Last December Charles Wang and Francis Yuen, collectively the owners of the eAdGear Ponzi scheme, were indicted for structuring fraud.

This was followed up with a guilty plea back in August, with Wang and Yuen each sentenced to 46 months in prison on the 19th of October. [Continue reading…]

I ran into some confusion when I began to research this review, after I discovered that there appears to be two Sportron Internationals.

One refers to itself as “Sportron, targeted nutrition”, operates from “sportroninternational.com”, operate out of Texas in the US and have a single-level affiliate program (non-MLM).

The other refers to itself as “Sportron International, the wellness company” and are based out of Johannesburg in South Africa.

This company is a subsidiary of Ascendis Health and offer an MLM business opportunity.

Ascendis Health doesn’t appear anytwhere on the US Sportron site and the two companies have different logos, leading me to believe they are two independent entities with the same name.

For clarification, this review is about the South African Sportron International, who operate from “sportron.co.za”.

Founded in 1992, Sportron International has been headed up by CEO Cornelle van Graan (right) since 2011.

As per Van Graan’s corporate bio:

Ms. Cornelle Van Graan is Chief Executive Officer at Sportron International, Inc., Chief Executive Officer at Regal Nutrients (Pty) Ltd., and Head-Direct Selling at Ascendis Health Ltd.

Ms. Van Graan was previously employed as Chief Financial Officer by Sara Lee Household & Body Care BV, a Managing Director by Avroy Shlain Cosmetics, and a Sales Associate by Table Charm.

Van Graan is also the CEO of Swiss Garde, an MLM opportunity, who claim on their website they were founded in 1991 by Lou Bayhack.

Interestingly enough there’s no mention of Van Graan or Ascendis Health on the Swiss Garde website. Swiss Garde is also not listed as a brand on the Ascendis Health website.

Van Graan’s credit as CEO appears in a puff piece dated August 25th, 2015, acknowledging Swiss Garde affiliates.

The Achievers, as recipients are called, not only received multiple awards and recognition, the Chief Executive Officer of the company, Cornelle Van Graan, said their efforts also transformed into increase in their monthly earnings through their networking.

Not sure what the story is there, but it seems Van Graan has her thumb in a few MLM pies.

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

Boresha was founded in 2007 and are based out of California in the US.

As per the Boresha website, ‘in the Swahili language Boresha means “to make excellent”‘.

Heading up Boresha is co-founder George Najjar (right), who also serves as President and CEO.

George’s story is very unique. Educated and working as an engineer, he soon realized that he was not fulfilled.

He began searching for a better financial, spiritual, emotional and lifestyle journey and had the good fortune of discovering a direct selling opportunity.

He was astounded to learn that the credentials he had worked so hard to obtain were not necessary for him to build a business. So began George’s new journey into the world of direct selling.

Other than the above bio, which is sourced from the Boresha website, there doesn’t seem to be much information on Najjar available online.

Whether or not he was involved in other MLM companies prior to launching Boresha is unclear.

Of note is that in 2014 Boresha parted ways with its Master Distributor, Joseph (Joey) W. Boswell.

The separation didn’t go well, with Boswell filing a lawsuit against Boresha on April 29th, 2014.

On or about March 13, 2014, Boswell and Boresha entered into a contract entitled Memorandum of Understanding.

The final MOU was drafted by Boresha and presented to Boswell for his approval and signature.

Paragraph 3 of said MOU states: “…the purpose of this agreement is to fully and finally resolve any and all possible issues and claims whatsoever he aforementioned said parties have or may have against each other…”

In said agreement … Boresha agreed to pay Boswell and/or pay on his behalf a total of $573,700.

On or about April 10, 2014, Boresha caused the $150,000 transferred to Boswell and deposited into his wife’s account for his benefit to be wrongfully debited from said account.

No idea what beef these two had against eachother, but for whatever reason Boresha began transferring funds as per the MOU to Boswell – and then reneged.

The MOU required the $573,700 settlement to be made within fifteen days of the MOU signing, which didn’t happen.

Boresha, by failing to pay the $573,700 within 15 days of Joseph Juliano signing the MOU on March 18, 2014, are in breach of said agreement … of the MOU.

The lawsuit also names Cornerstone Marketing as a defendant, which appears to be a marketing firm Boswell had a 50% profit stake in.

Joseph Juliano is credited as a Master Distributor of Boresha’s, so I’m thinking he and Boswell were likely the two top earners in the company through Cornerstone Marketing.

