WorldVentures was declared a pyramid scheme by Norway’s top MLM regulator back in 2014.

WorldVentures appealed the Gaming Board’s decision but open review, the original decision was upheld.

The decision saw WorldVentures required to cease business operations in Norway, which at the time was one of their primary sources of affiliate recruitment.

Not willing to let that go without a fight, WorldVentures sued the Gaming Board in a Norwegian Trial Court in late 2014.

The Trial Court appeal was denied in early 2015.

This prompted WorldVentures to sue the Norwegian government, with the Ministry of Culture named as a defendant.

In October, 2016, a District Court ruled against WorldVentures and they lost the lawsuit.

WorldVentures appealed the decision in the Bogarting Court of Appeal. The Courts of Appeal are the second-highest court tier in Norway,  under the Supreme Court.

Between February 6th to February 14th WorldVentures appeal proceedings were held.

A decision denying WorldVentures an appeal was published on March 5th. [Continue reading…]

New Jersey is the latest state to enter the cryptocurrency cease and desist fray.

On March 7th the New Jersey Bureau of Securities slapped Bitcoiin with a securities fraud cease and desist. [Continue reading…]

Yesterday we reported on USI-Tech admitting it was using newly invested funds to pay off existing investors.

Today we can confirm a US regulatory investigation into the company is underway. [Continue reading…]

Despite it being pretty obvious USI-Tech has operated as a Ponzi scheme since BTC Packages were released last year, the company maintains it isn’t.

Amid an ongoing ROI revenue crisis that has seen daily ROI rates plummet, someone at USI-Tech has inadvertently confirmed it’s a scam. [Continue reading…]

Following day two of the Digital Altitude preliminary injunction hearing, the case docket has been updated to reflect the an injunction was granted. [Continue reading…]

William Apostelos and his wife Connie orchestrated the WMI Enterprises $70 million Ponzi scheme

Attached to this was Genesis Acquisitions, a company that attracted our attention in October, 2014.

Following an indictment in October, 2015, Apostelos (who also goes by Bill), was sentenced to fifteen years in prison last year.

Unfortunately for Apostelos’ victims, the FBI stated there was “no chance of recovering invested funds”.

Determined to hold those who stole their money responsible, nineteen victims have taken matters into their own hands. [Continue reading…]

Upon being appointed one of the first tasks the Digital Altitude Receiver undertakes is to determine whether the business can continue legally and profitably.

As per BehindMLM’s Digital Altitude review, the company’s business model consists of getting people to hand over increasing amounts of money.

Those recruited and convinced to pay thousands of dollars in fees earn commissions by recruiting others who do the same.

Or as the Receiver puts it;

The primary enticement and benefit offered to consumers in exchange for them doing business with the Receivership Entities is the representation that they may make $100,000 or more in 90 days.

Once consumers are enticed to do business with Digital Altitude, it appears that the entire structure of Digital Altitude is to disguise sales activities designed to pull greater and greater amounts of funds from consumers under the guise of “coaching”.

Not surprisingly, the Digital Altitude Receiver has thus concluded

he cannot operate the Receivership Entities in their current form lawfully and profitably, and thus, in accordance with his responsibilities under the TRO, he has suspended operations pending the Preliminary Injunction hearing and further investigation.

The decision was made on or around March 1st and took effect immediately. [Continue reading…]

Following an ongoing investigation into OneCoin by the Antitrust and Consumer Protection Authority, promotion of OneCoin across Italy was banned in late 2016.

OneCoin’s response to the injunction saw the company claim one OneCoin shell company was not related to another, despite being owned and operated in tandem by the same people.

The AGCM concluded their investigation into OneCoin in mid 2017.

The regulator formally banned OneCoin, declared it a “deceitful Ponzi scheme” and issued a 2.5 million EUR fine.

Once again OneCoin tried to get out of it by again asserting its use of shell companies protected it from regulation.

While OneCoin’s public response to the Ponzi ban was laughable, the company did file an appeal to preserve its perceived right to scam Italians.

OneCoin’s appeal has been playing out since mid 2017, with a decision finally reached a few weeks ago. [Continue reading…]

Serial scammer Todd Hirsch has been arrested in Panama.

According to a local news report, Hirsch was charged and found guilty of fleeing/attempting to elude, DUI, reckless driving and six counts of terroristic threats.

The terroristic threats charges stemmed from Hirsch threatening to harm or kill law enforcement officers during his pursuit and subsequent arrest.

After being charged, Hirsch was sentenced to rehabilitation.

He “left the facility” last November but failed to “return to jail”. [Continue reading…]

Coins of Change provide no information on their website about who owns or runs the business.

The Coins of Change website domain (“coinsofchange.org”) was privately registered on July 20th, 2017.

Of note is the Coins of Change website domain uses the name-servers of “bitcoinsetupsite.com”.

If you visit that site you’ll see it’s a clone of the Coins of Change website.

The owner of the Bitcoin Setup Site is Mike Hollen, through an address in the US state of Iowa.

The registration details of the email address domain Hollen used to register the Bitcoin Setup Site suggest he works for “Pronto Web Services”, who seem to be a shell company registered in Panama.

The email address Hollen used to register this domain also suggests he works for IsoMedia. On their website IsoMedia provide web hosting services.

To what extent Hollen is involved with Coins of Change beyond website development is unclear.

The official Coins of Change Facebook group meanwhile lists three admins; Edmond Lee, Jorge Raziel and Domingo M. Silvas.

It is highly likely that one or more of the individuals are running Coins of Change.

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…]