Voltage Partners operate in the mobile app MLM niche and list a Washington PO Box as a corporate address on their website.

Heading up Voltage Partners is CEO Gordon Comfort.

As per Comfort’s LinkedIn profile;

I am a motivated, highly educated, solutions-driven CEO with extensive experience over a broad spectrum of crossover industries.

I am an experienced presenter of concepts and ideas with the ability to break down complex topics into more manageable business terms. My education includes a Ph.D. in Business and Technology, an M.Ed., and from the beginning a B.A. in English.

Comfort doesn’t appear to have any MLM experience, with Voltage Partners appearing to be his first venture as an MLM corporate executive.

Prior to his position as an Assistant Principal, Comfort was appointed Principal in the Richland School District of Washington in 2007.

In 2011 Comfort resigned and was appointed CEO of Goodwill Industries of the Columbia.

According to their website, Goodwill Industries of the Columbia is an organization that provides

education, training, and employment services, all geared to help individuals overcome disabilities and other social disadvantages and to obtain independence and self-sufficiency through the power of work.

In mid 2015 Comfort ran a successful campaign for a position on the Richland School Board. His four-year term expires in 2019.

In December, 2015 Comfort resigned from Goodwill Industries of the Columbia. He assumed the role of CEO at Voltage Partners in January, 2016.

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

This one’s a bit messy, so bear with me.

Following on from our February article “How Payza & friends are screwing Zeek Rewards investors“, efforts to recover funds from Zeek Reward’s shady banking operations continue.

Our players in this story are:

• Payza – a payment processor synonymous with the MLM underbelly
• Payment World – a Hong Kong based merchant processor Payza used
• Banca Comerciala Victoriabank SA (VictoriaBank) – a Moldovan-based bank Payment World used to stash funds deposited into it by Payza and
• Bank of New York Mellon – a New York based bank that Victoria Bank holds a “correspondent bank account” with

Under contention is some $13 million dollars in stolen Ponzi funds, currently frozen via court-order in VictoriaBank’s Bank of New York Mellon account.

The story so far has seen VictoriaBank give the Zeek Receivership the runaround.

After following the money and tracing it to VictoriaBank, the bank turned around and told the Receiver there is ‘no evidence that this account and these funds are connected with RVG‘.

This despite a paper-trail showing Zeek Rewards processing the funds through Payza, who processed the funds through Payment World, who deposited the funds with VictoriaBank.

The Receiver suspects VictoriaBank has since transferred the funds off into Russia somewhere, so a court-order was sought to freeze the owed amount in VictoriaBank’s Bank of New York Mellon account.

Pending today’s updates, that’s where we’re currently at. [Continue reading…]

The legal status of Lyoness in Austria is… complicated.

Earlier this year Lyoness was found guilty of deceptive trade practices.

Lyoness filed an appeal against the decision, which was denied last month.

A concurrent push to hold Lyoness and founder Hubert Freidl accountable on a criminal level has also been playing out.

Late last year an Austrian court ruled against the White Collar Crimes and Corruption” Public Prosecutor’s Office (WKSTA), clearing both Lyoness and Freidl of criminal charges.

WKSTA filed an appeal, which was denied last week. [Continue reading…]

Since August 2011 Vemma has held a Private Company Management Liability Insurance Policy with Hanover Insurance Company.

The policy has a liability limit of $5 million dollars, yet to date Vemma have been unsuccessful in getting Hanover to fund their FTC lawsuit defense.

Should BK Boreyko have read Vemma’s insurance policy closer, or is he getting screwed? [Continue reading…]

Percentages.

It’s math that for most of was introduced in late elementary school. Percentages of this, percentages of that… useful for practicing division and multiplication,  and invariably leading onto fractions.

So how is it that Herbalife just keeping getting basic math wrong? [Continue reading…]

As part of her court-appointed Receivership duties, Kristina Freitag has filed an eighth interim report.

The report spans the Receivership’s activities during the fourth quarter of 2015.

Some of the developments such as the settlement with Phil Ming Xu’s family BehindMLM has already covered, but there’s also some new stuff we haven’t seen too. [Continue reading…]

The Passive Wealth Booster website domain (“passivewealthbooster.com”) was registered on the 8th of May 2015, however the domain registration is set to private.

On their website however Passive Wealth Booster’s FAQ states:

Who Are the Owners?

Alex Robinson Online Network Marketer and Daniel Edwin SEO Expert are the owners. Bridget Fabian is Head Of support And FB Moderation.

