in Brazil. The PR results were disastrous.

Now comes word that Sann Rodrigues, a figure in both the TelexFree and iFreeX schemes, is seen in a video in which he is driving a car. That in itself wouldn’t be unusual, in that Rodrigues previously has recorded one or more videos that put him behind the wheel of a flashy ride.

But in this case the passenger in the car is Emerson Fittipaldi, the Brazilian racing legend who won the Formula One World Championship twice and also is a two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500.

The PP Blog has sought comment from Fittipaldi through multiple channels and hopes to hear back from the legend. If Fittipaldi or his organization responds, we’ll make sure you see that response.

Rodrigues was charged by the SEC in April 2014 with securities fraud for his alleged role in the massive TelexFree swindle. This marked the second time the SEC had implicated him in a fraud scheme. The first was a 2006 scam known as Universo Foneclub Corporation. Like TelexFree, Universo Foneclub allegedly was targeted at the Brazilian community.

TelexFree also is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Federal Police in Brazil. At the same time, the Securities Division of Massachusetts Commonwealth Secretary William Galvin also is investigating TelexFree.

In September 2014, Galvin issued a warning about iFreeX, another “program” associated with Rodrigues. T-Mobile, the famous phone company, later said it was checking to see if its branding material was being misused by iFreeX.

Precisely how Fittipaldi ended up in a car with Rodrigues is unclear. Early research suggests Fittipaldi made an appearance at a hotel in the area of Orlando, Fla., on or around Jan. 6 of this year. Rodrigues may reside in the Orlando area.

The Orlando event appears to have been arranged by a venture known as DFRF. The asserted operator of that venture is Daniel Fernandez Rojo Filho. (The Ferdandez name also has been spelled with a trailing “s,” as opposed to a “z.”) His name surfaced as part of the Evolution Market Group/Finanzas Forex case in 2010.

(Also see PP Blog article. Also see Palm Beach Post article.)

It is clear that some Brazilians interested in the TelexFree case are closely following the appearance of Fittipaldi alongside Rodrigues, wondering if the racing legend is being duped by an alleged recidivist swindler.

Jan 19, 2015
OUTRAGEOUS! Emerging Scheme That Appears To Have TelexFree Ties Is Trading On The Name Of Abraham Lincoln

UPDATED 12:24 P.M. EDT U.S.A. BehindMLM.com has a story today about an emerging “program” known as “8Elos” that may have ties to TelexFree promoters, including Sann Rodrigues, already charged with fraud in the TelexFree Ponzi- and pyramid case.

Rodrigues is an alleged recidivist securities- and affinity fraudster who now may be adding a shiny object scheme (emeralds) to his fraud bona fides. The evolving situation is so bizarre it almost defies description. BehindMLM, which reports 8Elos is using addresses in the British Virgin Islands and Switzerland, has published an early review here.

One of the things that caught the eye of the PP Blog is that 8Elos appears to be trying to loosen American purse strings by trading on the venerated name of Abraham Lincoln through the use of a quote on leadership attributed to the 16th President of the United States.

The PP Blog could not immediately confirm that Lincoln ever spoke the words attributed to him by 8Elos: “The greatest ability of a leader is to develop extraordinary abilities in ordinary people.”

By even attributing a quote to Lincoln, however, 8ELos may be trying to sanitize a scam in largely the same way a 2011 MLM scam known as Club Asteria tried to sanitize its scam and bring in large numbers of Indians. Club Asteria leeched off the name of Mahatma Gandhi.

8Elos may be targeting Brazilians, Brazilian-Americans and Latinos. Based on the flags published on its website, it also may be targeting Chinese, Portuguese, Spaniards and Russians.

Lincoln was assassinated in 1865; Gandhi was assassinated in 1948.

Club Asteria put a “JOIN OUR MISSION” button below a quote attributed to Gandhi. It also placed a “JOIN NOW” button directly below an image of the actor Will Smith — this after months of trading on the names of the American Red Cross and the World Bank.