Concluded Boswell in his lawsuit:

The behavior of Boresha offends general acceptable standards of decency and morality and has caused severe emotional distress to Boswell, has manifested itself in Boswell by causing great emotional pain and suffering, including loss of sleep, agitation, embarrassment, ridicule, loss of appetite, extreme anxiety and depression.

As per the case docket, Boresha won a dismissal in November 2014.

The terms of the signed MOU stated that

any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to this Agreement or the breach thereof, shall be settled through confidential arbitration. The Parties waive rights to trial by jury or to any Court.

This saw the filing of an agreed Order of Dismissal on the 10th of November 2014, with both parties agreeing that, as per the MOU, the matter should be settled through arbitration.

Given that this arbitration was to be confidential, whether or not Boresha ultimately paid Boswell the disputed $573,700 and Cornerstone Marketing 50% of its profit is unclear.

In a press-release issued by Boresha on April 26th, 2014:

Mr. Boswell’s departure was not related in any way to the company’s operational or financial performance, both of which remain strong.

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

It’s the end of the year and traditionally for Ponzi schemes, that means a run on the bank.

People who have been diligently compounding their invested funds year round want to cover holiday expenses, and that means a cash flow crisis for the MLM underbelly.

To remedy the situation it’s common to see Ponzi schemes to incentivize investment, which is typically tied into a holiday theme.

Looking to capitalize on Christmas and the upcoming Chinese New Year, OneCoin have just announced a new Festival investment package. [Continue reading…]

Following Troy Barnes’ indictment on October 22nd, a criminal trial was scheduled for November 16th.

On November 3rd Barnes was assigned a Public Defender.

In a subsequent filing Barnes asked for a delay in the proceedings, given that the criminal trial date was scheduled ‘less than thirty days from which (he) first appeared through counsel.‘

That motion has now been granted, with a new  trial date set on January 19th, 2016. [Continue reading…]

A legitimate business triggering money laundering filters? Not likely.

For the businesses that inhabit the MLM underbelly, it’s just another day at the office. [Continue reading…]

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

The Caribbean Bridge website domain (“caribbeanbridge.com”) was registered on the 14th of August 2014, however the domain registration is set to private.

Upon visiting the Caribbean Bridge website for the first time, the following message appears:

The message is in Russian and appears without any input from the visitor.

This strongly suggests that whoever is running Caribbean Bridge is based out of Russia.

Supporting this is Alexa’s current estimate that some 83.5% of all traffic to the Caribbean Bridge website originates out of Russia.

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…]

There is no information on the Kindred IM Academy website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Kindred IM Academy website domain (“kindredimacademy.com”) was registered on the 12th of July 2015, however the domain registration is set to private.

A support Facebook group linked off the Kindred IM Academy website lists Yew Nieng Song, Mike Thibodeaux, Jean Tasler, Lisa Stalvey and Margaret Oddy as admins.

Presumably one or more of these individuals are running the company, however the specifics of who owns Kindred IM Academy remain unclear.

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…]

In a predictable dejavu turn of events, Global InterGold have sought to distance themselves from local business operations in the Philippines.

The move comes after it was revealed last Friday that the Philippine SEC have filed criminal charges against several top Global InterGold investors. [Continue reading…]

There’s one aspect of our “community of entrepreneurs” that’s sadly lacking.

We’ve got the marketing down pat, the self-promotion, the encouragement, personal development and training is available in abundance.

But self-regulation? Not so much.

Why exactly self-regulation lags so far behind the other aspects of the MLM community is debatable, but it’s certainly noticeable inside and outside of the industry.

Despite numerous schemes blowing up within the industry these last few years, MLM’s supposed representative groups remain silent.

We didn’t hear an official peep out of the DSA and ANMP about Zeek Rewards and TelexFree, together two of the largest MLM Ponzi schemes ever.

Both were also silent on Vemma, with the DSA only issuing statements after the FTC stepped in. Why weren’t they demanding Vemma (and other DSA members) initiate genuine retail incentives before regulatory agencies take action?

On the MLM blog side of things you’ve got BusinessForHome routinely publishing fluff pieces about OneCoin investors making off with thousands of dollars.

Worryingly, BusinessForHome’s blog posts do not disclose how much OneCoin or its featured investors might have paid for the coverage.

Every now and then though someone in the MLM industry speaks up about its underbelly, with that someone today being Tom Mower. [Continue reading…]