Sannderly Rodrigues violating his TelexFree injunction?
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 on hold until the criminal case against TelexFree’s founders is concluded, Rodrigues saw himself slapped with a preliminary injunction back in May.
Among other things, this injunction saw Rodrigues ‘ordered to cease conducting any further fraud involving securities or otherwise‘.
Today I thought I’d raise the question of whether Rodrigues is meeting this court-ordered obligation.
Back in September the Brazilian MLM opportunity iFreeX went into prelaunch.
Who runs the iFreeX remains a mystery, however Sann Rodrigues is heavily involved in the promotion of the company.
Rodrigues began heavily promoting iFreeX on his then primary Facebook account, only to have the state of Massachusetts issue a warning against the company in October.
In the warning, Secretary of State William F. Galvin personally identified Rodrigues as one of the culprits promoting iFreeX:
Secretary of State William F. Galvin is warning people being asked to invest in iFreex to be wary.
Complaints have been made to the state’s Securities Division against Sanderley Rodrigues de Vasconcelos, also known as Sann Rodrigues, who state officials said was once a top promoter for TelexFREE.
iFreex appears to have many of the same characteristics as other pyramid schemes the Securities Division has recently brought actions against, including Wings, TelexFREE and WCM777.
Immediately after Galvin’s warning was issued, Rodrigues began deleting all iFreeX promotional activity from his then primary Facebook profile.
For the rest of October Rodrigues lay low, but in November he once again began heavily promoting iFreeX on a backup Facebook profile he registered in August.
Since his first 8th November posting, Rodrigues has issued a steady stream of iFreeX marketing on his alternate profile.
On November 15th Rodrigues advertised that he would be hosting a “mega event” for iFreeX:
On November 17th Rodrigues flew to Portugal on a recruitment drive for new iFreeX affiliates:
After Portugal Rodrigues claims to have continued his recruitment escapades in France (23rd November) and England (27th November). Rodrigues refers to his recruitment drive as hi “Europe Tour”.
Rodrigues fled the US to his native Brazail after TelexFree was shutdown by the SEC.
After returning from his tour of Europe, Rodrigues then immediately set about luring Brazilians into iFreeX too:
Rodrigues held three events and charged attendees $20 just to listen to him make his pitch.
Throughout the rest of December Rodrigues continued to hold recruiting seminars in Brazil, where he is currently holed up.
Other posts by Rodrigues suggest iFreeX activity in Peru, Spain, Colombia, England and Switzerland.
In response to Galvin claiming iFreeX had ‘many of the same characteristics as other pyramid schemes‘, iFreeX issued a directive in late November banning the recruitment of US citizens.
When exactly this policy was implemented is unclear, but the above Facebook post dated 28th November was the earliest example I was able to find.
Regardless, Sann Rodrigues (who holds an American passport himself), appears to have not gotten the memo.
As late as December 18th Rodrigues advertised an iFreeX “mega event” featuring Dione Folador:
As per the screencap above, Folador is credited as being an iFreeX “top leader from the US”.
At this point if you’re unfamiliar with iFreeX, you’re probably asking yourself why any of this matters. Rodrigues is promoting iFreeX while the TelexFree saga plays out, what’s the big deal?
Well, according to iFreeX’s business model, the company charges affiliates up to $1299 + a $49.99 joining fee to participate.
Paying this fee qualifies an iFreeX affiliate to earn in the company’s compensation plan. Through which they are then paid to recruit new paid affiliates.
iFreeX also pay out a daily ROI using affiliate membership funds, in addition to monthly commissions paid out of a $49.99 a month fee all affiliates must pay to continue to participate.
In September Rodrigues suggested iFreeX might be “the next TelexFree”. That same month he also claimed to have over 20,000 affiliates in his iFreeX downline:
The total number of people he has recruited into iFreeX today is unclear.
What is clear however is that Rodrigues is a primary promoter of what is quite obviously a recruitment-driven pyramid scheme. Make no mistake, Secretary of State William F. Gavin’s warning was issued not without merit.
Given this, Rodrigues appears to be thumbing his nose at the SEC and in clear breach of the conditions set in the preliminary injunction granted against him.
