Lyoness @ BehindMLM

Austria’s White Collar Crimes and Corruption” Public Prosecutor’s Office (WKSTA) has a long history with Lyoness. WKSTA has been trying to hold Lyoness and founder Hubert Freidl criminally accountable for years. Unfortunately for the regulator, legal decisions have thus far gone against them. Rather than resign themselves to a new era of legalized Ponzi fraud in [Continue reading…]

Lyoness has lost a lawsuit filed in a Swiss Cantonal court. The lawsuit sought to ascertain whether or not Lyoness Premium affiliate memberships were legally binding. Who filed the lawsuit is unclear (although my guess is a Lyoness affiliate who lost money).

Hasn’t BehindMLM covered this story already? Back in June of 2014 Lyoness announced a ‘new prepaid Lyoness Mastercard for European members‘. In an attempt to justify Lyoness’ Ponzi-like AU investment scheme business model, the Mastercard announcement saw “legitimacy by association” marketing begin shortly after. By January 2015 Mastercard had had enough, and affirmed they had “no [Continue reading…]

In 2013 a legal complaint was filed against Lyoness in the Polish  Court of Competition and Consumer Protection (abbreviated as CCCP in English or SOKiK in Polish). The complaint raised the question of whether Lyoness’ affiliate Terms and Conditions were illegal under Polish Consumer Protection law. The case has been playing out for almost three [Continue reading…]

The legal status of Lyoness in Austria is… complicated. Earlier this year Lyoness was found guilty of deceptive trade practices. Lyoness filed an appeal against the decision, which was denied last month. A concurrent push to hold Lyoness and founder Hubert Freidl accountable on a criminal level has also been playing out. Late last year [Continue reading…]

The Portuguese Consumer Protection Association, otherwise known as DECO, is is an independent non-profit association with charity status. It is the largest consumer association in Portugal and possesses a ‘Public Utility’ status. Following a series of complaints by Lyoness investors, DECO recently issued a warning against participation in the scheme.

Alleging Lyoness’ Terms & Conditions were “incomprehensible”, the Association for Consumer Information (VKI) in Austria took legal action against the company back in 2013. In their lawsuit VKI referenced “61 vague and inexplicable clauses”. The consumer advocacy group claimed they’d ‘never seen so many incomprehensible clauses in one contract‘. The contracts signed by the members contain many [Continue reading…]

Back in March of 2014, the Swedish Gaming Board concluded an investigation into Lyoness. Suspecting Lyoness was running a pyramid scheme, the Gaming Board forwarded their findings to police for further investigation. That investigation has been quietly carried out for almost two years, with prosecutors deciding to drop the investigation last November. Not because Lyoness was running [Continue reading…]

The thorn in the side of Lyoness’ claims to be a shopping portal has always been affiliate’s depositing funds directly with the company. Lyoness store these funds, with cash ROIs paid out (by Lyoness) once enough new deposits have been made. Back in the day you had affiliates investing in Accounting Units, today through Lyconet [Continue reading…]

It’s a story that’s probably familiar to many of Lyoness’ current and former Premium members. You were told to invest thousands “in shopping”, got a bunch of worthless Accounting Units and when recruitment of new affiliates died down, you were left holding the bag. Not all Lyoness affiliates chalk up their losses and go quietly [Continue reading…]