On top of a felony indictment, guilty plea and 46 month prison sentence,  Charles Wang and Francis Yuen have now also been fined $26.5 million dollars.

The latest blow to Wang and Yuen, owners of the eAdGear Ponzi scheme, was handed down on February 1st, as the SEC’s case against eAdGear came to a close.

First to bring regulatory action against the scheme, the SEC shut down eAdGear back in September of 2014. [Continue reading…]

After being found guilty of promoting the the uFun Club Ponzi scam to Samoans, Nicolas Giannos and Rosita Stanfield were ordered to attend a sentencing hearing on February 2nd.

Chief Justice Palu remanded Giannos and Stanfield at liberty, which meant they were free until the sentencing hearing.

Yesterday saw the scheduled sentencing hearing take place, with both Giannos and Stanfield failing to appear. [Continue reading…]

Back in 2013 the Norwegian Gaming Board launched an investigation into WorldVentures.

In 2014 the Gaming Board concluded WorldVentures was an “illegal pyramid scheme”. WorldVentures was subsequently ordered to cease all business operations in Norway.

WorldVentures appealed the Gaming Board’s decision, which was denied in November of 2014.

By December 2014, WorldVentures had no choice but to follow the Gaming Board’s directive and close up shop. The company also filed another appeal against the Gaming Board in a Trial Court, which was again denied a month later in January, 2015.

June 2015 saw top WorldVentures affiliate Steinar Husby claim that WorldVentures was going to sue the Norwegian government.

Nothing came of Husby’s claim over the past nine months… till WorldVentures announced they were suing Norway’s Ministry of Culture late last week. [Continue reading…]

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

The LifePlus website domain (“lifeplus.com”) was registered on the 29th of May 1995, with “Billy Evans” of “Life Plus USA” listed as the owner. A street address in the US state of Arkansas is also provided.

On the LifePlus website, the corporate address provided is an Arkansas PO Box.

Further research reveals Evans credited as LifePlus’ Chief Information Officer. Marketing material hosted on the LifePlus domain cites Billy Evans father, Bill Evans, as the founder of the company.

On a video hosted on the LifePlus website, Bob Lemon (right) is also identified as a LifePlus founder.

The same document citing Evans as a founder identifies Robert Christian as LifePlus’ current CEO. Christian’s LinkedIn profile lists his having held the position since 2006.

Prior to LifePlus Christian (right) was Senior Vice President at Professional Dental Technologies, an Arkansas dental equipment supplier.

For reasons unknown, the LifePlus website is devoid of any information about the company’s current executive management.

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

A few days ago it was revealed that South Africa’s National Consumer Commission are to announce their conclusions about several income opportunities early this week.

Among the opportunities the NCC has investigated over the past year are WorldVentures and South African MMM Global chapter, MMM South Africa.

Whereas MMM Global have remained silent in response to the news, WorldVentures has been quietly bracing for impact.

Rather than offer support to their top South African affiliates, who in less than 24 hours might learn they are now the subject of criminal proceedings, instead WorldVentures has told them to shut up. [Continue reading…]

Zukul launched in 2014 and is headed up by founders Jeremy Rush and Michael Bloom.

On his Facebook profile, Rush lists his location as London in the UK. I did find a LinkedIn profile for a Michael Bloom involved in “YouTube Video Production” also in the UK, however I’m not 100% sure this is Zukul’s Michael Bloom.

In any event, despite Zukul appearing to be run out of the UK, Zukul’s provided corporate address is a PO Box in British Anguilla.

Anguilla is a known tax-haven, offering little consumer protection via a lack of local regulation and strong corporate privacy.

Of the two Zukul founders, Jeremy Rush (right) is far more prominent in Zukul marketing material.

Rush operates a YouTube channel, with videos uploaded prior to Zukul’s launch marketing MMO Cashout ($10 to $99 a month recruitment scheme), Penny Matrix ($7 a month recruitment scheme), DS Domination (dropshipping), AdExperts ($400 recruitment scheme), AdHitProfits (125% ROI Ponzi scheme) and Banners Broker (Canadian Ponzi scheme).

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

There is no information on the GTI-Net website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The GTI-Net website domain (“gti-net.com”) was registered on the 15th of December 2014, with “Jhony Depresseux” of “GTI NET Limited” listed as the owner. A PO Box address in Dubai is also provided.

On his LinkedIn and Facebook profiles, Depresseux (right) lists his current location as Liège, Belgium. Why the GTI-Net domain registration lists a PO Box in Dubai is unclear.

Depresseux’s LinkdIn profile credits him with being a Herbalife affiliate circa 1989 to 1990. There’s then a decade gap until 2000, wherein Depresseux was appointed CEO of LibertyTelecom (a non-MLM telecommunications company in Belgium).

In November 2014 Depresseux signed up as an affiliate with MPT Max.

Using a matrix-based compensation plan, MPT Max saw affiliates pay €60 EUR and get paid when they recruited others who did the same.

In comments left on our MPT Max review, Depresseux attempted to justify the scheme by asserting “you do not pay if you recruit people”.

A GTI-Net business presentation also lists Sven Lefeber as a founder. Lefeber also appears to be operating out of Belgium.

Read on for a full review of the GTI-Net MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]

There is no information on the Traffic Lead Income website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Traffic Lead Income website domain (“trafficleadincome.com”) was registered on the 10th of January 2016, with Sukhminder Singh listed as the owner. An address in New Delhi, India is also provided.

Singh first popped up on BehindMLM’s radar as the owner of World Ad Pays.

World Ad Pays launched in late 2015 and saw affiliates pay $25 to qualify to earn on the recruitment of new affiliates.

Alexa traffic statistics suggest World Ad pays has since collapsed, which has likely prompted the launch of Traffic Lead Income.

Read on for a full review of the Traffic Lead Income MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]

Back in May 2015, a joint-operation between US, Spanish and Costa Rican authorities saw Liberty Reserve shut down for money laundering.

At the time, Liberty Reserve was the payment processor of choice for much of the MLM underbelly. Providing a platform for relatively anonymous money laundering, Liberty Reserve was also widely popular with criminals outside of MLM too.

Five months after the shutdown, Liberty Reserve co-founder Vladmir Kats plead guilty to money laundering.

A year later his partner in crime, fellow Liberty Reserve co-founder Arthur Budovsky Belanchuk, was extradited to the US.

There Belanchuk faced criminal charges for his role in Liberty Reserve, identified by then as a $6 billion dollar money laundering racket.

Belanchuk filed a Motion to Dismiss the case, which was denied last September.

A trial had been scheduled to kick off in early February 2015, however a few hours ago news broke that Belanchuk has now plead guilty. [Continue reading…]

Back in September 2015 we reported on South Africa’s National Consumer Commission and Specialised Commercial Crimes Unit conducting an investigation into WorldVentures.

Now, rumblings out of South Africa that the NCC have concluded their investigation – with an announcement expected early next week. [Continue reading…]