With his DFRF Enterprises Ponzi empire in ruins and a criminal court case looming, Daniel Filho has brought in the big guns.

Well, he’s brought in something… but to what end we’re not sure.

In an affidavit filing by self-styled attorney-in-fact Lynn Schmaltz, a number of amusing demands are made. [Continue reading…]

On September 29th 2015, Thomas A. Seaman was appointed Receiver through the SEC’s USFIA Ponzi case.

This appointment grants the Receiver

full powers of an equity receiver, including, but not limited to, full power over all assets and property belonging to, being managed by or in the possession or control of the Receivership Entities, and was immediately authorized, empowered and directed to take certain actions as set forth in the Temporary Restraining Order (“TRO”).

A TRO was granted against USFIA and owner Steve Chen, it has since been converted into a preliminary injunction.

Pursuant to the TRO and PI Order (“Appointment Orders”), the Receiver has been charged with, among other things,

(1) assuming control over the Receivership Entities and their assets (“Receivership Assets”),

(2) performing an accounting of the assets and financial condition of the Receivership Entities,

(3) investigating, locating, and recovering Receivership Assets,

(4) pursuing claims and causes of action of the Receivership Entities, and

(5) preparing reports for the Court.

The Receiver has successfully taken possession of funds in bank accounts frozen pursuant to the Appointment Orders, real and personal property, and documents and records from the numerous sources

As per the appointment orders, on the 13th of November the USFIA Receiver filed his first report with the court.

This report contains a summary of work performed by the Receiver thus far, as well as his preliminary observations and recommendations.

Below is a summary of the key points of interest in the 36 page report. [Continue reading…]

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

The Ad Profit website domain (“adprofit.in”) was registered on the 22nd of September 2015, with “Piyush Makwana” listed as the owner. An address in Gujarat, India is also provided.

In September 2013 Makwana launched Get Paid To Click, a Ponzi scheme offering a 120% ROI on $1 investments.

By the end of 2013 Get Paid To Click had collapsed. On social media, Makwana complained about a lack of new investors from October (a month after launch).

I wasn’t able to dig up any further MLM activity from 2014 onwards until Makwana launched Ad Profit this week.

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

When Vemma’s Young People Revolution (read: Alex Morton’s downline) jumped ship for Jeunesse, there was a bit of confusion surrounding the different product lines.

Awkward videos and testimonials began to pop up, from people who clearly didn’t give a crap about skincare.

Lip-service to the FTC or a genuine about-face on a product niche they’d previously expressed no interest in, but were now wildly excited about?

Who knows.

What we do know though is that this weekend Jeunesse unveiled a new product range under its existing Nevo energy drink line.

Eerie dejavu or am I just being too damn cynical?
[Continue reading…]

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

The JuanDaan website domain (“juandaan.com”) was registered on the 14th of September 2015, however the domain registration is set to private.

As per the JuanDaan website:

What does “JuanDaan” stands for?

Juan –One/You

Daan – Way

Juan Daan – One Way or Your Way, which represent the Internet Super Highway and JuanDaan is the way to promote Advertisements.

Much of the marketing material for JuanDaan is in Filipino, with the owner(s) of the company also likely based there. Why this information is not provided on the JuanDaan website however is a mystery.

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…]

One of the my staple fallbacks if I’m not sure about retail in an MLM compensation plan, is to recommend asking a potential upline about it.

See how they qualify for commissions and try to get a sense of what their retail volume is. Compare this to their recruited affiliate volume and you’ll have a pretty good idea of what you yourself will be focusing on.

After a scuffle with the FTC over whether not affiliate’s should be able to qualify for commissions at the expense of retail focus, Vemma’s new compensation plan is the most retail orientated I’ve seen to date.

And that’s great news for the industry. [Continue reading…]

There is no information on The PLR System website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The PLR System website domain (“theplrsystem.com”) was registered on the 13th of October 2015, however the domain registration is set to private.

Further research reveals The PLR System affiliates crediting Johnny Ganoza as admin of the company.

This is supported by posts on Ganoza’s Facebook profile wall, tracking the current status of the company:

Additionally there are several The PLR System marketing videos on YouTube voiced over by Ganoza, which feature his personal The PLR System affiliate link in the video description:

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

Xtreme Pro System launched in late 2014 and operated a straight-line cycler scheme. Affiliates invested in $45 positions on the expectation of an advertised $300 ROI.

In February 2015 the SEC shut down Achieve Community, a similar matrix cycler Ponzi scheme. A week later Ganoza announced Xtreme Pro System was ditching its cycler Ponzi model.

Needless to say that decision marked the end of the scheme.

A reader request then saw me review Ganoza’s Average Joe Profit System in mid 2015.

Average Joe Profit System itself however was launched prior to Xtreme Profit System. The scheme saw $202,500 ROIs offered on $5 investments.

After Xtreme Profit System, Ganoza went on to launch PowerPost Profits in September, 2015.

PowerPost Profits offered up a hybrid gifting recruitment scheme, with Alexa traffic statistics suggesting it collapsed shortly after launch.

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

Under the ruse of cloud services, Wings Network operated your typical MLM pyramid scheme.

Affiliates bought in for between $249 and $1499, with commissions paid on subsequent affiliate recruitment.

Launched in late 2013, troubles for Wings Network began in mid 2014. Amidst speculation of a pending regulatory bust, Wings Network suspended US operations.

On May 15th, the day after the suspension, Massachusetts filed a pyramid scheme complaint against the company.

October 2014 saw Nevada issue their own Wings Network warning, with the SEC filing their own suit in February of this year.

Yesterday saw the SEC action concluded, with Wings Network ordered to cough up $26.9 million dollars. [Continue reading…]

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…]