American Bill Money claim to have ‘completed ten years in business‘, with Paul Korzeniowski credited as company President on their website.

The American Bill Money website domain (“americanbillmoney.com”) was registered on the 9th of November 2001, with Korzeniowski (right) listed as the owner. A PO Box address in the US state of Virginia is also provided.

Despite claims of “31 years experience” on the American Bill Money website, whether or not Korzeniowski has been involved in other MLM opportunities over the years is unclear. MLM related information online only ties Korzeniowski to American Bill Money.

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

As the contempt feud between Sannderley Rodrigues and the SEC heads towards a judicial ruling, Rodrigues has made an appearance in a YouTube video.

The video is titled “Evento Único com Sann Rodrigues 1”, which Google translates to “Single Event Sann Rodrigues 1”. [Continue reading…]

As per the Holiday Cheer website (“holidaycheer.info”), the President and CEO of the company is Scott Buchanan.

The Holiday Cheer domain registration also lists Buchanan as the owner, with an address in the US state of North Carolina also provided.

Due to the generic nature of the name and lack of additional information provided, I was unable to find anything further on Buchanan’s MLM history.

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

There is no information on the World Ad Pays website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The World Ad Pays website domain (“worldadpays.com”) was registered on the 23rd of July 2015, with “Sukhminder Singh” of “Classic International” listed as the owner. An address in Delhi, India is also provided.

Singh has previously launched MyBlogPays, a binary-based recruitment scheme.

MyBlogPays affiliates pay $20 to $2000 for membership, with commissions paid when newly recruited affiliates do the same.

Alexa traffic estimates for the MyBlogPays website domain suggest the opportunity never took off.

Of note is that World Ad Pays appears to have been initially launched in August as “Traffic Lagoon”, an ad-credit based Ponzi cycler.

As per a 15th August post on the World Ad Pays official Facebook page:

We have just decided to postpone the launch as this is not the correct time we feel, lot of new sites are up and we do not want to fail just because of that.

Then on the 27th of November:

Jabar Meman changed the name of the group “Traffic Lagoon Official” to “WorldAdPays.com”.

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

Earlier in August the SEC filed a Motion For Contempt against Sannderly Rodrigues.

In their motion, the SEC argued that Rodrigues had failed to provide the regulator with detailed accounting records for over a year. This, the regulator contended, was grounds to send Rodrigues back to jail until the court order had been complied with.

Rodrigues’ initial defense against the motion saw him hilariously claim he doesn’t speak English.

After the SEC declared this to be “nonsense“, Rodrigues dropped the defense and instead claimed that providing the requested information might incriminate him in related investigations.

That was back in October, with mediation efforts continuing between the SEC and Rodrigues in an attempt to resolve the ongoing issue.

Now, in a Status Report filed by the SEC on November 30th, it has been revealed that these mediation efforts have failed to resolve the matter.

The parties have not resolved the issue of the return of funds reflecting dissipation of assets by Rodrigues in violation of this Court’s Asset Freeze order.

That’s not to say the SEC didn’t obtain the information they wanted though… [Continue reading…]

Last month saw the Philippine SEC issue a cease and desist against Global InterGold.

Alongside the SEC’s warning, criminal charges were also filed against top Philippine Global InterGold investors by the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Details of the criminal case have been thus far sketchy, with specifics of the PNP’s criminal case only coming to light yesterday. [Continue reading…]

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

As per the MMM Global website:

There is no formal organization, no legal person in MMM. And of course there is no central bank account, no other activity in any form. Neither close, nor open. There is nothing!

The MMM Global website domain (“mmmglobal.org”) was registered on February 4th 2014, however the domain registration is set to private.

Further research reveals marketing videos uploaded to the MMM Global website blog. These videos are titled “weekly news” and feature Sergey Mavrodi.

Although not credited by name, Mavrodi’s photo also appears on the MMM Global website itself:

The “weekly news” videos on the MMM Global website are hosted on a YouTube account bearing the name “MMMGlobal”. In addition to Mavrodi’s news updates, the account has a plethora of testimonial videos.

Presumably MMM Global affiliates, the vast majority of those featured in the testimonial videos appear to be of Asian descent.

