TelexFree @ BehindMLM

For affiliates who invested in TelexFree, the current situation is a bonafied mess. Little to nothing has been officially communicated to affiliates, with the roadmap of fund recovery a murky minefield of uncertainty. I’ve tried my best to analyze and cover what’s happened on the legal front, but short of predicting an inevitable Chapter 7 liquidation, [Continue reading…]

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. The connection between money-laundering and TelexFree has been a long-standing one. A lot of the time Ponzi schemes launder stolen funds through offshore jurisdictions, that’s par for course. But with TelexFree, it always felt a bit more organised – cartel’esque even. We first learned of the links above and beyond [Continue reading…]

Further seeking to watertight their criminal case against James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has asked the Massachusetts District Court to order a stay on discovery in the SEC’s civil trial. The primary reason behind the request is the belief that Merrill and Wanzeler will use the discovery process in the [Continue reading…]

I can’t even begin to imagine the toll of running a billion dollar global Ponzi scheme must take on the mind. Sleepless nights, the constant looking over your shoulder, having to spew endless excuses on camera to appease your investors and so on. And when things go kaput, as they did with TelexFree earlier this year, [Continue reading…]

I tried to maintain tabs on what was going on with TelexFree while I was on break. Mostly it was paper pushing between the parties involved (scheduling, replies etc.), but there was one court document filed that I felt was a must-read. On the 18th of August the SEC filed a “Motion For Complex Case [Continue reading…]

Less than 24 hours after indictments were handed down against owners Carlos Wanzeler and James Merrill, Brazilian federal police have launched a new operation against TelexFree. Codenamed operation Orion, supposedly because the constellation Orion aligns with “the three largest pyramids of the Giza pyramid complex” in Egypt (Wikipedia), the operation has thus far resulted in [Continue reading…]

Filed on the 23rd of July, a grand jury has indicted James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler on eight counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Reading like a BehindMLM review, the grand jury described TelexFree as a pyramid/Ponzi hybrid:

Reminded only yesterday that TelexFree’s answer to the SEC’s amended complaint was now overdue, Trustee Stephen Darr was quick to file a reply – within which are revelations that shed light on the future of TelexFree. Darr’s response, filed on behalf of TelexFree which Darr has been put in charge of, is based on the [Continue reading…]

Two brief updates today in the ongoing battle between MLM Ponzi pimps and regulators. Neither really had enough weight for a separate writeup though, so I’ve combined them together below.

That the SEC were going to object when James Merrill requested $4 million in seized funds be released was always a given. Not only because Merrill claimed he needed the money to fund his legal defense but more importantly, because the money had been stolen from TelexFree affiliate investors. Merrill didn’t deny otherwise, but argued that [Continue reading…]