Edwin and Robinson are purportedly based out of the US, Fabian is in the UK.

Daniel Edwin’s Facebook profile suggests he is a webmaster. It is highly likely that Edwin designed and maintains operation of the Passive Wealth Booster website.

Promotional material for Traffic Monsoon appears on Alex Robinson’s Facebook page.

Traffic Monsoon was a HYIP Ponzi scheme that collapsed a few months ago. Under the ruse of Paypal freezing millions of dollars, Traffic Monsoon investors continue to be strung along with promises of access to frozen funds at a later date.

As of February 2016, Bridget Fabian was promoting Empower Network on her Facebook page. Whether she is still actively promoting the opportunity is unclear.

In 2015 promotional material for Traffic Monsoon also appears on Fabian’s Facebook page.

Suggesting familiarity with the MLM underbelly, a few hours ago Fabian published the following to the official Passive Wealth Booster Facebook page:

If you are a member of X100k and other revshare/cycler websites, you will be seeing our mass promotion campaigns all over. This will give you an idea of how big we want Passive Wealth Booster to be.

X100K is a matrix-based pyramid scheme launched in 2015. Alexa statistics to the X100K website reveal a sharp decline from January 2016, likely driving the scheme towards collapse.

Whether Fabian, Edwin or Robinson were active in X100K is unclear.

Read on for a full review of the Passive Wealth Booster MLM opportunity.

[Continue reading…]

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

The Adstraordinary website domain (“adstraordinary.com”) was registered on the 24th of March 2016, with Sherm Mason listed as the owner. An address in the US state of Arkansas is also provided.

Sherm Mason (aka Optimus Dale) first popped up on BehindMLM’s radar as the admin of Magnetic Builder.

Magnetic Builder was a $29.95 recruitment scheme launched in 2011.

Last year was a busy one for Mason (right), with at least five known dubious schemes launched throughout:

• Paradise Payments (February 2015) – a $2 to $1000 cash gifting scheme
• Magnetic Gratitude (April 2015) – a $580 matrix-based Ponzi scheme
• Summer Fun Matrix (July 2015) – a $22 three-tier Ponzi scheme and
• 3×9 Millionaire Machine (September 2015) – a $3 in, $435 million dollars out Ponzi scheme
• Instant Pay Christmas (November 2015) – a $5 to $800 cash gifting scheme

In 2016 Mason has already launched Elite Pay Alliance, a matrix-based cash gifting scheme and 5 Dolla Money Lines, a pass-up chain-recruitment scheme.

Alexa traffic statitics for the 5 Dolla Money Lines website domain suggest that, despite only being launched in late January, the scheme has already collapsed.

Adstraordinary marks Mason’s third MLM launch for 2016.

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

As first uncovered by BehindMLM reader OzDelphi, on the 16th of April 2015 One Network Services Ltd. filed a US trademark application for “onecoin”.

One Network Services Ltd., believed to be OneCoin’s parent company, sought to trademark the OneCoin name ‘without claim to any particular font, style, size, or color‘.

Irina Dilkinska was the name on the application, cited as One Network Services Ltd.’s “Head of Legal and Compliance Department”.

On July 24th, 2015, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), responded to OneCoin’s application with a notice of potential conflict.

At the time a pending trademark application existed for “One World One Coin”. The USPTO wrote to OneCoin informing them that should One World One Coin be granted as a trademark, OneCoin application was likely to be refused because of ‘a likelihood of confusion between the two marks‘.

OneCoin was given 6 months to respond to the USPTO’s concerns, however as of February 2016 they had failed to do so.

Here’s where things get murky… [Continue reading…]

There is no information on the VIP Promoters Club website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The VIP Promoters Club website domain (“vippromotersclub.com”) was registered on the 12th of 2016, with Robert McAtamney listed as the owner. An address in Queensland, Australia is also provided.

McAtamney first popped up on BehindMLM’s radar in 2015 as the admin of the One Time Infinity Ponzi scheme. In 2014 McAtamney launched Cash Money Bucket, a four-tier matrix Ponzi scheme.

Two months ago McAtamney launched 3to600, a six-tier matrix cycler Ponzi scheme.

At the time of publication the One Time Infinity website hosting has been suspended. Cash Money Bucket appears to have been renamed “VIP Club” and costs $1000 to join.

Alexa statistics for the 3to600 website suggest the scheme has collapsed, which has likely prompted the launch of VIP Promoters Club.

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