William Apostelos pleads guilty to wire fraud (Genesis Acquisitions)
Rather than argue a fruitless case in court and lose anyway, today William Apostelos plead guilty to mail and wire fraud.
Apostelos was indicted back in October of 2015 on thirteen counts of wire fraud. Part of Apostelos’ $75 million dollar Ponzi empire included Genesis Acquisitions, reviewed by BehindMLM in October, 2014. [Continue reading…]
Cycle BTC Review: $1 in, $3 out micro Ponzi cycler
There is no information on the Cycle BTC website indicating who owns or runs the business.
The Cycle BTC website domain (“cyclebtc.com”) was privately registered on November 8th, 2016.
Alexa estimate that Nigeria (28%), Pakistan (23%) and the Philippines (17%) are currently the largest sources of traffic to the Cycle BTC website.
It is highly likely that whoever is running Cycle BTC is based out of one or more of these three countries.
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…]
Excallit Review: Veros cryptocurrency pump & dump altcoin scheme
On their website, Excallit claims to be a Delaware corporation established in July of 2012.
This is questionable, as the Excallit website domain was only registered in May of 2014.
A Delaware address is listed on the Excallit website domain registration. The address however belongs to Delaware Registry LTD, who provide Delaware incorporation services.
As far as I can tell Excallit has no physical presence in the United States.
The Excallit website identifies Michael Juul (right) as CEO of the company.
In 2001 Juul co-founded the GII Corp pyramid scheme. The same scammers behind GII Corp seem to have morphed into a gaming platform (T6 Poker) at some point.
To what extent, if any, Juul was involved in T6 Poker is unclear.
As per his Facebook profile, Juul is from Denmark but currently lives in Singapore. This is presumably from where Excallit is actually being operated from.
Excallit marketing material suggests the company is primarily pitched to a Chinese audience. A secondary market appears to be emerging in Romania.
Read on for a full review of the Excallit MLM opportunity. [Continue reading…]
$498 million default judgement awarded in Changes Trading case
Last year the CFTC filed a lawsuit against Changes Trading and co-owners Timothy Baggett and Kimball Parker.
Negotiations between Parker and the CFTC are ongoing but Baggett has thus far failed to make an appearance in the case.
In November the CFTC filed for an entry of default against Changes Trading and Baggett. This was granted in December.
On February 1st the CFTC filed a Motion for Default Judgement, which was granted the same day. [Continue reading…]
Centurion Network Review: Centurion Coin Ponzi points
There is no information on the Centurion Network website indicating who owns or runs the business. The website currently displays a timer, presumably counting down to the Centurion Network launch.
The Centurion Network website domain (“centurionlab.org”) was privately registered on November 16th, 2016.
Further research reveals an associated Centurion Network charity named Centurion Foundation.
The “staff” page of the website appears to list people involved in Centurion Network, some of which have ties to the MLM underbelly.
The first person listed is “Gustavo Artusio”.
This is a screenshot of Claudio Gustavo Artusio speaking at a My Advertising Pays event. The image is part of a profile image for a YouTube account bearing the name “Claudio e Claudia Artusio”:
Claudio Artusio (right) is from Italy and was an affiliate in the My Advertising Pays Ponzi scheme. My Advertising Pays collapsed late last year and has since been rebooted as The Advertising Platform.
Other individuals listed on the Centurion Foundation have a history in network marketing:
- Sunitkumar Patel (FGXpress)
- Pascal Federle (Sisel)
- Vincent Piscitello (Organo Gold)
- Gianvito Ricciardone (Sisel)
- Benedetto Cancemi (no specific company but lots of marketing coaching on his Facebook page)
- Fabrizio Di Silvio (Sisel)
- Nicole Ganier (Sisel, FGXpress)
The exact nature of professional relationship between those listed on the Centurion Foundation website with Centurion Network is unclear.
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…]
Swiss Gold Global Review v2.0: Securities and recruitment
BehindMLM first reviewed Swiss Gold Global mid last year.
We concluded that there was a good chance the majority of affiliates were self qualifying for commissions, effectively making Swiss Gold Global a pyramid scheme.
That business model is unsustainable, so it wasn’t entirely surprising to learn the company has since made changes to its offering and compensation plan.
Today we take a look at those changes with an updated Swiss Gold Global review. [Continue reading…]
Wakaya Perfection counterclaim details Youngevity vendetta, infidelity
On January 18th Wakaya Perfection filed their answer to Youngevity’s lawsuit.
For the most part the company denies the claims laid out against it.
Individuals identified herein and other distributors of Wakaya’s products neither are agents of Wakaya nor speak for or on behalf of Wakaya, that Wakaya’s compensation plan speaks for itself, and that the statements selectively quoted herein have been taken out of context and given a self-serving characterization by Youngevity.
That much was expected. What’s particularly interesting though are the allegations that follow in Wakaya’s counterclaim. [Continue reading…]
Claritta Review: 4×1 matrix Ponzi cash gifting
There is no information on the Claritta website indicating who owns or runs the business.
The Claritta website domain (“claritta.net”) was registered on January 30th, 2017. Emmanuel Nnani (below right) is listed as the owner, with an address in Lagos, Nigeria also provided.
Claritta is the only MLM opportunity that appears on Nnani’s Facebook profile. Whether he has participated in other MLM companies is unclear.
At the time of publication, Alexa estimate that 96% of traffic to the Claritta website originates out of Nigeria.
Read on for a full review of the Claritta MLM opportunity. [Continue reading…]
My Cash Pool Review: 2×10 matrix bitcoin cash gifting
The My Cash Pool website identifies Ashish Raja as owner of the company.
Raja is based out of India and last year was promoting the Fort Ad Pays, Triple Threat Marketing, My Paying Ads and Ultimate Revshare Ponzi schemes.
Of the scams only My Paying Ads is yet to collapse. Eventual losses in the others have likely prompted Raja to launch his own company.
Read on for a full review of the My Cash Pool MLM opportunity. [Continue reading…]
Millionaires Business Club Review: Monthly ROI Ponzi pyramid hybrid
There is no information on the Millionaires Business Club website indicating who owns or runs the business.
The Millionaires Business Club website domain (“millionairesbclub.com”) was first registered on December 8th, 2014. The registration was last updated on January 26th, 2016 and is set to private.
A PO Box address in Dubai is provided on the Millionaires Business Club website.
Various photos depicting men in middle-eastern style clothing are also provided on the Millionaires Business Club website. Some of them show individuals standing infront of the Millionaires Business Club logo.
The photos are not captioned and when they were taken is unclear.
At the time of publication Alex estimate Bangladesh is the largest source of traffic to the Millionaires Business Club website (89%).
This strongly suggests whoever is running Millionaires Business Club is likely based out of Bangladesh itself.
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…]
