If I could pinpoint the moment Indian regulators failed SpeakAsia’s victims, it would a Judge unfreezing the scheme’s bank accounts for a few weeks mid-2011.

CID investigators immediately filed an appeal and had the accounts refrozen, but by then the damage had been done.

Harendar Kaur, one of the masterminds behind the Ponzi scheme, rushed to transfer over $100 million dollars out of the frozen account.

The funds, along with Kaur, were never seen again.

What followed was a proxy war against Indian regulators headed up by Ashok Bahirwani.

Bahirwani was hired by SpeakAsia management to set up the All India SpeakAsia Panelist Assocation, whose purpose was to encourage victims not to cooperate with authorities.

There is no doubt in my mind that funds transferred out of India were used to fund this effort.

At the forefront of the nonsense was a court case filed by Solomon James, a Speak Asia investor working closely with Bahirwani.

Writ 383 was filed with the objective of obstructing regulatory investigations into Speak Asia. To this end the lawsuit was largely successful, until it was finally disposed by the Supreme Court of India in late 2012.

Once again, by the time that legal circus had played out, the damage to Speak Asia’s victims, many of which to this day refuse to acknowledge they were scammed, had already been done.

Most of Speak Asia’s ringleaders had disappeared by that point, with CEO Manoj Kumar remaining a fugitive on the run.

Kumar fled India shortly after Indian regulators began to crack down on the scheme in 2011.

Reports suggest Kumar purportedly died of cancer in 2014. To date and as far as I know,  this information has never been verified.

I maintain that one of the key masterminds of Speak Asia expiring after years on the run, with millions of dollars yet unaccounted for, is a little to convenient for my liking.

In any event despite seemingly insurmountable odds, Indian authorities continued to investigate SpeakAsia.

Several arrests were made throughout 2013, culminating with a 5000 page chargesheet filed in December.

A further six arrests were made in February of this year, with prosecutions announced to be “coming soon” last month.

It is against this backdrop of one of the largest Ponzi schemes in Indian history, that scammers are now attempting to resurrect Speak Asia. [Continue reading…]

Following the suspension of e-wallet services by iPayout and a pyramid scheme case filed by the SEC, April 17th 2014 marks the date the TelexFree Ponzi scheme was shut down.

A billion dollars in losses to investors, one owner hiding out in the US and concurrent civil and criminal trials still making their way through the courts, today we take a look at where we’re at. [Continue reading…]

Whereas uFun Club was initially thought to have been a $307 million dollar Ponzi scheme, new estimates have raised that figure to a staggering $618 million.

And that figure is expected to rise as authorities continue to investigate the scam. [Continue reading…]

There is no information on The VIP Team website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The company website does have an “about us” page, but only the following marketing spiel is provided:

We are a group of business professionals who specialize in delivering new innovative products and services to the marketplace focused on assuring that EVERYONE can MAKE PROFIT.

The VIP Team website domain (“the-vip-team.com”) was registered on the 12th of March 2015, with Lieven VanNeste listed as the owner. An address in Portugal is also provided.

YouTube videos that feature on The VIP Team website are also hosted on VanNeste’s YouTube account.

VanNeste (right) first popped up on BehindMLM last month as the admin of PM RevShares.

PM RevShares is a Ponzi scheme that sees affiliates invest up to $10,000 on the promise of advertised ROIs of up to 8% a day.

Prior to PM RevShares VanNeste was heavily involved in the Hourly RevShare Ponzi scheme (2012-2013). He was also an investor in TelexFree, a $1.8 billion dollar Ponzi scheme shut down by the SEC in 2014.

Read on for a full review of The VIP Team MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]

Yesterday saw Argent Global Network issue a rather strange communication to their affiliates.

In it, the company claimed they had been requested information from their payment processor since November 2014, with information only recently having been provided to them.

AGN also claimed that, due to legal reasons, they were “unable to further expand” on the issues plaguing the company.

