IPro Network (IPN) and the MLM Game of Telephone: garble up the message to sound better

Recently I came across a comment about IPro Network on BehindMLM.

First, what is iPro Network? Some generic discount network based on some generic altcoin they are billing as some fantastic e-commerce opportunity, you should buy into the currency despite there's no proof that it was widely adopted (since there are tons of altcoins out there). It's so fantastic, there is absolutely NO TRACE of the CEO on the internet (other than on their own website), who wears a clearly wrong size shirt (he can't even button his collar), despite claiming "15 years experience".

Anyway, here's the comment about why is the review so hard on a "legitimate" opportunity.

"Bill Antonio": "Oz I appreciate you trying to protect marketers from scams but why is it that you seem to criticise every business opportunity and preventing people from making money online from legit companies. IPN has been endorsed by Scott Warren a most sought after MLM Lawyer as IPN has met all the compliance guidelines and has also being endorsed by well-known entrepreneur Kevin Harrington from Shark Tank who is highly respected in the business world.They also have sought after motivational speaker Jay Abraham who is in the same league as Anthony Robbins. These people will never be involved in any scams.

Okay, there are a couple things to note:

1) Did Scott Warren, an MLM lawyer, "endorse" IPro Network?

2) Did Kevin Harrington (Shark Tank) endorse IPro Network?

3) Does Jay Abraham work for IPro Network?

Not surprisingly, the answer is "no proof of such" in each and every case.

This is like the game of telephone, where somehow message was distorted into whatever the promoter wanted to say, instead of the REAL content.

So what is the truth? Let MLMSkeptic lead you to some discovery.

One unexpected victim of Ponzi schemes: College Sports

Did you ever consider where are the ponzi scheme victims?  I mean, you usually think that the ponzi scheme victims are rich folks like Madoff victims, right?

You'd be very wrong.

ZeekRewards had an estimated 2.2 million victims all over the world.

TelexFree had almost TWO MILLION victims in US and Brazil

But here's a victim you'd never expect... College football.

You're probably exclaiming, "WTF? What does Ponzi scheme have anything to do with college football?"

Scam Absurdities: Birds of a Feather Flock Together, or the Rodrigues and Filho financial links

There was an old saying: Birds of a Feather, Flock Together

Basically means: like attracts like.

So how does this apply to Ponzi schemes? One needs to look no further than Sanderlay Rodrigues De Vasconcelos aka "Sann Rodrigues", and his ties to Daniel Rojo Filho.

For those of you who don't know "Sann" Rodrigues... he used to go by the title "First Millionaire TelexFree US". That's right... he's a "net winner" in the TelexFree scam in both Brazil and the US. Previously he operated a Ponzi scheme called FoneClub that was shut down by the SEC around 2006. Oh, gee, now here he is again, a top leader in ANOTHER Ponzi scheme, TelexFree, shut down by the the SEC! But it gets better. At the time Sann was in Brazil, and he simply came up with a new scheme... called iFreeX.  And within a few months Massachussetts called it suspect Ponzi, which apparently prompted Brazilian authorities to raid his recruiting seminar and invited him downtown for a long chat.  He was released but apparently under travel restrictions, roughly March 2015 or so.

MLMSkeptic was immediately reminded of the circumstances how half of the TelexFree US, Carlos Wanzeler, escaped the country... by driving into Canada ahead of the authorities with his daughter, leaving his wife behind, and from there they flew to Brazil, where they cannot be extradited against their will (as per Brazilian constitution. Wanzeler still holds Brazilian citizenship). When his wife Katia Wanzeler tried to join them she was arrested at the airport by Federal agents, minutes before she got on the plane.  She had previous told Federal agents serving a search warrant on the Wanzeler house that Carlos is staying at a hotel when it was later discovered that when she told the Federal agents Carlos and daughter was in fact heading toward the Canadian border in a car registered to her company.

But we're here to talk about Sann Rodrigues... Any way... Apparently Sann Rodrigues managed to get himself out of Brazil despite Brazilians told him to not go anywhere. So when he disappeared, Brazilian authorities put out a Interpol Red WANTED notice:

Interpol Wanted Notice for Sann Rodrigues

So when he showed up in Newark, New Jersey (yes, in the US) getting back into the US... He was promptly arrested for VISA fraud. He had apparently neglected to mention that he was arrested for Ponzi scheme back in 2008 or so... among other problems. He posted bail, had his passport (and those of his family) confiscated, only to be arrested AGAIN for the Interpol warrant. He spent another weekend in jail until Brazilians eventually responded "you can keep him for now".

