In March 2024 the CFTC secured a $64.3 million settlement against EmpiresX’s parent company Empires X Consulting.

I figured that was the end of the case and left it there. Turns out additional judgments against the individuals behind EmpiresX were pending. [Continue reading…]

As disclosed in a February 4th Status Report, a residence turned over to the Fundsz Receiver has been surrendered

in an uninhabitable condition with floorboards removed and garbage, feces, and maggots throughout the house.

As part of her court-ordered duties to recover assets, the Fundz Receiver traced purchase of then defendant Rene Larralde’s $1.9 million Florida residence to stolen investor funds. [Continue reading…]

Following an internal investigation, Argentina’s CNV has acquitted Generation Zoe founder Leonardo Cositorto.

The CNV found that, although Generation Zoe was an MLM crypto Ponzi that defrauded consumers out of $747 million pesos (~$36.1 million USD), Cositorto didn’t “operate with bonds, shares or other negotiable securities”. [Continue reading…]

FIS VIP fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.

FIS VIP operates from three known website domains:

• vippif.top – privately registered on February 2nd, 2025
• usdpif.com – registered with bogus details on February 2nd, 2025
• fsdlakfj.top – privately registered on February 3rd, 2025

Of note is FIS VIP’s .COM and “fsdlakfj.top” domains being registered through the Chinese registrar Alibaba (Singapore).

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…]

Optimus VIP, aka Optimus Invest, fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.

Optimus VIP’s website domain (“optimus.vip”), was privately registered in August 30th, 2024.

Of note is Optimus VIP’s official FaceBook page being managed from Brazil:

This coincides with Optimus VIP’s offsite marketing naming Antonio Salas as CEO in off-site marketing:

Salas is represented to be operating from a rented office in Brazil.

Salas doesn’t exist outside of Optimus VIP’s marketing, making him a prime Boris CEO candidate.

Typically Boris CEO schemes are run by eastern Europeans, however they’re not known to operate in Brazil. It’s highly likely Salas is a front for unknown actors behind Optimus VIP.

Finally, it should be noted that Optimus VIP has been set up with a group of former MinerX Ponzi promoters at the top.

Here’s Glenn Smith, Kevin Latmore, “Tiger Tony” and their scamming buddies in south-east Asia promoting MinerX in mid to late 2024:

And here they are now with OptimusX, at or around launch in late 2024:

MinerX is an MLM crypto Ponzi that launched in early 2024. Top promoters abandoning ship suggests MinerX is on its last legs.

Other than the same group of scammers defrauding consumers through both schemes, I’m not aware of any other ties between MinerX and Optimus VIP.

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…]

Invest AI Robot fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.

Invest AI Robot’s website domain (“investairobot.vip”), was registered with bogus details on January 14th, 2025.

Of note is Invest AI Robot’s website domain being registered through the Chinese registrar Alibaba (Singapore).

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…]

Tarracos fails to provide verifiable ownership or executive information on its website.

While Tarracos does provide a list of executives, they are stolen identities that have nothing to do with the company:

Tarracos’ website domain (“tarracos.com”), was privately registered on October 18th, 2024.

Update 10th February 2025 – A BehindMLM reader has provided credible intel revealing Xander Hattingh as Tarracos’ admin:

As per his LinkedIn profile, Hattingh is a software developer with Empire State in South Africa.

Hattingh’s Empire State email address is tied to his Tarracos admin credentials. /end update

As of December 2024, SimilarWeb was tracking 100% of Tarracos’ website traffic from India.

This strongly suggests whoever is running Tarracos is based out of and/or has ties to India.

Instead of being honest about that, Tarracos provides this information in its website terms and conditions;

“Tarracos” is an online entertainment service owned and operated by Southar FZ LLC with Registered Office: 6th Floor Meydan Grandstand, Meydan Road, Nad Al Sheba, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (“Southar FZ LLC” or “we”).

Due to the proliferation of scams and failure to enforce securities fraud regulation, BehindMLM ranks Dubai as the MLM crime capital of the world.

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.

If you want to know specifically how this applies to Tarracos, read on for a full review. [Continue reading…]

After his arrest in 2023 Jason Cardiff was granted bail, secured by a $500,000 appearance bond.

Following Cardiff’s failure to return to the US as ordered last month, the DOJ has now moved for forfeiture of Cardiff’s bond. [Continue reading…]

Monat has settled a lawsuit alleging top distributor earnings were slashed over the past two years.

Toni Vanschoyck, a top Monat distributor for over a decade, filed suit in June 2024. [Continue reading…]

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

TuxAI operates from four known website domains:

1. tuxai.com (already abandoned) – registered in May 2020, private registration last updated on December 29th, 2023
2. tuxail.com (already abandoned) – registered in May 2023, private registration last updated on January 13th, 2025
3. tux8.com – app website, registered in May 2017, private registration last updated on August 20th, 2024
4. tuxtop.com – marketing website, registered in May 2014, private registration last updated on June 21st, 2024

TuxAI has already attracted the attention of regulators. On January 29th, 2025 Italy’s CONSOB issued a TuxAI securities fraud warning.

As a result of confirmed securities fraud, TuxAI’s known websites were ordered blocked in Italy.

Update 8th March 2025 – TuxAI continues to defraud Italian consumers. CONSOB has blacklisted two additional TuxAI website domains in a March 6th follow-up fraud warning:

1. tuxitu.com – registered with bogus details on February 9th, 2025
2. tuxamity.com – registered with bogus details on February 5th, 2025

/end update

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…]