TelexFree @ BehindMLM

Unhappy with being named a defendant in the SEC’s civil case against TelexFree, Faith Sloan, one of the schemes top promoters, has filed a Motion to Dismiss the SEC’s case against her. Despite being one of the more prominent faces of TelexFree, self-titling herself as a “leader” and appearing at most, if not all, of [Continue reading…]

Yesterday saw the filing by TelexFree co-owner James Merrill, asking the District Court of Massachusetts to grant him pre-trial release. Charged with wire fraud for his part in the running of a $1 billion Ponzi scheme, Merrill was arrested on May 10th and is currently awaiting trial. Merrill’s arguments for pre-trial release largely centered on [Continue reading…]

Two days ago Faith Sloan filed a motion with the District Court of Massachusetts, asking the court to grant her until June 29th to file a reply to the SEC’s preliminary injunction against her. Trouble is that injunction was granted three weeks ago, so asking for an extension to reply to it now seemed rather pointless. [Continue reading…]

Resentment over TelexFree co-owner Carlos Wanzeler’s escape to Brazil and leaving of his partner-in-crime James Merrill to take the fall, might finally be starting to show. As it became clear regulators were going to move in on Wanzeler’s $1 billion Ponzi scheme empire, the night before his house was raided he jumped in a car with his [Continue reading…]

Two days ago saw the latest TelexFree bankruptcy hearing take place, with the outcome being the almost certainty that TelexFree’s management and owners would lose control of the company. In their place a Chapter 11 Trustee would be appointed, which would effectively put TelexFree in the control of US regulators (specifically the Department of Justice). Initially [Continue reading…]

Broadening the scope of their complaint against TelexFree to include it being a Ponzi scheme, the SEC have filed an amended complaint on the 27th of May. The initial complaint restricted the definition of TelexFree to that of an “illegal pyramid scheme”, with the new complaint kicking things up a notch. Much of the amended complaint [Continue reading…]

The first TelexFree bankruptcy hearing in Massachusetts went down yesterday, and the end-result was swift and conclusive. Any objections TelexFree might have had to the proceedings were swept away: A Massachusetts bankruptcy judge on Tuesday signaled he will move quickly to appoint a Chapter 11 trustee to take control of TelexFree LLC. Judge Melvin Hoffman [Continue reading…]

When it became evident that Carlos Wanzeler’s $1 billion dollar Ponzi empire was about to come crashing down, he instructed his wife to lie about his whereabouts and hatched his getaway plan. Aware that fleeing directly from the US would likely attract the attention of US authorities, Wanzeler opted to slink across the US-Canada border in the [Continue reading…]

One of the common questions we get after a major Ponzi scheme bust in the US is “what about affiliates overseas?” Surprisingly, arrests have yet to be made in Brazil (the “heart” of TelexFree), with the company’s management and top affiliate investors still running about professing TelexFree’s innocence. Over in the Dominican Republic, some initial reports [Continue reading…]

A bail hearing for James Merrill, co-owner of the $1 billion dollar TelexFree Ponzi scheme, was held last Friday in Massachusetts. Taking the matter under advisement, Magistrate Judge David Hennessy made a decision yesterday to keep Merrill in custody. Citing that ‘the Government has met their burden‘ in establishing why Merrill should not be granted bail, [Continue reading…]