OneRevShare Review: $1 advertising-based micro Ponzi
There is no information on the OneRevShare website indicating who owns or runs the business.
The OneRevShare website domain (“onerevshare.com”) was registered on the 27th of October 2014, however the domain registration is set to private.
As always, if a 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…]
YOR Health Review: Weight loss with erroneous retail
Despite listing members of their scientific advisory board (five scientists), athletic advisory board (seven advisers), global board (two Mexican singers and a “Mexico adviser”), there is no information in the “company” section of the YOR Health website indicating who owns or runs the business.
It isn’t until a visitor clicks “opportunity” and then scrolls down to “a letter from the founder” that Dennis Wong is credited as YOR Health’s “Founding Chairman”.
Further research reveals Wong (right) is the CEO of YOR Health, yet his name does not appear in the capacity anywhere on the Yor Health website.
YOR Health are based out of the US state of California and launched in mid-2008.
Prior to YOR Health Wong ran YorVoice, which marketed VOIP.
According to several Dennis Wong bios (most of which seem to be written by himself),
By 2007, voice-over Internet was no longer a sustainable product to market, so that new reality and coming to terms with his failing health motivated him to look for a new business opportunity.
Since he had been investigating nutritional health, that became the obvious choice.
Going back further, Wong, along with Jeffrey Morgan, ran the pyramid scheme “Mall Ventures” (“2by2.net”).
According to the FTC’s complaint, in which Wong, Morgan and Mall Ventures are named defendants, the scheme saw affiliates purchase matrix positions for “approximately $420”. This resulted in a commission paid out to the affiliate who recruited them, and also qualified the affiliate themselves to receive commissions from those they recruited.
Mall Ventures has derived an overwhelming portion of its revenues from the recruitment of new eCommerce Consultants (affiliates), rather than from the sale of 2by2.net products or services.
Many consumers were persuaded to pay up to $2,940 for multiple spots and to spend thousands of dollars more in their attempts to make money through 2by2.net.
The FTC’s complaint was filed in January 2004, with a judgement handed down a few days later. This judgement saw Wong and Morgan fined $400,000, with an additional suspended monetary judgment of $10.4 million.
The original complaint and injunction request, the judgment and accompanying press-release can be read over at the FTC.
Whether or not Jeffrey Morgan is involved in YOR Health is unclear (due to the complete lack of information regarding executive structure and management provided on the YOR Health website).
Read on for a full review of the YOR Health MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]
Yevo Prelaunch Review: Dehydrated nutritional meals?
Yevo recently went into prelaunch and are currently scheduled for a February 2015 official launch.
The company currently does not have an official corporate website, with affiliates marketing a prelaunch domain that at the time of publication provides little more than a marketing video and sign up button.
This domain (“myyevo.com”) was registered on the 29th of October 2014 and lists a “Eugene Tipps” as the owner. An address for “Foods Matter LLC” in the US state of Utah is also provided.
Foods Matter LLC is a “domestic limited-liability company” registered in the US state of Nevada. The Foods Matter LLC registration lists Peter Castleman, David Brown, Nathan Horvath and Chip Marsland as officers/managers of the company.
The YouTube video currently published on the “myyevo.com” website mentions an additional domain in the video description (“yevointernational.com”). This domain is also registered to Tipps, however at the time of publication that domain is not active.
Presumably “yevointernational.com” will be the official company website when Yevo decides to go live.
On the management side of things, research reveals Yevo affiliates crediting Peter Castleman (Chairman of the Board) and David Brown (CEO) as the co-owners of the company.
Eugene Tipps (credited as “Gene Tipps” for some reason) is listed as Yevo’s COO.
On the MLM side of things, Peter Castleman (right) appears to have gotten involved in MLM back in 2002, when fund Whitney V LP along with Golden Gate Capital purchased Herbalife. Castleman was Managing Director of Whitney V at the time.
After the acquisition, Castleman served as Chairman at Herbalife until he resigned in 2007 to ‘focus on other business activities‘.
Bios published by Yevo affiliates suggest Castleman went on to launch a “Chinese herbal company” that was later sold off to Nu Skin.
David Brown was formerly the CEO of LifeVantage, where he was credited with prompting the company’s switch from retail to MLM back in 2008.
Prior to LifeVantage Brown was CEO and President of Metabolife (2000 – 2005).
Metabolife was founded in the early 1990s by Michael Ellis, a former police officer on probation for charges relating to his involvement with a methamphetamine lab.
Ellis and a boyhood friend, Michael Blevins, were arrested in 1989 for producing and distributing methamphetamine. Both Ellis and Blevins cooperated with federal authorities in return for lighter sentences.
