On the 29th of April Kenneth Bell, the Zeek Rewards Receiver, filed his first quarter report for 2016.

In the report the Receiver covers:

• collections from settlements
• payments to Zeek Rewards victims
• ongoing recovery efforts against Zeek new-winners and insiders (Michael Van Leeuwen, Todd Disner, Trudy Gilmond and Darryle Douglas)
• a new settlement with Preferred Merchants and Jaymes Meyer
• Payza and Howard Kaplan litigation update
• a potential tax dispute between the Receivership and the IRS and
• a property formerly owned by Dawn Wright-Olivares going up for auction

[Continue reading…]

The webinar page of the KulaBrands website contains images of two individuals, Peter Gantner and Doug Kyle. The website does not disclose their roles within the company.

On his LinkedIn profileFurther research reveals Gantner citing himself as the CEO of KulaShare Inc. KulaShare Inc is assumed to be the parent company of KulaBrands.

Update October 5th 2016 – Peter Gantner has been in touch to clarify that ‘kulaBrands and kulaShare are two separate and distinct companies with no affiliation other than some common ownership.‘ /end update

Previous MLM opportunities Gantner has been an affiliate with include Visalus (2008-2012) and Lyoness (2012-2013).

As per a marketing video uploaded to YouTube on February 22nd 2016, up until recently Gantner was promoting Kannaway (right). Whether Gantner’s still involved in Kannaway is unclear.

Doug Kyle is the owner of the KulaBrands website domain (“kulabrands.com”), registered on the 4th of September, 2015. An address in the US state of Arizona is also provided.

In late 2015 Kyle attempted to fund development for “Fuel Matrix” on KickStarter.

Fuel Matrix is a breakthrough technology that will help you mitigate your personal impact on the environment from driving.

Fuel Matrix bonds oxygen to gas or diesel at the molecular level. This helps your car engine burn cleaner, resulting in an up to 50% reduction in harmful emissions.

Moreover, it saves you money by improving your gas mileage up to 20%.

The project goal was $50,000 but as of January 16th, 2016 only $10,312 had been pledged.

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

Upon learning of the arrest of Chinese investors, yesterday Ted Nuyten personally “reached out” to CEO Ruja Ignatova.

This was part of Nuyten’s duty as unofficial spokesperson for OneCoin to the MLM industry, suspected to be the result of an undisclosed amount of money changing hands.

In “a statement” published on Nuyten’s BusinessForHome blog yesterday, Ignatova referred to the arrest of Chinese OneCoin investors and seizure of over $30 million USD in assets as “a challenge”.

Cryptic as ever, Ignatova went on to claim OneCoin was ‘pushing hard and already working on several licenses to enhance the business in China.‘

That those licenses will never materialize is a given, in much the same manner as OneCoin left a return to the US lingering upon their abrupt departure last year. Ditto promises of opening up their own OneCoin banks.

In an attempt to not address the fact that OneCoin is under investigation by Chinese authorities, with OneCoin management holding events on the Chinese mainland likely to lead to more arrests, Ignatova claimed the cancelled Harbin event had been replaced by a May 9th event in Macau.

The request to place the event in Macau instead of Harbin was requested by the Chinese members themselves.

Fearing arrest and seizure of their assets, one can understand why Chinese investors didn’t want to attend a OneCoin event on the mainland.

For those unfamiliar with Macau, it’s a “Special Administrative Region” of China that functions as an autonomous territory.

China is responsible for military defense and foreign affairs while Macau maintains its own legal system, the public security force, monetary system, customs policy, and immigration policy. (Wikipedia)

That’s not to say Chinese mainland and Macanese authorities don’t work together. But with the Chinese investigation ongoing and little to no promotion of OneCoin in Macau itself, realistically the chance of Macanese authorities taking action on May 9th is slim to none.

A factor both Chinese OneCoin investors and management are acutely aware of.

In any event, whilst Ignatova’s response to the jailing of Chinese investors equates to legal dodging and weaving, what caught my eye was OneCoin’s bitcoin announcement. [Continue reading…]

When a top affiliate of an MLM company departs after nineteen years, you expect some fallout.

What you don’t expect though is systematical sabotage from within, an orchestrated campaign to run a company into the ground if you will – all in the name of launching a new venture.

So alleges a March 23rd lawsuit, filed by Youngevity against former top-earner Todd Smith and Wakaya Perfection, a recently launched rival startup. [Continue reading…]

In early March OneCoin announced a “Grand Ceremony” in Harbin, China.

OneCoin Founder and co-owner Ruja Ignatova was to attend the April 23rd event.

Since the initial March 8th promotional announcement, neither OneCoin or its management has made any reference to the Harbin event.

April 23rd has come and gone, with there being no record of the planned Grand Ceremony taking place.

About a week before the event, information from BehindMLM reader Leo Wang suggested authorities had something to do with the Harbin event being cancelled.

BehindMLM can now confirm Chinese authorities are indeed investigating OneCoin.

