Thursday, July 24, 2014

BREAKING NEWS: Brazilian Authorities Cracking Down on What's Left of TelexFree in "Operation Orion"

English: Coat of arms of the Brazilian Federal...
English: Coat of arms of the Brazilian Federal Police Português do Brasil: Brasão da Polícia Federal Brasileira (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
News in Brazil, citing sources within Brazilian Federal Police, reported that "Operation Orion" (allegedly named because it aligned with the 3 pyramids in Giza, Egypt) has commenced against TelexFree / Ympactus in Brazil, with no less than NINE search warrants being served on various TelexFree / Ympactus related locations.

http://www.eshoje.jor.br/_conteudo/2014/07/noticias/policia/20222-operacao-orion-pf-investiga-crimes-financeiros-das-atividades-da-telexfree.html  (link in Portuguese)

http://www.pres.mpf.mp.br/site/  Link in Portuguese

It is also worth pointing out that these warrants were issued by the court of Espirito Santo, where Carlos Wanzeler currently lives as it was where he originally came from. Wanzeler is now a fugitive from US law (a warrant for his arrest was issued yesterday from the US grand jury indictment, according to WSJ) having abandoned all his properties and his wife in the US before the indictments were handed down. His wife had attempted to leave the US for Brazil but was arrested on a material witness warrant at JFK airport, minutes from boarding the plane. His daughter had left with him by driving across the border into Canada THEN took a flight to Brazil (apparently in an attempt to get away from government watchlists)

His partner in TelexFree, James Merrill, is under house arrest and GPS monitoring having previously been arrested, and was only let out after almost 1 million dollars in bail had been posted.

Due to the timing (this being handed down one day after the US grand jury indictment against Merrill and Wanzeler in the US) many are speculating that there may be tight cooperation between the US and Brazilian authorities on this matter. However, this cannot be confirmed at this time.

Stay tuned for further updates.

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