8Elos, which implies it has ties to emerald and gemstone deposits in Brazil, curiously describes itself as “the perfect link between everything and everyone, the four elements with the four dimensions, people in search of infinity and its preciousness.”

Also see PP Blog story from Oct. 2, 2012: “Was This Man Your Zeek Sponsor?”

Also see this May 29, 2014, Media Alert from the Utah Securities Commission, an arm of the Utah Department of Commerce.

From the lede (italics/bolding added):

The Utah Securities Commission issued a Final Order against Jack Phillips, an Oregon resident, for conning Utah investors into several phony investment schemes involving travel cards, foreign currency trading, and importing Brazilian emeralds for sale all while promising guaranteed returns of 300 to 500% with no risk to investors.

Oct 22, 2014
NEW ENGLAND PUBLIC RADIO: Secretary Galvin Talks TelexFree, Sann Rodrigues And ‘IFreeX,’ Tells Station Accused Huckster’s ‘Current Whereabouts . . . Unknown’

UPDATED 8 A.M. EDT U.S.A. New England Public Radio has a minute-long audio report on TelexFree, iFreeX and Sann Rodrigues, including comments from Massachusetts Commonwealth Secretary William Galvin.

An NEPR text report is available here. Look under the byline of Kari Njiiri for a link to the audio report.

Rodrigues, accused in April 2014 by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of fraud over his alleged role in TelexFree, earlier (in 2006) was accused of fraud by the SEC in a separate alleged pyramid scheme involving phone products. iFreeX may constitute at least his third dance in securities- and affinity-fraud schemes involving communications products.

Galvin reportedly told the station that the “current whereabouts” of Rodrigues is unknown. The charged pitchman hails from Brazil, once resided in Massachusetts and also has lived in Florida.

Rodrigues, according to the SEC, has claimed that “God” started MLM and “binary” MLM “programs.”

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.

SEC case filings alleged that, on March 15, Rodrigues’ co-defendant Faith 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.”

Regulators have described TelexFree as a billion-dollar pyramid- and Ponzi scheme that operated across national borders.

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. Bowoin later was sentenced to federal prison for his $119 million Ponzi scheme.

Promos showed Bowdoin asserting from a stage in Las Vegas that he was a Christian “money magnet” and that cash would “flow” back to people who gave him tens of thousands of dollars at a time.

Affinity fraud may occur in many contexts: appeals to religious faith, appeals to common interests, appeals to common heritage, appeals to common political interests and more.

Oct 3, 2014
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Massachusetts Issues Warning On ‘IFreeX’ Scheme; ‘iFreex Appears To Be Nothing More Than A Rebranded TelexFREE Fraud For Mobile Phones’

Massachusetts Commonwealth Secretary William Galvin.

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Massachusetts Commonwealth Secretary William Galvin has issued a warning on an emerging scheme known as “IFreeX.”

Like TelexFree before it, IFreeX is being pitched by two-time SEC pyramid-scheme defendant Sann Rodrigues and is being targeted at the Brazilian community.

Rodrigues also is known as Sanderley Rodrigues de Vasconcelos, and individuals already have filed complaints about his promotion of IFreeX, Galvin’s office said. The headline on a state news release is, “SECRETARY GALVIN WARNS OF NEW PHONE SCAM TARGETING BRAZILIAN COMMUNITY.”

This is the entire statement issued by the Massachusetts Securities Division a short time ago (italics/logo graphic added by PP Blog):

Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin today warned investors, especially persons in the Brazilian community, about iFreex, a phone service app promising lucrative returns with minimal effort. It appears to be much like TelexFREE, a scam that targeted the Brazilian and other minority communities.

According to complaints made to the Securities Division, Sanderley Rodrigues de Vasconcelos, also known as Sann Rodrigues, who was once a top TelexFREE promoter, is now promoting iFreex, enticing investors to pre-register with promises of a new iPhone.

On his Facebook page, Rodrigues, a former Revere resident, even claimed that iFreex would be the new TelexFREE. TelexFREE was charged by the Massachusetts Securities Division and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this year with fraud in operating a pyramid scheme. It is now in bankruptcy.

