TelexFree deny US regulatory investigation
A few days ago, whilst speaking to Boston radio station Vem Viva, Acre Public Prosecutor Alessandra Marques dropped the bombshell that her office had been in contact with US regulators. Marques also revealed that a US investigation was underway involving the IRS.
TelexFree’s official response?
“Lolwut? Nobody told us about an investigation…’
Addressing concerned TelexFree affiliate investors who had been “contacting him since Saturday”, International Marketing Director Steve Labriola got straight to denying a TelexFree US regulatory investigation exists.
[1:50] There is no investigation started or presented to TelexFree in any shape or form.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t one coming eventually, who knows.
[2:30] As of right now there is nothing going on.
The alleged lack of contact by US regulators appears to form the basis of Labriola’s denial. Labriola continued on, laying out how he “suspect” US regulatory investigations take occur:
[2:50] There has been no initiation of an investigation. I would suspect that when an investigation starts on any company, they start the process and come to the company and say “we’ve started this process, this is what we’re doing”.
We haven’t heard of anything, so…
Much of the 32 minute call is dedicated to pushing “My Financial Advantage” onto TelexFree’s affiliates. My Financial Advantage is a third-party “financial solutions” platform, offering credit restoration, debt elimination and “financial advice on demand”.
Apparently TelexFree affiliates will be able to market My Financial Advantage through TelexFree, picking up a commission on any fees paid.
That’s not how the company’s affiliates make their money though, neither I imagine is it what the vast majority of affiliates on the call signed up for.
Given the heavy pushing of non-existent customers and “we are not an investment scheme” rhetoric, it was somewhat amusing to observe the following slide pop up as Labriola spoke:
TelexFree’s latest affiliate call was first uploaded to YouTube by “AdAssure Lite” and what you’re looking at above, is the reason TelexFree affiliates are pumping thousands of dollars from all over the globe into the scheme.
In blue you have TelexFree’s “package cost”, or what it costs to invest. Then in red you have TelexFree’s guaranteed ROI over 52 weeks. As you can see, the more invested the higher the 52 week ROI.
In orange is where AdAssure Lite come in, for a fee they’ll automate the spam requirement TelexFree require their affiliates to participate in. No spam, no weekly ROI.
The final figures on the right of the chart are the “guaranteed” annual ROIs sans AdAssure Lite’s spam fees and TelexFree’s annual “end of contract” fee.
The AdAssure Lite website domain (“adassurelite.com”) is registered to a Garry Harrison using a Utah based address.
On their website, AdAssure Lite advise
When you purchase our services—we will Guarantee your TelexFREE earnings.
If our job is not done properly, and causes you to lose your TelexFREE earnings, liferevs llc will pay you the full amount. (This doesn’t apply if TelexFREE has issues that prohibit us from doing our job).
No other ad posting service can match our Revenue Guarantee!
Let me now contrast the core of TelexFree’s business model in the screenshot above, with how Steve Labriola ended the January 14th call:
[26:00] When you’re reading the blogger’s that are claiming investigations, disregard it. If there’s something going on we’ll let you know.
But to make sure that the bloggers understand that we’re doing the right stuff, always be building your business with belief, don’t try to hurt people, don’t look for investments, don’t try to tell them that they’re going to get into the business and get something for nothing. It’s a business and it will take work.
[29:40] We are not an investment company and I don’t want anyone to perceive us as an investment company.
Evidently Gary Harrison and TelexFree’s business model didn’t get that memo.
Since speaking to Vem Viva, Alessandra Marques hasn’t made any further public comment on US regulatory investigations into TelexFree. Meanwhile the lack of communication on the US side (which is typical of US regulators until their investigations are concluded), will no doubt fuel denial amongst TelexFree investors.
The fact remains however, that if anyone was in a position to confirm a US investigation, short of US regulators themselves (which will not happen), it’d be the Acre Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Acre’s PP Office were investigating TelexFree for money laundering (amongst other things). With funds obviously being transferred between TelexFree’s US and Brazilian operations, then funnelled who knows where else around the world, it makes sense that Brazil and US regulators would be in contact.
Labriola briefly touches on TelexFree’s ongoing banking problems in the call, advising affiliates that TelexFree “has some countries that (they’ve) got banks opened up in”.
