TelexFree

UPDATED 9:32 P.M. EDT U.S.A. TelexFree figure Carlos Costa of the state of Espírito Santo appears to have come up far short in his bid to win a seat in Brazil’s 513-member federal Chamber of Deputies, the equivalent of the U.S. House of Representatives. Although final numbers appear not to be available yet, more than […]

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 Gmail address used by TelexFree figure Faith Sloan in a Sept. 23 DMCA takedown notice filed against BehindMLM.com appears below a 2010 video promo for a “program” known as “Diamond Holiday Feeder,” part of a larger “program” purportedly engaged in the travel business while also operating a matrix cycler. Matrix cyclers sometimes are known […]

UPDATED 3:21 A.M. EDT SEPT. 30 U.S.A. The PP Blog is aware that BehindMLM.com, the popular review site that covers multilevel marketing and fraud schemes within the sphere, is offline. The precise reason why is unclear at this time. BehindMLM.com reported Sept. 26 that it had received a DMCA takedown notice from Faith Sloan, an […]

EDITOR’S NOTE ADDED 1:32 P.M. EDT SEPT. 28 U.S.A. TelexFree.com appears to be back online. At this time, why the landing page wouldn’t load remains a mystery. Our earlier story is below . . . The website of TelexFree, alleged in April by the SEC and the Massachusetts Securities Division to have operated a billion-dollar […]

2ND UPDATE 5:25 P.M. EDT U.S.A. Purported “Plans B” are one of the core signatures of the the MLM HYIP sphere, which is known for incredibly toxic global frauds such as Zeek Rewards and AdSurfDaily. In 2009, an ASD reload scam known as AdViewGlobal was positioned as a “Plan B.” The individual schemes of Zeek […]

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (8th Update 6:56 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) The SEC has gone to federal court in the Northern District of Georgia, alleging that the Atlanta-based “Zhunrize” MLM program is a pyramid scheme that operates globally and has gathered $105 million from 77,000 investors. The Zhunrize “program” has been charged with fraud. It […]

BULLETIN: (3rd Update 1:34 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) A Massachusetts bank that established accounts for TelexFree and whose president is the brother of alleged TelexFree Ponzi- and pyramid-schemer James Merrill has settled with the Massachusetts Securities Division for $3.5 million. The settlement between MSD and Fidelity Co-operative of Fitchburg means that an escrow account consisting of […]

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 […]

BULLETIN: (2nd Update 5:26 p.m. EDT Sept. 16 U.S.A.) The court-appointed trustee in the TelexFree bankruptcy case says in court filings that MLM attorney Jeffrey Babener advised TelexFree in August 2013 that it was operating a pyramid scheme. TelexFree nevertheless continued to collect money, Trustee Stephen B. Darr said. Just two months earlier — in […]

BULLETIN: The government of Colombia appears to be seizing assets linked to four Colombians with alleged ties to TelexFree, which authorities in the United States have described as a massive cross-border pyramid- and Ponzi scheme. La Superintendencia de Sociedades, Colombia’s Superintendency of Companies, has published notices of the action. (See link to document (Spanish) below.) […]