“iFreex appears to be nothing more than a rebranded TelexFREE fraud for mobile phones,” Secretary Galvin said. “Everyone, but especially those in the Brazilian and other immigrant communities that are the target of these pitches, need to be skeptical of any scheme that offers guaranteed returns with little or no effort. Unfortunately, we have seen an increase in these pyramid schemes in the past year.”

Rodrigues, who was charged by the SEC in the TelexFREE case, was charged in 2006 with a similar telecommunications scheme . . . and barred from securities dealings in Massachusetts. That scheme, too, targeted the Brazilian community.

iFreex appears to have many of the same characteristics as other pyramid schemes the Securities Division has recently brought actions against, including Wings, TelexFREE and WCM777.

While there is little information available about the iFreex operations, management, and headquarters, it is scheduled to go live in early November and is currently accepting preregistrations with the promise to investors of a new iPhone.

Those who have information about iFreex are encouraged to call the Securities Division at the toll-free 1-800-269-5428.

Sep 30, 2014
Small Sampling Of TelexFree ‘Net Losers’ Paints Picture Of Massive Cash Losses And Potentially Horrifying Loss Of Future Purchasing Power

TelexFree pitchman Sann Rodrigues, one of four promoters accused by the SEC of fraud. Rodrigues, a defendant in an earlier SEC case that alleged pyramid-scheming and affinity fraud, has ties to Massachusetts, Florida and Brazil.

UPDATED 3:33 P.M. EDT SEPT. 22 U.S.A. A small subset of data from 95 self-identified “net losers” in the TelexFree MLM scheme shows that they lost a whopping average of $27,578 each, according to an analysis by the PP Blog of court filings in the TelexFree bankruptcy case.

The average could be higher because investment sums for four of the 95 were not immediately available. Particularly concerning is a claim from the 95 losers that there may be “1,000,000 or more victims” of TelexFree’s fraud.

Viewed in microcosm, the data from the 95 losers paint a picture of an incredible loss of purchasing power across U.S. states and across the Atlantic Ocean into Italy — all from an association with TelexFree. At a minimum, the data suggest that TelexFree could cause certain U.S. investors to lose their nest eggs or even slip deeper into poverty.

When compared to the U.S. poverty guidelines as published by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services earlier this year, TelexFree eviscerated wealth among the TelexFree group of 95 at better than two times the U.S. poverty wage of $11,600 for one-person households in 2014. With average TelexFree losses among the group of 95 at $27,578, the 2014 poverty-wage of $27,910 for a five-member household nearly was matched. (The poverty guidelines referenced in this story are for the 48 contiguous U.S. states and the District of Columbia.)

What this means, in essence, is that certain TelexFree members who perhaps were living in poverty or had a meager standard of living before they encountered TelexFree have lost capital at a rate that further tightens their economic shackles. Lost purchasing power means a lower standard of living for many Americans already living on tight budgets and may translate into things such as automobile repossessions and mortgage foreclosures.

The bitter irony is that TelexFree — like many HYIP schemes — was positioned as the remedy for economic ills, perhaps particularly the ills of people already at the edge of individual and family disaster. In a bizarre sales strategy, TelexFree appears to have targeted the impoverished people of Haiti to sell a purported credit-repair program to impoverished people in the United States and elsewhere.

Some purported TelexFree “leaders” appear to have had access to a “private jet” that traveled from nation to nation to line up marks.

In many cases, according to the group of 95, the losses eroded or eviscerated the “life savings” of TelexFree members.

Some TelexFree members were lured into the scheme by promises that $289 would return $1,040 in a year, $1,375 would return $5,200 and $15,125 would return $57,200. (Investors at the $1,375 level appear later to have been pitched to buy in at $1,425. Investors at the $289 level appear later to haven been pitched to buy in at $299. See story below for a reference to buy-ins at the $1,375 and $1,425 levels among the group of 95. Many TelexFree members bought in at much higher levels.)

