Gayle Toloff has been added as a relief defendant in the FTC’s ongoing Financial Education Services fraud case.

Gayle Toloff is the wife of FES co-founder Mike Toloff. [Continue reading…]

Back in February NovaTech informed investors it was “temporarily freezing” withdrawals for 60 days.

Last week Cynthia Petion confirmed withdrawals would remain frozen past the April 1st deadline.

What NovaTech FX investors did get on April 1st, was news of further restrictions. [Continue reading…]

The DOJ has stayed SEC civil proceedings against Forsage executives and promoters. [Continue reading…]

Default judgment has been granted against Forsage executive Mikhail Sergeev.

The SEC alleges Forsage is a $300+ million Ponzi scheme. Sergeev, a Russian national, worked as Forsage’s Development Director. [Continue reading…]

Michael Shannon Sims, known in the MLM industry as Mike Sims, has consented to a preliminary injunction.

The injunction pertains to commodities fraud charges brought by the CFTC.

The CFTC’s January 2023 filed charges are in relation to a series of Ponzi schemes run by Sims (below), Todd Brisco (Sims’ brother in law), Tin Tran, Francisco Story and Frederick Safranko (aka Ted Safranko).

Through their interconnected Yas Castellum Ponzi schemes, Sims and his co-defendants allegedly defrauded consumers out of at least ~$145 million. [Continue reading…]

Indian authorities have frozen $16 million tied to QNet. The freeze order is part of a new QNet criminal case, initiated in Hyderabad on March 23rd.

The new criminal case follows a fire at a QNet sweatshop in Swapnalok Complex on March 17th, which claimed the lives of five promoters. [Continue reading…]

Prolific MLM crypto Ponzi admin Ryan Mark Ginster has been sentenced to 27 months in prison.

Ginster’s sentence was handed down following a entry of a guilty plea last December. [Continue reading…]

The SEC has been granted permission to serve EmpiresX fugitives Emerson Pires and Flavio Goncalves via email. [Continue reading…]

ClickLancers fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.

ClickLancers’ website domain (“clicklancers.com”), was privately registered on Deember 31st, 2022.

In an attempt to appear legitimate, ClickLancers provides incomplete addresses in North Macedonia and the UK on its website.

ClickLancers also provides incorporation details for Click4Ads Media Solutions LTD.

Click4Ads Media Solutions LTD was incorporated in the UK on March 20th, 2023. Whether this company has anything to do with ClickLancers is unclear.

In any event, an MLM company operating or claiming to operate out of the UK is a red flag.

UK incorporation is dirt cheap and effectively unregulated. On top of that the FCA, the UK’s top financial regulator, do not actively regulate MLM related securities fraud.

As a result the UK is a favored jurisdiction for scammers looking to incorporate, operate and promote fraudulent companies.

For the purpose of MLM due-diligence, incorporation in the UK or registration with the FCA is meaningless.

ClickLancers’ official FaceBook page is managed from India and the UK.

This strongly suggests whoever is running ClickLancers is based out India and the UK (a lot of Indians migrate to the UK).

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…]

Swedish authorities raided Crowd1’s corporate offices last November.

The previously unreported news was disclosed in a recent episode of Svenska Dagbladet’s paywalled Blenda podcast. [Continue reading…]