New court filings in Canada by the receiver and liquidators in the Banners Broker case now estimate the total haul of the alleged double-your-money pyramid scam at more than $156 million. That’s up from an earlier estimate by Toronto police of $93 million. If the $156 million figure proves correct, it would make Banners Broker a bigger fraud than the $119 million AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme broken up by the U.S. Secret Service in 2008.
Like MAPS, which currently is operating, ASD and Banners Broker purported to be “advertising” companies. The ASD case threw down the gauntlet on securities companies trying to evade the law by pretending to be “advertising” firms.
But the apparent upstaging of ASD by Banners Broker in dollar volume in the purported “advertising” trade is not the only news.
Rajiv Dixit, one of the Banners Broker figures who helped put Stepsys in the position of getting rich from online fraud schemes, was arrested in Canada in December 2015.
Filings April 4 by the receiver and liquidators in the case show that Dixit may be trying to use “sovereign citizen” courtroom tactics against them in Canadian proceedings. In the United States, AdSurfDaily figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming tried the same thing in that case.
The Banners Broker receiver and liquidators have reported Dixit’s alleged activities to the court.
Specifically, they say Dixit, who calls himself “the man master rajiv of the family dixit” [sic] and his targets “interlopers,” is trying to foist a bogus “Cease and Desist” order on them that threatens a fine of $36 per second if they don’t back off from their judicially mandated duties. Dixit apparently wants to be paid in “silver dollars.”
From the receiver/liquidators (italics added):
The Cease and Desist Notices go on to state that if the Court Officers and their counsel do not cease and desist “all actions and claims against Mr. Rajiv Dixit and or Rajiv Dixit forthwith” Dixit will invoice them $47,304,000.00 silver dollars “[p]lus, for each second starting at 12:00:01 AM until the cease and desist is complied with, each Respondent will be charged an additional $36.000 per second.”
Court filings in other cross-border cases — including Zeek Rewards and DFRF Enterprises — have signaled that “sovereigns” also were involved in those schemes.
With Banners Broker, Dixit called his affiliates “stupid,” according to the new filings by the receiver and liquidators.
8TH UPDATE 11:53 P.M. EDT U.S.A. Before we get to the news that a federal judge took only a day to dismiss an April 6 libel lawsuit filed by the MyAdvertisingPays (MAPS) scheme and operator Michael E. Deese against the TaraTalks Blog, we’ll note that the 16-page complaint confirms that MAPS is incorporated in Anguilla.
Anguilla is a British overseas territory in the Caribbean. It is not illegal to incorporate offshore, but some schemes do so to avoid taxes or to engage in money-laundering and other crimes. There has been a longstanding concern that narcotics traffickers and even terrorists are using corporate shells to hide a criminal agenda.
Class-action attorneys in the United States pursuing claims in the massive TelexFree fraud scheme operating from Brazil, the United States and other countries have called MAPS a Ponzi scheme and promoter Simon Stepsys a “Ponzi mogul.”
Only days before the filing of the MAPS lawsuit and nearly instant dismissal, news of the “Panama Papers” and a giant leak to reporters broke through the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Anguilla was mentioned prominently as a tax haven. MAPS, originally incorporated in Mississippi, has been touting its Anguilla connection for months.
MAPS, for two years, also has been touting its relationship with an e-wallet vendor known as VX Gateway that operates out of Panama. Here’s where things really get interesting.
VX lists Roger Alberto Santamaria del Cid as a “subscriber.” Del Cid’s name has appeared on the PP Blog a couple of times. On Feb. 8, 2011, the Blog reported that his name had appeared in court filings in a federal forfeiture case involving assets linked to the notorious EMG/Finanzas Forex scheme in the Middle District of Florida. (See Paragraph 10 of this affidavit by a Task Force investigator.)
Money from EMG/Finanzas was linked to the international narcotics trade. OpenCorporates lists del Cid here as a Finanzas “subscriber.” The site lists Tatiana Itzel Saldaöa Escobar as another Finanzas subscriber, and the same name appears alongside Del Cid as a VX subscriber.
Del Cid apparently works as a nominee director of offshore companies with ties to Panama. (See April 7, 2013 story that mentions his name on the website of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists: “Faux Corporate Directors Stand in for Fraudsters, Despots and Spies.”
The judge tossed the complaint in 24 hours, finding the court did not have jurisdiction, according to BehindMLM.com, another MAPS critic.
TaraTalks, which calls MAPS a Ponzi scheme, operates on Google’s Blogger platform, but MAPS apparently can’t pin down the precise location. Nor can MAPS identify the author of TaraTalks and the author’s location. All three things are important for establishing diversity jurisdiction.
