Things continue to heat up in Arcadia, the USFIA Ponzi scheme’s home turf, with news today that City Council staff are openly requesting investors contact local police.

Seeking comment from City officials regarding the ties of one of their own to USFIA, Arcadia Weekly were told by City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto;

Anyone with specific information of criminal activity associated with this business, or any other business in the City of Arcadia, is encouraged to contact the Arcadia Police Department to file a police report so the matter can be promptly investigated.

To what extent the Arcadia Police Department are able to act on and investigate USFIA complaints is unclear, but one would imagine any complaints received would be forwarded onto the relevant authorities. [Continue reading…]

Despite having a “company” page, there is no information on the Zyndio website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Zyndio website domain (“zyndio.com”) was registered on the 24th of October 2011, with a “Integrity Management Group” listed as the owner. An address in the US state of Arizona is also provided.

Further research reveals the email address used to register the Zyndio website domain appears to belong to Anthony Powell:

It follows that Powell (right) owns Zyndio, or at the very least is running the company. However for reasons unknown, Powell’s name does not appear anywhere on the Zyndio website.

Powell is currently heavily advertising Zyndio on Facebook, referring to it as a “a ‘Mark Hughes of Herbalife’ type of business”.

Perusal of Powell’s Zyndio marketing efforts reveal he’s primarily focused on affiliate recruitment:

Anthony Powell is best-known in MLM for his time in Herbalife.

It is believed Powell’s primary Herbalife income was generated through selling leads to recruited affiliates in his downline.

This focus on recruitment and selling of leads to recruits saw Powell mentioned in numerous FTC complaints against Herbalife.

It was my intent to recruit rather than to sell retail as I was told there was much more money to be made in recruiting.

Multiple calls by company President Anthony Powell urging me to do “whatever it takes to get to the next level”.

Herbalife cracked down on this practice in 2012, which prompted Powell to leave the company and join Vemma in January 2013.

Vemma was recently shut down by the FTC, with the regulatory accusing the company of being a $200 million plus pyramid scheme.

A court-appointed Receiver has since revealed that, through his company Global Pro Systems, Powell was mentioned in 42% of complaints about Vemma filed with the FTC.

In light of regulatory action against Vemma, Powell announced earlier today that he is ditching the company (September 6th):

And that brings us to Zyndio.

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

One of the goals of the recently appointed Vemma Receiver has been to establish

whether the company directly or indirectly represented that consumers who become Vemma Affiliates were likely to earn substantial income, which is contrary to the companies’ published 2013 and 2014 results in its disclosure statements.

Part of that journey saw the Receiver evaluate Vemma’s legal affairs and field compliance procedures, with the Receiver finding that

an in-depth review of business practices of the company, consumer complaints, marketing practices, marketing materials and disciplinary actions suggest that the company has not only failed to properly police the Affiliates, but has failed to comply with many of the anti-pyramid rules required of its own Affiliates.

With information and data sourced directly from the Receiver himself, today we take a look at just how Vemma massively failed in its anti-pyramid rules legal compliance. [Continue reading…]

Robb Evans is no stranger to pyramid schemes.

Appointed Receiver in the Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing pyramid scheme case, on August 24th Evans was also appointed temporary Receiver of Vemma.

Since his appointment, Vemma claim Evans has

• summarily terminated all of Vemma’s business operations
• summarily laid off the more than 100 Vemma employees
• failed to pay any Vemma creditors (including employees) and
• given no meaningful explanation to the thousands of Vemma affiliates and customers affected by the Receiver’s actions, or if and when operations will continue

Assert Vemma, ‘the damage being done by the actions of the FTC and the Receiver is incalculable‘.

That aside, on the 4th of September Evans, in his capacity as Vemma Receiver, filed a report of his activities dated August 24th to September 4th.

If Vemma felt in any way they’d been hard done by prior, Evan’s report is perhaps the most damning indictment against them yet. [Continue reading…]

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

The SmartWealthAds website domain (“smartwealthads.com”) was registered on the 30th of March 2015, however the domain registration is set to private.

The company’s FAQ does mention that ‘SmartwealthAdsis (sic) located in Canada’, but given the otherwise lack of information provided I’d take that with a grain of salt.

A marketing video on the SmartWealtAds website was uploaded to an account bearing the name “Marc Patric” on August 13th.

The Patric account however was created on the same day, so I’d take that name too with a grain of salt.

An email address features on the SmartWealthAds support page, which matches up with LiveAdInc.

LiveAdInc was a revenue-sharing opportunity launched in 2013. Run by “Ron and Andrew”, LiveAdInc offered affiliates 125% ROIs on funds invested with the company.

Launched in October 2013, by early 2014 LiveAdInc had collapsed.

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’s trouble brewing in the “look at my pee!” ketone MLM niche…

At the center of the controversy are Pruvit, ForeverGreen and non-MLM entity, Axcess Global Sciences.

On August 24th, Pruvit filed a lawsuit against ForeverGreen and Axcess Global, accusing them of breach of contract, fraud. [Continue reading…]

There is no information on the 7 Dollar Freedom indicating who owns or runs the business.

The 7 Dollar Freedom website domain (“7dollarfreedom.com”) was registered on the 4th of November 2014, with a “Kia Thomas” listed as the owner. An address in the US state of Maryland is also provided.

On her LinkedIn profile, Thomas refers to herself as an “Independent Internet Professional”.

Thomas (right) appears to have began promoting MLM opportunities a year ago, with the YouGetPaidFast cash gifting scheme the first appearing on her YouTube channel.

Other opportunities advertised on Thomas’ YouTube channel include Group20Million (recruitment scheme) and DollarMonsters (matrix cycler Ponzi).

Read on for a full review of the 7 Dollar Freedom MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]

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

The MiniLineCycler website domain (“minilinecycler.com”) was registered on the 7th of August 2015, however the domain registration is set to private.

Of note are that most of the websites hosted on the MiniLineCycler website carry a .ru domain extension, suggesting MiniLineCycler might be run 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 PowerPost Profits website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The PowerPost Profits website domain was registered on the 2nd of June 2015, however the domain registration is set to private.

A marketing video on the PowerPost Profits is narrated by Johnny Ganoza. The video itself is hosted on a YouTube channel “WorkWithJohnnyG”.

Ganoza is also currently promoting PowerPost Profits on Facebook, suggesting he is the owner of the company.

Why this information is not disclosed on the PowerPost Profits website is unclear.

Johnny Ganoza (right) first popped up on BehindMLM’s radar as the admin of Xtreme Pro System.

Xtreme Pro System, a $45 in, $300 out Ponzi scheme, was launched in late 2014. In early 2015 the SEC shutdown Achieve Community, a similar matrix-based Ponzi scheme.

The shutdown of Achieve Community was cited as a primary reason for Ganoza shutting down the Ponzi side of Xtreme Pro System.

Today Xtreme Pro System advertises a “blogging system”, which affiliates can earn $5 per sale of.

BehindMLM also recently reviewed the Average Joe Profit System, another of Ganoza’s schemes ($5 Ponzi gifting hybrid).

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

As per a Stipulated Motion To Continue Preliminary Injunction filed on August 31st, the preliminary injunction hearing in the FTC Vemma case has been rescheduled for September 15th.

The motion has also resulted in the temporary restraining order granted against Vemma extended to the 18th. [Continue reading…]