18K Ronaldinho operates in the “designer products” MLM niche.

The company only cites a “virtual office” on its website but does cite Marcelo Lara as President of the company.

On LinkedIn Lara goes by Marcelo Marcelino, and cites himself as owner and CEO of the company.

Why this isn’t disclosed on 18K Ronaldinho’s website is unclear.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Marcelino is based out of Florida in the US. This is also presumably from where 18K Ronaldinho is also operated from.

Despite being based out of the US, in its marketing material 18K Ronaldinho pretends it’s based out of the Bahamas and Hong Kong:

Note that Mareclino also heavily targets Brazil in his 18K Ronaldinho marketing efforts.

As far as I can tell, 18K Ronaldinho is Marcelino’s first MLM venture as an executive.

Read on for a full review of the 18K Ronaldinho MLM opportunity.

18K Ronaldinho’s Procucts

18K Ronaldinho has no retailable products or services, with affiliates only able to market 18K Ronaldinho affiliate membership itself.

18K Ronaldinho’s Compensation Plan

18K Ronaldinho affiliates invest on the promise of an advertised daily return of up to 2%

  • Passport – $30
  • Start – $150
  • Start Plus – $300
  • Professional – $450
  • Professional Plus – $1050
  • Premium – $2100
  • Premium Plus – $4200
  • Executive Pack – $12,000

Alternatively 18K Ronaldinho affiliates can opt to receive 18K watches and only receive up to 0.99% a day.

Regardless of which option is chosen, 18K Ronaldinho pays affiliates daily for 200 days.

18K Ronaldinho Ranks

There are ten affiliate ranks within 18K Ronaldinho’s compensation plan.

Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:

  • affiliate – sign up and invest
  • 2K – generate $2000 in accumulated weaker side binary team volume
  • 5K – generate $5000 in accumulated weaker side binary team volume
  • 18K – generate $18,000 in accumulated weaker side binary team volume
  • 50K – generate $50,000 in accumulated weaker side binary team volume
  • 120K – generate $120,000 in accumulated weaker side binary team volume and personally recruit two 18K or higher ranked affiliates
  • Director – generate $300,000 in accumulated weaker side binary team volume and personally recruit two 50K or higher ranked affiliates
  • Director 18K – generate $1,200,000 in accumulated weaker side binary team volume and personally recruit two 120K or higher ranked affiliates
  • President – generate $3,000,000 in accumulated weaker side binary team volume and personally recruit two Director or higher ranked affiliates
  • President 18K – generate $10,000,000 in accumulated weaker side binary team volume and personally recruit two Director 18K or higher ranked affiliates

Note that recruited affiliates must be placed one on either side of the binary team to count.

Recruitment Commissions

18K Ronaldinho affiliates receive 7% of funds invested by personally recruited affiliates.

Residual Commissions

18K Ronaldinho pays residual commissions via a binary compensation structure.

A binary compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a binary team, split into two sides (left and right):

The first level of the binary team houses two positions. The second level of the binary team is generated by splitting these first two positions into another two positions each (4 positions).

Subsequent levels of the binary team are generated as required, with each new level housing twice as many positions as the previous level.

Positions in the binary team are filled via direct and indirect recruitment of affiliates. Note there is no limit to how deep a binary team can grow.

At the end of each day 18K Ronaldinho tallies up new investment volume on both sides of the binary team.

Affiliates are paid 10% of funds invested on the weaker binary side.

Once paid out, weaker side volume is matched with the stronger side and flushed.

Any leftover volume on the stronger binary team side is carried over.

Matching Bonus

18K Ronaldinho pays a matching bonus on residual commissions earned by downline affiliates.

The Matching Bonus is tracked via a unilevel compensation structure.

A unilevel compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a unilevel team, with every personally recruited affiliate placed directly under them (level 1):

If any level 1 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 2 of the original affiliate’s unilevel team.

If any level 2 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 3 and so on and so forth down a theoretical infinite number of levels.

18K Ronaldinho caps the Matching Bonus at seven unilevel team levels.