Following Blevins’ release from prison, the two formed Metabolife to market ephedra, an herbal supplement containing compounds chemically related to methamphetamine.
In the late 1990s, the U.S. FDA considered regulating ephedra more strictly, in response to reports of adverse reactions and more than 100 deaths linked to the supplement. These included reports ofpsychosis, heart attack, stroke, and diabetic ketoacidosis.
A clinical trial conducted to address safety concerns found that Metabolife 365 increased blood pressure and induced mild cardiac arrhythmias; the trial concluded that there were serious safety concerns associated with the use of Metabolife.
Metabolife took an active role in lobbying against regulation of ephedra, forming an advocacy group called the Dietary Supplement Safety and Science Coalition and contributing heavily to Congressmen Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.) and Dan Burton (R-Ind.), among other politicians.
Following the FDA’s ban of ephedra, Michael Ellis was indicted on eight counts of making false statements to the FDA in an effort to obstruct regulation of ephedra.
Ellis ultimately pled guilty to a single count of lying to the FDA about the adverse effects of Metabolife 356. He was sentenced to 6 months in federal prison and a $20,000 fine.
Metabolife was also investigated by the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Justice for income tax evasion; ultimately, the company pled guilty to filing fraudulent tax returns and was sentenced to pay a criminal fine of $600,000.
Metabolife owner William Bradley also pled guilty to evading millions of dollars in taxes and was sentenced to 6 months in federal prison and 2 years of probation.
Some of the politicians associated with Metabolife also encountered legal difficulties; Texas state legislators Jeff Wentworth and Rick Green were accused of illegal lobbying on behalf of the company.
In response to falling sales, and facing more than $1 billion in personal injury legal claims related to Metabolife 356, Metabolife filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2005.
Read on for a full review of the Yevo prelaunch MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]
Carlos Costa lied about Brazilian IRS TelexFree approval
One of the recurring themes in Carlos Costa’s sweaty TelexFree news updates, was the assertion that the Brazilian IRS had gone over TelexFree’s books and certified the company legitimate.
Costa asserted as much with the knowledge that the IRS would not comment publicly on their report, and that the only other party with a copy was TelexFree.
What he wasn’t planning on however was the report being leaked to media outlet Globo.
And surprise, surprise… turns out Costa has once again been caught out telling porky pies. [Continue reading…]
Norwegian Olympic athlete dumped over promotion of Vemma
Jaysuma Saidy Ndura describes himself as “the best athelete in Norway”.
Born in Western Gambia, after competing locally in his youth, Ndura moved to Norway in 2002 and officially changed his nationality to Norwegian in 2006.
Since then Ndura has continued to compete at a professional level representing Norway.
(Ndura) holds Norwegian records in the 100 and holds both the Gambian and Norwegian records in the 200 metres,and is the seventh and fourth fastest person to race for Europe of all times on the two distances.
He has a bronze medal from the African Championships and several top-three placings in IAAF Golden League meets and the IAAF World Athletics Final.
Around August of this year, Ndura signed on Vemma to be a brand ambassador for their energy drink, Verve. A press-release issued by Vemma reads,
We’re thrilled to announce that Jaysuma Ndure is now a Verve brand ambassador. In coming months, he will endorse Verve in Europe.
Norwegian, born in Bakau Gambia on the west coast of Africa, Jays now lives and trains in Norway. At the Norwegian Grand Prix Florø 2014, Jays set a new record, completing the 100-meter sprint in 9.95 second. At 200 meters, he holds the men’s records in Norway and Gambia.
As you might expect, Jays is totally dedicated to keeping his body in shape. He lifts weights for body strength. He runs to toughen his endurance. And he practices every aspect of his sprinting form to achieve perfection. The result? Dazzling speed.
Jays is strategic about the foods that nourish his body. So it’s no surprise that he chooses the Vemma Formula in Verve. It gives his body more of what it needs to compete head-to-head with the world’s most gifted athletes.
We are happy that Jaysuma Ndure has chosen to help promote Verve. His dedication to sport made him a superstar on the track. We predict that his enthusiasm will supercharge the wellness industry too.
Unfortunately for Ndure his new relationship with Vemma didn’t go down well with Olympiatoppen, the organisation responsible for training Norwegian Olympic athletes. [Continue reading…]
CoMingl Review: $10-$20 a month MLM social network
CoMingl (pronounced “co-mingle”) appears to have entered into a concept phase last year before finally launching in mid 2014.
There is no information on the CoMingl website indicating who owns or runs the company.
The CoMingl website domain (“comingl.com”) was registered on the 3rd of August 2013, with the domain registration listing “Karma Holdings SA” as the owner. An address in Belize (a known tax-haven) is also provided.
