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Tag: Stephen B. Darr

Alleged TelexFree Winner Tries To Sue Trustee For ‘Emotional Distress’; Separately, U.S. Judge Asks Dominican Court For Assistance

It may be a first in MLM clawback cases.

Dwayne Jones, an alleged winner of more than $561,000 in the judicially declared TelexFree Ponzi- and pyramid scheme, is trying to sue Trustee Stephen B. Darr for “Emotional Distress and Anticipated Attorney & Court Costs.”

In a proposed defendant class-action, Darr sued Jones and dozens of other alleged winners earlier this year for return of their gains. Jones was sued at a New York address. Acting pro se, he appears to have responded to Darr’s adversary complaint filed in Massachusetts federal bankruptcy court with a kit pleading from Maryland federal bankruptcy court in which he denied he was a TelexFree winner, raised jurisdictional claims and asserted the emotional-distress counterclaim against Darr.

Darr responded on June 6, saying he “denies in full the sole allegation in the defendant’s Counterclaim, that the defendant is entitled to unspecified damages for emotional distress and anticipated attorney and court costs arising out of this litigation.”

The trustee also entered affirmative defenses.

Class-action cases filed by Darr against alleged TelexFree winners potentially affect nearly 100,000 participants globally who gained more from TelexFree than they paid in. The scheme allegedly created hundreds and hundreds of thousands of losers.

Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Melvin S. Hoffman of Massachusetts is presiding over the cross-border TelexFree case and adversary proceedings.

On May 24, Hoffman asked judicial authorities in the Dominican Republic for assistance in serving process on more than a dozen clawback defendants located there.

Darr contends TelexFree generated more than $3 billion in illicit business worldwide and that winners must return their gains.

Kenneth D. Bell, the receiver in the Zeek Rewards case, also has brought clawback claims against alleged domestic and international winners in that scheme. Zeek is alleged to have gathered on the order of $897 million.

Jun 9, 2016
Sept. 26 Deadline Set For Filing TelexFree Claims; Claims Portal Opens As James Merrill Fights Evidence In Criminal Case

UPDATED 11:53 A.M. EDT U.S.A. Sept. 23, 2016: The claims deadline has been extended until Dec. 31, 2016, at 4:30 p.m. Prevailing Eastern Time. Claims must be filed through TelexFreeClaims.com. Our earlier story is below . . .

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TelexFree participants and others who may have a claim against the estate should read this important notice from bankruptcy Trustee Stephen B. Darr. It is styled “Notice of Deadline for Filing Electronic Proofs of Claim and Claims Procedures” and appeared on the docket yesterday.

The electronic claims portal has been established at TelexFreeClaims.com and is operational, according to Darr’s notice. The deadline to file claims is Sept. 26, 2016, at 4:30 p.m. prevailing Eastern time.

BMC Group Inc. is administering the electronic proof of claim (ePOC) form and its name appears on the TelexFree claims portal.

Chief Bankruptcy Judge Melvin S. Hoffman of the District of Massachusetts has ruled TelexFree a Ponzi- and pyramid scheme.

In a separate case, TelexFree principals James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler were indicted in 2014 on charges of wire fraud and wire-fraud conspiracy. Wanzeler allegedly became an international fugitive by fleeing the United States for Brazil.

Merrill this month sought to suppress evidence obtained as a result of a search of TelexFree headquarters in Marlborough, Mass., on April 15, 2014, two days after TelexFree’s bankruptcy filing, according to defense court filings in the criminal case.

Through attorney Robert Goldstein, Merrill argued that the search by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was “unconstitutionally overbroad and unparticularized” in that it targeted “all computers” and “all records.”

Among other things, agents seized a laptop computer that day from TelexFree “consultant” Joseph Craft, according to the defense. Merrill argues that Craft’s laptop and all other evidence seized that day should be excluded.

In 2014, the SEC alleged that Craft was TelexFree’s CFO and was in possession of nearly $38 million in TelexFree-related cashier’s checks on the date of the search.

As the PP Blog reported on April 17, 2014 (italics added):

“The Deputy Sheriff told Craft he could not take the laptop and bag and that these items would be subject to the search,” the SEC said in the affidavit. “[Homeland Security Investigations] Agents searched the bag and identified ten Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. cashier’s checks totaling $37,948,296.”