Several investors have been arrested, over $30 million USD has been seized and police are warning the public against investing in the scheme. [Continue reading…]

Wakaya is ‘a 2,200-acre island in the Fiji archipelago’. It was purchased by David Gilmour (of Fiji Water fame) in 1973.

So the story goes,

David realized that keeping Wakaya pure in perpetuity would require a self sustaining economy that could support the local Fijian residents and curtail any pressure to “urbanize” the island.

Wakaya Perfection was founded to bring the islands unique healing treasures to the world and to provide Wakaya with the ongoing resources to preserve its pristine environment.

That lead to the formation of Wakaya Perfection late last year, co-founded by Gilmour and Todd Smith.

Smith is credited as a ‘successful entrepreneur and 20-year veteran of direct selling‘. From the looks of it, Gilmour is providing financial backing and Smith the MLM side of the business.

Smith’s MLM career began in 1996 when he joined Youngevity under the “Total Nutrition Team” moniker.

Public promotion of Total Nutrition Team appears to have been abandoned on or around November, 2015, which brings us to the launch of Wakaya Perfection.

Unfortunately for Smith, Wakaya Perfection’s launch has been dogged by controversy.

Wakaya Perfection, Todd Smith and Total Nutrition Team are all named defendants in a lawsuit filed by Youngevity.

For at least the past year, the Defendants have conspired and acted in concert to interfere with Youngevity business operations, Youngevity contractual relations, and Youngevity distributor relations in order to convert business opportunities meant for Youngevity to their own competing multi-level marketing startup.

Filed on March 23rd, Youngevity’s lawsuit accuses Smith and Wakaya Perfection of

intentional interference with business relations, inducement of breach of contract, civil conspiracy, breach of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets, unfair competition, breach of fiduciary duty, and misrepresentation.

According to Youngevity, Todd Smith

served as a trusted, top-level distributor in Youngevity, and had ownership interests in entities that distributed Youngevity products.

While a top-level distributor for Youngevity, yet acting as an undisclosed agent for Wakaya, and serving the interests of Wakaya, Smith intentionally converted Youngevity business opportunities through misrepresentation, subterfuge, and deceit.

Youngevity claim ‘all of (Wakaya Perfection’s) promoters … were affiliated with Youngevity as officers, employees or distributors‘.

The company alleges Smith

facilitated, aided, or abetted the violation of Youngevity contractual agreements in an effort to induce Youngevity distributors to breach their contracts with Youngevity and to cause business opportunities meant for Youngevity to be diverted to Wakaya.

Smith who, once loyal to the company, came to resent Youngevity as the growth of the company brought in more distributors with status equal to his own and income exceeding his.

Smith grew dissatisfied with Youngevity management, his dissatisfaction reaching a pinnacle when he received corporate reprimands for unlawfully entering the international market of Mexico without Youngevity authorization or Mexican legal approvals, and engaging in unlawful sales of product in Mexico, exposing the company to potential liability for foreign advertising claims and sales.

Smith translated his dissatisfaction with those reprimands and his increasing immersion in a sea of up and coming new Youngevity leaders into a design to induce Youngevity distributors to defect from the company, to divert business opportunities intended for the company, and to redirect resources of the company to facilitate the creation of a competing direct sales company: Wakaya.

Youngevity are seeking damages and a permanent injunction which, if granted, would effectively shut down Wakaya Perfection.

As per the case docket, on April 15th Youngevity were ordered to show cause as to why the lawsuit should not be dismissed.

The problem appears to be Youngevity’s invocation of diversity jurisdiction.

Diversity jurisdiction does not exist in the absence of complete diversity between all plaintiffs and all defendants—no plaintiff may be a citizen of the same state as any defendant.

Plaintiff (Youngevity) alleges that it is a corporation existing under the law of Delaware with its principal place of business in California.

Thus, Plaintiff is allegedly a citizen of Delaware and California

In their filing, Youngevity failed to mention the citizenship status of Wakaya Perfection, Smith and the other named defendants.

Accordingly, Plaintiff (Youngevity) does not allege the requisite complete diversity of citizenship.

Youngevity filed a response on April 21st, alleging

here, no plaintiff is a citizen of the same state as any defendant.

Youngevity is a corporation existing under the laws of Delaware with its principal place of business in California.

Wakaya Perfection is a Limited Liability Corporation existing under the laws of Utah with its principal place of business in Utah.

Wakaya was founded by defendant Todd Smith, a citizen of Utah.

According to public documents filed by Wakaya Perfection with the Utah Secretary of State, Mr. Smith is Wakaya’s sole owner/member

This is interesting, as it throws the legal status of David Gilmour as a co-founder of Wakaya Perfection into question.

In any event, Smith and Wakaya Perfection have yet to file a response. Subject to the outcome of the case, the future of Wakaya Perfection remains in question.

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

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

The HashRevShare website domain (“hashrevshare.com”) was registered on the 14th of April 2016, with Ruby Hoffman listed as the owner. A residential address in South Yorkshire, England is also provided.

The HashRevShare Facebook group lists two admins, Hoffman and John Tadiosa.