Labriola does not state which banks TelexFree are using, nor does he name the countries said banks are located in.
Stay tuned…
Footnote: Typically when I cover an affiliate call of a company I embed the call at the bottom of the article. In this instance I do not wish to promote AdAssureLite and as such there’s no embedded call.
Readers can still listen to the call by either Google searching it or manually typing in the URL provided in the Ponzi slide screen capture above.
Oz, you had a few typos up there. AdAssure got an extra D in several instances.
AdAssure is run by Dan Cowarts, former Zeek member.
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/daniel-cowart/4b/232/57a
WHOIS of AdAssureLite points to daniel@liferevs.com
Address linked to LinkedIn profile above, and their website advertises such. Liferevs(dot)com
Birds of a feather, flock together, and all that.
LifeRevs apparently was running an ad-posting service for Zeek, launched it 2 months before Feds shut Zeek down.
Man, this guy’s always late to the party…
Apparently Dan’s day job is at SAIBR, a company that offers legitimate MS Exchange as a cloud service, as the domain reg also goes that way.
This morning, a Telexfree affiliate started a hunger-strike in front of Rio Branco’s Court, asking the Justice to let Telexfree restart it’s operations –
http://tvig.ig.com.br/noticias/divulgador-da-telexfree-faz-greve-de-fome-e-se-acorrenta-a-tribunal-52d6fc77d8c8cd26cd0008d5.html
Thanks for the pickup Kasey.
I believe most of the US-based apex TelexFree investors came over from Zeek Rewards.
“Apex investors”? You’ve been reading too much SpeakAsia, Oz. 🙂 You start to sound like them. 😉
I was pretty sure that TelexFree predated Zeek…
It’s DMG Grupo of Colombia all over again! “Lo cree en Dios y David Murcia!”
I’m not sure what else to call them, top investors? Early investors? Senior investors? Apex does the job.
TelexFree did predate Zeek, but US operations only took off once Zeek was busted. That said some … early investors were running both schemes at once.
Alexa literally shows the TelexFree domain enter the top 100,000 mid 2012 when Zeek went down.
Wcm777 officially shut down in my country PERU, will telexfree be next?
Inner cadre? Insiders? Judas goats? Bird dogs? Inner circle? Scamworld? (borrowing the term from The Verge)
Those TelexFree folks enjoy living in ‘The Nile’. That is, until someone tells them to stop loitering and urges them to move on to the next ponzi ship with a hole in it.
Steve Labriola isn’t exactly VERY skilled as a con artist, but he surely tries. I looked at his explanation about “We haven’t been contacted, so there probably isn’t any”. 🙂
He filled in far too many “wrong type of details”. If people tries to repeat his arguments to others, they will probably not believe in it themselves. It will have an opposite effect of what it was intended to have.
CON ARTISTS DO IT DIFFERENTLYCon artists and illusionists will normally focus on what people ALREADY believe in, or what they most likely will accept to believe in, and then “build a bridge” between existing beliefs and the illusion.
Paul Burks connected some dots between people’s beliefs in penny auctions and their own “wants”. People who wanted to find an income opportunity clearly found something they already believed in.
TelexFree connected some dots between people’s beliefs about how money is generated through work and their own “wants”. People CAN believe in “get paid by doing something” ideas, even when the idea itself is flawed.
People will have a hard time accepting Steve Labriola’s explanation. He focused on a logical explanation where he should have focused on existing beliefs.
INTERNAL “MOVIES”People have “pictures” and even short “movies” inside their own heads about how things work, and they will test new information against all that old information they already have.
I really wonder WHERE he got that movie, where investigators will visit you before they start an investigation, and tell you it’s about to start and what it is about.
AFAIK, scenarios like that are not commonly shared ideas. People will simply SEE their own ideas about investigations quite differently, e.g. investigators secretly collecting information, NSA tapping cell phones, undercover police agents, binoculars, hidden cameras. Just to name a few ideas.
Steve Labriola’s “movie” has clear flaws. It starts from the wrong point, from investigators suddenly visiting and telling him “We’re about to start an investigation, what do you have to hide?”. To START an investigation, authorities must normally have investigated SOMETHING first, e.g. “WHAT should we investigate, WHY should we do it, WHAT do we expect to find?”.
