Argent Global suspend US recruitment, i-Payout withdrawals
Argent Global Network seems to have hit a snag recently, with owner Victor Rival holding a conference call last week to deliver the news.
Speaking to the company’s purported 300,000 affiliate investor base, Rival informed them that purportedly Argent Global had hired a “US attorney” to “aid” with the company’s compliance.
The reason is that if you are compliant in the US, you are more accepted worldwide.
For those unfamiliar with the scheme, Argent Global accept $150 to $2400 investments from affiliates under the guise of “packages”.
The company then promises a weekly ROI, ranging from $10 to $160. How much of a ROI is paid out depends on how much an affiliate has invested.
Rival failed to name the US attorney the company has alleged retained, but told investors that the company ‘will not be accepting new members from the US until Argent Global Network is compliant.‘
Due to recent regulatory and compliance requirements, Argent Global Network, Ltd. is being advised by general counsel to suspend registration immediately for all citizens and residents of the United States of America.
Therefore effect immediately and until further notice, AGN will not be accepting any new US registrations. This is regardless of if you are currently living abroad.
We are extremely confident that these compliance challenges will be resolved within 2 to 4 weeks. AGN will continue its operations throughout the world.
Uh, recent regulatory and compliance requirements? Charles Ponzi was indicted a near century ago, so what definition of “recent” Rival is using is certainly a mystery to me.
Meanwhile with a Ponzi scheme business model at its core, how exactly Victor and his attorney plan on making Argent Global compliant is a mystery.
From what little Rival did reveal though, it seems the company is heading towards a pseudo-compliance approach.
- Argent Global will begin adding more compliant platforms to website
- the Argent Global home page will be overhauled to become more of an advertising platform
- adding a Blogging system (about 3 weeks out), members will be able to blog instead of post ads to classifieds
There will be changes in the future to the way packages are purchased. Actual compensation will not change dramatically, just the manner in which they are purchased. This is for compliance (technicalities).
“Technicalities” indeed.
While the above pseudo-compliance measures are implemented Rival also announced that. effective immediately, Argent Global are suspending the recruitment of new US-based affiliate investors. He claimed that currently, out of the company’s purported 300,000 affiliate investors that “3% to 5% are US-based”.
Additionally, all withdrawals from the i-Payout have also been suspended. Curiously though, Argent Global are still accepting deposits from investors through the payment processor.
Whether or not the suspension of withdrawals has anything to do with i-Payout’s compliance crackdown announcement a few months ago is unclear. Currently i-Payout are facing investigation for their part in the facilitation of TelexFree, a $1 billion Ponzi scheme recently busted by the SEC.
If it is related, it would be the first public action i-Payout have taken against one of the companies it provides payment processor services for. Otherwise the processor has had an open-door policy regarding scams, providing financial services to all schemes great and small.
Rival claims that in the place of i-Payout, affiliate investors will be able to make withdrawal requests through “ArgentPay”.
Argent Pay, our new international eWallet will soon be ready. Once available, a link will be posted in the back office in the next two days for Argent Pay registration.
AGN will transition from I-Payout to our Argent Pay eWallet within the week. During this time, you CAN still fund your AGN wallet with I-Payout, however all withdraw requests will be returned to your AGN wallet.
Who is providing the backend services for that service was not disclosed.
Whatever country the funds are being laundered through though, the level of risk hasn’t gone unnoticed,. Rival’s new offshore banking partners are now demanding ID documents from his investors:
YOU WILL ONLY BE GRANTED ASSESS TO MAKE A WITHDRAWAL WITH DOCUMENTATION SUBMITTED.
Argent Global Network will required that every member makes their proof of identify and address . The documents that are eligible to be checked are:
Identification ID card with updated photo, passport or other citizen card , duly accredited, with the information about date of birth.
Proof of address of the account holder in AGN. The name on the light bill, water or bank statement should be the same as shown in the profile of AGN.
The documents sent should be in PDF, JPEG or PNG format have good graphic definition to be accepted by our company. It is mandatory to send both documents, only in this cases, the account will be checked by our staff.
Naturally the question of identity theft is now likely to be running through the minds of Rival’s investors.
But hey, surely there’s no risk in providing photo identification, passport details and bank statements to shady offshore agents working on behalf of a global Ponzi scheme right?
Right?
In the meantime, whether or not Argent Global’s cosmetic pseudo-compliance changes will fend off a regulatory investigation into the company remains to be seen.
Stay tuned…
My prediction is they ain’t coming back, much like Wings Network.
Whether or not regulatory action follows, an announcement of this type spells the end of any hope Argent had of surviving in the long term.
For sure the “usual suspect” HYIP ponzi /pyramid players will hang around, but, no pseudo MLM can survive scaring away newbies with their new money for any length of time, especially not when it’s the entire USA market involved.
The company is not based in the US, it has no offices there. I doubt if they are touchable at this point. All I see is telexfree mistakes being corrected here for a longer run
Where’s Victor Rival hanging out these days? If he’s still in the US…
Whether or not they are “touchable” is irrelevant.
* Rebound HYIPs are NEVER as successful as the big one they follow.
* A large number of those for whom Telexfree was their first attempt at playing HYIPs and subsequently lost will never play again.
* Removing the US market severely restricts Argents’ chances of succeeding in the long term
* Those seeking a genuine MLM opportunity will be frightened off by the negative publicity surrounding Argent.
* Without the USA and new members with new money, no HYIP can sustain itself for anything more than a few months based solely on HYIP ponzi players as members.
Nobody can withdraw money from argent, it was a scam.
Ruhroh, now the FBI are involved…
Love the made up reason. Couldn’t possibly be payment processor problems because Argent Global is a Ponzi scheme…
Their bogus explanation doesn’t even make any sense.
It’s NOT illegal to accept bets via prepaid debit cards. It is illegal ONLY IF the bets violate existing laws. See
NOLINK://www.gambling-law-us.com/Federal-Laws/internet-gambling-ban.htm
ALL financial instruments are prohibited for online gambling, according to the same act, even eWallets processed by non-US companies, not just prepaid debit cards. And this had been in place since 2006. These idiots make it sound as if it’s something new.
These guys need to come up with better lies.