“Everybody gets paid” was a common theme. The “program” even reached into other nations with severe economic challenges such as Peru and Rwanda.

Of the group of 95, about 38 listed addresses in Massachusetts, TelexFree’s U.S. base. One individual in Everett, Mass., listed a loss of $427,500. Another person in Saugus, Mass., listed a loss of $345,000. Two other individuals with the same address in Revere, Mass., listed combined losses of $350,000 — $175,000 each. A person in Woburn, Mass., listed a loss of $72,800. Another person in Chelmsford, Mass., listed a loss of more than $58,777.

In nearby Connecticut, a person in Stratford listed a loss of $42,000. A person in Monroe listed a loss of $35,625. At the same time, a person in Trumbull listed a loss of $19,950. Also in the New England region, a person in Nashua, N.H., listed a loss of $16,000.

To the south of Massachusetts, an individual in Waleska, Ga., listed a loss of more than $109,465. A person in Raleigh, N.C. listed a loss of more than $81,889. To the west, two persons with different addresses in Las Vegas listed losses of $50,000 — $25,000 each. Another person with a Las Vegas address listed a loss of $26,800. Yet another person in Las Vegas listed a loss of $17,175.

In April 2014 — after bringing an emergency action against TelexFree and alleging it was conducting a massive Ponzi- and pyramid scheme — the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that the “program” mainly was targeted at “Dominican and Brazilian immigrants in the U.S.”

The SEC’s action occurred after authorities in Brazil — a Portuguese-speaking country — alleged that a TelexFree arm known as Ympactus was targeting investors there in a pyramid scheme.

The group of 95 now says that TelexFree also targeted the “Nigerian and Russian” communities, in addition to the Spanish- or Portuguese-speaking communities.

“. . . many Promoters do not speak English fluently,” the group of 95 says, adding that “creditor victims here are also undocumented immigrants residing in the United States, and may be thus extremely reluctant to directly participate in any formal proceedings, and also extremely reluctant to deal with a bankruptcy trustee or other official representative with duties other than solely to creditors. The bulk of the Debtors’ unsecured creditors cannot engage with these Chapter 11 Cases in any meaningful way.”

Court filings by the group of 95 now show that TelexFree also had a presence among people who speak Italian and have addresses in Italy. Several addresses in Italy proper appear in a document filed by the group of 95, including the address of a person said to have lost $21,375, a person said to have lost $11,400 and another person said to have lost more than $8,699.

Many others across the spectrum of the group of 95 suffered smaller losses that may be equally painful. The smallest sum lost by member of the group appears to be $900 — by a person in Deltona, Fla. Another person in Deltona is said to have lost $1,645.

Other “small” sums lost by members of the group of 95 include $1,375 by a person in Bologna, Italy; $1,425 by a person in Las Vegas; another $1,425 lost by a different person in Las Vegas; $1,425 by a person in New Bedford, Mass; and $1,425 by a person in Weymouth, Mass.

Buy-in dollar sums from the low thousands to the multiple tens of thousands were common among the group of 95, which is seeking to form an official committee of unsecured creditors in the TelexFree bankruptcy case.

Sep 21, 2014
DEVELOPING STORY: The TelexFree Rabbit Hole, Exposed

UPDATED 11:16 P.M. EDT U.S.A. We now may have an answer to some or all of these questions: What happens when you’re Massachusetts-based TelexFree — and apparently so out of touch that Sann Rodrigues, a former SEC defendant in a pyramid-scheme and affinity-fraud case, becomes one of the most recognizable public faces of your company and tells the troops (on video) that he’s made “$3 million?”

What happens when, on your home turf, you’re effectively targeting the same population group (Brazilian immigrants who speak Portuguese) Rodrigues was accused of targeting in his earlier scam, a scam that operated in part from Massachusetts? What happens when you’re also targeting Dominicans who speak Spanish?

And what happens when Rodrigues becomes one of the most recognizable public faces of your company after a federal judge — years earlier — had permanently enjoined him from violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws?

