BehindMLM first reviewed Alphay International back in January of 2012.

My biggest criticisms of the Alphay opportunity at the time were the ridiculous affiliate membership costs (up to $2467), and a generally restrictive compensation plan.

It was first brought to my attention that Alphay International had made changes to their compensation plan in January of 2014.

I promptly flagged our Alphay review for an update, only to discover Alphay had ceased offering a copy of their compensation plan on their website.

Making a note of it in BehindMLM’s published review, I left it at that.

A reader informed me mid last year that Alphay were once again providing their compensation plan on their website.

Having flagged the review again for an update, I sussed out the new compensation plan and discovered it was indeed significantly changed.

Today we take a look at those changes, along with a complete review and evaluation of Alphay’s current compensation plan. [Continue reading…]

Back in March of 2014, the Swedish Gaming Board concluded an investigation into Lyoness.

Suspecting Lyoness was running a pyramid scheme, the Gaming Board forwarded their findings to police for further investigation.

That investigation has been quietly carried out for almost two years, with prosecutors deciding to drop the investigation last November.

Not because Lyoness was running a pyramid scheme, but because they felt it was “not possible to prove who” committed the crime.

That Lyoness was running a pyramid scheme in violation of Sweden’s Lotteries Act was not under contention, rather prosecutor’s didn’t know who to file charges against. [Continue reading…]

He was the poster-boy for uFun Club.

Regularly appearing in full military garb, retired Major-General Athiwaat Soonpan attended uFun Club events to lend an air of authority to the scheme.

When Thai police raided uFun Club’s office and started making arrests in April 2014, Soonpan fled to the US.

An arrest warrant was issued by Thai authorities, with Soonpan eventually apprehended in August.

It has since been revealed that Soonpan and his wife stole over a million dollars from uFun Club victims.

Despite protests to the contrary, Soonpan was by all accounts a uFun Club insider. Thai police allege he had “management authority” and ‘signed documents and contracts on behalf of the company‘.

The recommendation that Soonpan be indicted thus comes as no surprise, but is nonetheless welcomed as a sign of progress in the ongoing case. [Continue reading…]

Earlier this week Sweden’s Gaming Board announced the conclusion of an ongoing investigation into OneCoin.

For those unfamiliar with the regulatory body, Sweden’s Gaming Board are responsible for investigation violations of Sweden’s Lotteries Act.

In an official notice published on the regulator’s Lotteri Inspektionen website, the Swedish Gaming Board have declared OneCoin to be “a chain letter game or similar”.

Chain letter games are more commonly known today as pyramid schemes. [Continue reading…]

Legacy Direct operate out California and operate in the stream box MLM niche.

Launched in mid 2015, Legacy Direct is headed up by CEO Christian Rosario.

Through his company MiH Marketing, Rosario is currently a Seacret Direct affiliate. Prior to Seacret Direct, Rosario was an affiliate with Gano Excel (ganoderma coffee).

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

Following the granting of a new Temporary Restraining Order that included Daniil Shoyfer, Shoyfer filed an objection against the granting of a preliminary injunction.

Equating the plaintiffs to “thieves in the night”, Shoyfer (right) asserts they

have offered not a single document, not a single affidavit and, indeed, not a single supported allegation which would justify the drastic and extraordinary relief requested.

Leave alone the question that if that were the case, a TRO likely wouldn’t have been granted in the first place, Shoyfer’s paints the picture of a family man deprived of any means to support his family.

If the Plaintiffs’ requested injunction is allowed, Mr. Shoyfer – who is the father of four children who receive support from him (including a one month-old infant) – will be unable to pay his mortgage, feed and clothe his family, or provide for any of the basic necessities of daily life.

Via a previously filed affidavit, Shoyfer has asserted he ‘had no knowledge that TelexFree was engaging in any unlawful, unfair or improper practices‘.

So, innocent family man who was taken for a ride, or top Ponzi investor who knew exactly what he was doing and scammed those he recruited for hundreds of thousands of dollars?