As the time of publication, an answer to Rodrigues’ inherent inability to cease scamming the general public has yet to be made.
Rodrigues for now remains at large in Brazil, where presumably he believes he is safe from US regulators.
if it comes down to it, will brazil extradite sannderly rodrigues?
financial fraud, as in pyramid/ponzi schemes is not mentioned in the treaty. are points 18/19 sufficient to cover ponzi fraud? is breaking terms of an injunction [cease ponzi fraud] equivalent to perjury?
Brazil doesn’t extradite their nationals. Rodrigues has dual citizenship IIRC.
He built a life for himself there, pretty much surrendering his Ponzi assets to the SEC when they shut TelexFree down.
Bitter pill to swallow at his age, and it’ll get worse if they go after him. Basically if he ever dreams of returning to the US he’s screwed.
He obviously left Brazil for the US for a reason. When his latest scam money runs out and he gets sick of slumming it… who knows.
o well, how convenient for rodrigues! brazil is nice and laidback for retirement, no ?
but there is a whole wide world of scammers paradise outside the US too. he can keep scamming all over the world and return to safelittlebrazil anytime he wants. how convenient!
I’m not an expert but I don’t imagine countries without US extradition treaties are high up there on Rodrigues’ “to visit” list.
Remember, he’s not wanted… yet. Wanzeler on the other hand is pretty much a prisoner in Brazil and will remain so for the foreseeable future.
If you didn’t have such an obsession WRT the use or none use of the word “ponzi” Anjalitroll there would be no need for you to be asking the question
They falsely pretended they had a billion dollar VOIP company and obtained money by doing so.
No need to get all complicated about it.
no need to get all ANYTHING about it! oz said brazil don’t extradite it’s fraudsters, didn’t he?
so, why obsess?
Uh Oh, Anjalitroll must be feeling the pressure of watching all her pet causes disappear down the gurgler, along with her heroes.
Now she’s having to resort to playground style comebacks.
uh oh, littleroundtroll must be feeling very silly, thinking rodrigues/burks could be my heroes.
meanwhile, how will Judge Jedi Rakoff, feel about losing his heroship? huh?
and THIS is why we love BehindMLM so darn much!!!
Here in Brazil this Criminal (Sann Rodrigues) is promoting iFreex like there is no tomorrow.
If the US Authorities are informed about the violation, could they “cancel” his US Passport or start any action against him?
Not too sure what might happen on the penalties side, but I have a feeling they’re just letting Rodrigues hang himself.
When the time comes (after the criminal stuff is concluded), there’s likely to be a mountain of collected evidence presented in court against Rodrigues (and any of the other 8 promoting scams post-TelexFree).
Rodrigues has a history with the SEC, and has previously had an order entered against him prohibiting him from engaging in fraud.
The wheels of justice turn slowly but it should catch up with Rodrigues in due time.
Authorities from Espirito Santo state, Brazil, also do keep an eye on Rodrigue’s moves. He’s been accused of fraud and other related crimes in that state. He is likely to go back to Europe hoping the feds forget about him.
Very comfortable, Mr. Sanderley is living in United States (protected) and defrauding the rest of the world.
I – I wonder how he got his American citizenship. If investigate, they’ll find out how the visas for church really works around there.
II – If Ifreex is not permitted in USA, why the US IP Address is not blocked ?
III – Sanderley will be jailed like Kevin Trudeau was.
He’s back in the US while all this is going on?
Man… when the criminal side of TelexFree and the civil case goes back to court, expect fireworks.
Hi Oz and everybody,
This is an article / interview with Sann Rodrigues made back in early October…
betomoraes.info/sann-rodrigues-se-defende-sobre-ifreex-nao-tenho-nada-a-ver-com-isso/
This is good stuff, cause acordingly to the report, when asked Sann stated very clearly that ‘He have NOTHING TO DO WITH IFREEX’…
This is right after Galvin public warning, so Sann indirectly is answering Galvin.
I think it worth the effort to translate this article to English.
The blogger is a radio reporter, and maybe is gd idea to contact him as well if you want to check bout his sources.
Good job,
DMPontes
Thanks for that DMPontes.
Relevant quote:
Rodrigues can’t even keep up with his own lies.
mensage off telexfree site