Nine of the checks were dated April 11, 2014, just two days before TelexFree petitioned for bankruptcy in Nevada, according to the SEC affidavit and other court filings.

The nine checks were “remitted to” James M. Merrill, TelexFree’s co-owner and former president. Of the nine, five were made out to TelexFree LLC “totaling $25,548,809, and one was made out to Katia B. Wanzeler,” believed to be the wife of TelexFree co-owner and treasurer Carlos Wanzeler,” the SEC asserted in the affidavit.

The Katia Wanzeler check was for the sum of $2,000,635, the SEC alleged.

A check dated April 3 was “remitted to” Carlos Wanzeler and made out to “TelexFree Dominicana SRL in the amount of $10,398,000,” the SEC alleged in the affidavit.

TelexFree Dominicana SRL’s relationship to TelexFree was not immediately clear.

On April 15, two days after the TelexFree bankruptcy filing and apparently just hours before the raid, Merrill “submitted an unsolicited order to sell $1,150,000 of his mutual fund holdings” and to have the money transferred to a bank in Massachusetts, the SEC said in the affidavit.

“Bank statements show that two companies controlled by Craft received more than $2,010,000 between November 19, 2013 and March 14, 2014,” the SEC said in its complaint.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

May 28, 2016
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: TelexFree Trustee Sues MLM Attorney Gerald Nehra

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (6th Update 8 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) TelexFree Trustee Stephen B. Darr has sued MLM attorney Gerald Nehra and the Nehra and Waak law firm, alleging they were “actively involved” in promoting TelexFree’s Ponzi scheme and “duping” participants.

Nehra and the firm have asked for more time to respond to the April 1 complaint, saying through court filings that they “anticipated participation in criminal proceedings related to the case.”

Chief Bankruptcy Judge Melvin S. Hoffman extended the response deadline until June 1. The original deadline was May 2.

Whether Nehra or the firm considered themselves potential TelexFree criminal defendants was unclear in the response. TelexFree principals James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler are the sole criminal defendants to date.

Separately, prosecutors in the Zeek Rewards’ criminal case against Paul Burks said in court filings in the Western District of North Carolina Monday that Nehra and law partner Richard Waak may be called as witnesses in the case against Burks.

Nehra and Waak have settled with Zeek receiver Kenneth D. Bell, who alleged they “encouraged investors to participate in the [Zeek] scheme by knowingly allowing their names to be used in providing a false façade of legality and legitimacy and gave improper legal advice that allowed the scheme to continue far longer than it would have without the Defendants’ support.”

Darr wants Nehra and the firm to return all legal fees paid to them by TelexFree between May 2012 and April 2014 — about $24,000. Hoffman has ruled TelexFree a Ponzi- and pyramid scheme, and Darr contends neither Nehra nor the firm provided any “compensable advice” during the two years they represented TelexFree.

The trustee further contends that Nehra appeared in a YouTube video promoting TelexFree.

MLM attorney Gerald Nehra at a TelexFree rah-rah event in California in 2014. Source: YouTube.

Representing Zeek and TelexFree created incredible problems for the two lawyers. At least three of their MLM clients have been charged criminally and a mountain of litigation has been filed against Nehra and the firm, including actions by Darr, Bell and class-action attorneys.

In the settlement with Bell, Nehra and Waak agreed to a confession of judgment for $100 million. They contended “that they acted in good faith as legal counsel,” but now “acknowledge and agree that, based on their current knowledge, during the period they served as counsel RVG in fact operated an unlawful Ponzi an pyramid scheme involving an unregistered investment contract that caused hundreds of millions of dollars in losses to innocent victims of the scheme,” according to filings from Bell.

Government attorneys handing the Burks’ criminal case quoted the settlement language in their May 2 filing. RVG, or Rex Venture Group, was the operator of Zeek.

Zeek and TelexFree combined allegedly gathered on the order of $3.9 billion while creating hundreds and hundreds of thousands of victims globally.

A TelexFree video featuring Nehra appeared on YouTube in August 2013, according to Darr’s complaint. That’s two months after authorities in Brazil called TelexFree a pyramid scheme.

Also in August 2013, MLM attorney Jeffrey Babener advised TelexFree that it was operating a pyramid scheme, Darr alleged in September 2014.

