Celia Dunlop & Timothy Mackay arrested in Malta
Twelve years ago Michael Deese launched the MyAdvertisingPays Ponzi scheme.
MyAdvertisingPays, or MAPS as it was called, is believed to have defrauded US and Europe residents out of tens of millions of dollars.
By late 2015 MyAdvertisingPays was on the verge of collapse. The Ponzi limped along throughout 2016, with withdrawals halting in early September.
Post collapse, Malta issued a MAPS fraud warning in November 2016.
As part of MAPS’ exit-scam ruse, Deese (right) claimed investor funds had been frozen.
To that end in December 2016, Deese filed suit against VX Gateway alleging theft of $60 million.
Deese’s lawsuit cited the owners of VX Gateway as Celia Dunlop and Timothy Mackay, then alleged Texas residents.
Unfortunately the lawsuit ultimately went nowhere and was dismissed in mid 2017.
Sometime after MAPS collapsed, Dunlop and Mackay relocated to Malta. There, the Australian couple have apparently spent the last decade living the good life in a property worth millions.
That came to an end after it was revealed Polish authorities had quietly opened an investigation into VX Gateway.
The Polish investigation resulted in European arrest warrants issued in December 2024.
Polish authorities allege Celia Eileen Jane Dunlop and Timothy Alan Mackay, both 64, took
part in a criminal organisation and using a pyramid selling scheme to defraud individuals.
The two allegedly defrauded approximately 432 people to the tune of pound 238,603 [sic].
In February a Maltese Judge acknowledged the Polish arrest warrant and ordered Dunlop and Mackay’s extradition.
Dunlop and Mackay appealed the decision. Mackay’s appeal was rejected in late March and he was ordered into custody pending extradition.
A decision on Dunlop’s appeal remains pending.
Michael Deese was never brought to justice and, to the best of my knowledge, is a US resident living in Texas. It is unclear Deese was a person of interest in the Polish investigation.
BehindMLM will try to track Dunlop’s and Mackay’s proceedings but European MLM criminal cases are notoriously difficult for us to report on.
This is primarily due to language-barriers and privacy laws that protect scammers whilst leaving consumers in the dark.
For what it’s worth I did try to suss out and local Polish reporting on the VX Gateway case but didn’t find anything.
I wonder if Malta has a “extradition agreement” with USA. I certainly hope this is the case, as these scum bags need to own up to their nefarious deeds.
Edit: Apparently they do! They have a new agreement which supersedes the previous outdated agreement from 1931.
No statute of limitations in Europe?
As I understand it that’s what the appeals were based on.
Apparently Malta and Poland don’t give a crap (no idea what the law is).
Interesting that Deese now lives in Texas. The last I heard of him he and his new young wife bought a $200,000+ house in Mississippi with the stolen funds from MAP/TAP.
He could still be in Mississippi. I was going off a 2019 social media post suggesting Deese was in Texas. Anything after that tying Deese to Mississippi would be more current.
Malta and Poland are both members of the EU, a EAW “European Arrest Warrant.
Malta must be the most laid back place on the planet. I’m surprised to hear that you can get arrested there