Okay, so what does this have to do with Daniel Rojo Filho? And who is Daniel Rojo Filho? Pretty complex guy... and "ambassador of the Sinaloa Drug Cartel", according to a Mexican article.

Scammer Update: Sann Rodrigues (i.e. Sanderlay Rodrigues de Vasconcelos) posted bail for US crimes, rearrested for escaping from Brazil

Previously MLMSkeptic has covered the various scams pumped by noted scammer Sann Rodrigues, whose real name is Sanderlay Rodrigues de Vasconcelos. For those who haven't caught up, here's a quick summary:

• Universo FoneClub circa 2006, closed by SEC as Ponzi scheme
• Tried to restart FoneClub in Brazil, closed after a year
• TelexFree scam that was eventually shut down in 2014
• iFreeX (meeting raided by Brazilian police in Feb 2015)

Back in February 2014 MLMSkeptic did a profile on Sann Rodrigues, here's a bit of an update. 

In April 2014, TelexFree tried to declare bankruptcy, and was immediately raised by Homeland Security and Mass Department of Securities. Their CFO Joe Craft tried to leave with a laptop bag he claimed was personal property. It was searched and TENS OF MILLIONS in cashier's checks was found in the bag and the entire bag was held for evidence. SEC filed its case under seal to be opened upon raid. . 

After TelexFree went bust in April 2014, it appears that Sann Rodrigues was still traveling the world, still selling TelexFree, but is looking for another scam to promote, and he seem to be the first person EVER to promote iFreeX as of September 2014, which, based on the name, appears to be at least inspired by, if not an outright clone of TelexFree, as it claims to be a communications app to do voice and text chat, video talk, and video conference. (TelexFree was VOIP, which is voice chat)  There are many who suspect that Sann Rodrigues was the real founder of iFreeX (though the real founder had not been identified thus far). 

Within 1 month, Massachussetts, where TelexFree was based, issued a warning on iFreeX being a scam and a clone of TelexFree. Sann Rodrigues then apparently deleted all the iFreeX content from his Facebook timeline. (it is widely believed that he then started a new one somewhere that only posts in Portuguese, hidden from public view) 

In Feburary 2015, Brazilian Federal police special unit GAEP raided an iFreeX meeting headed by Sann Rodrigues. Rodrigues was invited downtown for a long chat, and apparently had his passport confiscated and told "don't leave the area". Apparently the Brazilians want to talk about his tax evasion. 

BREAKING NEWS: Coverup in Ghana? Bank employees claimed they've been duped to provide TelexFree loans then fired to cover up management incompetence

Nine workers of "Opportunity Savings and Loans" in Ghana are threatening to sue the S&L for wrongful dismissal. The S&L apparently started providing loans to people for purchasing TelexFree positions in December 2013. Within months, the complainers claimed, questions started to arise as rules, such as residency check, were not followed, but apparently team leaders took responsibility. Then loans were issued without issuer's knowledge (i.e. wrongly attributed loans) and never corrected. In the end, the bank lost 1.2 million GHS (roughly 362000 USD) and fired the nine workers.

Now the nine workers are alleging that they were following orders, the branch leaders knew exactly what happened, all correspondences were copied and concerns brought up and dismissed by the said leaders, who were apparently not fired. Now the company president has fired the nine instead to cover up mismanagement.

The bank president dismissed the charges and said the case had been referred to the Police and he fired the employees who broke the rules, and he has no further comment.

See SpyGhana article.   http://www.spyghana.com/opportunity-savings-loans-sacks-9-workers/

NEWS UPDATE: TelexFree may be the widest Ponzi scheme ever, surpassing ZeekRewards

Previously the Ponzi scheme with the widest reach is believed to be Zeek Rewards at 1 million victims and almost nine hundred million dollars. It was shut down in 2012 by SEC and other US agencies.

The bankruptcy trustee in charge of shutting down TelexFree after it tried to declare bankruptcy revealed that TelexFree fraud may be even bigger... with possibly up to 2.1 million victims and OVER a billion dollars.

There are 60000 victims in SOUTH AFRICA... the opposite side of the globe.