DIVIDE IT INTO SEPARATE PARTSExperienced people will normally divide it into different parts, e.g. “the problem” and “the solution”. Steve Labriola would have been much more believable if he had handled the problem first, handled it PROPERLY.
It needs to be identified as people already SEE it, and first then can you try to make them see it differently, and first then can you introduce your own solutions to it.
For anyone who strongly believe in ideas about “positive mindset” and “inspiring leadership”, Steve Labriola’s method reflected ideas like that. He tried to minimize the problem, but he didn’t do it correctly. That’s where those ideas will fail, they will reflect “false ideas” rather than “reality as we see it”.
Try to REPEAT his statements as a true believer, e.g. “I clearly believe investigators will contact people before an investigation, and properly inform people about that an investigation is about to start and what it is about”.
Try to visualise an undercover agent calling the mafia boss before trying to infiltrate his organization? Try to visualise some of your OWN images involving different types of investigations?
Faith Sloan had a much better strategy than Steve Labriola, in how to handle the information about potential investigation in the US.
From the newest TelexFree article:
There’s a long distance between Acre and the US in jurisdiction. There’s a lot of missing dots in that story that haven’t been connected to each other. She pointed that out rather than constructing ideas people won’t believe in.
“Don’t call me. Don’t Facebook me. Don’t e-mail me. Don’t Skype me. I simply don’t have the answer”. That message is CLEAR and understandable, she don’t have the answers and she won’t make up any. It was followed by some “Do it yourself. Contact the radio channel and ask for a transcript. Do something.”
I will sometimes analyse different types of strategies for where they work and fail, and why they work or fail. I believe this one worked better than the first one (Steve Labriola’s one).
His strategy will fail because …
* he didn’t identify the problem correctly
* he focused mostly on the wrong part of it
* he tried to avoid the problem
* he presented a “constructed solution”, too early
The only thing he managed to reflect was that he didn’t like to talk about it or think about it, and didn’t want to do anything either (e.g. asking a lawyer for advice).
* He even mixed in “positive thoughts” and “leadership rules”, and the “Don’t talk about investment” idea.
What people FEEL is the problem is the potential risk of an ongoing investigation. That’s the problem he should have addressed properly, but not necessarily in a webinar.
This post should normally have focused more on Faith Sloan’s strategy rather than Steve Labriola’s, but I didn’t find much to analyse there. Her strategy has probably worked, whatever that strategy might have been.
It’s normally better to identify vague logic than to produce it yourself. “I simply don’t have that answer” should normally work better than constructed scenarios nobody really believes in.
You’re giving potential con men too many free lessons, M_N… 😀
How SEC Investigations Work:
For more details see this link –> http://www.sec.gov/News/Article/Detail/Article/1356125787012#.UtgluPRDu68
Those free lessons will be of more interest for other groups. Con artists should normally “have what it takes”, they don’t need any assistance from me.
Steve Labriola’s constructed scenario wasn’t very believable. I used Paul Burks and TelexFree itself to create some “contrast” between believable ideas and constructed ones.
It’s actually THEM giving free lessons to me. I’m just analysing the material to see how something work or fail. I know Labriola’s investigation theories probably will fail, and I’m trying to find out WHY.
Who “is” Steve Labriola anyway? It seems most of these characters have a history that can be traced. What’s his background that earned him the title of Head of Global marketing for Telexfree?
Seems as though perhaps Faith may have been a better choice for the job. He has better hair though. : )
Thanks for the link. It identified both Steve Labriola’s idea and Faith Sloan’s idea to be false.
* Law Enforcement agencies will not inform suspects
* Law Enforcement agencies do cooperate with other agencies in other countries.
The Public Prosecutor isn’t that type of Law Enforcement agency, but she can clearly have been informed about an ongoing investigation in the US.
Public Prosecutors will handle the RESULT of investigations, e.g. decide how to handle it (prosecute or not, handle administratively or before a court, etc.).
She clearly has the right to receive some type of information, but not DIRECTLY from US authorities.