The Matching Bonus is paid out as a percentage of residual commissions across these seven levels as follows:

  • 18K ranked affiliates earn a 3% match on level 1
  • 50K ranked affiliates earn a 3% match on levels 1 and 2
  • 120K ranked affiliates earn a 3% match on levels 1 to 3
  • Director ranked affiliates earn a 3% match on levels 1 to 4
  • Director 18K ranked affiliates earn a 3% match on level 1 to 5
  • President ranked affiliates earn a 3% match on levels 1 to 6
  • President 18K ranked affiliates earn a 3% match on levels 1 to 7

Monthly Fee Commissions

18K Ronaldinho charges affiliates a $30 monthly fee.

This fee is used to fund commissions, paid out via a 4×7 matrix.

A 4×7 matrix places an 18K Ronaldinho affiliate at the top of a matrix, with four positions directly under them:

These four positions form the first level of the matrix.

The second level of the matrix is generated by splitting these four positions into another four positions each (16 positions).

Levels three to seven of the matrix are generated in the same manner, with each new level housing four times as many positions as the previous level.

Positions within the matrix are filled via direct and indirect recruitment.

Fees paid by affiliates in filled matrix positions generate a $3 commission each month.

Career Bonus

18K Ronaldinho rewards affiliates with the following rank-based Career Bonuses:

  • qualify as a 120K and receive an iPhone X
  • qualify as a Director and receive “travel to Dubai”
  • qualify as a Director 18K and receive a Mercedes Benz Class C car
  • qualify as a President and receive a Porsche Macan
  • qualify as a President 18K and receive a Ferrari Porto Fino

Joining 18K Ronaldinho

18K Ronaldinho affiliate membership is tied to a $30 to $12,000 investment.

Payment of a monthly $30 is then required in order to remain active.

Conclusion

When I first visited the 18K Ronaldinho website I thought it was some kind of joke:

But no, famous Brazilian football player Ronaldinho Gaúcho is actively involved with 18K Ronaldinho as an Ambassador.

This is a PR disaster in the making for Ronaldinho, owing to 18K Ronaldinho being a Ponzi scheme.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Marcelo Marcelino started 18K watches back in 2003.

The venture collapsed recently, as evidenced by the 18K Watches website domain being up for sale.

Whatever stock Marcelino has left is being flogged to 18K Ronaldinho affiliates, as part of a fraudulent investment scheme.

18K Ronaldinho represents it generates ROI revenue via “crypto trading, arbitrage and stock exchange operations”.

No evidence of 18K Ronaldinho participating in any of these activities exists.

And even if it did, there is no provided evidence that 18K Ronaldinho is using external reveneue of any source to pay its affiliates.

Furthermore neither Marcelo Marcelino, Marcelo Lara, Ronaldinho Gaúcho or 18K Ronaldinho are registered with the SEC to offer securities.

This means that at a minimum, 18K Ronaldinho, Marcelino and Gaúcho are committing securities fraud.

Ronaldinho Gaúcho is based out of Brazil, and 18K Ronaldinho provides no indication it has registered with Brazil’s SEC.

Perhaps of more concern to potential 18K Ronaldinho investors, is the fact that new investment is the only verifiable source of revenue entering the company.

The recycling of newly invested funds to pay existing affiliates a daily return of up to 2% (potentially 400% over 200 days), makes 18K Ronaldinho a Ponzi scheme.

Again, I have no idea why someone as high-profile in the football community as Ronaldinho Gaúcho has attached himself to a Ponzi scheme – but it is what it is.

In addition to Ronaldinho, 18K Ronaldinho’s marketing material also features Bill Gates:

It’s a given Bill Gates has no idea what 18K Ronaldinho is and his likeness has been used without authorization.

Initially it appears 18K Ronaldinho did actually focus on watches to some extent.

Like Marcelo Marcelino’s primary business however, that also appears to have flopped.

In lieu of a watch business 18K Ronaldinho launched it’s Ponzi scheme a few months ago.

As with all MLM Ponzi schemes, once affiliate recruitment dries up so too will new investment.

This will starve 18K Ronaldinho of ROI Revenue, eventually prompting a collapse.

The match behind Ponzi schemes guarantees that when they collapse, the majority of investors lose money.