Further, what happens when other promoters are going around telling recruits that $15,125 sent to TelexFree will return a guaranteed payout of $1,100 a week for a year and you don’t have to sell a single product to triple or quadruple your money? Further yet, what happens when Rodrigues plants the seed that all is well because an award-worthy American MLM lawyer is aboard the ship?

What happens when, say, serial MLM HYIP huckster Faith Sloan, fresh off the Zeek Rewards and Profitable Sunrise scams, also emerges as one of your top promoters?

Moreover, what happens when promoters are going around saying things such as TelexFree has gained “SEC approval” and publishing claims such as this?

“With the authorization from the attorney general to launch in the US, many predict we’ll see extraordinary growth in the United States in 2013.” — From promos for TelexFree in 2013

What happens when, say, the claim that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has vetted TelexFree appears on a Facebook site purportedly operated by “TELEXFREE TEAM NIGERIA.”

Think you might gain the attention of, say, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security? Think that attention might increase after promoters suggest that President Obama had your back? Think it might further intensify if it turns out that Brazilians and Dominicans in Massachusetts weren’t enough, that you’d also reached into communities in South America, Hispaniola, Europe, Africa and Asia?

What if you plant the seed that the memory of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan is the inspiration behind your business — this after you’ve also targeted the people of Haiti and Rwanda?

Might the attention you’re receiving intensify after you’re suddenly filing bankruptcy on a Sunday night when, during the two previous months, you’d been telling Public Utilities Commissions in one state after another that you’re flush with cash — so much so, that you even can lend millions of it out?

What happens when, say, one of the states you assured of your financial clout played host to the “2012 Cybercrime Conference” hosted by the U.S. Department of Justice at which one of the top national-security advisers to the President of the United States observed that cybercriminals bent on poking holes in banks may be responsible for “the greatest transfer of wealth in history?”

What if President’s Obama’s national-security adviser had said something such as this at the conference?

“Outside the public eye, a slow hemorrhaging is occurring; a range of cyber activities is incrementally diminishing our security and siphoning off valuable economic assets” — Lisa Monaco, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, Oct. 25, 2012. NOTE: Monaco now holds the title of Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism.

What if you’ve used U.S. banks and payment systems to help you gather more than $1.2 billion and then declared bankruptcy just a little more than two years after you launched your “program” in cyberspace? What happens when, just days earlier, you’d been telling Public Utilities Commissions that you were so flush with cash you could lend millions to entities of your creation or choosing, but now are claiming to to have liabilities of as much as $600 million and assets of only approximately $100 million?

What if your bankruptcy filing and program compensation tweaks occurred under conditions that strongly suggested you were trying to beat regulators to the courthouse? What if, only days later, it became known that undercover federal agents had the lay of the land inside your operation before you even went to bankruptcy court?

Think the U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee might use the term “rabbit hole” to describe your operation and push for the appointment of a trustee to burrow down that hole and gain a deep understanding about TelexFree?

Think that federal criminal prosecutors might get the idea that your operation “has a disturbingly cult-like quality?”

And do you think — do you just think — the SEC might be inclined to file something such as this? (Italics added.)

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) hereby moves, and defendants TelexFree, Inc., TelexFree, LLC, and relief defendant TelexFree Financial, LLC (collectively “the Debtors”) hereby assent, to modify the May 9, 2014 consent order (docket no. 100) to allow Stephen B. Darr, as Chapter 11 Trustee of TelexFree (the “Trustee”), to maintain bank accounts at RaboBank, NA in the name of the Debtors, as well as permit the Trustee to pursue claims and recover all property of the respective Debtors apart from those assets seized or restrained now or in the future by the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts or its agents.

The SEC filed the motion above yesterday.

Darr is now running things at TelexFree. He said in court filings yesterday that has “no intention of reorganizing or reactivating their businesses.”

It seems very much as though Darr’s plan is to go very deep into the rabbit hole of TelexFree.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog. Also see “TelexFree business reorganization dead in the water” at BehindMLM.com.

From a July 16 motion by the SEC.

Jul 17, 2014