Two days ago I became aware of an asset seizure related to a property owned by Edward and Brian Krassenstein.

The brothers are the owners of the now closed Ponzi promotion platforms, MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold.

In their forfeiture complaint, filed August 21st, the DOJ accused the Krassenstein brothers of conspiring to commit wire fraud. This strongly implied that the Krassenstein brothers were facing a wire fraud case of their own.

A number of related cases have been filed under seal which, along with information previously not on the public record, reveals the DOJ are not pursuing criminal charges against the Krassensteins. [Continue reading…]

The single-biggest challenge faced by online MLM Ponzi schemes is credibility.

In addition to proof of an external revenue source, registration with securities regulators is one of the tallest hurdles to overcome.

So important is convincing your investor-base that you’re above board, that some companies will openly lie about it.

Miner World is one of those companies, having recently represented it was registered with Paraguay’s SEC equivalent, the National Securities Commission (CNV).

The CNV was having none of it though, today issuing clarification that Miner World’s claims are “illegitimate”. [Continue reading…]

Brothers Edward and Brian Krassenstein owned the MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold internet forums.

Easily the two largest publicly accessible Ponzi promotion platforms on the internet, both MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold were pulled offline last month without explanation.

Today BehindMLM can exclusively reveal that, in relation to their operation of both forums, the DOJ has accused the Krassenstein brothers of wire fraud. [Continue reading…]

Finland was one of the first countries to announce a OneCoin investigation.

Unfortunately Finnish authorities put investigating the Bulgarian Ponzi scheme in the “too hard” basket.

Naturally the Ponzi problem didn’t go away, and people in Finland continued to be recruited into and scammed by OneCoin and its affiliates.

With complaints from the public continuing to pile up, two months ago police in Ostrobothnia announced they’d opened a new criminal case.

The new case stems from tax fraud reports filed by Finnish tax authorities, as well as complaints from the general public.

Ostrobothnian police today revealed they are pursuing a Finnish OneCoin affiliate suspect for tax fraud and money laundering. [Continue reading…]

Cerule operate in the nutritional supplement MLM niche and was initially launched as Desert Lake Technologies. Regulatory records show the company also goes by the name “Klamath Falls’ Antarctica”.

Desert Lake Technologies launched out of Oregon in 1999. The company changed its name to Cerule in 2014.

Cerule is a family-owned business based out of Oregon in the US. The company is headed up by CEO Greg Newman (right).

As per Newman’s Cerule corporate bio;

Greg is a co-founder of and original investor in Cerule, a company started by his father in 1999.

In January 2014, after the passing of his father, Greg assumed the role of President and CEO of Cerule and has been focused in continuing the legacy and vision his father had to build Cerule into a science-based global nutritional supplement business that brings benefit to people’s health and well being in a wholistic way.

Prior to Cerule Newman was involved in the tech and alternative energy industries. To the best of my knowledge Cerule is Newman’s first venture as an MLM executive.

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

There’s a reason the term “monopoly money” was coined to refer to money paid to Ponzi investors they don’t actually receive.

Typically these payments are represented in affiliate backoffices and often times they’re reinvested in pursuit of higher gains.

On the backend of the scam the money doesn’t exist, with reinvestment buying the admin(s) time to shuffle what money does exist elsewhere within the scheme.

Trade Coin Club is one such Ponzi scheme launched in late 2016.

As per the company’s business model, Trade Coin Club affiliates invest bitcoin on the promise of an advertised daily ROI of up to 0.45% for up to 12 months.

Trade Coin Club claims it generates ROI revenue through cryptocurrency trading, however no evidence of trading taking place is provided.

Alexa statistics show traffic to Trade Coin Club’s website flatlined earlier this year in May.

For a Ponzis scheme this is a problem, as without new investment from constant growth ROI payment withdrawals for existing affiliates are not possible.

Over in Nigeria, the third largest source of traffic to the Trade Coin Club website according to Alexa, signs of a collapse recently surfaced. [Continue reading…]

Canadian Zeek Rewards scammer Sandra Gavel’s response to clawback litigation filed against her was somewhat confusing.

Upon being served papers on behalf of the Zeek Receiver, Gavel penned a letter to the court to inform it she didn’t consent to US jurisdiction.

This didn’t mean anything legally, and so the Receiver filed a motion requesting legal clarification on Gavel’s filing.

The court classified Gavel’s letter as a pro se Motion to Dismiss and promptly denied it.

That was late 2015, with the Receiver filing for Summary Judgment against Gavel in early 2017.

Roughly eight months later Judge Mullen has finally ruled on the matter. [Continue reading…]

Cleber Rocha, accomplice of TelexFree’s Carlos Wanzeler, was indicted back in March for money laundering.

The indictment followed the arrest of Rocha in January, after authorities caught him distributing large sums of money on Wanzeler’s behalf.

Information provided by Rocha lead to the seizure of twenty million dollars, hidden under a mattress in an apartment Rocha was staying at.

Upon indictment Rocha entered a not guilty plea on April 5th.

His latest filing on the case docket however suggests that’s going to change later this month. [Continue reading…]

Laser Online launched a few months ago and operate in the cryptocurrency MLM niche.

The company claims to be incorporated in the US state of Delaware and names Antonio Garley as CEO on its website.

Garley seems to exist solely in marketing images published on the Laser Online website. I was unable to find any third-party information on him (on any platform), which I’m flagging as highly suspicious.

As for the Delaware incorporation, a “certificate of formation” published on the Laser Online website reveals it was done through Harvard Business Services.

Harvard Business Services offer company formation services in Delaware. The address featured on the certificate is also that of Harvard Business Services.

What this means is Laser Online has no physical presence in Delaware and is operating as a shell company.

Where Laser Online is actually being operated out of and the location of its management are unclear.

The Laser Online website domain (“laser.online”) was initially privately registered on October 23rd, 2016.

The domain registration was last updated on June 13, 2017, suggesting this is when the current owners acquired it.

The official Laser Online Facebook profile was created three weeks later on July 8th.

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…]

EZ Bitcoin Matrix provide no information about who owns or runs the company on their website.

The EZ Bitcoin Matrix website domain (“ezbitcoinmatrix.com”) was privately registered on May 4th, 2017.

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…]