Solex fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website, at least not directly.

Kaj Larsen is cited as CEO on various Solex website blog posts. Loran Swensen is cited as Solex’s President.

Both Solex and Kaj Larsen are based out of Utah.

I wasn’t able to put together an MLM history on Larsen. His LinkedIn profile also doesn’t appear to have any employment history (I wasn’t logged in so maybe it was hidden?).

Loran Swensen’s LinkedIn profile places him in Arizona. In addition to his role at Solex, Swensen is also CEO of Innergy Development.

According to its website, Innergy Development is “a pivotal figure in advancing human wellness and holistic wellbeing.”

Products featured on Innergy Development’s website include:

• Theta Chamber – “allows your brain to move to the “theta state”” and sells for $78,500
• Inner Light LED Bed – “encourages relaxation” and sells for $49,900
• Inner Breath Hydrogen – “provides extensive protection against oxidative stress, inflammation, and allergic reactions” and sells for $5999 to $7200
• RF Inner Cleanse – “a thermal shock wave depth conditioning instrument that circulates RF (Radio Frequency) vibration energy through the meridians of the feet to the whole body” that sells for $1345
• Illuma Elite – “create[s] both 99.9% Hydrogen (H2) Or Medical Grade Ozone (O3)” and sells for $21,800
• Hyper Cube – “offers a gentle pressure ambient air environment, paired with a bed and Aqoustic [sic] Light Wave Therapy” and sells for $82,500
• Infinity Mat – “provides ergonomic support, recharging capabilities, and energy balancing features”, retails at $2497
• InnerSlim – “targeted muscle stimulation, triggering profound muscle contractions” and sells for $48,800
• ReFire Detox – “the world’s first Pressurized application of Transdermal Ozone” and sells for $69,500

Innergy Development claims its products offer “the latest in technology … with a price tag you can afford”. There is no FDA disclaimer on Innergy Development’s website.

Putting together Swensen’s history is a bit of a rabbit hole.

In or around 1993, Swensen (right) opened up a 3D animation video company called Multi-Dimensional Studios in Utah.

In 1998 Swensen, with business partner Jonathan Neville registered BioPulse. BioPulse shared office space with Multi-Dimensional Studios in Utah.

As reported by Norma Wagner of the Salt Like Tribune in February 2001, BioPulse opened up a “hotel clinic” in Tijuana, Mexico.

The Tijuana hotel clinic began taking reservations from patients in January and treats about 15 patients per month, said Neville.

BioPulse patients travel to Tijuana, Mexico, stay in a hotel, and pay $10,800 for the recommended three-week program where they receive as many as a dozen treatments.

Through its Tijuana clinic, BioPulse marketed questionable treatments to patients suffering from “AIDS, cancer, lupus, multiple sclerosis, hepatitis A, B and C, other degenerative diseases and chemical dependency.”

Neither Neville, Swensen nor the company’s two other listed officers hold medical licenses with the state of Utah.

And since they do not appear to be diagnosing or treating patients — but instead refer them to the hotel-based clinic — the state Department of Occupational and Professional Licensing (DOPL) has no purview over the organization, said DOPL spokesman Kim Morris.

The BioPulse treatment of most concern to Utah doctors is “colonics,” or intense enemas.

Intense enemas, which are becoming increasingly popular in alternative medicine, can break the wall of the colon, “which is extremely dangerous,” said Jay Jacobson, an infectious disease specialist at LDS and University hospitals in Salt Lake City.

Responded Neville: “We’re careful to have qualified physicians and nursing staff who understand the risks and take all precautions. They know what they’re doing.”

Another treatment that concerned the doctors is “Chelation Therapy” where chemicals are put in a patient’s bloodstream to remove heavy metals associated with such illnesses as lead poisoning.

But medical studies in the 1970s proved that its use for other therapies offers no benefits, [Marc Babitz, a family practice doctor at the University of Utah School of Medicine] said.

[BioPulse’s] web site also uses — often wrongly — medical jargon that the average person cannot understand, doesn’t back up its claims with any statistics or studies, and charges a lot of money for treatments not approved by the FDA, both physicians said.

In describing “Ultraviolet Blood Illumination,” BioPulse staff say the technique uses ultraviolet light as a disinfectant to kill viruses and bacteria.

They say the treatment produces “a custom-made vaccine” for the client and claims it has proven effective in the treatment of such “virus-causing diseases” as AIDS, hepatitis A, B and C, pneumonia, mononucleosis and herpes.

“It’s a misuse of language, it’s nothing like vaccines because vaccines don’t kill pathogens, they protect against them,” Jacobson said. ”

And these are not virus-causing diseases, these are diseases caused by a virus.”

“It’s sad when you can’t offer hope in traditional medicine. Often the normal response for patients is to search out other remedies,” said Babitz.

“But this is way off the map. This is harmful psychologically, physically and financially with absolutely no foundation for  success. It’s preying on unfortunate individuals.”

