Despite the WCM777 victim claims portal opening up a few months ago in September, the Receiver has revealed that investor response has thus far been “tepid”.

Reasons cited by the Receiver for the lack of victim claims include:

• the lack of a complete or trustworthy company database
• the location of many investors outside the United States
• the fact that a significant number of investors gave their money to other individuals who pooled the funds with those of other investors before investing and
• the issuance and trading of (Ponzi) “points”

All of which prompted the Receiver to seek an extension to the claim deadline, which is currently December 24th, 2015.

Following a number of actions by the Receiver to increase the amount of claims filed, ‘as of November 27, 2015, approximately 11,900 claims had been received‘. [Continue reading…]

Trudy Gilmond was one of the top earners in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme.

For her efforts, Gilmond was named a net-winner and was sued by the court-appointed Zeek Rewards Receiver.

The Receiver sought $1.7 million from Gilmond, which would see her return all of the money she stole from investors.

Gilmond responded to the Receiver’s lawsuit with a motion to dismiss, a demand for $140,000 (plus interest) and payment of court costs.

Gilmond’s motion to dismiss was denied, with the counter-claims against the Receiver dismissed shortly after.

In April of this year the Receiver filed for default judgement against Gilmond, with a $2.1 million dollar judgement granted in May.

Separately, the SEC has now filed its own lawsuit against Gilmond. [Continue reading…]

As part of ongoing litigation by the FTC against Vemma, both parties have filed a joint Proposed Case Management Plan.

Filed on December 7th, the plan lays out the FTC’s case against Vemma and projected timeframes (disagreements included) from both parties. [Continue reading…]

LifeVantage are based out of Utah in the US and commenced MLM operations in 2009.

Previously, under the names LifeLine Therapeutics, Lifeline Nutraceuticals and Yaak River Resources, Inc, LifeVantage had experienced ‘several consecutive years of multimillion dollar losses‘.

In 2012, LifeVantage’s then CEO Doug Robinson claimed the shift to an MLM business model “saved (the) company”.

Earlier this year in February Robinson resigned from his position. At the time Robinson stated that

after having discussions with the Board, I have concluded that it is in the best interests of the Company to step down from my position as President, CEO and Board Member.

Today LifeVantage is headed up by CEO and President, Darren Jensen (right).

As per Jensen’s LifeVantage corporate bio;

Mr. Jensen brings 25 years of global network marketing and direct selling experience to LifeVantage from companies selling a variety of product types including nutritional supplements and personal care products.

Mr. Jensen previously served in senior executive roles at some of the largest and most respected direct selling companies in the world, as well as co-founded two thriving multi-level marketing companies.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Jensen has held executive positions with

• NuSkin as International Marketing Specialist (1990-1995)
• Amway as Brand Marketer (1995-1997)
• Synergy Worldwide as Vice President of Marketing and Product Development (1997-2002)
• Usana as Director of International Business Development (2003-2005)
• Agel as Executive Vice President and Corporate General Manager (2005-2010)
• Ampegy as Chief Sales Officer (2011-2012) and
• Jeunesse as Chief Sales Officer and later President (2012-2015)

Of note is that it was during Darren Jensen’s tenure as President of Jeunesse that the whole Matthew Nestler saga blew up.

Nestler claims he is owed $275,000 in commissions and filed a lawsuit against Jeunesse. In response, Jensen accused Nestler of making death threats against him.

Jensen resigned from his position at Jeunesse a few months after Nestler filed his lawsuit.

Nestler’s lawsuit meanwhile is ongoing, with the latest update from Thompson Burton (representing Nestler) dated September 2nd:

Jeunesse filed a motion, attempting to pull the lawsuit into arbitration. We responded with our own arguments, attempting to keep the case in state court (public).

After hearing arguments and considering the issues for a few weeks, the Judge reached a decision. The part of the case that relates to the Business Development Agreement will remain in state court.

The part of the case that relates to the Jeunesse Policies and Procedures will go to arbitration.

