TelexFree making selective payments in Brazil?
There’s been a lot of talk over the last few weeks over the R$500,000 the state of Acre has been ordered to pay up in the TelexFree case.
General consensus is that it’s a legal strategy with TelexFree hoping that the case will be dismissed because Acre, one of Brazil’s poorest states, won’t foot the bill.
Commenting on the issue and fully aware of the recent floods that have left many in Acre homeless, TelexFree owner Carlos Costa remarked
I do not believe the governor (of Acre) will authorize this payment, because he will be making the people of Acre pay for a private company to make a case against another private company.
TelexFree have thus far been unable to get anywhere legally (twenty something defeats in court to date and multiple fines for acting in bad faith), so hitting the government’s hip-pocket appears to be their new ploy.
The case against TelexFree is now in the “expertise” stage, meaning that an expert or experts are going to be called on to provide evidence as to why TelexFree are a Ponzi scheme.
Usually in these cases it is the defendants who bear the costs but last year TelexFree filed an appeal on the grounds that because their assets were blocked, they would be unable to pay.
Judge Thais Borges agreed and ordered that the plaintiffs pay for expertise. According to Brazilian law, because the Public Ministry of Acre is an autonomous body they are ‘exempt by law to pay the fees for expertise in civil suits‘. Thus the burden has been passed onto the state.
Again, TelexFree are were obviously aware of this when they filed their appeal, and are counting on the state refusing to pay.
In response to a recent deadline issued on the expertise payment, the state of Acre have announced they will appeal Judge Borges’ earlier decision. Speaking on behalf of the Acre Attorney General’s Office, chief prosecutor Leonardo Silva Rosa Cesario told iG,
The Government can not be held responsible for these fees, because it is not party to the proceedings and did not having have the chance to speak about it earlier.
And while I don’t know the specifics of the appeal, I’m pretty confident that the decision is going to be reversed.
Why?
Just under two weeks ago Carlos Costa revealed in a YouTube video that the Espirito Santo IRS had fined the company R$70 million reias for failing to pay their taxes.
In the video, Costa frantically waved tax bank receipts around and made a big fuss over how quickly TelexFree paid the fine:
The R$70 million reias question? How did TelexFree pay the fine so quickly if their assets are blocked?
That TelexFree don’t have access to R$500,000 but can pay up R$70,000,000 quick smart just doesn’t add up. Well, perhaps it does if you look at it as a legal strategy…
Failing to pay the IRS on the belief they can hold the Acre government hostage over the R$500,000 and get the case dismissed serves TelexFree’s interests.
Paying for a bunch of experts to get up and tell the court how using new affiliate investor money to pay out existing affiliate investors is a Ponzi scheme, doesn’t.
All the Attorney General has to do is play the Carlos Costa’s latest video in court and ask TelexFree to explain where the money came from. You and I know it was just diverted from TelexFree’s offshore bank accounts (iPayout), but if they have to admit it in court then the notion that they can’t pay a measly R$500,000 becomes rather absurd.
R$500,000 represents just 0.7% of the R$70 million TelexFree just recently paid the IRS.
Hell, if I was the judge hearing the case, not only would I grant the appeal but I’d also fine TelexFree for obviously misleading the court and delaying proceedings (again).
Stay tuned…
Hell… they do want to look like victim, but they shit on their own strategy…
Costa keep sayin’: “It’s about to end… I can feel it”
Yeah, Costa. It really is, perhaps not the way you wanted.
The only hope of the investors is the expertise fails… And… believe or not, it has 50% to do so.
Some information on the experts who will make the “autopsy” on TelexFree and on the R$ 70 million TelexFree IRS payment:
First, the experts: I’m not sure if it is already known here, but the company appointed by judge Thais is Ernst & Young. It appears all along her released decisions as “E & Y”, but everyone knows the meaning of these letters.
Second, the IRS payment: in his last video, Costa indeed was very “proud” of how fast he payed R$ 70 million. By what is written in this text, I’m not sure if you got his “explanation” for the source of that money. In the video, he said it came from “credit” Ympactus already had with the IRS. Wheter or not this is true is unknown.