Neville said during the next few years, 25 other BioPulse rejuvenation centers will open throughout the world, but not in the United States until the company gets FDA approval to perform its therapies stateside.

Three months after it opened, BioPulse’s Tijuana clinic was shut down for offering “unauthorized treatments”.

BioPulse International, was prohibited from continuing an unauthorized treatment in which it used insulin to induce a coma-like state that it believed could work as a cancer treatment, Gruel said.

Loran Swensen, president of the publicly traded company based in Salt Lake City, said he is applying to the Mexican government for permission to continue the treatment.

BioPulse’s Tijuana clinic never reopened. At some point the company appears to have relocated from Utah to southern California.

A year after its Tijuana clinic was shut down, BioPulse appears to have been selling a “magic water” formula going by the name MICOM.

In April 2002 Joyce Brown was convicted of second-degree manslaughter. The charges followed the death of Edward Steward, a “health guest” Brown was “treating” with MICOM.

As reported by the Daily News, Brown had been dripping MICOM “into the veins of terminal cancer patients at her Kelso home.”

Brown claimed she was taught how to administer MICOM by Reynaldo Maldonado at his Mexican clinic.

Maldonado claims to have learnt about MICOM from then California resident Bobby Simpson.

Maldonado now says that he saw MICOM mixed with a 2-by-4 in a horse barn in Norco, Calif., by Bobby Simpson, who claimed that spiritual guidance and vast learning allowed him to invent this miracle cure.

“I stopped using his technology shortly after I found out that the quality controls were well below health standards,” Maldonado wrote in an e-mail to The Daily News.

Bobby Simpson’s son and business manager, Kim Simpson, laughed at Maldonado’s assertion.

He said he and his father, who suffered a stroke a year ago, mix the MICOM in a “facility in Norco, four walls, a roof, nice floor.”

Kim Simpson said he cut Maldonado out of the business after Steward died because Maldonado was packaging MICOM in IV bags in Juarez and shipping them to the United States.

“It was not supposed to come across the border, especially in IV bags. We didn’t want to go there,” Kim Simpson said. “We’re trying to stay away from any intrusive therapies.”

Outside of their dispute, Maldonado and Kim Simpson both chastised Brown after learning of Steward’s death.

Maldonado and Kim Simpson do agree on blaming Brown for treating people with intravenous infusions.

She should have stuck to dispensing MICOM as a drink, they said.

As part of their story on Steward’s death, The Daily News reached out to Loran Swensen.

MICOM hasn’t been tested in clinical studies, though BioPulse International, a small medical research company based in Salt Lake City, talked with the Simpsons.

The problem with MICOM was that it came in varying strengths, BioPulse president Loran Swensen said. Diluting it, he said, “wasn’t our job.”

In July 2002 the FTC filed a lawsuit against BioPulse, Jonathan Neville and Swenson.

Citing multiple violations of the FTC Act, the federal regulator alleged BioPulse’s treatments were fraudulent.

BioPulse International, Inc., BioPulse, Inc., and their principals advertised in print and on the Internet that their therapies – “insulin-induced hypoglycemic sleep therapy” (IHT) and “Acoustic Lightwave Therapy” (ALW) – could effectively treat a wide variety of cancers and other serious diseases.

The U.S.-based company offered its purported treatments in a clinic in Tijuana, Mexico.

The FTC alleges that the defendants did not have adequate substantiation for the safety and efficacy claims the defendants made for these treatments.

“In any language, health fraud trades on hope,” said J. Howard Beales III, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

Instead of providing the FTC with proof their treatments worked, BioPulse, Neville and Swensen settled the FTC’s claims for $4.3 million.

Based on sword financial statements and provided balance sheets, the BioPulse settlement amount was suspended.

In addition the monetary component, the BioPule settlement also saw Swensen was subject to compliance reporting for five years.

Things get a bit strange after BioPule’s FTC settlement. An April 2016 ABC “sponsored segment” cites Swensen as the owner of Theta Wellness Centers.

The Theta Chamber at Theta Wellness Centers was developed for a very personal reason for the owner, Loran Swensen.

Now, after 25 years in business, Theta Wellness has helped more than 1,000 people with so many different things from anxiety to depression, brain trauma and addiction by using the chamber.

25 years prior to 2016 takes us back to 1991. I ran a Google search for “Theta Wellness” across January 1990 to January 2000. Not a single result exists.

I thought maybe Theta Wellness Center was a reboot of BioPulse, but BioPulse didn’t exist till 1998.

Given the source on this claim is a marketing puff-piece, perhaps claims about the origin of Theta Wellness Center are best taken with a grain of salt.

Today Theta Wellness Center operates out of northern California. As per the company’s website;

At Theta Wellness Center, we use a drug-free, scientific , neurological approach to correct chemical imbalances in the brain, which are the root cause of common problems such as drug and alcohol abuse, eating disorders, depression, anxiety, PTSD, video game addiction, and other unwanted behaviors.