Boston Globe reported that some unscrupulous lawyers are encouraging victims to flood Darr's office with paper claims (i.e. physical documents).  He is NOT, repeat NOT taking paper claims because it cost too much to process. Soon claimants will be able to go to a website (much like Zeek Rewards Receivership) to file claims, and they will process the claims online.

Read the full article at  http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/12/16/telexfree-trustee-stephen-darr-may-have-toughest-job-boston/Wkk5JzcPtjfyar6c9QD1sI/story.html#

BREAKING NEWS: Massachussetts calls iFreeX "rebranded TelexFree fraud"

According to Massachusetts Securities Division, the first agency to pound on TelexFree fraud, iFreeX is a reload scam targeting TelexFree victims. It even has the same ponzi pimp: Sann Rodrigues (who's actually "Sanderley Rodrigues de Vasconcelos")  People who have verifiable information are urged to call MSD at 1-800-269-5428 to assist in the investigation.

http://patrickpretty.com/2014/09/30/urgent-bulletin-moving-massachusetts-issues-warning-on-ifreex-scheme-ifreex-appears-to-be-nothing-more-than-a-rebranded-telexfree-fraud-for-mobile-phones/

NEWS UPDATE: Quite a lot of catching up with all sorts of news updates regarding Ponzi, potential Ponzis, and such

Okay folks, sorry for not updating the blog for a week or so. Had been busy doing some other stuff... like playing way too much Doctor Who Legacy. Any way, articles are coming back next week. In the meanwhile there are some news to tide you over.

Remember, I link to the source, so click through if you want more details. Don't believe random people telling you some sort of news, then provide a link to their own website with no further citings.

Howard Kaplan claims he cannot be negligent regarding Zeek Rewards

In June Zeek Rewards receiver Ken Bell sued Howard Kaplan (the tax attorney who advised Zeek Rewards at a widely publicized event) and MLM lawyer Kevin Grimes for legal malpractice. Kevin Grimes have been since ousted from what used to "Grimes and Reese PLLC", and the company renamed "R & R Law" with a new partner in his place. We learned, on in late July / Early August 2013, Howard Kaplan's attorney(s) has denied any responsibility and wants to case to be dismissed, not because they're not guilty, but because they argue that a guilty party (i.e. Zeek) cannot sue its consultants/lawyers for malpractice because of "in pari delicto", a legal term that roughly means "both are equally at fault". Zeek Receiver Ken Bell have since fired back a reply to the court that Kaplan's reasoning is flawed, and urge the case to continue.

See BehindMLM article:  http://behindmlm.com/companies/zeek-rewards/howard-kaplan-gave-bad-legal-advice-to-850m-ponzi/#more-19145

Which contains links to the actual court documents, courtesy of ASDUpdates.

BREAKING NEWS: TelexFree investigation in Colombia

There has been little news out of Colombia after their Twitter-announced shutdown of WCM777 Ponzi that involved tweets from both the President AND the Police Chief. Now, the Superintendency of Companies in Colombia has apparently shut down TelexFree Colombia.

The Agency has published a public notice, based on the authority given in the financial emergency act of 2008 that given the government authority to investigate and close down scams in the wake of DMG and other pyramid schemes that almost destroyed the country's economy.

The public notice listed names and ID numbers of multiple individuals, with surnames of Lopez, Sierra, Moreno, and Vergel, with specific reference to "TelexFree Colombia"

A Colombian News article also pointed out that Colombia had recognized the existence of DMG-style pyramid/ponzi scheme in TelexFree.

It's also worth noting that TelxFree had been shut down in Brazil back in 2013, and is also shut down by Federal authorities in the US in 2014 after attempting to declare bankruptcy.

Thanks to PatrickPretty.com for the heads-up

News Update 22-AUG-2014: More TelexFree Lawsuits, Zeek Lawsuits, and Phil Ming Xu (WCM) lawsuits

A lot of developments regarding various closed ponzi schemes in recent months...

According to an expert tracking ponzi scheme, a new Ponzi scheme was discovered every 5 days in the US. That's right, every five days, just during the first 6 months in 2014, with over 1 BILLION dollars in potential losses.

But here's some news...


Court Approves Zeek Receiver to Sue International Winners

US Federal Judge overseeing the receivership of Zeek Rewards has approved the receiver's request to start suing "net winners" who do not reside in the United States. Previously, receiver have already sued most net winners in the US who has gained 1000 dollars or more from Zeek Rewards. Many have already settled for a lesser amount, though a few notable exceptions are the really top winners, who have gained anywhere from 500K to well over a million dollars from Zeek.

