If the trend of single elderly European gentlemen attached to the MLM underbelly popping up in Asia left you thinking “hmmm”, rest assured for most of them it was purely a business decision.

…

Nah, just kidding. [Continue reading…]

MLM in Nigeria is a bit of a mess at the moment. The MLM underbelly has completely taken over and scamming is rampant.

On any given day of late BehindMLM’s filters are nuking spammy comments pushing the latest scam sweeping Nigeria. Sure enough the next day though there’s a new set of budding Nigerian marketers who think dropping their referral links anywhere and everywhere is a path to riches.

A declining economy, distrust of the government, hoards of gullible idiots and seasoned scammers who see them as easy pickings, has created the perfect storm of financial chaos over the last few months.

So much so has the situation gotten completely out of hand, that emboldened scammers are purportedly now directly trolling the Nigerian government. [Continue reading…]

The Pangea website identifies James Ward (CEO) and Sam Fuentes (COO) as co-founders of the company.

James Ward first popped up on BehindMLM’s radar in 2010, as the CEO of LGN Prosperity.

LGN Prosperity marketed travel vouchers, with each voucher generating a position in a matrix 2×2 cycler.

Following months of affiliates not getting paid, in mid 2011 LGN Prosperity morphed into LGN International.

This name-change brought on the addition of commissions paid on travel services booked through LGN.

LGN International eventually collapsed in mid to late 2013, with Ward heading up iBizWave as CEO and co-founder in early 2014.

In 2015 Ward (right) launched 2SL Start Living, which saw him return to the travel MLM niche.

Sam Fuentes (full name “Sam Fuentes Pérez”) was 2SL Start Living’s Vice President of Global Sales.

2SL Start Living saw affiliates pay $30 a month and get paid on the sale of discount travel packages.

In BehindMLM’s 2SL Start Living review I raised the question of retail viability, without which 2SL Start Living would operate as a pyramid scheme.

This concern appears to have been warranted. Current Alexa traffic estimates for the 2SL Start Living website domain suggest the company has well and truly collapsed.

This has likely prompted Ward and Fuentes to launch Pangea.

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

There is no information on the Reverse Commissions website indicating who owns or runs the business.

Infact at the time of publication, the Reverse Commissions company website is little more than an email capture page.

The Reverse Commissions website domain (“reversecommissions.com”) was registered privately on October 11th, 2015.

The official Reverse Commissions Facebook group has two admins, Calvin Harvey and Dale Payne Sizer.

Both appear to be running Reverse Commissions, as per a Facebook post by Harvey on December 4th;

Somebody explain to me how two little black boys from the hood built a International company in 1 week?

Dale Payne Sizer (right) first appeared on BehindMLM as the CEO of the Infinity Profit System cash gifting scheme.

Infinity Profit System launched in late 2015. Alexa traffic estimates suggest Infinity Profit System recruitment peaked in mid February this year and then went into decline.

The final collapse of Infinity Profit System has likely prompted Sizer to launch Reverse Commissions.

Calvin Harvey was an Infinity Profit System affiliate and appears to have signed up pretty early. He’s probably one of the few that made money in Infinity Profit System and is looking to do it again in Reverse Commissions.

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

In an effort to save time, last month the SEC filed for summary judgement against Steve Chen.

Chen opposed the filing and argued, among other things, that summary judgement would deprive him of a jury trial.

Last we checked in the SEC had filed a reply to Chen’s opposition. The regulator claimed there was “undisputed evidence” Chen was running a pyramid scheme through USFIA.

A hearing on the matter was scheduled for November 28th, however taken off the calendar on November 22nd.

Looking at the case docket, it appears the November 28th hearing was canceled in favor of a December 8th Settlement Conference. [Continue reading…]

Earlier this year Youngevity filed a lawsuit against Wakaya Perfection.

The complaint accused Wakaya Perfection, co-founder Todd Smith and several named defendants of effectively gutting Youngevity from the inside.

In May Youngevity filed for an injunction against Todd Smith, Blake Graham and Total Nutrition Inc.

The injunction sought to stop Smith, Graham and Total Nutrition from continuing to use “Youngevity properties” to ‘market and profit off the sale of Youngevity products‘.

In a nutshell, Total Nutrition websites that ranked for Youngevity queries were being used to direct people towards Wakaya Perfection.

The injunction was denied in June owing to pleading deficiencies in Youngevity’s complaint.

In July Youngevity filed an amended complaint, again requesting a preliminary injunction be granted. [Continue reading…]

Back in September the US Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a lawsuit against Timothy Baggett, Kimball Parker, Make Your Future, Changes Worldwide, and Changes Trading.

Timothy Baggett and Kimball Parker failed to respond to the lawsuit. The CFTC subsequently filed for an Entry of Default which was granted against both defendants last month.

The CFTC had also sought an Entry of Default against Changes Worldwide and Changes Worldwide. Owing to procedural issues however, the motions were denied. [Continue reading…]

Of the named net-winner defendants being pursued by the Zeek Rewards Receiver, default judgement has been granted against Michael Van Leeuwen ($1.6 million), Darryle Douglas ($2.2 million), Todd Disner ($2 million), David Sorrells ($1.19 million) and Trudy Gilmond ($2.1 million).

Following summary judgement granted against Zeek’s net-winners just over a week ago, the Receiver filed for final judgement against the remaining named net-winner defendants. [Continue reading…]

The TelexFree victim claim portal went live earlier this year in May.

In September, the TelexFree Trustee sought an extension to the claim deadline. This request was approved, with an extension for filing victim claims granted until December 31st, 2016.

With the deadline only a few weeks ago, the Trustee has again sought a deadline extension. [Continue reading…]

Realizing the gig was up, Carlos Wanzeler fled the US as regulators closed in on TelexFree.

As one of the owners of the TelexFree Ponzi scheme, in July 2014 Wanzeler was indicted for fraud and conspiracy.

A superseding indictment was filed back in September, focusing on money laundering and assets derived from unlawful activity.

While is partner James Merrill has since plead guilty to wire fraud, Wanzeler (right) remains a fugitive on the run in Brazil.

US authorities are working with their Brazilian counterparts, however whether Wanzeler returns to the US to face charges is unclear.

In the meantime the DOJ have filed for a post-indictment temporary restraining order. If granted, the TRO will freeze what appears to be the residence of Wanzeler’s brother in the US. [Continue reading…]