Good news for victims of the USFIA Ponzi scheme, a claim portal is likely to be opened sometime in the first quarter of 2018.

That prediction is based off the USFIA Receiver’s Ninth Interim Report, which states: [Continue reading…]

Kingsley Ezeude and Chukwuka Obi respectively invested $2216 and $2238 into the Traffic Monsoon Ponzi scheme.

Back in May the pair sued PayPal, alleging PayPal

as aware that Traffic Monsoon was operating a Ponzi/pyramid scheme and that Traffic Monsoon was commingling investor money and paying existing investors with new investors’ money, in obvious Ponzi/pyramid scheme fashion.

In response to the lawsuit PayPal filed both a Motion to Dismiss and Motion to Stay.

On  November 15th Judge Koh ruled to stay the case, effectively stopping it in its tracks. [Continue reading…]

Vista Network provide no information on their website about who owns or runs the business.

The Vista Network website domain (“vista.network”) was privately registered on May 29th, 2017.

At the time of publication Alexa estimate that the US is the largest source of traffic to the Visa Network website.

This suggests that whoever is running Vista Network is also likely based out of the US.

Update 8th January 2018 – In a company web conference held on January 6th, in response to the recent regulatory crackdown on USI-Tech and BitConnect, the CEO of Vista Network is revealed to be Armen Temurian.

According to his Facebook profile, Temuian is based out of California in the US.

Other MLM opportunities Temuian has been involved in include Amway, Enagic, Epic (Master Distributor) and Organo Gold (Crown Diamond).

Why this information isn’t provided on the Vista Network website is unclear. /end update

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…]

Reward Table provide no information on their website about who owns or runs the business.

The Reward Table website domain (“rewardtable.com”) was privately registered on November 22nd, 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…]

A class-action lawsuit that alleges WorldVentures is an illegal pyramid scheme was filed earlier this year.

This one slipped under the radar, so you’ll have to forgive the late coverage as I only found about the lawsuit yesterday. [Continue reading…]

Unknown to me as I was researching Viridian for our recently published review, the company was gearing up to completely abandon its MLM business. [Continue reading…]

As expected, the reboot of the Laser Online Ponzi scheme has collapsed a few weeks after launch.

Disgruntled investors also appear to have uncovered the true identity of Laser Online’s CEO, “Antonio Garley”. [Continue reading…]

Amid rumours Kari Wahlroos had, despite keeping up appearances, effectively left OneCoin, today the company announced he’s been demoted. [Continue reading…]

Viridian operate in the travel and utility MLM niches.

The company is based out of Connecticut in the US and was founded by Michael Fallquist.

Fallquist is the former COO of Commerce Energy and founded Viridian in 2009.

Today Fallquist is CEO of Crius Energy, cited as a “strategic partner” of Viridian. Viridian itself is headed up by CEO Paul Booth (right).

According to Booth’s Viridian corporate bio, he has

over 30 years of network marketing experience as both a successful distributor and key executive in multiple network marketing startups.

In addition to his Viridian position, Booth is also founder and CEO of Data Paradigm Inc.

(DPI is) a nationally renowned network marketing advisor and compensation plan designer.

DPI’s systems currently support multiple companies with hundreds of thousands of distributors and gross sales well over $1 billion annually.

Amid some positive experiences from DPI staff, I noted some GlassDoor reviews of DPI explicitly suggested problems with Booth’s style of management.

• “Had potential… just CEO is a type A monster”
• “As long as you don’t ever disagree with the CEO, you’ll do great!”
• “Great talent, very poor leadership”

In 2012 the state of Maryland fined Viridian $60,000 for “false and deceptive marketing practices.”

In 2015 Connecticut’s Public Utilities Regulatory authority announced it was reviewing Viridian’s contracts, contract renewal, customer notification and enrollment procedures.

Also in Maryland, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Viridian and it’s parent company, Crius Energy.

The suit claims Viridian uses a “fraudulent and deceptive bait-and-switch sales model” and that Viridian associates “form a retail pyramid” that yielded the company a 30 percent profit margin in 2014, to the tune of $33.7 million.

As of December 2017, that lawsuit is ongoing. A Status Conference report filed October 18th, 2017, reveals settlement negotiations between the parties are ongoing.

Truth In Advertising reference a February 2017 Consolidated Class Action Complaint, which accuses Viridian Energy of

deceptively advertis(ing) low initial rates for energy followed by variable rate plans that are tied to the market rate when, according to plaintiffs, customers end up paying four, five, or six times more for their energy.

This is a combination of three separate class-action lawsuits, which were combined into the Maryland class-action referenced above.

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

On November 4th Youngevity filed a fourth amended complaint against Wakaya Perfection.

The complaint is the latest in the long-running feud between Youngevity and Wakaya, dating back to March, 2016.

Youngevity’s latest complaint accuses Wakaya Perfection of violations of the Lanham Act, specifically misleading product and marketing claims and misappropriation of trade secrets. [Continue reading…]