It is worth noting that several prior top promoters of Zeek has indeed fled the US to various countries, including the Dominican Republic and the Philippines.

Speaking of foreign countries...


Federal Prosecutors Allege Extremely Complex International Fraud Regarding TelexFree

According to documents filed with Federal court overseeing the TelexFree case, Federal prosecutors asked the judge to designate the case as "complex case" which will make it exempt from the "Speedy Trials Act" that requires the indicted defendant to be tried within 70 days, because there are significant portions of fraud linked to Brazil and will require foreign investigation / testimony, and subpoenas.

Prosecutors asserted that they have seized 400 TERAbytes of data spanning 46 servers, 26 separate computers from TelexFree and 3 more from grand jury subpoenas containing yet more records.  There are total of 185 grand jury subpoenas issued for evidence related to TelexFree such as business records. They have not yet compiled catalog of existing evidence, and there are strong possibilities that they will need to travel to Brazil to interview yet more witnesses and/or gather more evidence there. Thus, there's no way this can be done in less than 70 days.

Judge has yet to rule on this motion.

In related TelexFree news:

Breaking News: Brazilian TelexFree promoter shot, one killed; Peruvia TelexFree promoter arrested

Peruvian Arrested at Airport for TelexFree Fraud

Peruvian alleged fraudster who recruit people into the TelexFree ponzi scheme was caught at the airport airline counter by Peruvian authorities, according to trome.pe and taken into custody.

Detectives of Peruvian Judicial Police arrested Yoel Alexander Sandoval Mamani (age 24), better known as "Uncle Manrique of Cusco" at the airport. When confronted, he initially denied being the person sought for million P$ fraud, and was carrying a hidden bag with six thousand P$ "that were products of the fraud that was Telexfree International". Then he confessed that he intended to go to Brazil "to safeguard his financial integrity" after one of his fraud accomplices was arrested in Cusco.

http://trome.pe/actualidad/callao-detienen-sujeto-acusado-realizar-estafas-internet-2019202


Ambush in Brazil over TelexFree losses

A man was ambushed in Brazil when walking to work on Wednesday (13th) for his graveyard shift (10PM) and shot through the head. Police stated this was due to the victim having enticed the shooter previously to put 3500 R$ into the TelexFree fraud. The alleged shooter is still at large.

Scam Post-Mortem: TelexFree location lies confirmed by authorities

Back in July 2013, LONG before TelexFree got raided (April 2014) by DHS, FBI, etc. MLMSkeptic had warned the readers about how TelexFree office is a virtual office, and its co-owner, James Merrill, is allowing misinformation, such as "TelexFree own the whole building" to be perpetuated by its members in multiple languages on multiple continents.

Today brings an end to that chapter of the TelexFree lie; the bankruptcy trustee has terminated the $5944 per month lease of the TelexFree office, which only started January 2014 and is scheduled to run through March 2015. By forfeiting the deposit and a portion of the furnishings, the lease has been terminated, saving tens of thousands of dollars that can be repatriated to the victims of TelexFree.

In other words, it took another 5 MONTHS (July to December 2013) of constant pressure by "promoters" to convince TelexFree that they need a "real" office rather than the virtual one they had been touting. And they are willing to pay THOUSANDS of dollars a month just to keep up appearances, with office staff that does nothing except to smile and look busy, and there were only 7 of them for a company that allegedly did 1 billion dollars of business a year, according to themselves.

It is further alleged that in 2013, TelexFree reported sales of $1.016 billion, while known sales of the TelexFree VoIP product represented less than 0.1 percent of TelexFree’s total revenues.  --- FBI press release 

But TelexFree — whom some affiliates say is a $1 billion company with a VOIP product — has only seven employees at its Marlborough office, according to regulatory filings in Tennessee. These employees work in “administration, sales and marketing, accounting, and operations positions.”  -- PatrickPretty.com

That can't be legit.

But wait, there's more!

Breaking News: TelexFree trustee announced "no intention to reorganizing or restarting"

TelexFree trustee Stephen B. Darr, in filing today to the court, announced that he has "no intention to reorganizing or restarting" the TelexFree business, and have conceded that the entire business is a ponzi / pyramid scheme. Quoting from the court filing:

"based upon the information available to the Trustee, it appears that the early investors were paid not from sales of the VoIP services but rather from the money received from the later investors, thus evidencing a classic Ponzi/pyramid scheme..."