Primary countries MMM Global operates in appear to be China and India, with Alexa estimating that these two countries provide 34% of traffic to the MMM Global website.

Mavrodi (right) began using the “MMM” brand back in 1989, but it wasn’t until 1994 that it delved into Ponzi fraud.

MMM was established in 1989 by Sergei Mavrodi, his brother Vyacheslav Mavrodi, and Olga Melnikova. The name of the company was taken from the first letters of the three founders’ surnames.

MMM created its successful Ponzi scheme in 1994. The company started attracting money from private investors, promising annual returns of up to one thousand percent.

MMM grew rapidly. In February 1994, the company reported dividends of 1,000%, and started an aggressive TV ad campaign.

Since the shares were not quoted on any stock exchange and the company itself determined the share price, it maintained a steady price growth of thousands of percent annually, leading the public to believe its shares were a safe and profitable investment.

At its peak the company was taking in more than 100 billion rubles (about 50 million USD) each day from the sale of its shares to the public.

Thus, the cashflow turnover at the MMM central office in Moscow was so high that it could not be estimated. The management started to count money in roomfuls (1 roomful of money, 2 roomfuls of money, etc.).

Regular publication in the media of the rising MMM share price led President Boris Yeltsin to issue a decree in June 1994 prohibiting financial institutions from publicising their expected income.

The success of MMM in attracting investors led to the creation of other similar companies, including Tibet, Chara, Khoper-Invest, Selenga, Telemarket, and Germes.

All of these companies were characterised by aggressive television advertising and extremely high promised rates of return. One company promised annual returns of 30,000%.[citation needed]

On July 22, 1994, the police closed the offices of MMM for tax evasion. For a few days the company attempted to continue the scheme, but soon ceased operations.

At that point, Invest-Consulting, one of the company’s subsidiaries, owed more than 50 billion rubles in taxes (USD 26 million), and MMM itself owed between 100 billion and 3 trillion rubles to the investors (from USD 50 million to USD 1.5 billion).

In the aftermath at least 50 investors, having lost all of their money, committed suicide.

Several organisations of “deceived investors” made efforts to recover their lost investments, but Sergei Mavrodi manipulated their indignation and directed it at the government.

In August 1994 Mavrodi was arrested for tax evasion. However, he was soon elected to the Russian State Duma, with the support of the “deceived investors”.

He argued that the government, not MMM, was responsible for people losing their money, and promised to initiate a pay-back program. The amount ultimately paid back was minuscule compared to the amount owed.

In October 1995, the Duma cancelled Mavrodi’s right to immunity as a deputy. In 1996, he tried to run for Russia’s presidency, but most of the signatures he received were rejected. MMM declared bankruptcy on September 22, 1997.

While it was believed that Sergei Mavrodi left Russia and moved to the United States, it is possible that he stayed in Moscow, using his money to change apartments regularly and employ a group of former special agents.

With the help of a distant relative he started Stock Generation Ltd., another pyramid scheme.

Despite a bold-letter warning on the main page that the site was not a real stock exchange, between 20,000 and 275,000 people, according to various estimates, fell for the promised 200% returns and lost their money.

According to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, losses of victims were at least USD 5.5 million.

Mavrodi was found and arrested in 2003. While in custody, Mavrodi was given until January 31, 2006 to read the documents in his fraud case against him (The criminal case consisted of 650 volumes, each 250-270 pages long).

At the end of April 2007, Mavrodi was convicted of fraud, and given a sentence of four and a half years.

Since he had already spent over four years in custody, he was released less than a month later, on May 22, 2007.

He later went on to creating yet another pyramid scheme called MMM-2011. (Wikipedia)

MMM-2011 saw the introduction of “Mavro” Ponzi points.

In January 2011, Mavrodi launched another pyramid scheme called MMM-2011, asking investors to buy so-called Mavro currency units.

He frankly described it as a pyramid, adding “It is a naked scheme, nothing more … People interact with each other and give each other money. For no reason!”

Mavrodi said that his goal with MMM-2011 is to destroy the current financial system, which he considers unfair, which would allow something new to take its place.

MMM-2011 was able to function openly as Ponzi schemes and financial pyramids are not illegal under Russian law.

