Frustrated with the FTC’s “all or nothing” interpretation of the court-ordered preliminary injunction, Vemma sought to bypass regulatory approval through a court filing.

Whereas the FTC maintained that no commissions should be paid out unless 51% of affiliate sales are to retail customers, Vemma instead wanted to adopt a pro-rata model.

This would see affiliates who failed to generate 51% retail sales volume paid pro-rata based on whatever percentage their retail volume was.

The problem as I saw it with this model was that it technically would permit Vemma to continue running a product-based pyramid scheme, based on revenue flowing into the company.

If on average say only 40% of affiliate sales revenue was retail, Vemma as a company would still be sourcing the majority of company revenue from affiliates as opposed to retail customers.

And this is pretty much the same way the FTC saw it:

The FTC objects to Vemma’s proposed compensation plan on the grounds that it still incentivizes recruitment of Affiliates over retail sales in violation of the Preliminary Injunction and the FTC Act.

Specifically, the FTC argues that the 51% Rule is an insufficient anti-pyramiding safeguard because it provides an Affiliate significant compensation even if most of the Affiliate’s sales are to downstream Affiliates, not Customers.

A broader issue is also that Vemma’s revised compensation plan potentially sees the company operate against the spirit of the preliminary injunction, which sought to eliminate recruitment revenue beating out retail.

The matter went to court on October 21st, with Judge Tuchi reserving his judgment.

That judgement was published earlier today, with Tuchi ruling in favor of the FTC. [Continue reading…]

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

The SwisCoin website domain (“swiscoin.com”) was registered on the 15th of September 2015, with Kathrine Harbor listed as the owner. An address in Dublin, Ireland is also provided.

Further research reveals this address belongs to Regus, who sell virtual office space. As such it would appear SwisCoin have no actual physical presence in Ireland.

As for Kathrine Harbor, outside of the SwisCoin domain registration, her name doesn’t appear linked to SwisCoin.

I’m flagging this as highly suspicious, with there being a big question mark as to whether or not Harbor actually exists.

Update 30th July 2016 – The SwisCoin website now claims ‘SCN SERVICES LTD is the company who has launched the SWISCOIN as an official from DUBAI.‘

The CEO of SCN SERVICES LTD is Mr. Dmitrii Zubarenko who is the expert person for the administration of mega companies.

Zubarenko doesn’t appear to have any MLM industry experience. /end update

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

Despite pleading to be spared any jail time just over a week ago, Robert Craddock has been sentenced to six months in prison.

The sentence is in connection to two counts of wire fraud, which Craddock plead guilty to back in June. [Continue reading…]

We’ve been seeing a lot of private industry back and forth on Herbalife, but not alot on the government side of things.

Sure we know that the FTC and FBI are investigating the company, but to date the specifics and status of those investigations remain a mystery.

Now, in a report published by New York Senator Jeff Klein and New York City Public City Advocate Letita James, the first official government-level opinion of Herbalife has been revealed.

And it’s not good. [Continue reading…]

Last month we covered breaking news on Pruvit’s lawsuit against ForeverGreen.

At the center of the dispute is Axcess Global Sciences’ ketone technology.

The gist of Pruvits lawsuit alleges that Pruvit were first to sign a licensing deal with Axcess. Axcess management then sniffed out a better deal with ForeverGreen, and then sought to strike the Pruvit agreement.

This effectively muscled Pruvit out of access to Axcess Global Sciences’ technology, which Pruvit needed to source their ketone product offering.

Whereas the details of Pruvit’s allegations have been made public via filing of their lawsuit, ForeverGreen had thus far failed to issue a public statement on the matter.

Now, in a new blog titled “Breaking Silence”, ForeverGreen CEO Ron Williams has addressed the matter. [Continue reading…]

Update 13th July 2021 – At the request of a Powur executive, BehindMLM revisited the company and published an updated Powur review on July 13th, 2021.

This review is preserved as originally published for archive purposes. /end update

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

After a brief marketing spiel, visitors to the Powur site have the sole option of clicking on a “continue” button, which redirects them to an “invite code” page.

Powur is a referral-only, private network. Enter your invite code to continue.

A marketing video on this page features Jonathan Budd. On his Facebook profile, Budd cites himself as the “Founder and CEO at Powur PBC”.

On the 10th of September, Budd (right) published the following:

For the last 22 months, I have been “Underground”. I’ve been working on the biggest project I will likely ever get to work on in my life.

This is not a billion dollar play… it’s literally TRILLIONS. I’m not kidding. In just a few days, I’m going to release the details to the world for the first time.

Jonathan Budd first popped up on BehindMLM back in 2011, as a “mentor” for SMS Dailys.

In 2013 Budd co-founded Rippln, best known as one of the most notorious MLM startup failures ever.

Seeking to combine affiliate recruitment with third-party mobile apps, Rippln delivered copious amounts of marketing hype and not much else.

The scheme finally collapsed in early 2014, with Budd going on to launch MyStand a few months later.

MyStand was touted as a task-based social-change opportunity, but doesn’t seem to have gone anywhere.

