Universal Pickle was part of Anthony Norman’s EQT Bank Ponzi scheme.

EQT Bank itself was a reboot of Norman’s collapsed Dragon Global Finance Ponzi.

As per an undated update sent out to investors, Norman advised “both parties have agreed to discontinue the partnership in an amicable manner.”

Yes, that’s Anthony Norman superficially separating one component of his latest Ponzi from the other. [Continue reading…]

The SEC has filed suit against Steven Chiang (aka Cyrus Kong), Eric Tippetts, James Hardy and Maurice “Butch” Chelliah.

As alleged by the regulator, the defendants scammed consumers out of millions through their Nasgo and ShareNode Ponzi schemes. [Continue reading…]

World Wide Wallet Investment Limited, abbreviated as WW3INV, fails to provide company ownership or executive information on its website.

W3INV’s website domain (“w3inv.com”), was privately registered on April 20th, 2021. A visit to the Wayback Machine suggests W3INV launched in late 2021.

In an attempt to appear legitimate, W3INV provides UK incorporation details for World Wide Wallet Investment Limited.

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.

At time of publication Alexa ranks Bangladesh as the only notable source of traffic to W3INV’s website (93%).

This is high enough to suggest whoever is running W3INV is in or has ties to Bangladesh.

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…]

Lifevantage has prevailed against consumers forming a class-action against it.

The decision was handed down on April 19th, effectively ending plans to sue Lifevantage as a class for securities fraud. [Continue reading…]

Swapnex provides no information on its website about who owns or runs the company.

Swapnex’s website domain (“swapnex.io”), was privately registered back in December 2020.

The company itself appears to have launched on or around August 2021.

In an attempt to appear legitimate, Swapnex provides Australian incorporation details for “Swapnex PTY LTD”. A corresponding corporate address in NSW, Australia is also provided.

One of the businesses operating from this address is a virtual office address merchant.

For the purpose of MLM due-diligence, basic incorporation in any jurisdiction is meaningless of for the purpose of MLM due-diligence. This is primarily due to the lack of verification of submitted data.

Swapnex’s official YouTube channel was created on August 2nd, 2021. The channel features marketing videos with cast actors.

In an October 30th 2021 video, an unnamed “product director” appears in a typical rented office setup:

In a second video uploaded on February 6th 2022, Swapnex names its Product Director as Marcus Huber;

“Marcus Huber” is in fact Rupert Godman, a UK citizen living in Russia for two decades.

Godman is fluent in French, Spanish, German and Russian. As per an interview Sam Gerrans, circa 2012 Godman was

in real estate and teaches business English. He is also writing a novel and plays drums in a band.

On March 20th, Godman marked a recent Swapnex acting gig with an Instagram post:

My last role in Moscow playing a spivvy cryptocurrency dealer in a corporate video.

I remain open to opportunities in the UK.

I believe the video Godman refers to is the February 2022 Swapnex marketing video cited above.

Swapnex’s official FaceBook page is managed from the Ukraine.

From this we surmise “Marcus Huber” is a Boris CEO. Who exactly is running Swapnex is unclear but it’s very obviously the usual eastern-European scammers.

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…]

MetaIndex provides no company ownership or executive information on its website.

MetaIndex’s website domain (“metaindex.fund”), was privately registered on November 26th, 2021.

Further research reveals MetaIndex marketing material citing Ricardo Zambrana as MetaIndex’s CEO.

Zambrana is credited with “over 20 years” experience in network marketing.

I was ready to write Zambrana off as a Boris CEO but turns out he does have a history in MLM.

I don’t know about 20 years but two years ago Zambrana was trying to pass himself off as a motivation coach:

Zambrana abandoned his YouTube channel but continued to post on FaceBook…

…at least up until December 2021. Evidently somewhere along the way Zambrana became a crypto bro, and here we are with MetaIndex.

The one marketing video MetaIndex’s website redirects to a YouTube channel named “Wrise Brand Ambassador”.

MetaIndex explains this by claiming it has ” a funding partnership with wrise”.

A visit to Wrise’s website reveals its a 288% annual ROI crypto Ponzi scheme.

Wrise’s official FaceBook page reveals the company started off as Wrapped SumCoin back in February 2021.

SumCoin is some shitcoin that’s long-since collapsed.No idea what “WSUM” is but the current Wrise Ponzi launched on or around January 2022.

Attached to Wrise is RISE, yet another Ponzi shitcoin.

Who’s running Wrise? That’s not disclosed.

I’ll stop short of suggesting Zambrana himself is running Wrise. If he isn’t though, he definitely knows who is.

My money’s on these chaps, either directly or indirectly:

Hairo Reyes, Agustin Esterling and Carlos Flores are all former GoArbit Ponzi scammers.

Esterling in particular was part of GoArbit’s corporate team:

GoArbit was a simple 200% ROI MLM crypto Ponzi scheme.

As documented here on BehindMLM, GoArbit unravelled in early 2022.

It seems Reyes, Esterling and Flores cashed out before the collapse and went on to launch their own Ponzi.

Ricardo Zambrana is fronting the scheme because, y’know… bit hard to scam new victims with a trail of financial destruction behind you.

Wrise’s website domain (“wrise.app”), was privately registered on January 3rd, 2022.

At time of publication website traffic to Wrise’s website is too low to measure.

Alexa ranks top sources of traffic to MetaIndex’s website as the Dominican Republic (68%) and the US (13%).

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

The CFTC’s fraud case against four JetCoin scammers has been stayed, pending the outcome of parallel criminal proceedings. [Continue reading…]

The SEC is hunting down John Barksdale to serve him a copy of their $124 million civil lawsuit.

In addition to the SEC’s civil action, Barksdale (right) has been indicted on Ormeus Global related charges. [Continue reading…]

Two Crowd1 promoters in India’s south-west have been arrested.

Authorities in Kerala allege suspects “Joshy” and “Berson” stole over ten million rupees (~$130,000 USD). [Continue reading…]

CBI Global has received a securities fraud warning from South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority. [Continue reading…]