Good news for Zeek Rewards victims, not so good news for banks who think they can get away with providing financial services to Ponzi schemes.

As part of the Zeek Receiver’s ongoing efforts to hold accountable service providers and vendors who provided services to Zeek Rewards, a $10 million dollar settlement with NewBridge Bank has been reached. [Continue reading…]

Following a hearing on March 17th, Sann Rodrigues looks set to be released from jail.

Rodrigues has been incarcerated for contempt since January, after he repeatedly failed to adhere to the terms of a previously granted preliminary injunction.

Thos breaches have resulted in Rodrigues now owing the SEC $474,503.

The March 17th order to release Rodrigues was made following the dismissal of two of his motions, attempting to prohibit a recent filing by the SEC from being entered on record.

At the conclusion of the hearing, both the SEC and Rodrigues’ attorney were ordered to file an “amended proposal for a payment plan”. [Continue reading…]

Just shy of eight months ago, police in the UK raided sellers of stream-capable piracy boxes. Two arrests were made and over one thousand streamboxes seized.

Working with police was the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT). Now working with the UK police’s Intellectual Property Crime Unit, another joint-operation has seen an additional six streambox sellers arrested. [Continue reading…]

A few days ago we reported on OneCoin’s abrupt suspension of Mastercard processing and card loading.

In effect, cards issued to OneCoin affiliates are currently useless “until further notice”.

Seemingly out of the blue, the suspension raised a few eyebrows and prompted further research.

That research lead to a copy of OneCoin’s Mastercard service agreement.

Among other things, the two-page document reveals North International Bank LTD as the bank attached to the card issuing merchant.

The issuing merchant is identified as Zala-Group LTD, a “client” of North International Bank.

Zala-Group LTD is a private company, registered in the UK with a rented mailbox address.

Corporate records list Martin Henry Beckett as the sole Director of the company.

Yesterday, Martin Henry Beckett was convicted for his role in a £24 million drug ring. [Continue reading…]

Isagenix launched in 2002 and operate in the nutritional supplements MLM niche.

The company is based out of Arizona in the US and is headed up by founders John Anderson (Master Formulator), Jim Coover (President) and Kathy Coover (Executive Vice-President).

As per Jim Coover’s Isagenix corporate bio;

With more than 30 years’ experience, Jim Coover is widely considered a pioneer in the weight-loss and nutrition industry.

He successfully led numerous network marketing companies throughout his career, serving more than 7 million customers and exceeding $1 billion in sales.

Those are some pretty impressive numbers, yet when I began researching Coover’s MLM history prior to Isagenix, nothing came up.

Seriously, there’s not even one result for the keywords “jim coover mlm” prior to 2002 and Isagenix. Nothing comes up for “kathy coover mlm” either.

Post 2002 all you’ll find is vague references to past success like this:

Jim and Kathy Coover have spent most of their adult life in the Arena of Network Marketing. Jim Coover, President and CEO of Isagenix, led one of the fastest-growing and most popular weight-loss companies in history, serving more than seven million customers and exceeding $1 billion dollars in sales.

As President of two successful Network Marketing companies and a sought-after consultant to many companies in the industry, Jim’s contributions have helped shape the Network Marketing industry.

I’m not saying there’s any dishonesty going on, but the lack of information available indicates Coover’s quoted MLM history might be a tad overstated.

If anyone has any detailed information on Jim or Kathy Coover’s MLM history (specifially what companies they worked with and in what capacity), feel free to leave it in the comments below and I’ll add the information to the review.

On the legal side of things, for a company launched fourteen years ago, Isagenix has had a pretty good run. What litigation Isagenix has been involved in has mostly been related to their products (see below).

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

Novae was founded in 2014 and is based out of Georgia in the US.

Pronounced “NÓ-VĀ”, it is the femine meaning of the latin word Novus, which means New, Newness, or New Beginnings.

Coupled with the symbol in the logo, the KORU symbolizes LIFE, GROWTH, and a FRESH START.

Heading up Novae is President and CEO, Reco McDaniel (right).

As the Founder of Novae, Reco McDaniel has made his mark in the industry of Network Marketing as one of the youngest and most successful entrepreneurs in the space.

McDaniel made a name for himself in MLM with Lightyear Wireless. Joining as an affiliate in 2005, McDaniel rose to the rank of Presidential Director before leaving the company in 2009.

A month before he left the company, McDaniel sued Lightyear Wireless. In his lawsuit, McDaniel alleged that Lightyear Wireless was an “illegal pyramid enterprise”.

This is an action to recover damages caused by (Lightyear Wireless)’s willful and malicious breaches of contract and tortious actions done both independently and as an integral part of the operation of an illegal pyramid enterprise.

The illegal enterprise operated by (Lightyear Wireless) is an “endless chain” pyramid that relies on untrue and misleading representations and unlawful, unfair and fraudulent business practices that include violations of federal and state laws.

More specifically, (Lightyear Wireless) induce individuals into investing in products and web-based marketing tools and continuously recruit new victims into the scheme with false promises of extraordinary and legally unsustainable profits.

Lightyear Wireless counter-sued McDaniel a few months later in August.

In October 2009 McDaniel’s lawsuit was dismissed. Lightyear Wireless’ lawsuit appears to have been settled shortly thereafter.

In contrast to McDaniel’s description of Lightear Wireless in his lawsuit, on his LinkedIn profile he boasts:

As a Presidential Director, I procured an organization in access of 28,000 independent representatives nationwide in 3 years and broke numerous company production records.