Theta Wellness Center combines several cutting-edge technologies in each individuals program that has been clinically shown to produce results with a much lower recidivism rate.

“Therapeutic technologies” featured on Theta Wellness Center’s website are Innergy Development products. Loran Swensen isn’t mentioned anywhere on Theta Wellness Center’s website.

According to its website, Solex the MLM company launched in 2021.

Although he’s credited as the developer of Solex’s “AO Scan Technology”, Swensen is not credited as owner of the company anywhere on the Solex’s website

Why Solex ownership information is hidden from consumers is unclear.

As always, if an MLM company is not openly upfront about who is running or owns it, think long and hard about joining and/or handing over any money. [Continue reading…]

On March 1st Defi Synergy celebrated one month of scamming consumers.

Six days later Defi Synergy’s website went down and its domain was disabled. [Continue reading…]

South African Police are requesting help from the public to identify suspects in Krasimir Kamenov’s murder case. [Continue reading…]

The FTC has secured a preliminary injunction in its Blueprint to Wealth fraud case.

The granted injunction applies to defendants Robert William Shafer (aka Bob Shafer), Charles Joseph Garis Jr., Business Revolution Group and Samuel J. Smith. [Continue reading…]

In a bid to secure an early end to his probation, James Merrill claims he

regret[s] with all my heart ever being associated with the former business partners, business and entire situation that led to my incarceration.

Merrill’s letter to the court also provides additional context to his post-sentencing life. [Continue reading…]

Juan Arellano has pled guilty to iComTech fraud charges on the eve of his criminal trial.

Following a superseding information filing on February 29th, Arellano pled guilty later the same day. [Continue reading…]

In a series of social media posts, Konstantin Ignatov has claimed OneCoin was “the biggest mistake of [his] life”.

Ignatov also shared a snapshot at an airport, suggesting he’s either been deported or is voluntarily leaving the US. [Continue reading…]

Details of the Dutch investigation into Ed Zimbardi have emerged, including the revelation that Zimbardi was released “after interrogation”. [Continue reading…]

German law firm Irle Moser is attempting to suppress its ties to GSPartners and Josip Heit. [Continue reading…]

Billionico operates in the subscriptions MLM niche.

The company is purportedly headed up by Daniel Von Lison. Lison stylizes himself as a “baron” and also goes by Daniel Markus von Lison.

As per his FaceBook profile above, Lison represents he is from Germany.

Lison has no known prior MLM experience. He’s a relatively obscure person who seems to have nothing to his name other than a claim to German nobility.

Business ventures we can attach to Lison are Elite Club and BVL Real Estate.

In Lison’s wife Marina’s own words;

The Concept of Elite Club was established by Daniel`s Father, Chevalier Thaddäus Baron von Lison, in 2010 who is himself a successful entrepreneur and the Grand Prior for Germany of the Order of St. Stanislas.

Thaddäus Baron von Lison as a President of Elite Club saw the concept of the business club as a global association of people with chivalric behavior who are willing to recognize the social problems of our time and unselfishly contribute to their solution.

To be more specific: The ELITE CLUB is an international consortium of outstanding personalities (celebrities, VIP persons, famous artists, business tycoons and just everybody who has a good heart and willingness to help other people), a pact which follows clear vision and clear philanthropic missions.

Right.

Elite Club has its own website domain registered at “eliteclub.world”. SimilarWeb tracked just ~1600 monthly visits to the site as of February 2024. That’s as good as dead.

BVL Real Estate also has a website up, on which it claims it’s a “member of Elite Club”.

SimilarWeb clocked ~1400 monthly visits to BVL Real Estate’s website for February 2024 – it’s also dead.

My impression of Lison is that he’s a run-of-the-mill nepo baby, minus the celebrity.

As far as I can tell, Lison is a frontman for what appears to be an unofficial second reboot of the collapsed GSPartners Ponzi scheme. We’ll dive deeper into that in the conclusion of this review.

Getting back to Billionico, the despite Lison being purportedly based in Germany, the company pretends it is based out of the Marshall Islands.

The Billionico Academy hereinafter referred to as “Billionico, Billionico Academy and Billionico Academy Elite ID” as collective brands used on the Billionico Academy Platform, owned by Primus Liquidity Holding Ltd, registered in Republic of Marshall Islands MH96960.

These terms and conditions are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Marshall Islands, where the provider operates.

The Marshall Islands is a tax haven in the South Pacific. It’s a tiny nation of just ~42,000, with there being no evidence Billionico “operates” there beyond registering a shell company.

And funnily enough, when you run a search on “96960” for the Marshall Islands, Primus Liquidity Holding Ltd. isn’t the company that comes up.

Billionico also seems to have an undisclosed shell company in Switzerland attached to it:

All products and services offered on Billionico Academy platform are subject to Switzerland VAT.

Given this appears to be the money side of the business, Billionico seems reluctant to disclose specifics of its financial shell company/companies.

Read on for a full review of Billionico’s MLM opportunity. [Continue reading…]