It seems that “Oz” and K Chang” do the lions share of commenting on this site. From what K Chang stated on the first comment, Oz seems to be the writer of this article (and I guess therefore the webmaster of “BehindMLM.com”)?
I am thinking of joining TelexFREE so I ran across all your articles. To help me make an educated decision, I wanted to know where you get your information about an investigation happening in the USA? I ask because when I go to the major news agencies I do not read any news about TelexFREE.
How do you know all of this info when no other agency seems to know about it? I would think if it involved something like an investigation into a pyramid or Ponzi scheme, it would be news worthy.
Thanks for your help.
A Brazilian regulator mentioned it in non-US news reports (which you’d know if you’d bothered to have read the articles). She mentioned a US investigation and communication between Brazilian and US regulators regarding TelexFree.
As for US reports, US regulators don’t confirm or deny an open investigation until they’re done. Zeek Rewards for example wasn’t reported in the mainstream news (concerning regulators) until the SEC shut them down, which only happened after they’d concluded their investigation.
The information is all there for anyone who wants to verify any and all claims being made here. I find Oz and K Chang’s views honest, insightful and accurate. Don’t believe them? That’s all on you.
Maybe Kingdom777 or Lucrazon might be a better fit for you =)
j.powell. Oh for crying out loud….open your wallet and join Telexfree.. why do people like you come here challenging info…Why don’t you doughters spend more time questioning your recruiters?
If you take some time to “read” the articles here then you will find all the answers to your questions. I have a feeling anyone going into Telexfree is looking for the short cut in life so that’s why you guys can’t even read the post’s here. You want someone to answer it aaaaaaall again just for you so you don’t have to do ….”the work”? hmmm a pattern forming here.
I always look up the places that are referenced here just so I can get my own take on things. But here at least I get some direction. Look up Faith Sloan and go to her site. See how she recently spoke to her “down line” when they were upset that they couldn’t get their money out since Telexfree was “closed for maintenance” for two days….who knows if it’s open today.
Go to PatrickPretty and read his articles. Today’s was about Telexfree’s top winner…..well, he was prosecuted in Mass. USA a few years back for running a ponzie scheme. Do you really need more than that? They’re a bunch of internet crooks.
This blog doesn’t have to “prove” anything to you or anyone. Oz and all the people who take time to research and report here just to help people like you make an informed decision are doing “you” a great service. So take it for what it is or don’t take it at all.
Oz & Dorothy –
No need to insult me with your crass responses. I did read the article, but it said nothing about how you actually know about a US investigation (hearing it from some source in Brazil isn’t enough for me – I don’t care about Brazil – I don’t live in Brazil. I want to know local sources and info).
I merely wanted to know how you know such things are happening when no other news agency other than someone’s personal blogs have reported such? Blogs are not credible news sources. Blogs are personal opinion. I was not trying to provoke a rude comment from both of you.
Thank you, though, for showing me that you are both nasty individuals. You people have serious anger management issues. Someone involved with TelexFREE must have really ticked you off and you can’t let it go.
Now that I know what kind of people you are – I WILL absolutely “get off my wallet” and join TelexFREE today. Can’t wait to share my future experience with you all.
Well good luck with that. Ignore the obvious at your own peril.
And please, enough with the BS excuses and justifications – Brazilian news media are not “personal blogs”.
You’re looking for excuses to invest in a blatant Ponzi scheme, own it son.
Now, THAT is an investment strategy straight out of the Harvard Business School if I ever saw one.
Mr. Powell, I do apologize if I offended you. I was taught to have better manners.
You asked if I was “angry”? Yes, I’m angry. I’m angry for you and all those like you that are tricked every day in to handing over your hard earned money with hopes of gaining a bit of financial ground that “could” make a difference in your life.
We all say “if only I had the money for ……” my life would be better. I can’t tell you the foul feeling I have in my stoumach over the owners, marketers, and promoters of these kinds of so called businesses that prey on people. Have I been offended by Telexfree??? um no…but I have family members in it that I’m ashamed of by the fact they would be a part of somthing like this.
“They” have no excuse for their ignorance. Greed is a very bad state of mind. So, if my apology would help keep you from opening your wallet to give to Telexfree that would please me. I would rather have you back here in a few months reporting that you didn’t invest and are so glad….than you did and you lost…
@Mr. Powell
And by the way….when the whole thing comes to a shreeeeking hault… no one here would say “I told you so”…if people who have experienced the end of a company that was a scheme would come forward and share their stories it really would help to prevent the next storm and help other people.