Karma Holdings have their own website over at “karmaholdings.com”, however no information about who runs the firm is provided.
Karma Holdings is led by a team of talented men and women whose expertise and enthusiasm drive our superior financial performance.
Our Board of Directors sets the direction and our executive leaders motivate, manage and inspire our employees to improve continuously in everything they do.
The company describes itself ‘a diversified company that provides a broad range of high-tech products and systems‘.
As far as I can piece together, Karma Holdings are representing that CoMingl is owned by someone else and in some sort of partnership with them. A “recent posts” entry on their website however clashes with their 7th of November 2014 “CoMingl is on board” announcement:
Curiously, the CoMingl Terms and Conditions states:
By agreeing to these Terms you are giving your permission to Panache International, LLC. and the CoMingl system to send you email notifications related to your account activity.
Panache International claim they are based out of Dubai, and on their website state they
produce a wide range of disposable plastic products and packaging that are highly appealing to consumers worldwide, and rank among the world’s leading manufactures in terms of the quality and support we provide to our partners anywhere in the world.
What that has to do with CoMingl or why the company is sharing their affiliate details with Panache International I have no idea.
It does appear though that whoever is behind Panache International is also behind CoMingl. Again, taken from CoMingl’s Terms and Conditions:
Any notice to you will be effective when we send it to the last email or physical address you gave us or posted on our Website. Any notice to us will be effective when delivered to us along with an emailed copy to our corporate office:
Panache International, LLC
Naturally there’s no information about who owns Panache International on their website, and their domain registration is also set to private.
The only information linked to management of Panache International I was able to find is the crediting of “Vishaal S. Shah” as the company’s Managing Director:
In other marketing videos Shah is credited as the CEO of Panache:
With CoMingl using the corporate address for Panache International in their Terms and Conditions, it would follow on that Shah is likely the owner of CoMingl.
That said, I wasn’t able to find anything directly tying Shah to the company.
As always, if a 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…]
Bank of Portugal: GetEasy “not authorized to accept deposits”
The regulatory noose continues to tighten around GetEasy, with news last Friday that the Bank of Portugal have issued a warning against the company.
Listed along with Get Easy Limited and Absolut League, the Bank of Portugal warns are ‘are not authorised to accept deposits or other repayable funds’. [Continue reading…]
Freedom10 Review: Text Cash Network reboot with vouchers
There is no information on the Freedom10 website indicating who owns or runs the business.
The Freedom10 website domain (“freedom10.com”) was registered on the 6th of January 2013, however the domain registration is set to private.
Buried in the source-code of the Freedom10 website however is a link to the domain “textcashnetwork.com”, which is used by affiliates to sign in.
Sharing the same affiliate backend, Text Cash Network initially launched in late 2011 and at the time was headed up by Brett Hudson.
Text Cash Network saw affiliates sign up and in exchange for agreeing to receive text advertisements from company, earned commissions based on how many new affiliates they recruited.
The idea was that advertisers would fund the commissions, but with the only participants being affiliates looking to get paid, not surprisingly the opportunity never really took off.
At some point Text Cash Network rebranded themselves as “True Cash Network”, with Freedom 10 appearing to be a continuation of the “sign up and get paid for receiving text ads” business model.
There is currently no specific information regarding whether Hudson is still involved with the running of the company on the True Cash Network website.
Read on for a full review of the Freedom10 MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]
Nu Skin under SEC investigation, enforcement pending?
Details on this one are currently sketchy.
Last year in September, Probes Reporter contacted the SEC regarding possible “investigative activity” and were advised there was none.
In what appears to be an annual check, Probes Report contacted the SEC again recently and the agency acknowledged ‘some sort of investigative activity‘ was taking place.
Probes Reporter filed a Freedom of Information Act request, which the SEC denied on the basis that ‘the responsive matter remains open and that releasing the withheld information could reasonably be expected to interfere with the on-going enforcement proceedings‘. [Continue reading…]
Wazzub offering virtual shares? IPO in late 2015?!
Earlier this year Wazzub (aka My Perfect Internernet) announced they were turning to crowd-sourcing to get a 3D version of their app onto Wazzub branded 8″ tablets.
Wazzub had hoped to raise $100,000 by June. Whether or not that happened is a mystery, but today there’s no mention of these tablets on Wazzub’s homepage (My Perfect Internet’s web design is terrible so I didn’t take a thorough look through the site).
In any event, through the brand “We Share Success” (wesharesuccess.perfectinter.net), now Wazzub are issuing virtual shares to their affiliates… and there’s even talk of a Q4 2015 IPO offering.
Seriously? [Continue reading…]