TelexFree nevertheless continued to gather money until it collapsed in bankruptcy in April 2014, Darr alleged. The last payment to Nehra and the Nehra and Waak firm was made on April 3, 2014, just 10 days before the implosion, according to Darr.

Read Darr’s complaint against Nehra and the firm.

NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

May 18, 2016
At Least 24 International TelexFree ‘Winners’ Allegedly Received More Than $1 Million Each

On April 20, the PP Blog reported that TelexFree Trustee Stephen B. Darr had proposed to add dozens of U.S. defendants to a class-action lawsuit that seeks the return of gains from alleged “winners” in the judicially declared Ponzi- and pyramid scheme.

Filings docketed on April 22 show that Darr also is seeking to add defendants to a class-action case against alleged international winners. Among other things, the filings show that at least 24 alleged TelexFree winners from outside the United States received at least $1 million each. Scores of others also allegedly received large sums of less than $1 million.

At least 10 people, for instance, allegedly received more than $900,000 each, but less than $1 million.

Residents of Portugal, China, Spain, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, United Kingdom, Canada, Peru and Ecuador are referenced on the list of alleged international winners.

As the PP Blog reported in January 2016, the class-actions could affect tens of thousands of alleged winners globally because the named winners effectively are stand-ins for unnamed ones. Rulings against the named winners could apply to the entire defendant class of about 93,000 individuals alleged to have received more from TelexFree than they paid in.

Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people are believed to be TelexFree losers.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is actively involved in the criminal prosecutions of TelexFree figures James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler, alleged by the United States to be an international fugitive.

May 5, 2016
SEC, Trustee, Defense Attorneys Mum On Possible Deeper Ties Between TelexFree And DFRF Schemes

Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho in a YouTube promo for the alleged DFRF Ponzi- and pyramid scheme.

The SEC declined Friday to say whether two individuals named prospective defendants in a massive class-action lawsuit brought by the Trustee in the 2014 TelexFree bankruptcy case were the same two persons charged with securities fraud last year by the agency in the DFRF Enterprises/Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho Ponzi- and pyramid-scheme case.

On June 30, 2015, Gaspar C. Jesus, 54, of Malden, Mass., and Eduardo N. Da Silva, 40, of Orlando, Fla., were among the nine named civil defendants in the DFRF/Filho case. Jesus allegedly received $56,000 from DFRF; Da Silva allegedly received $221,000.

Filho, also charged criminally, “orchestrated” the DFRF scheme with the “assistance” of Jesus, Da Silva and others, the SEC alleged at the time. The agency also has referred to Da Silva as simply “Silva.”

Promoters who move from one online investment fraud scheme to another and help scammers grease HYIP Ponzi wheels have posed a longtime problem. Both TelexFree and DFRF largely were aimed at Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking communities, the SEC has alleged.

And that’s not all they had in common. Investors in both MLM-style “programs,” according to court filings, sometimes paid their sponsors directly, rather than paying the companies.

“The amount of checks and cash that the individual defendants collected directly from investors is currently unknown,” the agency said about DFRF and how money entered the system last year.

Such mechanics can led to secret deal-making and the siphoning of funds by insiders, creating smaller frauds inside of larger ones.

On April 4, 2016, TelexFree Trustee Stephen B. Darr asked Chief Bankruptcy Judge Melvin S. Hoffman for permission to amend a defendant class-action case to include dozens of additional defendants alleged to be “winners” in the scheme.

Among the proposed additional defendants were “Gaspar Jesus” of Lynn, Mass., and “Eduardo N. Silva” of Orlando, Fla.

As noted above, the SEC declined to say whether the individuals were the same ones named in the DFRF/Filho case.

Jonathan Shapiro, a Boston defense attorney representing Gaspar C. Jesus in the DFRF/Filho case, said on Friday he “cannot confirm that the person named in the [TelexFree] bankruptcy matter is the same person I represent in the DFRF matter.”

On Saturday, Martin R. Rosenthal, a Boston attorney representing Eduardo N. Da Silva in the DFRF/Filho case, said he had “no comment” on whether his client was the same individual named in the Trustee’s proposed amended class action.

Darr has alleged Eduardo N. Silva received more than $2.4 million from TelexFree. Gaspar Jesus was alleged by Darr to have received $882,936. The Trustee did not return a request for comment on whether the individuals were the same ones named in the SEC’s fraud case against DFRF and Filho.