Apparently people dont trust the people and information given here that state the facts…So “hellOOOO” Zeek Rewards people…share your stories…Don’t be embarassed…be empowered by doing the right thing!!!! Help!!!!
We can’t MAKE sources become “local” to people. You probably want to hear it from someone in your upline, or from TelexFree itself?
* The first source was Boston’s “Vem Viva” radio station (650 AM), and I’m pretty sure that won’t be “local enough”. You don’t live in Boston, you don’t care about Boston, you want a more local source than that.
* The second source, clarifying something from the first source, was Brazilian online newspaper “Globo”. And obviously you don’t read Globo, you don’t care about Globo, you want a more local source than that.
Those two other sources were found in another article on this website, Behind MLM. But you don’t read Behind MLM, you don’t care about Behind MLM, you want a more local source than that.
I live in Norway, so you won’t need to trust me as a source either (for where those sources were found). You don’t live in Norway, you don’t care about Norway, you want a more local source than that.
Investigation in the US wasn’t the main topic in the interview. Other parts of the interview was widely covered in Brazil by several online newspapers.
The main topic was about “TelexFree is sponsoring Botafogo FC”, and the potential negative effect that could have for the football club, e.g. being involved in money laundering.
“Globo” (“The Globe”) is a part of South America’s largest media concern. It was the best source for the local situation in Acre, e.g. interviews with TelexFree’s lawyers, public prosecutor, judge.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organiza%C3%A7%C3%B5es_Globo
We have also used some more specialized sources like ig.economia (business news), for other parts of the story. But none of those sources will be local enough for you, so they’re hardly worth mentioning.
I think what you meant to say is how do we know all this when nobody else is TALKING ABOUT IT?
The answer is simple:
1) US law enforcement don’t talk about fraud investigations, unless the stuff’s so benign, they merely sent a “request for documents” (like North Carolina did with Zeek) and even then it may make weeks or months for that to be made public.
2) We studied prosecution history of similar cases, such as Zeek, ASD, FHTM, etc. In all cases, the Feds simply walked in the front door, ordered all employees to step away from their desks, and secured the premises to prevent any one from destroying evidence. There is no prior warning.
When you combine the two, it’s pretty clear what you assume to be “newsworthy” item is simply not there. Such an item would only be newsworthy when they complete the raid, and not a moment before.
Then you won’t see any news until the Feds raid TelexFree, which can be in a few weeks to a few months or even few years.
Your condition is known as cherry picking. You ignore the news that you think is not relevant to you, because it doesn’t fit your world view.
I used the SEC’s own website as a source in post #20, using a link in post #17. My Doctor recommended that method as a part of the anger management therapy. 🙂
You don’t work at the SEC, you don’t care about the SEC, you want a more local source than that. I just saved you some time by identifying the source for what it is = not the type of source you really want.
Sounds like you who have neurotic issues.
You asked for information, we provided it. You refused to accept the information through denial, and labelled those who gave you information “[needing] anger management”.
Sounds like you’re just looking for reasons to not believe us, even if you have to invent one out of thin air.
That’s known in psychology as “post-hoc justification”. You already decided what you want to believe, and now you’re cherry-picking what you want to hear to justify your decision (reached long before you asked for information)
The possibility also exists that you simply commented to troll us, but that possibility is quite remote.
So you’re out to spite us with your own wallet? You are a brave man. That just proves you’re neurotic though… reacting to everything with emotion instead of logic.
Whether a U.S. government source has confirmed a TelexFree probe is immaterial to the issue of whether it is a Ponzi scheme, pyramid scheme or both. It’s also immaterial to the issue of whether TelexFree is selling unregistered securities.
Beyond that, if the United States does investigate — and if civil or criminal charges or both are filed — there is nothing that prevents the agencies from naming Carlos Costa a defendant. That’s he’s in Brazil does not preclude him from prosecution.
For whatever reason, American promoters seem to think they have some cover because the matters are unsettled in Brazil and because Costa appears to have some popular support there.
