When multiple financial institutions began shutting down TelexFree’s banking accounts, Jim Merrill turned to his brother, John Merrill.

As President of Fidelity Cooperative Bank, John Merrill was certainly in a position to help his brother. And help him he did, with TelexFree granted permission to open three bank accounts with Fidelity in 2013.

After regulators shut down TelexFree for being a $1.8 billion dollar Ponzi scheme, Fidelity Cooperative came under scrutiny for its role in enabling Ponzi fraud.

To their credit Fidelity Cooperative did eventually ask TelexFree to close their accounts, but after five months the damage had been done.

TelexFree went on to secure bank accounts with other financial institutions but for its part in the Ponzi scheme, Fidelity Cooperative reached a settlement with the court-appointed Receiver for $3.5 million dollars.

The settlement was announced almost a year ago, but it was only last month that $2.9 million of it was returned to TelexFree victims.

Now in a move seemingly seeking to completely distance itself from TelexFree’s financial fraud, John Merrill will soon find himself unemployed. [Continue reading…]

The single-biggest takeaway from the Vemma preliminary injunction order was the correlation of affiliates self-funding commission qualification.

This wasn’t just a Vemma issue, it’s patently widespread throughout the entire MLM industry. 

Following the Vemma preliminary injunction, what could follow is the biggest MLM compensation plan shakeup we’ve seen in years.

Or not. [Continue reading…]

You’ve read the opinions, you’ve read the mostly one-sided accounts of what went on at the September 15th preliminary injunction hearing, you’ve seen Vemma’s CEO declare god is on his side all week…

Now let’s take a look at the facts.

The whole purpose of the September 15th hearing was to have the court examine

whether the FTC has still met its burden to show that it is likely to succeed on the merits of its claims against Defendants and the balance of equities tips in its favor, in light of the arguments and evidence presented by Defendants.

Or in other words, did the FTC’s initial arguments hold up under scrutiny (provided via Vemma’s legal defense)?

The FTC charged Vemma were in operation of an illegal pyramid scheme and guilty of false and misleading representations. [Continue reading…]

Enagic operates in the water purification MLM niche and are based out of the US state of California.

On their website Enagic trace their origins back to June 1974, which is when they claim

Sony’s specialty trading operation, the precursor of Enagic, began operations in Okinawa, Japan.

January 2003 appears to be the year Enagic went full-scale MLM, with the company opening its first office in the US.

Heading up Enagic in the US Hironari Oshiro (right), who serves as President and CEO.

Details on Oshiro are sketchy, with Enagic using his corporate bio to instead market the company itself.

As per an Enagic marketing document I found,

In 1974, Mr. Hironari Oshiro owned an exclusive Sony Dealership.  In 1988 he changed the name of his company to Enagic Co., Ltd.

In 2001 he acquired 30‐year‐old Toyo Aitex, recognized as Japan’s highest quality and most reliable water ionizer manufacturer, manufacturing the unit in Japan as Sanastic.

Why this information isn’t presented on the Enagic website is unclear.

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

Despite denials from USFIA that they are running the GemCoin Ponzi scheme, video footage has emerged clearly suggesting otherwise. [Continue reading…]

Sandra Gavel is a Canadian Zeek Rewards net-winner, who after being sued by the Zeek Receiver is up for $89,906.

In response to the Receiver’s lawsuit, Gavel personally filed the following communication with the court:

Your offer to contract is hereby rejected as unacceptable.

I do NOT consent to the jurisdiction of any United States Magistrate, or the jurisdiction of any United States Article III Judge in the United States District Court Western District of North Carolina.

Nobody really knew what the above communication was supposed to be, at least within a legal context, with the Receiver responding by asking the court to clarify the filing. [Continue reading…]

Sann Rodrigues arraignment hearing was held yesterday, with the top TelexFree Ponzi pimp pleading not guilty to visa fraud. [Continue reading…]

There hasn’t been much news out of Brazil this year regarding the TelexFree Ponzi case.

Earlier this year the court-ordered expertise from independent auditor Ernst & Young was filed, citing evidence that revealed TelexFree was a Ponzi scheme.

TelexFree immediately tried to bury the report, but failed. Judge Thais Borges later remarked the report was “conclusive” enough for her to make a ruling with.

And on Wednesday the 16th of September that ruling was finally made, with Judge Borges concluding TelexFree is indeed a Ponzi scheme. [Continue reading…]

Following the updating of the case docket, we can provide you a bit more information about the Vemma preliminary injunction hearing on September 15th. [Continue reading…]

After OneCoin’s US launch flopped, the latest sees the Ponzi scheme claim to have “bought a bank”.

First order of business? Register with the SEC and open up a bank in the US. [Continue reading…]