McDaniel’s departure from Lightyear Wireless saw him immediately sign up with Monavie, a move that lasted only a few months before he left and launched Elite Profit Network.

According to Elite Profit Network marketing material, affiliate membership cost “less than $50” and provided affiliates “the opportunity to run your business”.

Elite Profit Network affiliates were paid to recruit new affiliates, in addition to e-commerce cashback commissions and selling underwear.

According to McDaniel’s LinkedIn profile, Elite Profit Network ceased business in May, 2013.

Sometime after McDaniel’s signed up as a WakeUpNow affiliate.

WakeUpNow was a recruitment-driven scheme launched in 2009. With little to no retail activity taking place, WakeUpNow lost millions of dollars before finally collapsing in early 2015.

A few months before WakeUpNow collapsed, McDaniel left the company and went on to launch Novae.

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

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

The AdUrBiz website domain (“adurbiz.com”) was registered on July 1st 2015, however the domain registration is set to private.

Of note is that the AdUrBiz domain uses name-servers hosted on “instantcashpay.com”.

Instant Cash Pay was a matrix-based cash gifting scheme launched in 2013. Under the guise of purchasing advertising, participants gifted eachother $6 to $12.

The scheme collapsed in 2014 however the Instant Cash Pay website is still online. Design-wise it’s pretty much a clone of the AdUrBiz website.

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…]

Zeek Rewards mastermind Paul Burks’ criminal trial is only a few months away.

Increasingly, the legal showdown looks like it’s going to pit scammer against scammer in a battle royale.

The latest suspicions that former Zeek Rewards management will be pitted against him, come no less than from Burks himself. [Continue reading…]

Amid reports that OneCoin reopened their exchange after shutting it down for two weeks, now news that the company has suspended issued Mastercards.

Typically used to promote OneCoin on social media and YouTube, the cards had briefly allowed OneCoin affiliates to transfer commissions onto them and then spend the funds.

A message issued by OneCoin to affiliates in the last twenty-four hours reads: [Continue reading…]

Air Restore USA launched in 2013 and are based out of Minnesota in the US.

The company operates in the air purification MLM niche and is headed up by CEO, Bill Converse.

As per Converse’s Air Restore USA corporate bio;

William Converse launched Alpine Industries in the 1980s, which grew to $187 million in 1987.

Converse became a pioneer for non-filter air cleaning technologies. The demand for his expertise grew quickly as Converse became a sought-after consultant in the air quality industry.

Converse retired in 2002 but he couldn’t turn off his drive to invent.

He returned to the air purification industry with his release of Air Naturalization Technology when he launched Air Restore USA Inc. in 2013.

In 1995 the FTC issued a cease and desist to Alpine Industries. The regulator claimed the company failed

to have “competent and reliable scientific evidence” to support hundreds of claims for their products.

Alpine was also found to make unsupported claims that its products control indoor ozone levels.

In 1999 the FTC won an injunction against Alpine Industries and Converse, after it convinced a judge they were still making unsubstantiated claims.

The injunction orders Alpine and Converse to notify their thousands of dealers that they cannot make any of these claims.

“What’s particularly unconscionable is that the company used unsupported health-benefit claims to tout an expensive product to consumers in clear violation of an FTC order,” said Jodie Bernstein, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

“This case violates the basic laws of advertising. If a business makes a claim about a product or service, it had better have evidence to support the claim.”

In April 2001 a Judge ruled against Alpine Industries, ordering them to pay a $1.4 million dollar fine.

The judgement also saw Alpine Industries and Converse (right) prohibited from claiming

in any form or by any means, express or implied, that any Alpine product can eliminate, remove, clear or clean from indoor air any pollutant, contaminant, microorganism (including bacteria, viruses, molds and mildew), chemical or particulate, or any specific quantity or amount of any of the foregoing.

(Alpine Industries and Bill Converse) shall make no claims or representations in any form or by any means, expressly or impliedly, that Alpine’s products prevent or provide, or may prevent or provide, relief from any health or medical condition of any kind.

Sounds to me like Converse didn’t so much as retire in 2002… more like he was put out of business by the FTC.

After the FTC action against Alpine Industries was initiated, Converse sold the company to his former partner Michael Jackson (not that Jackson). Jackson eventually rebranded the entire company Ecoquest International.

After having experienced several years of explosive growth, Ecoquest fell on hard times and eventually had to file bankruptcy in 2009.

The company was sold to a large creditor, and its operations were subsequently moved to Bristol and merged into another company.

In 2004 Converse launched Alpine Technology, through which he worked with Chinese researchers to “make products here (in the US) to sell in China”.

One of those products was

a purifying system to clean swimming pools without chlorine.

The new product, called Natural Clear Saltwater Purifier, uses salt rather than chlorine to purify a swimming pool’s water.

Converse said the new product can do that job just as effectively as chlorine, but without any irritation to the eyes such as chlorine can cause.

Alpine Technologies appears to have eventually died out, with Converse again going into retirement.

In a 2014 interview with The Greenville Sun, Converse spoke about

what he has been doing for the last few years and about his plans to establish a new manufacturing operation in this community within the next several months.

Alpine Industries’ key product was air and water purifiers for residences, and Converse explained that he is continuing to focus his attention on consumer-level environmental products — in particular, air purifiers.

But he emphasized that in the last few years he has developed an entirely different, and much more effective, air purification product using “cutting-edge technology” and a concept that he said goes well beyond the approach he used some 30 years ago in establishing Alpine Industries.

The new company’s name is Air Restore USA. He is president and a co-owner, he said.

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