LifeVantage themselves are no stranger to litigation;

In 2009, LifeVantage was sued by Utah-based Zrii LLC based on allegations that LifeVantage had conspired with former Zrii executives to “ruin the company” and take it over “on the cheap” following a “mass exodus”.

The case was closed in December 2009 following LifeVantage’s settlement payment of $400,000 to Zrii.

On October 14, 2011, Burke Hedges, a former LifeVantage distributor (hired for his background as a speaker and trainer) filed a lawsuit with the Utah District Court against LifeVantage and its executives, seeking $3 million in punitive damages over allegations of wrongful termination and tortious interference.

I was unable to find the Hedge vs. LifeVantage case on Pacer, nor was I able to find any public information on the outcome of the case (confidential settlement?).

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

There is no information on the My Modern Income website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The My Modern Income website domain (“mymodernincome.com”) was registered on the 25th of May 2015, however the domain registration is set to private.

Further research reveals My Modern Income affiliates crediting “Pier-luc Morin” as admin of the opportunity, however I was unable to independently verify this information.

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…]

When I reviewed Talk Fusion back in 2014, I found it odd their flagship product was a $1499 video communication package.

Given the abundance of free alternatives around, who in their right mind was paying $1499 for video communication… without the attached Talk Fusion income opportunity?

Seems like I’m not the only one with this question, with Talk Fusion now the defendant in a recently filed RICO lawsuit. [Continue reading…]

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

The Fantasy Draft website domain (“fantasydraft.com”) was registered on the 27th of June 1995. The MLM opportunity as it exists today however was only launched late last year in December.

Further research into Fantasy Draft reveals the Charlotte Agenda citing Robert Stevanovski and Stephen Krombolz as co-founders and Grant Yoder as CEO.

Why this information is not available from the Fantasy Draft website is unclear.

Stevanovski being a co-founder and the Chairman of ACN, was probably a key factor in Fantasy Draft’s use of an MLM business model.

Grant Yoder on his LinkedIn profile also cites himself as a co-founder of the company.

Yoder (right) doesn’t appear to have any executive MLM experience, with his LinkedIn profile listing investment sales, professional services and business development roles.

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

Less than a month after OneCoin announced they had switched banks to JSC Capital Bank in Georgia (the country), OneCoin have again announced a change of banking details. [Continue reading…]

The major red flag identified in our BehindMLM Infinii review was the company’s Springboard seats securities offering.

In a nutshell, Infinii affiliates were to invest in “seat” positions which would eventually pay out a passive ROI.

Following publication of our review, Infinii removed their official compensation plan documentation. New documentation was made available, with the Springboard seats component removed.

Infinii then went on to host two webinars about the business, with neither mentioning Springboard seats.

This lead to confusion among affiliates and myself, as there was no official announcement regarding Springboard seats being dropped or not (see comments on our Infinii review).

Were they still in the comp plan and just not being mentioned, or had Infinii canned the concept altogether?

In an attempt to suss out whether Kevin Thompson was endorsing Infinii, another of the claims going around, I reached out to Thompson for clarification.

I can now reveal that Infinii have indeed dropped the Springboard seats securities offering. [Continue reading…]

Miessence as a product range was launched in 1997, with the MLM side of the business launched through the Organic & Natural Enterprises Group in 2003.

When it first launched, Miessence was known as “One Group”.

The company is based out of Queensland, Australia, with three Directors listed on the Miessence website; Narelle Chenery, Colin Chenery and Alf Orpen (right).

Founders Narelle and Colin Chenery, Alf Orpen and John Hunter established the Organic & Natural Enterprises Group in 2003 to develop a comprehensive range of organic home, health and beauty products under the Miessence name.

Perusal of Narelle and Colin Chenery’s LinkedIn profiles suggest that Miessence was their first venture into MLM.

Alf Orpen meanwhile is heavily involved in organics, particularly organic farming.

On the regulatory and legal side of things, Miessence appear to be in the all-clear – which is impressive for a fifteen year old MLM company.

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