It seems WorldVentures has finally exhausted the “access to travel discounts” pyramid model – with the company looking to expand into nutrition.

According to a recently filed lawsuit, mid last year WorldVentures executed a mutual confidentiality agreement with Abboud Barakat and his distribution company, Advanced Wellness Solutions.

WorldVentures claims this agreement saw Barakat receive ‘confidential and proprietary information and trade secrets‘.

As defined in the agreement, this included WorldVentures’ customers, suppliers, third parties, products, services, supplier information, and
business, marketing, development and sales and other commercial strategies.

The agreement stipulated Barakat and Advanced Wellness Solutions would not use the received information and secrets.

Ultimately the deal fell through. And in a lawsuit filed on June 4th, WorldVentures allege Barakat used its confidential information to benefit Ariix and the launch of MaVie. [Continue reading…]

In a message provided to affiliates in their backoffice, Bitqyck has confirmed it is under federal regulatory investigation.

The company doesn’t name which regulator is investigating it. Based on Bitqyck’s unregistered securities business model however, it’s safe to say it’s probably the SEC. [Continue reading…]

Thomas Dluca is one of four named defendants in a March 2018 FTC filed lawsuit.

The lawsuit specifically alleges Dluca is the founder of the Bitcoin Funding Team gifting scam. He is also accused of promoting the My7Network pyramid scheme.

Despite the granting of a TRO and preliminary injunction, to date Dluca has failed to comply with either.

Subsequently, the FTC has now filed a motion requesting Dluca be held in contempt. [Continue reading…]

MaVie operate in the e-commerce, nutrition and travel MLM niches.

The company launched earlier this year and is headed up by Founder and CEO, Abboud Barakat.

As per Barakat’s MaVie corporate bio, his background is mostly in distribution and manufacturing of wellness and personal care products.

It also lead to the beginning of a ground breaking opportunity in the field of human DNA wellness tests.

This opportunity was based on wellness reports that measured an individual’s nutritional needs based on their personal genetic makeup.

Amazed with this scientific breakthrough that gave the ability to identify the wellness needs of any human being based on their DNA, About immediately pursued the commercial opportunity this presented.

MaVie was born from a partnership with a scientific team, dedicated to the provision of personalized wellness solutions.

Possibly due to his working behind the scenes in distribution, I was unable to independently verify these claims. Nor was I able to establish exactly which MLM companies Barakat (right) has worked with and when.

The MaVie compensation plan cites “Advanced Wellness Solutions PTE Ltd” as a parent company.

Advanced Wellness Solutions appears to be a Singapore corporation, however an address in Hong Kong is provided in the MaVie compensation plan.

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

Firoz Patel’s Payza tax fraud bill has claimed to $15.2 million, following adjusted undeclared income of $26.2 million USD.

Revenu Québec previously pegged Patel’s unpaid taxes at $10.8 million, however an ongoing investigation has revealed additional undeclared income. [Continue reading…]

News of the arrest of a Charles David Scoville in Utah broke last week.

Given the severity of the charge, I held off on reporting the story until I had absolute confirmation it was Traffic Monsoon’s Charles Scoville.

Following an unrelated June 18th filing by the Receiver, I can now confirm Charles Scoville, founder of Traffic Monsoon, has been arrested for aggravated sexual abuse of a child. [Continue reading…]

The Four Percent Group launched in mid 2016 and operate in the online marketing MLM niche.

The company is based out of the US state of South Dakota and is headed up by Founder and CEO, Vick Strizheus (actual name Vitaliy Strizheus).

According to his The Four Percent Group corporate bio, Strizheus (right) “started from zero back in 2006”.

Strizheus’ journey “from zero” in 2006 saw him arrested for insurance fraud in 2007. Prosecutors trying the case referred to Strizheus as a “con man”.

Strizheus plead guilty to one count of grant theft and was sentenced to 90 days in prison, commuted to time served on weekends because of his wife and three children.

Strizheus was also sentenced to five years supervised probation, after which he joined Empower Network in 2012.

Strizheus built his Empower Network business under “Big Idea Mastermind” branding.

As of 2014, Big Idea Mastermind was the largest downline team in Empower Network.

In May 2014 Strizheus abruptly announced he was leaving Empower Network and Big Idea Mastermind.

The details of Strizheus’ departure are still shrouded in mystery. In a video message Strizheus hinted at regulatory problems in South Dakota, however this was never elaborated on.

Outside of Empower Network, Big Idea Mastermind had its own products and services ($47 to $50,000) – complete with a single-level compensation plan.

For all intents and purposes, Big Idea Mastermind was Strizheus’ foundation for The Four Percent Group.

Read on for a full review of The Four Percent Group MLM opportunity. [Continue reading…]

As annoying as the GDPR might be, lo and behold some good has come of it.

Before we get into that though, let’s revisit early 2017. [Continue reading…]

A new motion by the FTC has requested the currently scheduled preliminary injunction hearing for June 26th be pushed back to July.

The FTC’s motion has consent from all of the named defendants, as well as the court-appointed temporary MOBE Receiver. [Continue reading…]

Of the affiliate lawsuits filed against LuLaRoe that are still playing out, the most prominent is a proposed class-action pertaining to the company’s return policy.

The six-count complaint claims damages in excess of $5 million and seeks to represent a nationwide class of distributors who either attempted (unsuccessfully) to return inventory or purchased inventory during the five-and-a-half month period in which LLR had a “100% Buy Back” policy.

The complaint claims unjust enrichment, breach of contract, and deprivation of distributors’ investments, among other things.

As of April 17th, the lawsuit had been stayed pending the outcome of compulsory arbitration.

On June 14th a Joint Status Report was filed, providing insight into how arbitration is playing out. [Continue reading…]