William Galvin

About 14,000 TelexFree members in Massachusetts have received a payout from a $3.5 million fund set up last year as a result of a settlement between the state Securities Division and Fidelity Co-Operative Bank, the office of Commonwealth Secretary William Galvin said today. “While this money does not make the TelexFREE victims whole, the distribution does […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: The MLM “program” known as Wings Network is alleged to have operated through two business entities that used the name “Tropikgadget.” The SEC’s case, announced Friday, is filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. That’s the same venue in which the agency’s epic TelexFree case was filed last year. There […]

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 […]

As the PP Blog reported on May 15, Massachusetts Commonwealth Secretary William Galvin sued the Wings Network MLM “program” and some of its promoters, alleging securities violations and a “thinly veiled pyramid scheme” targeting minority communities. Now, Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller has published a warning on Wings Network, saying the online “program” even […]

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (14th Update 4:33 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) Massachusetts has charged promoters of the EmGoldEx MLM “program” with securities fraud and selling unregistered securities, alleging they “created a complex web entangling investors throughout the Commonwealth” in a “pyramid scheme” that offered “guaranteed returns of up to 1,105% for recruiting more individuals.” The […]

1.) Reports began to surface late Thursday on Twitter and Facebook that TelexFree has been cleared by a judge of U.S. pyramid-scheme charges. These reports are false. Period. Perhaps to add credibility to the claim, a photo that appeared to depict a female TV reporter sitting in a studio was posted on Facebook. A computer […]

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 […]

T-Mobile told the PP Blog today that it was looking into a situation in which images of Carly Foulkes appear to have made their way into a promo for iFreeX, an emerging “program” that became the subject of a scam warning by Massachusetts Commonwealth Secretary William Galvin yesterday. Foulkes, a Canadian model, is known colloquially […]

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 […]

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 […]

If TelexFree, WCM777 and Wings Network were not enough, the office of Massachusetts Commonwealth Secretary William Galvin now is investigating the “EmGoldEx” program. The Boston Globe broke the story this morning. Galvin leads the Massachusetts Securities Division. From the Globe (italics added): Secretary of State William F. Galvin’s office is investigating the Andover operation of […]