On October 16th GSPartners held its monthly corporate webinar.

On the call, owner Josip Heit declared he was “very excited” about GSPartners’ upcoming November 18th Cape Town event.

[44:52] Our incentive, which we will have in the next … or in around thirty days, from today on in Cape Town. Where you don’t want to miss this event.

I promise you don’t want to miss this event because it’s so important. I’m getting very excited even when I am thinking [sic].

[55:45] Ladies and Gentleman, hope to see all of you and more of you, in Cape Town.

This was on sixteen [sic] of October, Josip Heit Chairman of the Board, Gold Standard Group.

GSPartners’ November 18th event in Cape Town went ahead as scheduled yesterday. Heit didn’t turn up.

GSPartners investors, who paid $150 plus travel expenses to attend, were instead greeted by GSPartners’ marketing team.

Heit’s absence at the Cape Town event follows six US fraud enforcement actions filed by US state regulators last week. These include Texas, Washington, Alabama, California, Wisconsin and Washington.

As part of a joint-operation between US and Canadian authorities, British Columbia also took action against GSPartners and three promoters.

GSPartners regulatory troubles in Canada and US were not addressed at the Cape Town event.

Heit apparently not wanting to risk leaving the perceived safety of Dubai stands in contrast to the marketing team’s attendance – most of whom are named Respondents in the US regulatory enforcement actions.

  • Dirc Zahlmann, a German national and recently appointed GSPartners CEO, was named in the Texas, Alabama, California and Kentucky enforcement actions

  • Bruce Hughes, a South African national and GSPartners’ Corporate Trainer, was named in the Texas, Alabama, California and Kentucky enforcement actions

  • Michael Dalcoe, a US national and top GSPartners promoter, was named in the Texas, Alabama, California, BC, Kentucky and Wisconsin enforcement actions

  • Haidy Nitsa Nakos, a Canadian national and top GSPartners promoter, was named in the BC enforcement action

  • Nathaniel Hines (aka Nate Hines) and Jeanette Morgan Hines, husband and wife US nationals and top GSPartners promoters, were named in the Alabama enforcement action

  • Andrew Eaton, a South African national and top GSPartners promoter

In addition to Heit, other notable absences include:

  • Alex Cocindau, a Romanian national and GSPartners’ CTO and
  • Antonio Euclides Menesis DE GOUVEIA (aka Tony De Gouveia), a South African national suspected of being heavily involved in GSPartners’ finances

 

Update 21st November 2023 – I’ve been informed De Gouveia was in fact in attendance but was hiding in the background. He didn’t take the stage or pose for photos. /end update

 

Two individuals who definitely should have known better but profited from appearing anyway, are Frazer Brooks and Eric Worre.

Brooks, a UK national who claims he’s “obsessed with network marketing”, pitches himself as an MLM marketing coach.

Brooks attended GSPartners’ Cape Town event in-person and spoke on stage:

Eric Worre, a US national, didn’t make the trip from the US but appeared on stage in pre-recorded footage.

Despite the multiple US regulatory fraud warnings issued, Worre stated he’d been “watching what (GSPartners was) doing” and was “proud of all the hard work so many people are putting in”.

Cape Town isn’t the first GSPartners’ event. Worre attended and spoke at a GSPartners event held in Dubai back in May.

Worre markets himself as “the leading authority in coaching Network Marketing Professionals”. More recently, Worre is better known for joining the collapsed Omega Pro corporate team.

Outside of MLM, Worre and wife Marina are reported to have stolen ~$21.4 million through the collapsed Traders Domain Ponzi scheme.

In addition to the six US state-level enforcement orders, BehindMLM confirmed two US federal regulatory investigations into GSPartners earlier this month.

Given the scope of fraud and sheer number of actions taken by US state regulators, it’s highly likely a federal criminal case is also being built.

The majority of GSPartners investors are US residents. Based on website traffic tracked by SimilarWeb, recruitment of US investors into GSPartners had already dwindled over the past few months (e.g. down 21% month on month between September and October 2023).

It’s expected increased regulatory pressure from the US will have a severe impact on GSPartners’ ongoing business operations.

Whether Josip Heit makes any further public appearances, during which he runs the risk of potentially further incriminate himself, remains to be seen.

 

Update 20th November 2023 – Footage of Heit speaking via webinar at the Cape Town event has surfaced:

I haven’t seen the whole presentation but in one short clip Heit falsely boasts about GSPartners growing faster than ethereum.