The FTC are looking to depose Susan Zanghi, one of three individual defendants in their case against MOBE.

In an unusual turn of events, prior to Zanghi’s deposition the FTC have filed an emergency motion to unfreeze $5000.

The requested funds are to pay for limited legal representation at Zanghi’s deposition.

I don’t recall the FTC (or any other regulator) making such a concession before in an MLM related case.

Reason being that once assets are frozen, the intention is to preserve as much as possible to eventually return to victims.

Defendants using frozen assets to pay for legal counsel to defend allegations related to fraud allegedly committed to obtain said assets, is obviously a flawed conflict of interest when weighed against preservation.

Not so in the case of Susan Zanghi though, which begs the question “why?”

In their motion for a TRO, the FTC claimed MOBE employees referred to Zanghi (right) as “Matt Lloyd’s right-hand person.”

Defendant Susan Zanghi is a North Carolina resident. She is MOBE Ltd.’s and MOBE USA’s Finance Manager.

During all or part of the times material to this Complaint, acting alone or in concert with others, she has formulated, directed, controlled, had the authority to control, or participated in the acts and practices of the Corporate Defendants.

Susan Zanghi has opened and has signatory authority over numerous bank accounts and merchant accounts in the United States for MOBE USA, MOBE Training USA and TM-USA.

Susan Zanghi is the listed point of contact for the MOBE USA and TM-USA merchant accounts and in this role she has received information about numerous chargebacks filed by dissatisfied purchasers of MOBE memberships.

Susan Zanghi is also listed as a point of contact on the Better Business Bureau website for MOBE Ltd.

In connection with the matters alleged herein, Susan Zanghi transacts or has transacted business in this district and throughout the United States.

In short, Zanghi knows a lot about MOBE and its business practices – which is probably why her deposition is so important to the FTC.

As a result of the FTC’s granted TRO against MOBE, around $45,000 belonging to Zanghi has been frozen.

Through sworn financial statements Zanghi has represented to the FTC she

does not appear to have any other ability to obtain counsel, such as obtaining loans from family members.

The requested $5000 carve-out is to pay for an attorney, who has agreed to represent Zanghi at her deposition.

This is presented as a one-time service, after which the attorney has agreed to not “generally appear in the matter”.

Seeing as there’s no legal requirement for Zanghi to have representation at her deposition, the FTC wanting it to go as smooth as possible is the only reason I can come up with for the carve-out.

As per the case docket, the FTC’s June 12th emergency motion was granted on June 13th.

Zanghi’s deposition is scheduled for sometime next week.

Information gleaned from the deposition might also benefit the MOBE Receiver, who has consented to the carve-out.

The MOBE Receiver has been trying to get in touch with Matt Lloyd, even going so far as to put out a request for assistance from the general public.

Court filings reveal that as of June 8th Matt Lloyd and his fellow defendants had been successfully served by the FTC.

Lloyd is believed to have gone into hiding shortly thereafter, and hasn’t been seen or heard from since.

An attorney for Russel Whitney, the third individual defendant in the case, put in an appearance on June 12th.

A preliminary injunction hearing is currently scheduled for June 26th. Stay tuned…

 

Update June 16th 2018 – On June 13th Magistrate Judge Irick granted the FTC’s emergency motion.