If certain American TelexFree groups are shown to have a disproportionate share of domestic Brazilians in their uplines, it is going to smack of conspiracy to circumvent the Acre judiciary.
And these Americans might get to see themselves on TV in Brazil, just as WCM777 pitchman Harold Zapata of California saw himself on TV in Peru.
Peruvian TV showed flashes of one of Zapata’s pitches, plus mugshots of a couple of the local pitchmen in Lima. And like the film crews that caught the ASD raid in 2008, the Peruvian media showed law-enforcement personnel at the scene of the WCM777 raid.
TelexFree’s sponsorship of the Botafogo FC in Brazil reminds me of when securities fraudster Jason Bo-Alan Beckman of the massive Trevor Cook Ponzi scheme tried to buy his way into the National Hockey League.
For Beckman, it was a fatal mistake. Among other things, it demonstrated his willingness to try to pollute professional sports with Ponzi proceeds. It didn’t help that some of the money he swiped came from couple in their 90s living in a nursing home.
Massachusetts filed allegations last week against an alleged recidivist fraudster and disbarred attorney who hatched a new scheme. The state says he bought Red Sox season tickets with some of the proceeds.
PPBlog
Now I’ve seen everything, Faith Sloan giving tax advice on her telexfree page…ugh!
Anyway.. I live in USA and by law the company I work for has to send me by January 31st a W2 form wich states how much I’ve earned and how much I payed in taxes during the previous year. This helps me to calculate whether I owe more taxes or if I paid to much and the govrnment will reimburse me for over paying.
If a person works for someone but is not considered an employee this is an independent contractor which I beleive is what any Telex free “sales person”???? would be. In this case the company or companies a person worked for would send out a 1099 which must also by law be sent out by Jan 31st. The company also has to send a copy to the IRS at a later date sort of a check and balance. Someone cant say Oh I only made 20,000 if the company says they paid you 40,000.
So, on Sloan’s page under Labriola’s Valentine update (Feb 14th) that the company will be sending out the 1099’s to the Ponzie Pals in the next week or so since they have to get their paper work in to the government. (me thinks we missed the Jan 31st deadline) Also she said they’re some “incorrect id #’s?” Ruh roh….sounds like some social security numbers have some issues?
I found the following on a tax site… I’m not a tax person but perhaps a reader here is more versed:
For the Zeek Rewards affiliates, it was generally 1099-MISC tax forms. Other contractors generally received W2, depending on the type of work. Some were reclassified from 1099-MISC to W2.
1099-MISC: Miscellaneous Income
1099-R: Distributions from Pensions, Annuities, Retirement Plans, IRAs, or Insurance Contracts
January 31st was one of the events on my list of “events that can lead to TelexFree’s shutdown”. They will have great trouble reporting some of the payouts.
It’s generally impossible to predict WHEN TelexFree will be shut down, or whether it will collapse by itself. But it’s possible to predict a chaos.
History tells us that complying with taxation laws is low down on the list of priorities to a company running an online fraud of the size of TelexFree. It is, however, a useful tool for legitimizing the fraud in the eyes of many of its’ victims.
Over the years there have been many examples of fraudulent companies having sent out the requisite forms which were inaccurate and misleading, causing the recipients all manner of grief long after the fraud has collapsed and disappeared.
As has been pointed out already, there can be a considerable lag time between the sending out of forms and their inclusion in the taxpayers’ return, which plays into the hands of the fraudsters by keeping victims “quiet” and convinced the issuing of the correct forms is evidence of the frauds’ legitimacy.
This means the taxpayer is left to explain a) why income does not match that on the income statement forms b) the issuer was fraudulent in itself and c) he / she was unknowingly involved with a fraud.
On top of which he /she can find themselves subject to an unwelcome personal IRS audit, in which all other sources of income will be revealed. Something serial HYIP participants want to avoid at all costs.
It is often said, the repercussions of being involved in a fraud extend further than merely the immediate loss of money.
That’s why I have included the “Howard Kaplan advice” in a few posts, the general tax advice Zeek participants received in 2012.
“Run it like a business = keep your own records for all transactions in and out, and all the work related to the income”. Posting ads isn’t about work, so people can ignore that type of work.
