Angel Rodriguez has settles a $12 million fraud case filed against him by the SEC.

On September 5th, 2024, the court issued a final judgment at the request of the SEC. Rodriguez consented to the motion, constituting an effective settlement. [Continue reading…]

Pitrex fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.

Pitrex operates from two known website domains:

1. pitrex.pro – privately registered on April 30th, 2024 (main website, app funnel)
2. pitsp.com – first registered in 2016, private registration last updated on January 9th, 2024 (app)

In an attempt to appear legitimate, Pitrex provides a company registration certificate for Pitrex LLC.

Due to the ease with which scammers are able to incorporate shell companies with bogus details, for the purpose of MLM due-diligence these certificates are meaningless.

If we click the support link on Pitrex’s .COM website, we learn it runs on the Meiqia platform.

Meiqia is a Chinese software company based out of Beijing. This suggests whoever is running Pitrex has ties to China.

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…]

Over the years BehindMLM has published three separate Seacret Direct reviews. The third and latest Seacret Direct review was published in August 2020.

Consistent across all of BehindMLM’s reviews has been Seacret selling products rooted in Dead Sea salts and minerals.

Seacret Direct still sells these products but they aren’t the core of the company any more. A visit to Seacret Direct’s website is now dominated by “Viago”.

Viago came across my desk via a reader tip off. I went looking for an official explanation of Seacret Direct’s branding and came up blank.

Seacret Direct’s

• linked official FaceBook page isn’t available (or has been deleted)
• official Twitter profile has been posted on since July 2023
• official YouTube channel hasn’t had a video posted on it since May 2023
• official Vimeo account hasn’t had a video posted on it since June 2022
• linked official Instagram page isn’t available (or has been deleted)

There’s no reference to the Viago rebranding on Seacret Direct’s website. The company website’s “about us” page still reference Seacret Direct and the Dead Sea products.

I thought maybe Seacret Direct had been sold off but Izhak Ben Shabat (right) and Dani Solomon are still listed as co-founders.

Note the original Seacret Direct co-founders have always only been cited as Ben and Mody Ben Shabat – not sure what’s going on there.

Marketing from (former) Seacret Direct promoters suggests the rebranding took place in late July 2024.

BehindMLM last reported on Seacret Direct a few months after our third review. At the time Seacret Direct was in the process of acquiring WorldVentures.

That deal fell through, with WorldVentures going to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy by the end of 2020.

Seacret Direct launched Club Seacret, its own in-house discount travel booking offering, in early 2021.

Like Seacret Direct, Club Seacret has been rebranded to Club Viago.

Club Viago membership starts at $99 a month for the basic offering (discount travel booking plus telemedicine).

Club Viago Plus costs $149 a month and adds $50 product credit and an annual “50/50 Getaway Award”.

There’s also a $450 Viago Prelaunch Pack with no details:

In our third and most recent Seacret Direct review, we praised the company for finally shifting away from autoship recruitment.

Eight years on from our original Seacret Direct review, and I’m satisfied the autoship recruitment focus of the compensation plan has been addressed.

Seacret Direct retail customers are given plenty of loyalty incentives, including tiered credit, a retail referral commission, discounts and free shipping.

To be clear, it’s still possible for a Seacret Direct affiliate to sign up, get on autoship, focus on recruiting others who do the same and max out the compensation plan.

This is an ongoing problem the company needs to address.

Unfortunately Viago and Club Viago compensation plan details are hidden from consumers. This leaves us unable to effectively evaluate Viago and Club Viago’s current offering.

If the focus in Viago has shifted from selling actual products to discount travel memberships however (WorldVentures was a pyramid scheme), I suspect retail is once again not a priority.

Pending confirmation of Viago’s compensation plan BehindMLM will consider putting together a full review. At time of publication however Viago’s launch is a bit of a mess.

At the very least put out a public statement as to what is going on and the status of the company. Then set up a proper Viago website and ditch the recycled Club Seacret website (it makes no sense to have two company websites).

Full disclosure, including public access to compensation plan details, is basic MLM compliance.

Seacret Direct has been around since 2005 (that’s nineteen years). Izhak Shabat definitely knows better so I’m not sure why the Viago rebranding has been presented so poorly.

Update 22nd September 2024 – As per a recent FaceBook post from serial Ponzi promoter Luigi Bruni (who seems to have dropped Aurum with a quickness), Viago is holding a prelaunch event over October 25th to 27th.

Perhaps we’ll get some answers then. Hat tip to the FaceBook group CashFX (in association with EverFX) Scam – Now What!?.

Mining Capital Coin’ Luiz Carlos Capuci is in a bit of a pickle.

Due to parallel criminal proceedings kicking off in Brazil, Capuci claims he is unable to pay US lawyers representing him in an SEC fraud case. [Continue reading…]

FluxCart fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.

FluxCart has four known website domains:

1. fluxcart.store – first registered in December 2023, private registration last updated on January 24th, 2024
2. fluxcart.top – first registered in December 2023, private registration last updated on September 11th, 2024 (already abandoned)
3. fluxcart.vip – first registered in September 2023, private registration last updated on November 2nd, 2023 (already abandoned)
4. fluxcart.bond – privately registered on September 15th, 2024

In an attempt to appear legitimate, FluxCart provides a UK company filing for “Fluxcart E-Commerce Technology Co., LTD”.

Fluxcart E-Commerce Technology Co., LTD was registered in April 2022, predating FluxCart the MLM company by over a year and a half. Quite obviously, Fluxcart E-Commerce Technology Co., LTD has nothing to do with FluxCart the MLM company.

If we look at the source-code of FluxCart’s website we find a link to its app:

The source-code of the website domain FluxCart’s app is hosted on features Chinese:

This suggests whoever is running FluxCart has ties to China.

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…]

Following a settlement reached with US states earlier this month, AlixPartners has set up a website to process victim claims. [Continue reading…]

While BitConnect promoter Michael Noble settled the SEC’s fraud allegations against him in 2021, disgorgement, interest and civil penalty amounts remain disputed.

Seeking to finalize these amounts, the SEC filed a motion seeking monetary relief against Noble on September 16th. [Continue reading…]

Francisco Story has settled SAEG Ponzi charges with the CFTC for $125,000.

The CFTC filed suit against Story in January 2023 over his participation in the collapsed SAEG Ponzi scheme. [Continue reading…]

Following certificates of default entered against Craig Grant and Trevon James in late August, the SEC has filed proposed orders against the BitConnect Ponzi promoters. [Continue reading…]

Jessica Ponkey’s proposed LuLaRoe class-action has been dismissed for a second time, this time with prejudice. [Continue reading…]