Following two distributions of recovered funds to victims, the USFIA Receiver has requested court permission to destroy records and close the Receivership.

As per a Final Report filed by the USFIA Receiver on May 14th, the Receivership has distributed $63.3 to USFIA victims. This represents a 79.2% recovery for victims’ with valid claims.

As of May 3rd, 2024, the USFIA Receivership is still sitting on $1.7 million. The Receiver “proposes that these funds be used make corrective payments to certain investors” and outstanding Receivership fees.

The remaining balance of $527,796.42 shall be paid to the Securities and Exchange Commission for payment to the United States Treasury.

In an accompanying declaration, also filed on May 14th, the USFIA Receiver goes on to request permission to destroy records and close the Receivership.

I believe that it is now appropriate to pay administrative fees and expenses, file final tax returns, close the receivership case, and seek the discharge and release the Receiver.

USFIA was an MLM Ponzi scheme launched by Steve Chen back in 2013.

USFIA defrauded consumers out of $197 million. Of that amount, only $1.7 million was paid out in MLM commissions and ROI withdrawals.

The SEC shut down what was left of USFIA in late 2015. Steve Chen pled guilty to USFIA related criminal charges in 2020.

In February 2022 Chen was sentenced to ten years in prison. Chen died less than a year into his sentence in November 2022.

Pending court approval, closure of the Receivership will bring BehindMLM’s reporting on USFIA to an end.

 

Update 1st July 2024 – The court approved the USFIA Receiver’s closure motion on June 27th, 2024.

As stated above, this brings BehindMLM’s USFIA coverage to an end.