Josip Heit ordered to attend Texas Apertum fraud hearing
Josip Heit has been ordered to attend an upcoming Texas hearing in person.
In a case consolidation order filed on May 8th, the Texas State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) stated;
Parties and the court reporter are to attend in person along with each of the parties’ counsel.
The order pertains to Josip Heit (right), Apertum Foundation, Dirc Zahlmann, Bruce Hughes and Dennis Loos.
Seeking to avoid entering the US, counsel for the above filed a motion requesting relief from in-person attendance on May 12th.
Respondents Apertum Foundation, Josip Heit, Dirc Zahlmann, Bruce Innes Wylde Hughes, and Dennis Christopher Loos (collectively, “Respondents”), by and through undersigned counsel, respectfully submit this joint motion to the Honorable Administrative Law Judges (“ALJs”) for clarification or, alternatively, for relief from the requirement that Respondents personally appear at the hearing.
Requiring the presence of Respondents at the Hearing, either in person or virtually, would be an undue burden and an unnecessary hardship.
As set forth in the Respondents’ respective Motions for Summary Disposition, each of the Respondents is a foreign person or entity, over whom Petitioner lacks jurisdiction.
Apertum Foundation is a foreign entity that is registered in the Marshall Islands and has no office, employee, agent, property, bank account, or servers in Texas.
Josip Heit and Dennis Christopher Loos are citizens of Germany and residents of the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”).
Dirc Zahlmann is a citizen of Germany and a resident of Germany and the UAE. And Bruce Innes Wylde Hughes is a citizen of South Africa and a resident of the UAE.
On May 13th the SOAH issued an order denying the motion;
The June 2-4, 2025 hearing is in person.
Reasoning cited by the court was Heit and the Apertum Foundation respondents specifically “request[ing] an in person hearing” in a previous filing.
The court’s order sets the stage for Heit and fellow Apertum respondents to enter the US. BehindMLM has previously reported on ongoing federal investigations into Heit.
It’s also unclear whether Heit’s prior conviction in Luxembourg, as Josip Curcic, will impact him obtaining a US visa.
Heit is reported to have been sentenced to prison on financial fraud charges sometime in the 2000s.
Heit was released from prison in Luxembourg in 2012. Sometime after release Heit changed his surname from Curcic.
It should be noted that, irrespective of whether Heit entering the US triggers a response from US authorities, ongoing investigations are assumed to still be active.
In filings related to the Texas Apertum fraud case, Heit’s attorneys have consistently maintained
Respondents have never intentionally reached into Texas in connection with the offer or sale of APTM, and, in fact, have publicly represented that their products are not available to residents of the United States.
As of April 2025, SimilarWeb tracked the US as the top source of traffic to Apertum Foundation’s website (46%). During the same month, the US was the second largest source of traffic to DAO1’s website (27%, up 4744% month on month).
As per SOAH’s May 13th order, the Apertum Foundation fraud case is scheduled for hearing over June 2nd to 4th.
A related hearing on alleged GSB fraud pertaining to GSPartners remains scheduled for August 11th.
Hat tip to the BehindMLM reader who sent in the relevant filings.
That Residency in the UAE is quite a few bucks. Better get ready to give it up Brucey.
I wonder how having already been imprisoned for financial fraud and travelling to the US to attend a financial fraud hearing as a defendant will go down with US immigration?
Given ICE’s current detention spree – risky move.
As a German citizen, he would be legible to enter having done an ESTA application, but he would likely be asked about any crimes involving moral turpitude. The alleged conviction in luxembourg may be a problem (the allegations won’t help either).
He could buy the Trump Gold card maybe? It’s currently just north of 4 mil APTM. I hear that they take anyone, even Russian oligarchs.
I wonder how Heit’s attorneys feel at having pushed for a request to deny in-person hearings when Heit & Co pushed for in-person hearings in the past? Probably very silly.
I also love the quote that forcing them to travel to the US “would be an undue burden and an unnecessary hardship.”
Heit & Co recently went to South East Asia whereby they posted stories to Instagram glugging champagne in business class on Emirates. This story of undue burden and hardship is really very sad.
I really hope this circus attempts to go to their hearing in-person.
I was thinking more…
refund request
You’re commenting on an article dear. That’s now how refund requests work.
Comeone Oz, cough up and refund the nice woman meanie!