Validus has received a second securities fraud warning from New Zealand.

The warning follows the Financial Markets Authority ordering Validus to cease operations nationwide back in February.

Despite the ban, in a March 20th warning the FMA states they

are aware that seminars have been held in New Zealand to promote the products and services of Validus.

We are concerned that Validus is operating in breach of the New Zealand financial markets legislation, in particular, Validus is providing financial services in New Zealand without registration as a financial service provider as required by the Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Act 2008.

This is the equivalent of a securities fraud warning in other jurisdictions.

With respect to MLM companies like Validus committing securities fraud, FMA

strongly recommend(s) that investors do not trade or invest with entities that are not registered and/or licensed in New Zealand.

The FMA issued its first Validus securities fraud warning last September.

I feel like I’m pointing out the obvious here, but if Validus is still being promoted in New Zealand despite a cease trade order and two securities fraud warnings, it’s probably time to start rounding up organizers of local events.

BehindMLM previously identified Timote Makaui and Ali and Fatima Weaver as ringleaders behind Validus promotion in New Zealand.

Validus is a Dubai-based Ponzi scheme run by former OneCoin scammers Parwiz Daud and Mansour Tawafi.

In addition to New Zealand, Validus has attracted regulatory attention from Australia and Belgium.

As of March 2023, SimilarWeb tracks top sources of traffic to Validus’ website as France (19%), Colombia (11%) and Brazil (10%).

 

Update 5th July 2023 – Validus has been permanently prohibited from operating in New Zealand.