From recent article addressing Brazil:
Really? Reeeally? How did they pay taxes in Brasil for 2012?
Am I wrong in understanding that “Telexfree affiliate data” would be the recording of soc. sec. #’s. Money paid in and money withdrawn by affiliates? How can a company “not” have this information if people have to sign up, hand over money to join,record transactions on sale of voip….etc…
To the sheeple:
Ok, if up until now you really believe that Telexfree is legit… The fact that this company admits it can’t keep it’s books properly should “SCREAM” impropriety. They not only open themselves to very serious legal issues ( how can they possibly pay the appropriate taxes themselves ) but they place a red flag right on top of each of your heads that’s waving at the IRS.
What a complicated mess for even a sophisticated company. Someone in Africa is paying in and withdrawing money from Telexfree based in USA. Who do the Africans pay taxes to?
And these transactions are going through IPayout?
Hope Joe Craft (suggested accountant by Telexfree) is up for the job…however, I’m skeptical about any proffessional that would agree to work for or with Telexfree.
stupid dorothy wrotrote :
Stupid person with a problem with critical analysis and ability to comprehend the written word should go back to telexfreepower.com in the telexfree news section and she will realize that Faith Sloan was jotting down notes of the live call and those were not her words.
if stupid person dorothy do real research and get the actual recorded audio she will see that Faith was repeating what was said by steve labriola. stupid person likes appearing to be intelligent person.
you failed stupid person. you are still stupid until proven otherwise. ha ha to you. i know you will do better next time. public humiliation is how stupid people learn.
I thought Dorothy covered that by stating the information was “on Sloan’s page under Labriola’s Valentine update”.
TelexFree – “Our affiliates are dumber than yours, guaranteed!”
stupid is as stupid does
Yep
@Stupid is 🙂 (your choice of name not mine)
Public humiliation? You just made a public *** of yourself and I did’nt have to lift a finger. I thank you for that since I’m only on my first cup of coffee.
My my, how you did go on and on and say absolutely nothing. How do “you” know Faith Sloan was jotting down notes while listening to Labriola? (and I did listen to Labriola’s “awsome” audio. Maybe that’s where you learned to talk endlessly and say nothing).
Are you Faith? The level of anger towards me in your defense of Ms Sloan (when I did not attack her in any way in my comment) leads me to wonder, just who is “Stupid”? Are you Ms.Sloan? Are you one of Ms. Sloan’s butt boys? Or did “stupid” bend over and…..open “stupid’s” wallet?
And FYI someone like you questioning my intelligence? Dat wheeely hurt my feewings… : )
P.S. What’s a wrotrote?
No category of contractor should ever receive a W2. They should only receive Misc-1099s and Zeek affiliates were rightfully classified as independent contractors.
The reclassification from Misc 1099 contractor to W-2 employee undertaken by the RVG Receiver was surely because at least some of the day to day staff was issued Misc 1099s instead of W-2s as would be proper.
Employers has incentive to do this because W-2 employees are more expensive and cumbersome to employ than contractors doing the same work. Employees tend to like it because it results in higher take home pay.
However, United States federal payroll (or employment) tax imposes on both employees and employer the obligation to fund Social Security and Medicare. Issuing Misc 1099s versus W-2s is a way for both worker and company to avoid this obligation. This is why the Receiver reclassified certain individuals.
Some hired contractors got W2 tax forms from the Receiver.
The quote in post #9900 in the MMG forum is from one of them.
moneymakergroup.com/Zeekrewards-Zeekrewards-t398669.html&st=9885&p=7529211#entry7529211
The only thing your example proves is that some fellow in a chat room assumed he had the status of independent contractor and the Receiver determined he was an employee and sent him a W-2. Who knows if there was a mistake by Bell or if the man is a complete loon? In any event the tax code operates in the way I described it.
If the check the man received bounced then he has to file a proof of claim. There’s no question there. His consolation is that if he has received a W-2 proving that he has unpaid wages then he will be a priority creditor. In other word he will almost certainly be paid his wages in full if he files a proof of claim.
If the W-2 was issued in error the Receiver may have inadvertently done the man a favor since independent contractors are unsecured creditors of lower priority than unpaid employees.