But the complaint may have another jurisdiction issue. Although it says plaintiff Deese lives in “Harrison County, Louisiana,” no such place exists. Louisiana does not have counties; it has parishes, and there is no Harrison Parish.
Whether MAPS is under investigation by any U.S. government agencies is unknown. Similar schemes have led to prosecutions, and references by class-action attorneys to MAPS potentially put it on the U.S. radar.
BULLETIN: (6th update 7:23 p.m. ET U.S.A.) Class-action lawyers pursuing claims against TelexFree promoters have called the My Advertising Pays (MAPS) “program” a Ponzi scheme and described MAPS promoter Simon Stepsys as a “Ponzi mogul.”
The case itself is not against MAPs. Even so, the lawyers now have made repeated references to MAPs and are lambasting the serial promotion of MLM fraud schemes. The newest reference to MAPS occurred in federal court filings in Massachusetts today. As the PP Blog reported last year, MAPS initially was mentioned in a proposed TelexFree-related class action filed in the Southern District of New York in December 2014.
Daniil Shoyfer, an alleged promoter of TelexFree, plowed nearly $9,000 into MAPS a month after TelexFree filed bankruptcy in April 2014, according to attorney Alexander D. Wall. Shoyfer promptly was heralded by Stepsys, Wall contended.
Stepsys, Wall alleged, “is an Internet Ponzi scheme mogul” currently promoting MAPS. He previously promoted the bizarre Banners Broker scheme that led to two arrests in Canada last month.
Moving from one fraud scheme to another is a serious problem in MLM.
A Stepsys-connected website includes “a paragraph, together with a photograph of Defendant Daniil Shoyfer, congratulating Mr. Shoyfer for reaching the ‘1200 Diamond level’ for his promotion of the MyAdvertisingPays scam,” Wall alleged.
“This webpage also indicates that in May 2014 – the month following TelexFree’s declaration of bankruptcy – Mr. Shoyfer purchased ‘177 Credit Packs’ from MyAdvertisingPays. Upon information and belief, as well as research I have performed, [a] MyAdvertisingPays ‘Credit Pack’ costs $49.99,” Wall alleged. “Thus, Mr. Shoyfer invested at least $8,848.23 in a second Ponzi scheme in the month after TelexFree’s bankruptcy filing.”
The class-action lawyers have been seeking a preliminary injunction against Shoyfer and an asset freeze that would prohibit dissipation of assets. Shoyfer has contended he believed TelexFree was legal and that there is a vendetta against him.
BULLETIN: Class-action attorney Robert J. Bonsignore has asked a federal judge for permission to file a third amended consolidated complaint that effectively would sue at least 20,000 “net winners” in the TelexFree scheme shut down by the SEC last year.
The proposal would name alleged TelexFree promoter Daniil Shoyfer the lead class-action defendant, effectively making him the Todd Disner of TelexFree-related court actions. Disner is a Zeek Rewards figure sued by Zeek receiver Kenneth D. Bell in clawback actions aimed at more than 9,000 alleged winners in the Zeek scheme shuttered by the SEC in 2012.
Disner also promoted the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme broken up by the U.S. Secret Service in 2008.
The PP Blog reported in June 2015 that Shoyfer also was promoting a scheme known as MyAdvertisingPays — or MAPS, for short.
If the judge approves the proposal by Bonsignore, it would appear to mark the first time alleged TelexFree winners have been targeted en masse for the return of their alleged winnings from a scheme the SEC has described as a massive pyramid- and Ponzi fraud. Up to $1.8 billion flowed through TelexFree, now in the hands of a court-appointed trustee who has called it a pyramid scheme.
Web records showed that Shoyfer also was promoting MAPS alongside MAPS colleagues such as U.K. hucksters Simon Stepsys and Shaun Smith.
Bonsignore’s proposed amended complaint on the TelexFree front may lead to similar questions. At a minimum, the development highlights the dangers of fraud schemes that spread at least in part though the Internet to involve hundreds of thousands of participants. Victims can pile up in extraordinary numbers, and a fraction of participants who emerge as winners can end up confronting lawsuits and expensive, emotionally draining litigation.
MAPS, a purported advertising scheme similar to AdSurfDaily, continues to operate.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
8TH UPDATE 11:53 P.M. EDT U.S.A. Before we get to the news that a federal judge took only a day to dismiss an April 6 libel lawsuit filed by the MyAdvertisingPays (MAPS) scheme and operator Michael E. Deese against the TaraTalks Blog, we’ll note that the 16-page complaint confirms that MAPS is incorporated in Anguilla.
BULLETIN: (6th update 7:23 p.m. ET U.S.A.) Class-action lawyers pursuing claims against TelexFree promoters have called the My Advertising Pays (MAPS) “program” a Ponzi scheme and described MAPS promoter Simon Stepsys as a “Ponzi mogul.”
