When TelexFree offices were raided by the FBI, DHS and ICE, Joseph Craft attempted to flee the scene with a big black sports bag.

Inside the bag was a laptop and $37.9 million dollars in cashiers checks, made out to owners Carlos Wanzeler, James Merrill and their accomplices.

Craft’s served as TelexFree’s Chief Financial Officer and was instrumental in TelexFree management’s thwarted exit strategy.

The position also saw Craft paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for providing “accounting, investment and tax services”.

Between 2012 to 2014, Craft was paid approximately $613,000 in stolen TelexFree investor funds.

On April 4th, 2016, the TelexFree Trustee sued Craft and demanded he return the fraudulently received funds.

Including damages, the Trustee went after Craft and his companies Sunwind Energy Doyle North, Sunwind Energy Systems and Sunwind Energy Group, for $1.2 million dollars. [Continue reading…]

Feeder Focus provide no information on their website about who owns or runs the company.

The Feeder Focus website domain (“feederfocus.com”) was registered on June 23rd, 2017.

Mutinda Kisio (right) is listed as the owner, with an address in Nairobi, Kenya also provided.

Other MLM opportunities Kisio has promoted include Platinum World Team Build (Ponzi cycler) and Fund My Cause (bitcoin gifting).

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

Turbo Bitcoin Machine provide no information on their website about who owns or runs the business.

The Turbo Bitcoin Machine website domain (“turbobitcoin4u.biz”) was privately registered on July 7th, 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…]

After observing violations the Banking Act (Bankwesengesetz), the Austrian Financial Market Authority has issued OneCoin with a cease and desist.

OneCoin stands accused of “carrying out (unauthorized) banking transactions” within Austria. [Continue reading…]

BehindMLM first reviewed Mannatech back in 2011.

Key areas of improvement I identified were the headache-inducing complexity of Mannatech’s compensation plan, mandatory affiliate autoship and high start-up costs ($3800!).

A 2015 compensation revision saw Mannatech scrap the high start-up cost but overall retain a lot of what made the original compensation plan confusing.

A lot of the confusion in the plan stems from Mannatech’s use of non-standard industry terms, which requires someone trying to understand the compensation plan look up and keep track of ten to fifteen acronyms.

Issues identified in the 2015 revision include pay to play concerns with the All-Star qualification and direct recruitment commissions on affiliate packs.

On July 1st, 2017, Mannatech launched a new compensation plan.

It’s with great excitement and enthusiasm that we enter into a new era as Mannatech.

Developed in collaboration with Associate field leaders across the globe, this Compensation Plan has been specifically designed to reward you fairly and generously for the hard work you put into growing your business.

Read on for BehindMLM’s third Mannatech compensation plan review. [Continue reading…]

Money Exchanger provide no information on their website about who owns or runs the business.

The Money Exchanger website domain (“moneyexchanger.biz”) was registered on April 7th, 2017.

Obakeng Morake (right) is listed as the owner, through an incomplete address in South Africa.

In 2016 Morake was promoting the WeShare Crowdfunding gifting scheme.

Launched in mid 2015, by mid 2016 WeShare Crowdfunding had collapsed.

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

One of the unspoken rules of the MLM underbelly is that once tainted, a company name forever remains tainted.

Thus if the admin(s) of the original scheme which to defraud again, they need to come up with a new name.

The tainting of an MLM underbelly scheme typically comes about through regulatory intervention or the scheme collapsing.

JetCoin collapsed recently due to the latter. And despite having only launched barely a month ago and the ashes of the original not even cooled, a new scheme bearing the same name has just been announced.

Read on for a full review of the JetCoin 2.0 MLM opportunity. [Continue reading…]

Regulatory proceedings against Ympactus, the Brazilian arm of the TelexFree Ponzi scheme, began all the way back in June, 2013.

On June 19th, 2014, Public Prosecutors in the Brazilian state of Acre were granted an injunction against Ympactus.

The ruling was effectively the beginning of the end of the end of TelexFree’s operations in Brazil. [Continue reading…]

Although the SEC was the first US regulator to move against TelexFree, subsequent criminal proceedings filed by the DOJ saw civil proceedings stayed.

With James Merrill recently sentenced to six years in prison and the DOJ unable to extradite Carlos Wanzeler from Brazil, the SEC has filed a motion requesting the previously granted stay be lifted. [Continue reading…]

When owners James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler decided they would no longer face TelexFree’s angry owners, it was left up to Steven Labriola to come up with excuses.

Perhaps the most infamous statement by Labriola was in relation to TelexFree’s bankruptcy.

In misguided belief it would see the SEC ignore millions of dollars in Ponzi fraud, TelexFree filed for an emergency Chapter 11 bankruptcy in early 2014.

At the time, Labriola described TelexFree’s collapse as “the most awesome thing“.

When angry TelexFree investors stormed the company’s offices a month earlier, Labriola was sent out to deal with them while management hid in their offices.

Despite the appearance of “rock star” status at TelexFree events, ultimately Labriola was a fall guy.

While the owners of TelexFree and top investors made millions, Labriola publicly fronted the $3 billion dollar Ponzi scheme for less than $100,000. [Continue reading…]