Subsequently filed affidavits in response to Shoyfer’s objection paint a very different picture of his involvement in TelexFree. [Continue reading…]

Beauty Counter was launched in 2013 and are based out of California in the US.

The company operates in the personal care MLM niche and is headed up by Founder and CEO, Gregg Renfrew (below right).

As per Renfrew’s Beauty Counter corporate bio;

Like many of you, I’m a wife and mom—and like many of you, I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

As I applied sunscreen, lotion, and any number of beauty products on myself and my kids, I never thought for a second they might not be safe: After all, I thought, we live in a country that regulates everything.

So imagine my surprise when I learned that when it comes to the personal care industry, that’s simply not the case.

Companies are allowed to use known toxins—ingredients that have been linked to cancer, reproductive issues, hormone disruption—without telling us.

As I learned more—1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women in the US will be diagnosed with cancer—I had to do something. So I started Beautycounter, a company devoted to progress.

Beauty Counter appears to be Renfrew’s first MLM venture. Her previous roles include managing The Wedding List (a bridal registry) and CEO of Best & Co. (children’s clothing retailer).

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

An investigation into MMM Global by the South African National Consumer Commission appears to be making progress, with news yesterday of investor’s bank accounts being frozen.

MMM South Africa is the name of the MMM Global Ponzi scheme’s South African branch, with our review of the scheme noting that

as of September 2015, it had spread rapidly in South Africa with a claimed 1% per day or 30% per month interest rate scheme.

In South Africa,

the Consumer Protection Act describes any scheme that offers returns 20% above the repo rate (6.25%) as a “multiplication scheme” – otherwise known as a Ponzi scheme.

The Reserve Bank of South Africa is in charge of regulating securities in South Africa, with Capitec bank licensed by the regulator to offer banking services.

Claiming to ‘protect our clients and comply with the rules and regulations of the SA Reserve Bank‘, the bank has frozen accounts of suspected MMM South Africa investors. [Continue reading…]

Following indications of a regulatory investigation, Worldwide Solutionz collapsed in April of 2015.

Worldwide Solutionz itself was a Ponzi scheme that advertised $40 ROIs on $25 “lifejacket” investments.

Since the collapse, nothing much has come of it.

Marelize van Niekerk-Venter, owner of the scheme, has been laying low this past year. Affiliate losses are unknown, ditto the status of any regulatory investigations.

To what end it might be full of half-truths and inaccuracies I can’t say, but a new communication from Niekerk-Venter has surfaced this past week. [Continue reading…]

Bioceutica’s origins date back to 1996. Back then the company was known as Ideal Health and marketed nutritional supplements with an emphasis on customization.

In 2009 Ideal Health was renamed The Trump Network and paid Donald Trump a licensing fee to use his name.

Trump bailed three years later in 2012, with the Bioceutica website claiming the company was “facing bankruptcy” at the time.

The Trump Network was purchased that same year by Antoine Nohra (right), who promptly renamed it Bioceutica.

As per Nohra’s LinkedIn profile;

Mr. Nohra is an expert in the creation, expansion, acquisition and turnaround of marketing companies that support financial and retail clients.

He is the founder and Chairman of Credico Marketing Inc., a leading global network of independent sales offices partnering with clients to reach customers through face-to-face sales and marketing programs.

Credico has quadrupled in size since 2006, currently has 400+ offices in 16 countries, and its revenues have grown consistently.

Nohra himself doesn’t run Biocueitca however, with Candace Keefe serving as CEO since his acquisition.

Keefe began her network marketing career in Arbonne, eventually rising to the position of Senior Vice-President.

In 2009 Keefe (right) left Arbonne to co-launch Apriori Beauty. Keefe served as CEO of Apriori Beauty until her departure in 2012.

Stated Keefe at the time;

I chose not to work with the continued illusion that I held a title I simply did not. My partners voted me out of my title and the authority that the title held.

The “CEO” title in itself was of no importance to me, but the lack of ability to move forward in a positive and healthy direction was. It was simply not what I signed up for, and something I was not going to keep fighting for the rest of my life.

That was June 2012, with Keefe signing on as Bioceutica’s CEO a few months later in August.

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