The SEC has secured Certificate of Default against John and Jonatina Barksdale.

Following personal service on John Barksdale on June 20th and service via email on Jonatina on June 30th, response deadlines kicked in for July 11th and July 21st respectively. [Continue reading…]

Joshua David Nicholas has settled with the civil EmpiresX class-action.

Nicholas’ settlement follows “money of arms-length mediation” between the parties. [Continue reading…]

Dubai’s crime community has welcomed a new fugitive into the fold; John Barksdale.

Barksdale recently celebrated his birthday at a local karaoke bar.

Vitaliy Dubinin was in attendance, and shared footage of the event on FaceBook. [Continue reading…]

Mayo Trade provides no credible information about who owns or runs the company.

Supposedly Mayo Trade is headed up by founder and CEO “Jess Hamilton”.

Naturally Hamilton doesn’t exist outside of Mayo Trade. There has been an attempt to create an artificial digital footprint for Hamilton, including a website set up at “jeffhamilton.me”.

That domain was privately registered on May 19th, 2022.

In their official presentation, Mayo Trade trots out a supporting cast of executives.

Like Hamilton, none of these people exist outside of Mayo Trade either.

“Caryn Shroeder” and “Eric Layhee” appear in a Mayo Trade marketing video uploaded to Instagram:

The video, which misspells Shroeder’s presented surname,  reveals the actors speak Spanish.

I’m not an expert on geolocating Spanish speakers but I’m getting strong Central or South American vibes.

Other rented office videos are available on Mayo Trade’s official FaceBook page. Here’s “Jeff Hamilton” very obviously reading off a script.

BehindMLM refers to actor executives as “Boris CEOs”. Boris CEO companies are typically the work of eastern European scammers.

SimilarWeb currently ranks top sources of traffic to Mayo Trade’s website as the UAE (84%) and Vietnam (12%).

While Dubai is the MLM crime capital of the world, it’s rare for MLM companies to be promoted locally to Dubai residents.

One explanation is Mayo Trade itself being run from Dubai, as evidenced by their official FaceBook page:

BehindMLM’s guidelines for Dubai are:

1. If someone lives in Dubai and approaches you about an MLM opportunity, they’re trying to scam you.
2. If an MLM company is based out of or represents it has ties to Dubai, it’s a scam.

In a somewhat laughable attempt to appear legitimate, Mayo Trade provides incorporation certificates for shell companies in no less than six jurisdictions.

For the purpose of MLM due-diligence, shell company incorporation anywhere is meaningless. This is due to the easy with which scammers can set up shell companies with bogus information.

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…]

TRX Matrix fails to provide company ownership and executive information on its website.

TRX Matrix’s website domain (“trxmatrix.io”), was privately registered on December 7th, 2021.

Whoever is running TRX Matrix primarily does so through Telegram.

TRX Matrix’s official Twitter account was suspended for “violating the Twitter rules”:

One face we can put to TRX Matrix is “Youtuber CR Juli”:

CR Juli has an eastern European accent and uses her YouTube channel to promote crypto scams:

CR Juli is an “influencer” for Yellow Bridge Agency. On Yellow Bridge Agency’s website, we learn CR Juli is from and/or based out of Ukraine:

This strongly suggests whoever is running TRX Matrix is based out of Ukraine or Russia.

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…]

Metaverse Wealth Academy doesn’t provide ownership or executive information on its website.

Metaverse Wealth Academy’s website domain (“metaversewealthacademy.io”), was privately registered on July 17th, 2022.

Official Metaverse Wealth Academy marketing videos are narrated by a female with a US accent.

I was able to identify the individual as Violet L. Howard (right).

Howard is one of two admins of Metaverse Academy’s private FaceBook group.

The other admin is Vincent Darrell:

Howard appears to have started out in MLM six years or so ago, through the WorldVentures pyramid scheme.

These days, along with Darrell, Howard promotes MLM crypto scams.

Darrell and Howard’s latest grift was the Metafi Yielders Ponzi scheme.

Metafi Yielders collapsed in May 2022. Both Darrell and Howard have since deleted all their Metafi Yielders’ promotional efforts.

Well, almost all of it.

Howard is based out of Florida in the US. Darrell is also believed to be a US citizen and resident.

Read on for a full review of the Metaverse Wealth Academy MLM opportunity. [Continue reading…]

OneCoin money launderer Christopher Hamilton will be extradited from the UK to the US. [Continue reading…]

The Last Network is a marketing spinoff of Vow.

Both Vow and The Last Network are founded and run by Bishara “Bish” Smeir.

As far as I can tell Smeir doesn’t have an MLM history. Prior to Vow, Smeir had been promoting a cashback scheme for years:

I was able to backdate Smeir’s CashbackApp scheme to at least 2015.

Ultimately CashbackApp didn’t go anywhere and failed as a business.

In early 2019 Smeir reinvented himself as a crypto bro and launched Vow.

Vow is essentially a reboot of CashbackApp but with cryptocurrency.

Both CashbackApp and Vow can be white labelled through Enigmatic Smile, a UK shell company set up by Smeir.

Not surprisingly, Vow also flopped and was all but dead until June 2022.

This is around the time Smeir launched The Last Network.

As you can see in the SimilarWeb traffic chart above, traffic to Vow’s website primarily originates from Germany (39%), the US (13%) and Austria (11%).

Promotion of The Last Network in German-speaking countries is headed up by Joerg D. Wittke (aka Jörg Wittke), believed to be an Austrian national.

Wittke’s MLM claim to fame is being a “leader” in BitClub Network.

BitClub Network was a $722 million dollar Ponzi scheme. The DOJ arrested BitClub Network’s co-founders in December 2019.

Wittke cites himself as a

Bitclub leader & founder of the Centurion Club, one of the most successful teams within the Bitclub.

Wittke was promoting BitClub Network up until June 2019.

How much money Wittke stole through the Ponzi scheme is unclear.

After BitClub Network, circa September 2019, Wittke began promoting the Jubilee Ace Ponzi scheme. Jubilee Ace collapsed in early 2021.

After Jubilee Ace Wittke promoted the HyperFund Ponzi to Germans.

HyperFund collapsed in late 2021. The three reboot Ponzis that followed have been a mess.

Vow is incorporated as a shell company in Jersey, a scam-friendly island jurisdiction off the coast of France.

Bish Smeir is believed to be based out of Glasgow, Scotland, from where Vow and The Last Network are actually operated from.

Joerg Wittke is based out of Dubai, the MLM crime capital of the world.

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

The SEC has filed a motion requesting permission to allow alternative service on the Mining Capital Coin defendants. [Continue reading…]

Nugen Coin has received a securities fraud warning from British Columbia, Canada. [Continue reading…]