How do you have a “credit” with the IRS?
I can understand TF paying an undisclosed amount because they have no idea what tax to pay and then waiting for the IRS to nail them (or hoping they don’t), but credit? The IRS isn’t a bank you just deposit and withdraw from.
The question remains, where did the rest of the balance recently paid come from? If I was the Acre Attorney General’s Office I’d make that they core of the appeal.
And more: recently, judge Thais gave up using abbreviations and wrote it all, although with a typo: “ErnEst Young”. Check it out:
http://diario.tjac.jus.br/display.php?Diario=3129&Secao=374
I guess you all know the weight of something stated by this respected company.
Hey, Oz, just to point it out: sometimes you refer to R$ 70 million REAIS as DOLLARS on the article text.
You guys don’t refer to R$ as dollars? My mistake, I’ll update the article.
After thinking about it I suppose it makes sense, “real dollars” is a bit clunky. The stuff you learn covering Brazilian scams!
Brazil’s currency is called “Real”, which plural is “Reais” and the currency symbol is “R$”. 🙂
There was a lot of doubt about that payment. Carlos Costa showed “proof” that “somebody” had paid some taxes in early 2013, before the shutdown.
@Diego pronunciation wise is the plural of real “ray-as” or “ree-as”? (Note I’ve only included the hyphen to separate the syllables, not to imply a phonetic break).
Yeah, Oz, the “credit” thing is very bad explained. It’s ridiculous, but that’s what he said, at 7:28, in his “Plantão 33”. YouTube automatic captions translate it to English reasonably well to understand he says something about credit.
His full line is “Pagamos com o que nós tínhamos de crédito. A empresa tinha crédito junto à Receita Federal”, which translates to “We paid with the credit we had. The company had credit with the IRS.”
Check it out, at 7:28: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFPUmcaM86A&t=7m28s
Exactly, M_Norway. This is something that makes his “credit” even more suspicious.
“Reais” is pronounced similarly to “reh-ice”. And “real” is pronouced similarly to “reh-awl”.
@Mauricio
Thanks for that. I’ve always read “real” as it’s written in English and reais as “rays”. I’ll have to remember the correct pronunciation now :).
Have you heard about the app they released recently? They are saying that Microsoft wants to buy the Telexapp and of course as a way to proof how legit their business is, they are voicing out about it right and left.
I haven’t search it on the App Store so not sure of its authenticity .
I saw some absolute garbage about Microsoft wanting to buy TelexFree in 2012 for “$10 billion”. But of course Wanzeler turned the offer down.
Outside of entertainment value, best to just ignore anything that comes out of the TF affiliate-base.
it’s a common rumor spread by ignorant people. Since you can’t verify it, it means nothing.
Vemma tried it last year, when rumor spread that Coca-Cola wanted to buy then for 2 billion. When BK Boreyko posted a reply that essentially said, “Ha, I wouldn’t sell at any price!” All the Vemm-bots took that as confirming that such an offer existed. BK then had to post “actually no truth to this rumor, thx” and repeat when that pop up again from time to time.
Remember, TelexFree ain’t worth 2 million. Not even the name. Costas tried to give that up as “collateral” to the MPAC. These guys are getting desperate to make up some **** of legitimacy. (remember, Microsoft already have Skype)
The only thing I can think of credit with the IRS that Carlos was talking about is the refund of the withholding tax. But the refund is owned by whoever has been deducted the tax, ie it should be returned to the promoters of the company.
I am not an expert in tax law but the only tax that the company paid, according to the news, is the income tax from their promoters.
what is the word on the street about the new compensation plans?? is it still attractive? did it really change “again” as it was posted before? actually.. what were those changes?
I should’ve known better. Just like the rumor of Obama passing a law that specifically benifiated them. Lies and more lies.
Brazil appears to be a federative government as is the United States. In the US, the IRS is responsible for collecting Federal taxes, not State taxes. In the US each State collects their own. Espirito Santo is a Brazilian State.
Esse imposto que a Telexfree foi multado é federal. Aqui também tem os impostos federais e estaduais, além disso municipios tambem tem impostos.