The SEC previously tied DFRF/Filho to TelexFree defendant Sann Rodrigues.

Both DFRF and TelexFree spread in part on YouTube.

The surname “Filho” also is referenced among the alleged “winners” in Darr’s proposed amended class action, though not specifically Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho.

Apr 24, 2016
Faith Sloan’s Alleged TelexFree Haul: $710,319

UPDATED 3:32 P.M. EDT U.S.A. Faith Sloan received $710,319 from the TelexFree Ponzi- and pyramid scheme, according to filings by TelexFree bankruptcy Trustee Stephen B. Darr.

Sloan, whose address was listed as Virginia Beach, Va., is a longtime Illinois HYIP huckster on Ponzi boards and social media. She and three other TelexFree promoters were charged in April 2014 with securities fraud by the SEC. The state of Illinois later barred her from the securities industry and warned her that violating the ban could result in a felony charge.

Her alleged TelexFree haul was not known at the time.

Darr, who has been investigating TelexFree for nearly two years, now wants to add Sloan and dozens of other alleged major winners as named defendants in a proposed class-action lawsuit filed in February that would return the winnings to the bankruptcy estate. Another proposed defendant is Randy Crosby, charged alongside Sloan by the SEC two years ago. His alleged haul, according to Darr, was $487,621.

An individual identified as Sonya Crosby at the same address received $541,450, according to Darr. She, too, has been named a proposed defendant in the class action.

As of April 4, no adequate class representative had been found, Darr advised Chief Bankruptcy Judge Melvin S. Hoffman of the District of Massachusetts.

Sloan previously had complained that the SEC was picking on her, given that others in TelexFree had received more from the scheme and were not charged by the agency. As investigations evolve, however, the SEC sometimes files amended complaints or brings individual actions against defendants not charged out of the gate.

Such as the case with HYIP huckster Matthew John Gagnon in 2010. He also was sued by a court-appointed receiver and charged criminally by the U.S. Secret Service.

Alleged Zeek Rewards’ winner Trudy Gilmond wasn’t originally charged by the SEC. But as the probe continued, Gilmond was sued by both the agency and the receiver.

Zeek receiver Kenneth D. Bell has expressed concerns about promoters moving from one fraud scheme to another. In March, SEC Enforcement Director Andrew Ceresney commented on the “whack-a-mole” nature of online pyramid schemes.

Sloan has not been charged criminally. On the civil side, she is defending against the action filed by the SEC and also is named a defendant in multiple TelexFree fraud actions brought by private plaintiffs. If Hoffman approves Darr’s motion to file an amended complaint naming Sloan a “winner,” it would open a new litigation front against her.

It is unclear if the SEC will name any additional TelexFree defendants.

Darr’s motion to amend the complaint to include Sloan and additional defendants is available on the Trustee’s website. The proposed complaint is included as Exhibit A.

Apr 20, 2016
BRIEF: Get Prepared To File TelexFree Claims

Good news for potentially hundreds of thousands of people with TelexFree claims. TelexFree bankruptcy Trustee Stephen B. Darr informed Chief Judge Melvin S. Hoffman yesterday that testing could begin this month on the electronic proof of claim form (ePOC) and the online claims portal administered by BMC Group Inc.

If all goes well, the “ePOC and Portal will be up and running by early May 2016,” Darr noted.

No formal opening date has been announced. When the system is in place, individuals will have at least 90 days to file claims.

This is the section of the Trustee’s website that includes court filings in the bankruptcy case. Readers also may wish to view information contained within the tabs on the left side of the page. This is the tab for Information Regarding Claims.

As of today, it notes that “There is no deadline yet for filing claims in the TelexFree cases and claims should not be filed at this time.”

Darr’s status report to Hoffman yesterday suggested this could change in the coming weeks, so it’s time for claimants to prepare.

Hoffman already has ruled TelexFree a Ponzi- and pyramid scheme.

Apr 12, 2016
TelexFree Trustee Seeks Approval Of Settlement With PricewaterhouseCoopers

Big Four accounting firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers posted more than $115,000 in fees from the TelexFree Ponzi/pyramid scheme and will pay it all back under the terms of a stipulated settlement with TelexFree Trustee Stephen B. Darr, according to court filings.