Now Cascadia Finance has hit back, seeking to clarify the current situation. [Continue reading…]

Following a warrant issued for the arrest of retired General Athiwat Soonpan and his wife, news today that another uFun Club executive has been arrested.

The latest executive of UFun Store arrested today was Ms Namanaphan Tarabundit. She was arrested in Nong Khai while trying to flee into Vientiane.

Vientiane is the capital city of neighboring Laos, which borders Thailand to the north. [Continue reading…]

There is no information on the Crypto 888 Club website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Crypto 888 Club website domain (“crypto888.club”) was registered on the 22nd of March 2015, with an “Aleksander Romanov” credited as the owner. An address in Malta is also provided.

Further research reveals Crypto 888 Club affiliates referring to Romanov (right) as the owner of the company itself. Why this information is not presented on the Crypto 888 Club website is a mystery.

Crypto 888 Club marketing presentations credit Romanov with owning “over 1000 betting shops and three casinos mainly in Eastern Europe”.

No further specifics are provided.

I wasn’t able to track down an MLM history for Romanov, so presumably Crypto 888 Club is his first MLM venture as an executive.

Read on for a full review of the Crypto 888 Club MLM business opportunity.

[Continue reading…]

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

The Options Rider website domain (“optionsrider.com”) was registered on the 31st of January 2013, however the domain registration is set to private.

On the Options Rider website, the company claims to be based out of Auckland, New Zealand.

The address provided in the FAQ however belongs to Regus, who sell virtual office space. As such, it would appear Options Rider exists in New Zealand in name only.

Further research reveals Bob Roberts and Thomas Carter identified as co-owners on Options Rider affiliate calls.

Why this information is not presented on the Options Rider website is unclear.

Bob Roberts appears to be tied directly to BancdeOptions. A press-release issued in September of 2014 states

Sydney, Australia, November 24, 2014 — It’s official, BancdeOptions CEO is announcing the opening of its second representative office since the beginning of the year in Singapore, the first being in Hong Kong for the Asian market.

Sam Perkins, BancdeOptions VP for Business Development who is just returning from Hong Kong is explaining the company success:

“In Asia, we just partnered with major Chinese financial investors from Hong Kong and Beijing.

The Chinese market is ready to move ahead in the financial trading online solution. They see it as a natural evolution from Forex to the Binary Option platforms.”

Bob Roberts is listed as the contact for the release, with a link to the BancdeOptions website. Robert’s position within BancdeOptions is not clarified.

The press-release indicates Roberts might be based out Australia. Meanwhile a Hong Kong address currently features on the BancdeOptions website.

As with the New Zealand address, this is once again owned by Regus and is nothing more than a virtual mailing address.

BancdeOptions no more exists in Hong Kong than Options Rider does in New Zealand.

Similarities between BancdeOptions and Options Rider are readily observable, with both opportunities soliciting managed investments of up to $500,000 USD.

BancdeOptions appears to target Europeans whereas Options Rider investors in the US.

Of note is that the “payment details” page of  both sites is identical, strongly suggesting the two companies are owned by the same people (Bob Roberts).

I wasn’t able to find anything concrete on Thomas Carter, save that appears to be based out of the US.

On a recent Options Rider affiliate call, Carter claimed to be travelling in the US state of Florida. Bob Thomas was also on the call, with Carter claiming he was calling in from Shanghai, China.

On the call, Roberts claims to own the company Binary Options Concierge. An Australian freecall number features on the company’s website.

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

Following the suspension of ewallet services to Argent Global Network last week, the company now claims its been left in the dark.

Why information wasn’t being communicated to AGN is still a mystery, but here’s what we know at the moment. [Continue reading…]

In the wake of escalated Ponzi regulation in the US, schemes operating in the MLM underbelly are now touting their lack of US ties as a selling point.

The latest scheme to do so is GooBets, with investor Suzanna Dreyer promoting “Goobets has nothing to do with the USA”. [Continue reading…]