This tax was fined Telexfree that is federal. Here also has federal and state taxes in addition municipalities also have taxes.
What does Espirito Santo (a State) have to do with the collection of Federal taxes?
Just a quick update from the Dominican Republic…
TF incorporated a local office, with an equity equivalent to about US$35K. This is peanuts, compared to an “investment” of US$400K made by one single local “investor”. Yes! US$400,000!!!
(Ball park I estimate that they have skimmed well in excess of US$100 million from Dominican #TeleTubbies over the last year since they started operating here and now brag to have around 150,000 “promoters”.)
It also appears that this local corporation has purchased an office space in a relatively upscale business center.
Here is the irony: In exactly the SAME building, SAME floor, SAME office space operated another online scam (eQuote, dealing in “FX”) which equally offered incredibly high yields. In my weekly financial column I put out the alert on that scam (http://www.diariolibre.com/sociedad/2013/08/08/i396623_estafas-internacionales-101.html) and after a follow-up story by a well known investigative journalist they left the country without a trace.
As you all could expect, TF have also leveraged that physical office to show the local #TeleTubbies the following:
1) To circulate photos showing that they have a (real) physical presence in the Dominican Republic.
2) To show that they are not being “investigated” by the Attorney Generals office. Obviously they are not, since that local company probably doesn’t even operate.
3) To evidence that they have a registry or certification from the local intellectual property and tax authorities. Which, again, means nothing as the affiliates are accepting the MA (now Nevada) contracts available online.
Many of the Dominican affiliates are putting up signs that they are selling their “bonos” or whatever TelexScam calls its value units and interest in the Ponzi (as measured by Google Trends, which has been quite accurate) appears to have peaked: http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=TelexFree&geo=DO&date=1%2F2013%2015m&cmpt=q
Local authorities as of now have not said anything nor put out an alert on this. It seems that whats happened in Brazil, Perú, Rwanda, Jersey/Guernsey and the SEC in MA is not relevant to them.
Will keep you guys updated, congrats to Oz, Patrick and K. Chang on their excellent work.
Argentarium (Alejandro Fernández W.)
i’m 100% TelexFREE
Nothing. There are some misinterpretations here. Federal is federal. What Carlos Costa and others may be talking about is that the Espirito Santo state’s RFB (“Receita Federal Brasileira” – IRS equivalent) branch office is where Telexfree got those documents from and where CC went to provide some explanations, as CC lives in Espirito Santo state.
Fun fact 1: Brazilian Telexfree office is/was located in Espirito Santo, but the number of Telexfree affiliates in that state is not even close to the number in Acre state, which is located miles and miles away from Espirito Santo. Keep in mind that Espirito Santo is way more populous, and lots and lots less poor than Acre.
Fun fact 2: When Carlos Costa went to Acre state, at some point last year, Acre’s people welcomed him as some sort of “superstar”, taking pictures, trying to touch him and all that. In Espirito Santo, where he lives, people do not even talk or care about him. In fact, most people think of him as a scammer.
Can anyone from Brazil confirm/deny that Costa refers to TelexFree as an investment in this video at around [6:30]?
Auto-translate is quoting him as saying “you entering and putting two people who did the same thing you have had high and in a return greater than their investment”.
If anyone can properly translate that whole phrase I’d be grateful.
I get the gist of what’s being said (sign up, deposit money for your position, sell/buy 10 packages, recruit 2 new affiliates who do the same and everyone gets a >100% ROI), just want to confirm the specific use of the word “investment”.
OK, I surmised that was probably the case. Thanks.
At exactly 6:30, you can hear him say “ok?”. Following that, his words are:
“E você, entrando e colocando duas pessoas que fizeram a mesma coisa que você, você já teve aí, ó, um retorno maior do que o seu próprio investimento. Isso já é fantástico, não é verdade? Então de cara eu já te mostrei que é muito bom participar aqui, da TelexFree.”
Which translates to:
“And you, by entering and placing two people which did the same thing you did, you already have, then, a return greater than your own investment. That’s fantastic, isn’t it? So, right away, I’ve already shown you it’s very good to be part of TelexFree.”