Jordan "Ponzitracker" Maglich, who is a lawyer that specialized in tracking ponzi schemes, opined that this wording indicates that the trustee will likely convert the bankruptcy from Chapter 11 reorganization to a Chapter 7 liquidation, in the near future. 

You can see the actual filing documents by clicking through to the Ponzitracker site:

http://www.ponzitracker.com/main/2014/7/16/trustee-telexfree-was-a-ponzipyramid-scheme.html

News Update 15-JUL-2014: Trivita Settle with FTC; SEC oppose Merrill access to 4 million; TelexFree Trustee issued more subpoenas

Seal of the United States
Federal Trade Commission.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Remember, readers: VERIFY the information for yourself. If they don't include links, their news probably cannot be trusted. Even if they include links, make sure it's to a reputable website like news websites and such.


Trivita Settle with FTC?

According to leaked letter to its affiliates, Trivita has settled a demand from Federal Trade Commission against its alleged false health claims regarding its Nopalea related products. Nopalea, also known as prickly pear (a type of cactus), is reputed to have some healing properties and is often pushed by so-called alternative medicine proponents in the same manner as prior fads such as noni, mangosteen, and acai berry products.

Report by Courthouse news showed that FTC filed the demand on July 11th. However, this did not seem to have received any news coverage.  http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/07/11/69432.htm

According to leaked letter as published on BehindMLM (and thus far, unverified), the settlement involves stop making false claims, and paying a large fine with no admission of wrongdoing and no stop of sales of such products (provided no further misleading claims are made). All affiliates must acknowledge the new restrictions or their commission will be withheld pending acknowledgement.

EDIT: FTC's own press release just dropped:

http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2014/07/cactus-juice-marketers-pay-35-million-refunds-consumers-deceptive


SEC opposes Merrill's "motion" to release 4 million for "expenses"

James Merrill, co-owner of TelexFree, out on bail, had previously filed a motion to release over 4 million dollars in one of the frozen accounts to pay for his legal defense. And SEC has filed an answer to that, explaining that James Merrill have plenty of assets available including accounts of several hundred thousand dollars, not to mention possible other sources (one of which is the house he used as bond to get himself out of jail). Why was he asking for 4 million in possibly tainted funds from alleged Ponzi scheme TelexFree? And since he haven't been indicted (merely charged), how much is his lawyers charging to require that much money, beyond what he has now?

News Update 17-JUN-2014: TelexFree James Merrill out on bail; TelexFree trustee subpoena everybody for info; TelexFree victims tell their stories to Boston Globe

Hook, Line, Sinker (How I fell for a phishing scam) (Photo credit: ToastyKen)

Remember folks, read trustworthy sources, not random internet blog posts and Facebook messages. I give you the source of my info, so you can see for yourself.


TelexFree co-owner James Merrill let out on bail

According to Boston Globe, TelexFree co-owner James Merrill was allowed out of jail when the judge decided the criteria for his bail is high enough, which includes:

• THREE houses for collateral, including 2 owned by him and one by his sister ($900000 bond)
• Wear a GPS tracker
• Not leave the state
• Give up his passport
• Must stay at home between 8PM and 8AM

Federal judge Tim Hillman ruled that unlike Merrill's partner Carlos Wanzeler, who had previously fled to Brazil (where he's originally from and still have relatives there), Merrill has deep ties to the Massachusetts community and really has nowhere to run outside of the US. 

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/06/17/telexfree-owner-james-merrill-set-free-bail/cSMbK8slkVxZNxEISoKdRO/story.html

NOTE: Click through to see actual judge ruling in this bail hearing. 

TelexFree trustee subpoenaed everybody for information

With little to go on how to administer the estate of TelexFree, the new bankruptcy trustee for TelexFree, Stephen Darr went for the fastest way: he subpoenaed all the different firms that advised TelexFree, which includes:

• PriceWaterhouseCoopers (former financial advisors)
• Alvarez and Marshal / William Runge (restructuring advisors)
• Kurtzman Carson Consultants (bankruptcy claims / noticing agent)
• Gordon Silver (TelexFree lawyers in Nevada)
• Greenberg Traurig (TelexFree lawyers in Massachusetts)

The subpoena demands any and all documents, emails, correspondences, phone (cellular or landline) records pertaining to TelexFree, affiliates, or subsidiaries, any and all financial accounts and related documents, any and all disbursement registers for every account, any documents relating to financial information, esp. those involving Global Payroll Gateway, International Payout Systems, Propay, etc. any and all tax documents, state or Federal, any and all internal financial statements, any and all properties and other assets including intellectual properties, any appraisal of such assets, any and all communications and other documents involving TelexFree or affiliates, creditors, and more. 

