In his own lawsuit against Pruvit and CEO Brian Underwood, Michael Rutherford has been denied injunctive relief.

Two of Rutherford’s attorneys have also filed motions to withdraw, citing non-payment of accrued legal fees. [Continue reading…]

A September 13th scheduling order has set an SEC v. OnPassive trial date for April 6th, 2026.

Note this is not a typo, the trial is scheduled eighteen months out from September, 2024. [Continue reading…]

The SEC has filed securities fraud charges against two Apex promoters.

Anthony Lotito and Joseph Hagan stand accused of defrauding consumers through Apex, a collapsed passive returns investment scheme.

In addition to Lotito and Hagan, both New Jersey residents, the SEC also names their respective companies; Revolution Leasing and Scryptmob II LLC. [Continue reading…]

Samsung Link fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.

Samsung Link’s website domain (“samsunglink.org”), was registered with bogus information on September 5th, 2024.

Samsung Link has already attracted the attention of financial regulators. The Central Bank of Russia issued a Samsung Link pyramid fraud warning on September 17th, 2024.

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…]

Golden Grove fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.

Golden Grove’s website domain (“goldengrove.world”), was privately registered on July 22nd, 2024.

A visit to Golden Grove’s official YouTube channel reveals multiple videos featuring “Golden Way” in the title:

Backdated blog posts on Golden Grove’s website also feature Golden Way:

Golden Way was an Eastern European Boris CEO Ponzi scheme. fronted by “Olesya Galusha”.

Following a pyramid fraud warning from the Central Bank of Russia in late 2022, Golden Way collapsed in January 2023.

It should be noted that despite it collapsing, the scammers behind Golden Way have kept the company’s website up.

Now, a year and a half later, it appears the same scammers behind Golden Way have launched Golden Grove.

Read on for a full review of Golden Grove’s MLM opportunity. [Continue reading…]

Scandal surrounding a halted hyrdoelectric plant has seen Croatian journalists link the project to Sasa Svalina and brother-in-law Josip Heit.

Heit is currently going through a refund settlement nightmare, following securities fraud allegations pertaining to a billion dollar “fraudulent investment scheme”.

The latest out of Croatia is a September 22nd report from Dusan Miljus of Jutarnji. Among other things, Miljus examines Heit’s life prior to his involvement in Karatbars International.

Notably, Miljus reports Heit was previously sentenced to prison in Luxembourg for financial fraud. [Continue reading…]

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

TeslaQuant’s website domain (“teslaquant.com”), was registered with bogus details on September 4th, 2024.

Of note is TeslaQuant’s website domain being registered through the Chinese registrar Alibaba (Singapore).

TeslaQuant has already attracted the attention of financial regulators. The Central Bank of Russia issued a TeslaQuant pyramid fraud warning on September 17th, 2024.

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 settlement of fraud charges related to operation of multiple MLM Ponzi schemes, monetary relief has been ordered against defendants Dan Putnam and Jean Paul Ramirez Rico. [Continue reading…]

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…]