Rumors of an FTC investigation into Herbalife began back in 2013 and here at BehindMLM we’ve been covering the story diligently ever since.

Today a conclusion to the saga is in sight, with news that the FTC has fined Herbalife $200 million dollars for being a pyramid scheme. [Continue reading…]

Paul Burks’ criminal trial has been continuing quietly over the past few days, with proceedings on June 13th seeing Burks Motion for a Judgement of Acquittal denied. [Continue reading…]

In yet another case of banks being held accountable for turning a blind eye to financial fraud, victims of Bill Apostelos Ponzi scheme are suing PNC Bank.

William Apostelos was indicted on 13 counts of wire fraud last October. Apostelos stands accused of orchestrating a $70 million dollar Ponzi scheme and is scheduled to face trial in February next year.

Not content to wait around, some of Apostelos’ victims are now demanding answers from one of the banks he used. [Continue reading…]

Despite OneCoin ceasing business operations in the US last October, a group of investors continue to openly promote the scheme to US citizens.

For all their claims of Know Your Customer and compliance, and as long as new investor money flows in, OneCoin appear to have no problem with turning a blind eye. [Continue reading…]

IFA, which stands for Independent Field Advertising, launched all the way back in 1998 and are based out of South Africa.

IFA operates in the insurance policy MLM niche and are the network marketing division of Clientèle Life Assurance Company.

On their website, Clientèle Life claim to be

a diversified financial services group, listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and is one of South Africa’s leading direct distributors of financial service products.

On the IFA website, Basil Reekie (right) is listed as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Reekie is also on Clientèle Life’s Board of Directors.

Reekie has a professional history in the insurance industry and joined Clientèle Life back in 2008.

Prior to his appointment as IFA’s Chairman of the Board, Reekie doesn’t appear to have any MLM experience.

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

When MoneyBox TV launched late last year, it’s business model was undoubtedly a Ponzi mess.

MoneyBox TV affiliates were investing up to €8148 EUR on the promise monthly ROIs of up to €1070 EUR, which advertising revenue was obviously not covering.

Two weeks after BehindMLM published our MoneyBoxTV review,  the company threatened legal action.

We found an article on your site that describes in untruthful way the company Moneyboxtv and the CEO.

With this we hope to not have to resort to legal action for defamation against you and would like you rectify the many statements do not correspond to the truth.

I responded by breaking down the research published in our review. A week or so later MoneyBox TV again denied they were running a Ponzi scheme.

The Moneyboxtv system don’t give a passive income: the ROI that you speak about is totally untrue and not present in our compensation plan.

We regularly sell decoders that can generate earnings variable depending on use.

In also that you wrote on Mr. Di Sabato is not the truth, for so before moving on to a lawsuit for defamation international, we ask you to change or remove the article about Moneyboxtv and Mr. Di Sabato on your website, within 7 days from today.

The above was sent via email on October 1st, 2015. The same day I sent the following reply with an attached image, taken directly from MoneyBox TV’s compensation plan at the time:

Please do not waste my time with your lies. See attached.

Just because you hide your Ponzi ROIs in your official compensation plan does not mean they’re not there.

In the above image, the second last column from the right shows the ROIs MoneyBox TV affiliates were being paid (invested amount is second column from the left).

MoneyBox TV didn’t respond to my email.

Nine months later, on July 6th 2016, MoneyBox TV CEO Simone di Sabato sent me an email;

I am writing in order to ask you to delete the negative article you published a year ago about my company Moneyboxtv and about myself.

I would like to inform you that meanwhile my company grew and it has already opened franchising shops in Italy.

The Set Top Box price is 249,00 euros and each user is able to buy 10 set top boxes maximum.

Considering all these important implementations, I am asking you the immediate removal of the article.  If you want to write a new article about Moneyboxtv I will be glad to supply any information required.

I replied that I don’t remove reviews, as they are date-stamped and accurate at the time they were published. I did however request a copy of MoneyBox TV’s current compensation plan in English.

Di Sabato didn’t respond to my email personally, but I did receive a copy of the compensation plan yesterday from “Team Moneyboxtv”.

Today we revisit MoneyBox TV and review whether or not the MLM opportunity has actually changed. [Continue reading…]

Wow Digital Development (Wow Digit) operate in the MLM cryptocurrency niche and are purportedly based out of Hong Kong.

The company claims on its website (“wowdigit.com”) to be a subsidiary of Gideon Holding Inc. Third-party verifiable information on Gideon Holding Inc. (not to be confused with Gideon Holdings Inc.), appears to be non-existent.

Hu Chuan Chen (right) is cited as Founder, CEO and Chairman of Gideon Holding Inc. This presumably places him also in charge of Wow Digit.

On the Wow Digit website, Chen is also credited as ‘Director of World Mobile International and Miktam Technologies (USA)‘.

As far as I can tell, Chen doesn’t appear to have an MLM history.

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

The PipCoin website identifies David Schwartz and Red Wayne as founders of the company.

The inception of the idea can be credited to David Schwartz and the inception of the algorithm and mathematics behind to Ref Wayne, a 21 year old South African

Ref Wayne Nkele appears to be the face of the company, I couldn’t find any information on David Schwartz.

Wayne (right) seems to have made a name for himself as a forex trader through “The Forex Institute”.

Honestly speaking- I am the ONLY trader in South Africa who has all the material things that traders claim to have.

Countless houses and cars. I generate millions every month.

Teaching you for free is just what I’ll be doing for fun really… I’ll teach you REAL things not this nonsense that is being taught to people at high cost.

Today The Forex Institute website is offline and the domain parked. Not sure what the story is there.

On their official Facebook page, PipCoin describe themselves as a ‘bank/financial institution (in) Johannesburg, South Africa‘.

South Africa appears to be the primary source of traffic to the PipCoin website, with Alexa estimating it accounts for 90.5% of all traffic.

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

Despite only informing the Department of Justice that he ‘may assert a reliance defense‘ and failing to name ‘specific individuals upon whose advice (he) relied (on)‘, Paul Burks’ attorneys presented slides during their opening statement that suggests he may attempt to pass the buck.

Through a July 12th filing, the DOJ have pre-emptively objected to the possibility of Burks’ raising a reliance defense. [Continue reading…]

Last week we explored the possibility that Roman Balanko had lied to the Zeek Rewards Receiver.

Officially, Roman Balanko is the CEO of PaymentWorld USA. Balanko and PaymentWorld USA are arguing they have no control over Zeek funds deposited in a VictoriaBank account in Moldova, which was in the name of PaymentWorld Hong Kong.

An agent agreement cited and published by BehindMLM however revealed Roman Balanko is the President of PaymentWorld Hong Kong.

As it stands, Balanko is scheduled to be deposed by the Zeek Receiver on July 22nd. PaymentWorld now want that deposition postponed. [Continue reading…]