Earlier this month the Department of Justice had requested that the SEC’s civil litigation against DFRF Enterprises be stayed.

The SEC didn’t oppose the motion, but took no position either way.

Now, in orders issued a few days ago, we can reveal that the SEC’s civil litigation against DFRF Entprises has indeed been stayed. [Continue reading…]

“Why can’t you be more like BusinessForHome?”

About once a month, sometimes more, sometimes less, I get asked the above question or a derivative of it.

The implication behind the question is that I tend to focus purely on what is perceived to be “negative” viewpoints, which is reflected in the content published on BehindMLM.

And that’s a fair call.

While I don’t perceive information strictly in a positive and negative sense, by far the bulk stories we cover would probably fall in the latter category.

I assure you however this isn’t by design. I’m far from running around the internet intentionally digging up stories that paint the MLM industry in the worst light possible.

Rather that’s the nature of a free press. It’s “news”, it’s what we report on. Information that goes deeper than what’s evident on the surface is what people want to read about.

As an MLM blogger I see my role in the industry as keeping readers informed. To me personally, that doesn’t equate to republishing spammy press-releases or working in cahootz with MLM companies to publish advertising material.

I wish I could say the same about other bloggers in the MLM niche. [Continue reading…]

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

The AdMatrixProfits website domain (“admatrixprofits.com”) was registered on the 26th of October 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…]

There is no information on the CashTime 1 website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The CashTime 1 website domain (“cashtime1.com”) was registered on the 6th of September 2015, however the domain registration is set to private.

Further research suggests CashTime 1 is being operated out of Brazil.

For starters the first language offered on the CashTime1 website is Portuguese, represented by a Brazilian flag. YouTube videos on the CashTime 1 YouTube channel mention a “global meeting” in Rio de Janeiro a month ago, with most of the other videos uploaded being in Portuguese.

Additionally, Alexa currently estimate that 76.8% of all traffic to the CashTime 1 website originates out of Brazil.

Given this, it is extremely likely that the admin(s) of CashTime 1 are also based in Brazil.

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…]

Frustrated with the FTC’s “all or nothing” interpretation of the court-ordered preliminary injunction, Vemma sought to bypass regulatory approval through a court filing.

Whereas the FTC maintained that no commissions should be paid out unless 51% of affiliate sales are to retail customers, Vemma instead wanted to adopt a pro-rata model.

This would see affiliates who failed to generate 51% retail sales volume paid pro-rata based on whatever percentage their retail volume was.

The problem as I saw it with this model was that it technically would permit Vemma to continue running a product-based pyramid scheme, based on revenue flowing into the company.

If on average say only 40% of affiliate sales revenue was retail, Vemma as a company would still be sourcing the majority of company revenue from affiliates as opposed to retail customers.

And this is pretty much the same way the FTC saw it:

The FTC objects to Vemma’s proposed compensation plan on the grounds that it still incentivizes recruitment of Affiliates over retail sales in violation of the Preliminary Injunction and the FTC Act.

Specifically, the FTC argues that the 51% Rule is an insufficient anti-pyramiding safeguard because it provides an Affiliate significant compensation even if most of the Affiliate’s sales are to downstream Affiliates, not Customers.

A broader issue is also that Vemma’s revised compensation plan potentially sees the company operate against the spirit of the preliminary injunction, which sought to eliminate recruitment revenue beating out retail.

The matter went to court on October 21st, with Judge Tuchi reserving his judgment.

That judgement was published earlier today, with Tuchi ruling in favor of the FTC. [Continue reading…]

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

The SwisCoin website domain (“swiscoin.com”) was registered on the 15th of September 2015, with Kathrine Harbor listed as the owner. An address in Dublin, Ireland is also provided.

Further research reveals this address belongs to Regus, who sell virtual office space. As such it would appear SwisCoin have no actual physical presence in Ireland.

As for Kathrine Harbor, outside of the SwisCoin domain registration, her name doesn’t appear linked to SwisCoin.

I’m flagging this as highly suspicious, with there being a big question mark as to whether or not Harbor actually exists.

Update 30th July 2016 – The SwisCoin website now claims ‘SCN SERVICES LTD is the company who has launched the SWISCOIN as an official from DUBAI.‘

The CEO of SCN SERVICES LTD is Mr. Dmitrii Zubarenko who is the expert person for the administration of mega companies.

Zubarenko doesn’t appear to have any MLM industry experience. /end update

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

Despite pleading to be spared any jail time just over a week ago, Robert Craddock has been sentenced to six months in prison.

The sentence is in connection to two counts of wire fraud, which Craddock plead guilty to back in June. [Continue reading…]

We’ve been seeing a lot of private industry back and forth on Herbalife, but not alot on the government side of things.

Sure we know that the FTC and FBI are investigating the company, but to date the specifics and status of those investigations remain a mystery.

Now, in a report published by New York Senator Jeff Klein and New York City Public City Advocate Letita James, the first official government-level opinion of Herbalife has been revealed.

And it’s not good. [Continue reading…]

Last month we covered breaking news on Pruvit’s lawsuit against ForeverGreen.

At the center of the dispute is Axcess Global Sciences’ ketone technology.

The gist of Pruvits lawsuit alleges that Pruvit were first to sign a licensing deal with Axcess. Axcess management then sniffed out a better deal with ForeverGreen, and then sought to strike the Pruvit agreement.

This effectively muscled Pruvit out of access to Axcess Global Sciences’ technology, which Pruvit needed to source their ketone product offering.

Whereas the details of Pruvit’s allegations have been made public via filing of their lawsuit, ForeverGreen had thus far failed to issue a public statement on the matter.

Now, in a new blog titled “Breaking Silence”, ForeverGreen CEO Ron Williams has addressed the matter. [Continue reading…]

Update 13th July 2021 – At the request of a Powur executive, BehindMLM revisited the company and published an updated Powur review on July 13th, 2021.

This review is preserved as originally published for archive purposes. /end update

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

After a brief marketing spiel, visitors to the Powur site have the sole option of clicking on a “continue” button, which redirects them to an “invite code” page.

Powur is a referral-only, private network. Enter your invite code to continue.

A marketing video on this page features Jonathan Budd. On his Facebook profile, Budd cites himself as the “Founder and CEO at Powur PBC”.

On the 10th of September, Budd (right) published the following:

For the last 22 months, I have been “Underground”. I’ve been working on the biggest project I will likely ever get to work on in my life.

This is not a billion dollar play… it’s literally TRILLIONS. I’m not kidding. In just a few days, I’m going to release the details to the world for the first time.

Jonathan Budd first popped up on BehindMLM back in 2011, as a “mentor” for SMS Dailys.

In 2013 Budd co-founded Rippln, best known as one of the most notorious MLM startup failures ever.

Seeking to combine affiliate recruitment with third-party mobile apps, Rippln delivered copious amounts of marketing hype and not much else.

The scheme finally collapsed in early 2014, with Budd going on to launch MyStand a few months later.

MyStand was touted as a task-based social-change opportunity, but doesn’t seem to have gone anywhere.

When the opportunity was shuttered is unclear, but today the MyStand website is marked “under construction”.

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