In May 2012 he froze the operation and announced that there would be no more payouts.

In 2011 he launched a similar scheme in India, called MMM India, again stating clearly that the vehicle is a pyramid. He has also launched MMM in China.

He was reported to be trying to expand his operations into Western Europe, Canada, and Latin America.

As of September 2015 it had spread rapidly in South Africa with a claimed 1% per day or 30% per month interest rate scheme and warnings from both the South African and Russian Communist Parties for people not to participate in it.

Mavrodi’s latest Ponzi fraud iteration saw MMM Global launch last year. Amid ongoing financial instability in China, MMM Global is currently being heavily promoted there as a vehicle to launder dirty money out of the country.

Due to inaction on behalf of Russian authorities, Mavrodi remains at large.

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

There is no information on the 5 Dollar Gem website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The 5 Dollar Gem website domain (“5dollargem.com”) was registered on the 7th of July 2015, however the domain registration is set to private.

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…]

There is no information on the My Secret Fortune website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The My Secret Fortune website domain (“mysecretfortune.com”) was registered on the 27th of May 2015, with John Dierksmeier listed as the owner. An address in the US state of Texas is also provided.

John Dierksmeier (right) first appeared on BehindMLM’s radar back in late 2011, as the Founder and President of MaxeVida.

MaxeVida was a matrix-based opportunity which saw affiliates retail a capsule-based supplement.

MaxeVida seems to have collapsed sometime in 2012, with Dierksmeier (right) then going on to launch Only20Bucks.

Again based on a matrix compensation plan, Only20Bucks was a recruitment-driven feeder for iClubBiz (in which Dierksmeier was an affiliate).

iClubBiz itself was an autoship-centric recruitment scheme launched in 2013.

2014 saw Dierksmeier get into coffee, with the launch of Cafe Nopal.

On the affiliate side of things, Dierksmeier has been involved with New Earth(reboot of Simplexity Health), Xerveo (formerly Ferveo), CeraCoat Direct (nanotechnology coating) and more recently GoBig7 (a Penny Matrixreboot).

2015 has seen Dierksmeier launch Nopa Vida, 2×2 Wealth and EcoPlus Network.

Nopa Vida saw affiliates purchase matrix positions and get paid when subsequently recruited affiliates did the same.

2×2 Wealth was a matrix cycler, again paying affiliates to purchase a matrix position and recruit others who do the same.

EcoPlus Network is a $25 a month matrix-based recruitment scheme.

Alexa traffic estimates on the Nopa Vida and 2×2 Wealth websites suggest both have since collapsed. EcoPlus Network was only recently launched, with My Secret Fortune marking Dierksmeier’s fourth known MLM launch this year.

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

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

The EcoPlus Network domain was registered on the 25th of October 2015, with John Dierksmeier listed as the owner. An address in the US state of Texas is also provided.

John Dierksmeier (right) first appeared on BehindMLM’s radar back in late 2011, as the Founder and President of MaxeVida.

MaxeVida was a matrix-based opportunity which saw affiliates retail a capsule-based supplement.

MaxeVida seems to have collapsed sometime in 2012, with Dierksmeier (right) then going on to launch Only20Bucks.

Again based on a matrix compensation plan, Only20Bucks was a recruitment-driven feeder for iClubBiz (in which Dierksmeier was an affiliate).

iClubBiz itself was an autoship-centric recruitment scheme launched in 2013.

2014 saw Dierksmeier get into coffee, with the launch of Cafe Nopal.

On the affiliate side of things, Dierksmeier has been involved with New Earth (reboot of Simplexity Health), Xerveo (formerly Ferveo), CeraCoat Direct (nanotechnology coating) and more recently GoBig7 (a Penny Matrix reboot).

2015 has seen Dierksmeier launch Nopa Vida and 2×2 Wealth.

Nopa Vida saw affiliates purchase matrix positions and get paid when subsequently recruited affiliates did the same.

2×2 Wealth was a matrix cycler, again paying affiliates to purchase a matrix position and recruit others who do the same.

Alexa traffic estimates on the Nopa Vida and 2×2 Wealth websites suggest both have since collapsed, likely prompting the launch of EcoPlus Network

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