When the opportunity was shuttered is unclear, but today the MyStand website is marked “under construction”.

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

Got Backup launched about a year ago and falls under Joel Therien’s Global Virtual Opportunities (GVO) umbrella.

GVO was launched back in 2009, with BehindMLM reviewing their HostThenProfit opportunity back in 2011. A few months later we looked at 7 Minute Workout, a fitness orientated GVO offering.

The latest GVO-branded opportunity we reviewed was Pure Leverage back in 2013.

Pure Leverage rebranded GVO’s marketing tools and a blogging platform, and combined it with a “100% commissions” compensation plan.

The Pure Leverage website is still up today, but Alexa traffic statistics suggest a sharp decline in activity over the past twelve months.

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

Good news for Zhunrize victims, with news that a claims process has been approved.

This means that those who lost funds in Zhunrize can now file claims for processing. [Continue reading…]

Since the news broke late last week that the ACCC’s pyramid scheme case against Lyoness had been dismissed, we’ve tried to piece together what we can from subsequent statements by Justice Flick and the ACCC.

Lyoness for the most part have been busy flooding the internet with hundreds of spammy press-releases celebrating the victory.

Personally my take is that the AU investment scheme wasn’t as important as it should have been in the case, which may have been in part due to a lack of evidence submitted by the ACCC.

Without the published judgement however, Justice Flick’s decision was difficult to make sense of.

The decision has now been made public, with how the ACCC lost an exercise in regulatory disappointment. [Continue reading…]

Xooma Worldwide launched in 2005 and co-founded by Dan Putnam, who initially served as President.

Putnam was publicly the head of Xooma until about 2012, went he launched EPX Body (weight loss).

In 2014 EPX Body got a reboot as One80, with Putnam launching The Elite Networker earlier this month.

Whereas EPX Body had a true retail offering, One80 and The Elite Networker have marked a disappointing focus shift to recruitment over retail sales.

Today Xooma Worldwide is headed up by President and CEO, Ron Howell (right).

With over 30 years of diversified leadership experience, Ron Howell is Owner and Chief Executive Officer of Xooma Worldwide with its global headquarters in Hampton, Virginia.

Howell is mentioned in connection with Xooma dating back to 2005, so I believe he was the other co-founder of the company.

He seems to have taken a more public role within the company around the time Putnam launched EPX Body.

(Howell) has distinguished himself in various businesses and held executive positions in various industries including real estate, distribution, national and international sales, wholesale and retail marketing, financial services and has also held Senior VP, President and CEO positions in national and international direct selling companies.

In the early 2000s, Howell was Senior Vice-President at New Vision, who marketed ‘products that improve pH‘.

In addition to be slapped by the FTC in 1998 for making unsubstantiated claims, New Vision was later involved in a legal battle with Xango.

Here’s Rod Cook’s (MLM Watchdog) take on the matter from 2005:

In its May 16, 2005 statement, New Vision suggests that the Patent Office has completed the reexamination of XanGo’s patent (U.S. Patent No. 6,730,333) and that XanGo’s patent is no longer valid. This is reckless and incorrect.

New Vision is promoting misinformation about what is actually in its own mangosteen product. New Vision and Vemma, both owned and operated by Benson Boreyko, sell the same product under different names. On the label for its drink, New Vision claims:

“This . . . formula is made in a base of whole fruit mangosteen juice and pericarp [and] whole leaf aloe vera juice . . .”

In contrast, in court documents filed by New Vision in the patent infringement lawsuit, New Vision claims:

•“New Vision USA’s mangosteen product does not include as an ingredient any juice of any kind much less juice from fruit of a Garcinia mangostana L. tree . . .”

•“Aloe vera juice is not an ingredient of New Vision’s mangosteen product.”

•“Defendants do not know, and therefore deny, that New Vision USA’s mangosteen product
contains as an ingredient any pericarp, much less pericarp processed or ground from whole fruit pericarp.”

•“Defendants believe, but do not know, that the fruit from which the powder compound is extracted comes from the species of Garcinia mangostana L.”

New Vision is saying one thing in court and another on its product label. How can New Vision claim that its product is superior when it apparently does not know the product’s ingredients?

In addition to presenting inaccurate information in its statement, New Vision also fails to disclose the present circumstances of its own business.

Just three weeks ago in open court, New Vision’s attorney stated that Mr. Boreyko had to funnel $3 million of his own money into the business last year.

This fact is in contrast to Boreyko’s recent public statements about his past business success.

Based on the most recent Dunn & Bradstreet reports, the 10-year-old New Vision company has lost 90 percent of its sales over the last eight years and continues to trend down.

New Vision’s attempt at a mangosteen drink was in response to XanGo’s category creation success.

Faced with such formidable competition, New Vision has resorted to its unfortunate campaign of misinformation.

Boreyko folded New Vision into Vemma later that year, with Howell going on to co-found Xooma Worldwide with Dan Putnam.

Today there is no mention of Putnam on the Xooma Worldwide website. Whether he is still involved in Xooma’s daily operations, and if so to what extent, is unclear.

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