PwC admits no liability in the settlement, which requires the approval of Chief Bankruptcy Judge Melvin S. Hoffman of the District of Massachusetts.

In January 2014 — just three months before TelexFree collapsed in a pile of Ponzi rubble — the firm hired PwC to provide “tax consulting and tax structuring advice,” according to a stipulation filed by Darr and PwC.

PwC issued three invoices in the coming weeks, and TelexFree paid them all, according to the stipulation. These totaled $115,335.66. The document suggests TelexFree may have made a $50,000 payment to PwC in advance of the receipt of an invoice and in the final hours before the bankruptcy filing.

This invoice was dated April 15, 2014, but TelexFree paid it on April 11 of that year. Two days later, according to records, TelexFree filed for bankruptcy in Nevada.

Darr contended that payments made by TelexFree to PwC were preferential and thus recoverable. The trustee also “raised issues regarding the value of the services that were provided by PwC to TelexFree, LLC and whether such payments could be recovered as fraudulent transfers.”

Read the stipulation.

Mar 16, 2016
DEVELOPING STORY: TelexFree Rep Sued By Trustee Claims Herbalife ‘Executives’ And ‘Personnel’ Helped Sell Him On Alleged Ponzi/Pyramid Deal

DEVELOPING STORY: (Updated 9:23 p.m. ET U.S.A.) A TelexFree rep being sued by the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee for the return of more than $2.6 million in alleged winnings from the judicially declared Ponzi- and pyramid scheme claims that Herbalife “executives” and “personnel” attended a March 2014 TelexFree event in Boston and helped sell him on the ill-fated deal.

In January, Trustee Stephen B. Darr sued Jose Neto of Worcester, Mass., in one of two proposed defendant class actions that includes thousands of other alleged TelexFree “winners” globally. Neto was one of 23 named winners with U.S. addresses. The other lawsuit is against 33 named winners with addresses outside the United States. All in all, the cases could affect nearly 100,000 TelexFree members who allegedly received fraudulent transfers.

Neto responded to the lawsuit in a filing docketed Feb. 16. Among other things, he claims he believes TelexFree was a legitimate business and that executives from both TelexFree and Herbalife showed proof of TelexFree’s legitimacy.

From the body of Neto’s response (italics added/light editing performed):

TelexFree was presented to me as a multi-level marketing network, similar to Herbalife . . . (as a matter of fact, executives of Herbalife gave us several lectures and workshops about this topic). As such, it is intrinsic to the nature of this business that the highest level members, meaning the ones that started to work with the product before and built a stronger network, will have higher gains compared to the others.

From an affidavit by Neto (italics added):

In March 2014 at the International Love Event in Boston (ON YOUTUBE), TelexFree announced that it would be launching its own credit card, and people could no longer use money order or cashier’s check to buy more “partnership shares”, but solely the “TelexFree Card”. On this same, held for over 4,000 people, Carlos Wanzeler and James Merrill asserted to us once again that the company was 100% in compliance with the laws and along with the Herba Life personnel, he showed us on a PowerPoint presentation the certificates from the Secretary of State.

The filing by Neto does not name the Herbalife “executives” or “personnel” on hand at the Boston TelexFree event. Wanzeler and Merrill are TelexFree executives who were charged criminally by the office of U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz of the District of Massachusetts after an investigation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The SEC has sued Wanzeler and Merrill.

Herbalife, which is confronting a Federal Trade Commission probe over its business practices, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the PP Blog on Neto’s claims. The claims raise new questions about whether MLM firms may be targeting vulnerable population groups and the extent to which Herbalife reps also were involved in TelexFree.

Neto claims in his filing that he recruited 24 participants for TelexFree. Many members of his downline appear to have Hispanic names. The SEC has said TelexFree targeted Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking communities.

Activist investor and short-seller Bill Ackman has claimed Herbalife targets vulnerable population groups and is a pyramid scheme. Herbalife had denied the allegations.

Neto claims he has paid taxes on TelexFree money he earned legitimately and that Darr is trying to hold him accountable for money he never removed from the program.

Feb 29, 2016
TelexFree’s Merrill Concerned About Internet ‘Spectacle’

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a follow-up to our Feb. 4 article that reported TelexFree figure James Merrill potentially could be forced to take the Fifth Amendment in front of a large audience at a music hall in Worcester, Mass., on Feb. 10.