Scam Psychology: Naive Realism / Anecdotal Fallacy / Argument from Illusion

Illustration of Naive realism or Direct realism. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One of the most often used counter-arguments by a scheme participant against skepticism is the self-testimonial, as in "I have done this, so I know it works, and therefore the whole business works!"

Let us assume that they are not outright scammers for the moment (i.e. liar, liar, pants on fire)

What they don't realize is they are operating from "naive realism", i.e. they assumed that everything they experienced is real, when it is quite possible they've been defrauded (magic trick), and they then extrapolated from their limited (but realistic) experience to conclude that the whole business must be "real".  One version of such self-testimonial, and the most often used, is the "It paid me" argument, as in "this opportunity paid me, therefore it's not a scam".

Yet this is the most powerful of all arguments, even if it's false. TelexFree victims in and around Boston, Massachusetts told Boston Globe that pressure from friends and family, esp. when posing with new house, new car, new luxuries, etc. often prove to be impossible to resist, esp. by people with (naive) "unbridled enthusiasm". Quoting from the Boston Globe story:

...Fausto da Rocha said he probably lost $45,000, the proceeds of an insurance payment from an auto accident. He had initially resisted TelexFree, but after friends profited, he decided to join, hoping the investment would accelerate his recovery from bankruptcy a few years earlier and losing his house. Da Rocha, well known in the Brazilian community, said he recruited about 20 relatives and friends. 

“I feel guilty,” da Rocha said as tears clouded his eyes. “My career is gone. I’m going to clean houses with my wife. Cleaning houses is a good business.”

But the social cost is even greater. He had 20 relatives and friends he can never look in the eye again.

Sann Rodrigues, one of the "TelexFree 8" charged by SEC
as part of a scam, showing off his Ferraris and MB and mansion
in Florida in one of his videos (screencap from Vimeo)

News update 13-JUN-2014 (Friday!): TelexFree Faith Sloan plays dumb and begs for money; Solavei goes Chapter 11 Bankruptcy;

Remember, folks, get your news from a trusted news source, like I do. I don't relay unconfirmed information, and neither should you.


Faith Sloan Plays Dumb and Begs Court to Release Money; SEC says "No Way"

Faith Sloan, one of the "TelexFree 8", has filed a motion on 10-JUN-2014 asking court to release about 18K to pay expenses such as lawyers, rent, and food.

However, this is specifically against the injunction that froze her money in the first place. SEC and the judge that issued the freeze has specifically stated that no "carveout" ( i.e. taking money from accounts that contains money that may be tainted by the fraud) will be allowed if the account owner does not declare his/her assets. Thus far, Faith Sloan has refused to declare her assets as she claimed doing so may incriminate herself (i.e. "plead the fifth").

SEC has also long documents that detailed her multiple violations of freeze order, including:

1) Paid $14854 to "Changes Worldwide" another suspect scheme on 24-APR-2014
2) Paid $3990 to "Changes Trading LLC", which is a part of Changes WorldWide, on 28-APR-2014
3) Wired $30000 to her attorney on 7-MAY-2014
4) Transferred her house deed to her mother on 12-MAY-2014

And here she comes asking the judge to release more money to pay rent... to her mother, whom she just gave her house to. AND another $18000 to her attorney.

Hahahahahaha.

Quick Research: What is Eternyon and should you give them any money? (Probably not)

Occasionally MLMSkeptic was asked questions about a specific company. This is both such an investigation and an example about how I do such research. All this is done in about 30 minutes. (It took longer to write this blog post than to do the actual research)

Today's subject... Eternyon

So what the heck is Eternyon? They claim to be "advertising, technology, and e-commerce, using network marketing".

Frankly, their website looks like what some spammers built to catch people unaware, using only stock photos, like those fake universities.

Right now, there's no mention on who runs this business, or where they're located, on their own website. But it's clear it's aimed at Brazilian Americans, because it's in both Portuguese and English.