Thanks Mauricio. I’ve temporarily removed the video till I finish my article. I’ll put it back up then (to avoid cross-over discussion).
Ozedit: And we’re live – https://behindmlm.com/companies/telexfree/telexfree-owner-shares-investment-strategy/
Quem cobrou a multa foi o receita federal do Brasil, e não foi o estado do Espirito Santo. Quando Carlos Costa fala em Espirito Santo, ele se refere a sede da Telexfree no Brasil.
Who claimed the fine was the federal revenue from Brazil, and it was not the state of Espirito Santo. When Carlos Costa speaks in the Espirito Santo, he refers to Telexfree headquarters in Brazil.
Here’s some more. Many local banks are rejecting TF transactions.
And I’ve heard from a lot of TF members that they are having a really hard time selling their “bonos” or finding a way to cash them in.
Another rumor/lie? they spread is that mastercard has released a TF branded prepaid card for TF members that lets them convert their “bonos” into real cash. I have yet to see a single one of those cards.
And also as it’s to be expected many members are joining other similar schemes predicting the fall of TF.
Oz, the Uganda “New Vision” website’s back up regarding that TelexFree warning. It’s not technically an official warning, but an semi-official warning, published in the OPINION section of the newspaper, from a guy in the Uganda President’s office.
Yeah, haven’t seen anything official yet.
Yes there is a TelexApp, no MS is not after TF, no there is no Mastercard; but there is a Visa and yes TF will be making signature loans to their member affiliates according to the Back Office.
Now, why the hell do you guys care? Why spend so much time and energy on something you’re not part of?
Uh, TelexFree are going to be making loans available to their affiliates?
Ruhroh… have they even registered themselves for that sort of business?
You don’t need to be a part of something to watch it unfold. Observing the TelexFree fraud come undone is fascinating.
Branded pre-paid cards is a service offered by i-Payout (and most other payment processors). It’s connected to the members’ e-Wallets.
Specially branded cards only costs a few cents more to produce per card, if you order a minimum of 5,000 or 10,000 cards. A “TelexFree prepaid card” isn’t more special than a “celebrity prepaid card”.
If the banks won’t accept wire transfers from TelexFree / i-Payout, prepaid cards can be a TEMPORARILY solution. They can be “loaded” directly from the e-Wallets, and can be used just like any other debit or credit card (e.g. ATM withdrawals of cash, or be used for shopping).
That’s the same thing a lot of brazilians (scammers) keep asking us when we comment on any brazilian news unveiling another TF’s movement. They even call us “anti-TF-militia”.
As per your comment we, who are “not part” of any illegal schemes, should just sit and watch as time goes by and people get f***** up by scammers, right? Yeah, right… As if we were the TelexTubbies here…
I mentioned prepaid cards as an “alternative solution” 2 weeks ago, to one of the TelexFree promoters from the Dominican Republic.
It was information he would have found anyway through his e-Wallet account.
A specially branded card is simply an ordinary prepaid card with a unique “look”.
You can buy those from many different places. They don’t care what logo you put on them as long as you deposit the correct amount of money and pay the branding fees and don’t violate any copyright doing so. I can probably print up 100 cards that features a “pile of turd” tomorrow if I ever want to.
Guess you’re not much of a Bible reader, eh?
Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. — Ephesians 5:11
Does anyone know the email address of either Marques (the prosecutor) or the Acre Public Prosecutor’s office?
Also, does anyone know the email address of Judge Thais Borges or for the court that she is a part of?
If you do, please email it to kenstewartcalling@hotmail.com and also publish it here…Thanks!
http://www.mpac.mp.br/menu-principal/enderecos/
http://www.tjac.jus.br/adm/telefones.jsp
http://www.tjac.jus.br/ouvidoria/
@ken Stewart
Alessandra Garcia Marques
E-mail: amarques(AT)mp.ac.gov.br
https://www.facebook.com/alessandra.g.marques?fref=ts
Thais Queiroz Borges de Oliveira Abou Khalil
Telefone:(68) 3226 – 5432
E-mail: jecri2rb(AT)tjac.jus.br
This is the back office message when trying to withdraw.. very many less payouts now then for the passive gangs.