Hoffman’s linked Facebook profile is pretty suspicious, with Hoffman’s location listed as Barcelona, Spain. Content wise Hoffman’s profile contains a profile photo update in August 2010, and then nothing until a few days ago – what appears to be a launch announcement for HashRevShare.

Due to the generic nature of “Ruby Hoffman”, nothing definitive comes up for an MLM history search – and of course none is provided by HasRevShare.

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 RevShare Works website identifying owns or runs the company.

The only clue as to company ownership is buried in the RevShare Works Terms and Conditions:

RevShareWorks is a web property and business activity owned and operated by METALEVEL CONSULTING INC, an S-Corporation.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration,

An S corporation (sometimes referred to as an S Corp) is a special type of corporation created through an IRS tax election.

An eligible domestic corporation can avoid double taxation (once to the corporation and again to the shareholders) by electing to be treated as an S corporation.

MetaLevel Consulting Inc is a domestic profit corporation registered in the US state of Georgia in February, 2016.

Terrence Brannon is listed as the sole agent of the company. Brannon is also listed as the owner of the RevShare Works website domain (registered on December 11th, 2015).

Of note is the RevShare Works domain registration lists an address in Ohio. Why MetaLevel Consulting and RevShare Works have addresses in different states is unclear.

Terrence Brannon meanwhile appears to have a long history of participation in Ponzi schemes:

Under the affiliate account “princepawn”, Brannon was an investor in Zeek Rewards, Just Been Paid and Banners Broker.

Brannon was also an affiliate with MPB Today, a pyramid scheme shut down in late 2012.

On his blog “I want you to prosper”, Brannon is currently promoting

• MMM Global (cash gifting Ponzi scheme that recently collapsed)
• Match Rate Plus (merchant account leads)
• Lyoness (AU investment scheme)
• Wealth Builders Network (recruitment cycler)
• Traffic Monsoon (adcredit HYIP Ponzi)
• Adsactly (recruitment scheme that recently launched a Ponzi)
• Ambit Energy (utility MLM)
• Infinii (dropshipping)
• My Advertising Pays (adcredit Ponzi scheme)
• HQ Revshare (HYIP Ponzi)
• Mobrabus (adpack Ponzi scheme)
• My Paying Ads (HYIP Ponzi)
• Vizionary (recruitment scheme) and
• OneCoin (Ponzi points)

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

The Gold Miners website domain was registered on the 15th of January 2016, however the domain registration is set to private.

According to Panamanian registration documents provided on the Gold Miners Facebook page, the company is owned by David Aleman, Henry Aquiles Fonseca and Pedro Lara (President).

A PO Box address in Panama is provided on the Gold Miners website, suggesting the company exists there in name only.

I wasn’t able to find any additional information on Fonseca or Aleman, but Pedro Lara does have an active Facebook account. In it, he claims to be currently living in Panama City, Panama.

Here’s the thing though, Lara’s Facebook page was only created on or around April 6th, 2016. The only content published by the account is marketing material for Gold Miners.

What I also found was that pretty much all of the available promotional material about Gold Miners on the internet is in Russian.

This corresponds with traffic to the Gold Miners website, which Alexa currently estimates 53% of which originates out of Russia.

Much of the content on the Gold Miners website is in Spanish, so there’s probably also at least one link to a Spanish-speaking country in there somewhere too.

In any event, the combination of

• two admins no information is available on
• a suspicious newly-created Facebook profile for a third admin
• Russian marketing and traffic and
• company registration in a tax-haven with lax regulation

strongly suggests Gold Miners is likely being run out of Russia itself by person(s) unknown.

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 InstantAdBuzz website indicating who owns or runs the business.

InstantAdBuzz is owned by Instant Advert Buzz Limited and is the sole owner of the program.

The InstantAdBuzz website domain (“instantadbuzz.com”) was registered on the 11th of September 2015, however the domain registration is set to private.

According to the InstantAdBuzz website, the company is registered in the UK:

InstantAdBuzz is owned by a fully registered company in UK since 2015 in the name Instant Advert Buzz Limited with Registration number 0980140.

A search for that registration number returns an entry for “Instant Advert Buzz Limited“, incorporated in September 2015. Andrea is cited as CEO of Instant Advert Buzz Limited.

A UK company registration requires payment of a £20 GBP or so fee and a UK-based address.

At the time of publication over thirty businesses use the address cited in the Instant Advert Buzz Limited registration, suggesting it is little more than a mail forwarding address.

A UK registration with mail forwarding address in MLM is typically a calling card of scammers.

The InstantAdBuzz Facebook page has one admin, Brkanic Andrea. Andrea’s Facebook page only became active earlier this year, with it mostly used to promote InstantAdBuzz.

Of note is Andrea claims to be a co-admin of InstantAdBuzz on her Facebook timeline, however no other admins are referenced.

InstantAdBuzz affiliates are claiming someone called “Jaime Oscar” is the other co-admin, however I was unable to independently verify this information.

Given the otherwise lack of information available on Brkanic Andrea and Jaime Oscar, I’m flagging them both are likely bogus profiles.

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…]