The wording in English is also quite... interesting. "Our Differential"? "Clients Benefits"? That looks as if it's written in Portuguese then ran through a translator.

It's allegedly centered in Worcester, Massachusetts... Where TelexFree was just closed not long ago by Feds.

You need to search online to find that Eternyon was allegedly founded by Wayne Howe and George Lima... Howe's allegedly a Massachusetts native, while George Lima was born in Rio de Janeiro but emigrated many decades ago.  However, there are no official paperwork viewable by the public proving Wayne Howe and George Lima are indeed the founders or executives of Eternyon, other than words of people trying to recruit you into Eternyon.

Searching Eternyon.com WHOIS hit a "domain by proxy"... They don't want you to know who registered the company domain.

Eternyon refers to itself as "Eternyon LLC" but never stated where the business is registered. There is an "Eternyon" registered in Wyoming: 2014-000657722, first registered in 2014-JAN-24.

You can search Wyoming entity search here:   https://wyobiz.wy.gov/business/filingsearch.aspx

However, this is NOT an LLC, but a "trade name", i.e. "dba - doing business as". And it was registered by yet ANOTHER LLC, at the same address:

Tech Products LLC
255 Park Ave Ste 1000
Worcester, MA 01609 USA

However, Tech Products LLC, which is also a Wyoming entity (2011-000603187), is marked as "inactive-dissolved".

So to make things clear, Eternyon is registered in Jan 2014 by an entity that went inactive merely 4 months later (May 2014). Its executives are unknown. Enternyon is just a name. The company is "inactive - dissolved".

What do we know about the address?

News Update 07-JUN-2014: TelexFree trustee appointed; TelexFree Faith Sloan know NOTHING about fraud, SEC disagrees; Lyoness not a pyramid scheme in Norway now

Remember folks, when you read news, even ones provided here, you should check the links I provided to make sure I was representing the new properly, and you should do the same for ALL the "news" you come across, unless you encounter news such as those from major newspapers, which has readers to account for and has a reputation of telling the truth, rather than what you want to hear. Stop reading crap meme and spreading them.


Stephen B. Darr selected as US trustee to oversee TelexFree bankruptcy

As directed by the judge Hoffman, US trustees has appointed Stephen B. Darr of Merisow Financial Consulting as trustee to takeover the TelexFree bankruptcy.

Here's the actual court order making the appointment:  (Thanks to Attorney Tim Durken for the lead)

http://www.scribd.com/doc/228343084/TelexFree-Certificate-of-Appointment-of-Chapter-11-Trustee

What exactly does a trustee do? Here's Cornell Law School's link to actual law on that:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/11/1106

You can find a short profile on Mr. Darr on the Merisow website:

http://www.mesirowfinancial.com/mfc/leadership/darr_s.jsp

NEWS UPDATE 03-JUN-2014: Burnlounge is a pyramid scheme (duh); Merrill about to flip on Wanzeler in TelexFree case? Rippln + Mannatech = ?!?!?!

Remember folks, get your news from REPUTABLE news sources (which I link to) so you can decide for yourself, rather than just one-sided narrative by unknown people.


Burnlounge appeal rejected by Federal Appeals Court

Burnlounge appeal of their 2012 judgement as a pyramid scheme was rejected by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, affirming that they are indeed, a pyramid scheme.

My short profile on Burnlounge:
http://amlmskeptic.blogspot.com/2012/09/scam-study-burnlounge.html

In their decision, the court stated that:

The district court found that because purchasing a package was required for participation as a Retailer or Mogul, and because Moguls earned cash for selling packages, “[Moguls] by default received compensation for recruiting others into the program.”

The 9th Court's decision can be read here:
http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2014/06/02/12-55926.pdf

The short of it is, if you claim you sold something and are getting paid for that, but in effect you recruited and the recruits are required to buy something, then  your claim of sales is invalid... You are getting paid for recruiting, not selling.

What is interesting is the court's decision reaffirmed Webster vs. Omnitrition as a precedent, but it's no surprise as it's also the Ninth Court that made the Omnitrition decision.

You can read my summary of Omnitrition case here:
http://amlmskeptic.blogspot.com/2014/01/mlm-dictionary-omnitrition-case_30.html

This would have some profound impact on some very big players in network marketing that relies on recruiting 'self-consumers' who then recruit more self-consumers to make themselves rich. Those who emphasize retail sales by sales teams should not be affected.