**____________________________**

James Merrill

Forcing him to take the Fifth Amendment tomorrow at Mechanics Hall in front of an expected large crowd at a meeting of TelexFree creditors could affect his right to a fair trial in the criminal case against him in October, James Merrill argued yesterday in bankruptcy court.

Through attorney Robert Goldstein, Merrill argued that a “spectacle” easily could ensue and that all of it could end up on the Internet.

Trustee Stephen B. Darr’s plan to hold the meeting at the hall may set the stage for news outlets to photograph or record Merrill’s invocation of his right not to incriminate himself and for attendees with cell phones to do the same thing and “widely disseminate the spectacle on the Internet,” Merrill argued.

Merrill will “appropriately, and necessarily” invoke the Fifth if forced to appear “and will respectfully decline to answer any questions regarding” TelexFree, which filed for Chapter 11 protection on a Sunday evening in April 2014.

Shortly after the filing, state and federal regulators called TelexFree a massive, cross-border fraud. Darr went on to deem it a Ponzi- and pyramid scheme, and Chief Bankruptcy Judge Melvin S. Hoffman agreed. Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler, another TelexFree executive, were charged criminally in 2014, after an investigation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

TelexFree, which operated over the Internet and may have produced about $3 billion in illicit transactions in about two years, was the top story in DHS’s Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report on April 17, 2014.

In the 2008 AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme, accused operator Andy Bowdoin invoked his Fifth Amendment right at a civil proceeding while a parallel criminal investigation was under way. Some ASD supporters immediately used the Internet to circulate a story that Bowdoin was “too honest” to testify.

ASD, a $119 million Ponzi scheme that ultimately sent Bowdoin to prison, and TelexFree operated in similar fashion. Prosecutors have described TelexFree as having cult-like qualities.

Read Merrill’s brief. Hoffman has ordered Darr’s motion to compel Merrill’s attendance “continued generally.” How that would affect tomorrow’s meeting was not immediately clear.

Feb 9, 2016
Trustee Wants TelexFree’s Merrill To Appear At Meeting Next Week, Setting Stage For Potential 5th Amendment Showdown In Front Of Large Crowd

James Merrill.

BULLETIN: TelexFree Trustee Stephen B. Darr today asked Judge Melvin S. Hoffman for an order that would compel TelexFree executive James Merrill to appear at a meeting of creditors at 11 a.m. on Feb. 10 at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Mass.

Darr also wants Hoffman to designate Merrill as TelexFree’s corporate representative, setting the stage for him to be questioned by the office of the U.S. Trustee, an arm of the U.S. Department of Justice that participates in bankruptcy cases.

Carlos Wanzeler, another TelexFree principal, reportedly fled to Brazil in 2014, a circumstance that makes Merrill the only remaining shareholder known to be on U.S. soil. Merrill, who faces criminal charges of operating a Ponzi scheme, has been under close supervision with an ankle monitor since 2014, although he is permitted to leave his Massachusetts home to attend court functions and certain other events.

An appearance by Merrill at the meeting potentially sets the stage for him to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination before a large crowd at Mechanics Hall. On Jan. 13, the Telegram & Gazette reported that Darr had made plans to accommodate up to 1,000 people at the meeting, owing to the immense size of the TelexFree scheme.

Mechanics Hall, which calls itself “an acoustical masterpiece,” typically is known as a venue for music and performances.

“The historic performance hall, which can hold about 1,600 people, is an unusual choice for a meeting of bankruptcy creditors,” the Telegram & Gazette reported last month.”In most Worcester bankruptcy cases, creditors meet in a small room in a downtown office building.”

Hoffman already has ruled TelexFree a Ponzi- and pyramid scheme. Darr has said it generated about $3 billion in illicit business.

In an MLM clawback case for the ages, Darr is suing tens of thousands of alleged “winners.”

Read Darr’s motion to compel Merrill’s attendance.

UPDATE 6:08 P.M. Feb. 8. Randall G. Reese, via Twitter (@Chapter11Cases), is showing a screen shot of a document today that says Merrill opposes the motion to appear on Wednesday and questions whether his right to a fair trial in the criminal case could be compromised if he is forced to appear at the meeting. See shot in No. 2 position in Comments thread below.

Feb 4, 2016