TelexFree @ BehindMLM

To me this is one of those “everybody was in on it but now nobody wants to take responsibility for getting scammed” type stories. Increasingly Africa is a hotbed of recruitment for the MLM underbelly. Over these last twelve months I’ve seen Nigeria in particular popping up time and time again in marketing efforts for [Continue reading…]

As part of the order staying discovery in the TelexFree civil case until criminal proceedings are concluded, the court requested that the Department of Justice file a report on the status of the criminal proceedings on January 15th. As per this order, the DOJ’s filed status report sheds some light on the current progress of the [Continue reading…]

Sannderly Vasconcelos Rodrigues (Sann Rodrigues for short), was one of the top investors in the billion dollar Ponzi scheme, TelexFree. For his part in stealing over three million dollars from investors who joined after him, Rodrigues (right) saw himself named as a defendant in an April 2014 SEC complaint. As part of that case, which is [Continue reading…]

As per the local rules of the District Court of Massachusetts, the James Merrill’s attorney and the US Attorney’s Office (DOJ) have filed an interim status report. The report, filed ahead of today’s hearing (December 18th), provides some updates and insight into the status of the Wanzeler/Merrill criminal case.

A few days ago news broke that James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler had been granted access to $400,000 in funds. Access was approved after the pair proved the funds were not related to TelexFree. Left hanging in the balance from last Tuesday’s hearing was $4 million Merrill had previously requested, with the outcome of his [Continue reading…]

One of the recurring themes in Carlos Costa’s sweaty TelexFree news updates, was the assertion that the Brazilian IRS had gone over TelexFree’s books and certified the company legitimate. Costa asserted as much with the knowledge that the IRS would not comment publicly on their report, and that the only other party with a copy [Continue reading…]

Prior to TelexFree filing their bankruptcy petition, James Merrill, Carlos Wanzeler and other TelexFree insiders collectively sought to make off with almost $40 million in stolen investor funds. When the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided TelexFree headquarters, accountant Joe Craft was caught red-handed trying to make off $37.9 million dollars in cashiers checks. [Continue reading…]

As required by Local Rule 116.5, yesterday the US government provided an update on the discovery process in the case against James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler. Founders of the billion dollar Ponzi scheme TelexFree, Merrill and Wanzeler were indicted on charges of fraud and conspiracy back in July. The government has provided substantial discovery to date, [Continue reading…]

Operation Orion was launched by Brazilian Federal Police back in July. The launch of the operation saw Brazilian regulators execute search warrants on multiple properties connected to TelexFree’s Brazilian operations (Ympactus). As of yet the results of those raids are not clear, however it is understood that the “second phase” of Operation Orion is now underway. [Continue reading…]

News broke a few weeks ago that the firm charged with conducting an audit of TelexFree’s Brazilian operations had requested an additional 120 day extension. By my records this is the second extension Ernst & Young have sought, with the first requested and granted back in July. Ernst & Young trotted out the same reason [Continue reading…]