Founded by uFun Club scammers Warren Eu and Liew Kok Hong, uMatrin sought to replicate uFun Club’s Ponzi model through “bizpoints”.

What with Thailand shutting down uFun Club though, uMatrin never really took off.

Now in 10-Q form filed with the SEC, uMatrin reveal the extent of their financial losses to date. [Continue reading…]

A far cry from the $100 million the Receiver initially sued Gerry Nehra for, a motion filed yesterday reveals a proposed $100,000 settlement.

$100,000 represents just 0.1% of the initial damages sought, with the Receiver signing off on the figure because, purportedly, Nehra and Waak

have already spent all or a substantial portion of the payments they received from RVG and have represented to the Receiver that they have limited financial resources and are not able to fully pay the damages claimed.

Even with the expenditure of additional funds to obtain a judgment there is not a likelihood of a materially increased recovery for the eventual distribution to the Zeek victims.

Turns out repeatedly signing off on the legitimacy of Ponzi schemes that defraud victims out of hundreds of millions of dollars is bad for business. But hey, what do I know – I’m not a lawyer. [Continue reading…]

For his role in scamming Zeek Rewards victims, September 2014 saw Darryle Douglas his with a $2.2 million dollar default judgement.

Rather than pay back the victims he stole from though, Douglas sought to further profit by attempting to launch Auction Attics. Douglas professed he was going to pitch Auction Attics to individuals on an authorized copy of the Zeek Rewards affiliate database.

Douglas’ antics  didn’t escape the notice of the Zeek Receiver, who filed a motion requesting the court compel Douglas to hand over the Zeek database he planned to market to, submit to a deposition and turn over requested financial records.

That was in October, with Judge Mullen on the 3rd of November ordering Douglas to appear at a hearing on December 3rd. At the hearing, Douglas was to explain why he shouldn’t be held in contempt for not following the court’s previous order.

The December 3rd hearing came and went… and according to an order issued on December 10th, Douglas was a no-show. [Continue reading…]

BehindMLM first reviewed Mannatech back in 2011.

Key areas of improvement I identified were the headache-inducing complexity of Mannatech’s compensation plan, mandatory affiliate autoship and high start-up costs ($3800!).

Earlier this year a Mannatech affiliate left a comment on our review, advising that there was no longer a $3800 affiliate membership.

The compensation plan has been changed so a lot of what you talk about (star bonuses for example) are gone.

Today we take a look at what’s changed over at Mannatech since 2011. [Continue reading…]

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

The PIF Explosion website domain (“pifexplosion.com”) was registered on the 18th of August 2015, however the domain registration is set to private.

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…]

Despite the WCM777 victim claims portal opening up a few months ago in September, the Receiver has revealed that investor response has thus far been “tepid”.

Reasons cited by the Receiver for the lack of victim claims include:

• the lack of a complete or trustworthy company database
• the location of many investors outside the United States
• the fact that a significant number of investors gave their money to other individuals who pooled the funds with those of other investors before investing and
• the issuance and trading of (Ponzi) “points”

All of which prompted the Receiver to seek an extension to the claim deadline, which is currently December 24th, 2015.

Following a number of actions by the Receiver to increase the amount of claims filed, ‘as of November 27, 2015, approximately 11,900 claims had been received‘. [Continue reading…]

Trudy Gilmond was one of the top earners in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme.

For her efforts, Gilmond was named a net-winner and was sued by the court-appointed Zeek Rewards Receiver.

The Receiver sought $1.7 million from Gilmond, which would see her return all of the money she stole from investors.

Gilmond responded to the Receiver’s lawsuit with a motion to dismiss, a demand for $140,000 (plus interest) and payment of court costs.

Gilmond’s motion to dismiss was denied, with the counter-claims against the Receiver dismissed shortly after.

In April of this year the Receiver filed for default judgement against Gilmond, with a $2.1 million dollar judgement granted in May.

Separately, the SEC has now filed its own lawsuit against Gilmond. [Continue reading…]

As part of ongoing litigation by the FTC against Vemma, both parties have filed a joint Proposed Case Management Plan.

Filed on December 7th, the plan lays out the FTC’s case against Vemma and projected timeframes (disagreements included) from both parties. [Continue reading…]

LifeVantage are based out of Utah in the US and commenced MLM operations in 2009.

Previously, under the names LifeLine Therapeutics, Lifeline Nutraceuticals and Yaak River Resources, Inc, LifeVantage had experienced ‘several consecutive years of multimillion dollar losses‘.

In 2012, LifeVantage’s then CEO Doug Robinson claimed the shift to an MLM business model “saved (the) company”.

Earlier this year in February Robinson resigned from his position. At the time Robinson stated that

after having discussions with the Board, I have concluded that it is in the best interests of the Company to step down from my position as President, CEO and Board Member.

Today LifeVantage is headed up by CEO and President, Darren Jensen (right).

As per Jensen’s LifeVantage corporate bio;

Mr. Jensen brings 25 years of global network marketing and direct selling experience to LifeVantage from companies selling a variety of product types including nutritional supplements and personal care products.

Mr. Jensen previously served in senior executive roles at some of the largest and most respected direct selling companies in the world, as well as co-founded two thriving multi-level marketing companies.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Jensen has held executive positions with

• NuSkin as International Marketing Specialist (1990-1995)
• Amway as Brand Marketer (1995-1997)
• Synergy Worldwide as Vice President of Marketing and Product Development (1997-2002)
• Usana as Director of International Business Development (2003-2005)
• Agel as Executive Vice President and Corporate General Manager (2005-2010)
• Ampegy as Chief Sales Officer (2011-2012) and
• Jeunesse as Chief Sales Officer and later President (2012-2015)

Of note is that it was during Darren Jensen’s tenure as President of Jeunesse that the whole Matthew Nestler saga blew up.

Nestler claims he is owed $275,000 in commissions and filed a lawsuit against Jeunesse. In response, Jensen accused Nestler of making death threats against him.

Jensen resigned from his position at Jeunesse a few months after Nestler filed his lawsuit.

Nestler’s lawsuit meanwhile is ongoing, with the latest update from Thompson Burton (representing Nestler) dated September 2nd:

Jeunesse filed a motion, attempting to pull the lawsuit into arbitration. We responded with our own arguments, attempting to keep the case in state court (public).

After hearing arguments and considering the issues for a few weeks, the Judge reached a decision. The part of the case that relates to the Business Development Agreement will remain in state court.

The part of the case that relates to the Jeunesse Policies and Procedures will go to arbitration.

LifeVantage themselves are no stranger to litigation;

In 2009, LifeVantage was sued by Utah-based Zrii LLC based on allegations that LifeVantage had conspired with former Zrii executives to “ruin the company” and take it over “on the cheap” following a “mass exodus”.

The case was closed in December 2009 following LifeVantage’s settlement payment of $400,000 to Zrii.

On October 14, 2011, Burke Hedges, a former LifeVantage distributor (hired for his background as a speaker and trainer) filed a lawsuit with the Utah District Court against LifeVantage and its executives, seeking $3 million in punitive damages over allegations of wrongful termination and tortious interference.

I was unable to find the Hedge vs. LifeVantage case on Pacer, nor was I able to find any public information on the outcome of the case (confidential settlement?).

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

There is no information on the My Modern Income website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The My Modern Income website domain (“mymodernincome.com”) was registered on the 25th of May 2015, however the domain registration is set to private.

Further research reveals My Modern Income affiliates crediting “Pier-luc Morin” as admin of the opportunity, however I was unable to independently verify this information.

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…]