NEWS UPDATE 22-MAY-2014: FBI / HSI Victim Reports; Uganda makes TelexFree arrest; Nevada Denies TelexFree telecom license; Ponzi Experts Talk TelexFree

FBI Badge & gun. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

News Update for 22-MAY-2014


FBI Needs TelexFree Victims' Help

Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) needs more victims of TelexFree to step forward and report how they are victimized. Please go to the following link to visit the FBI webpage, and fill out a questionnaire at the end.

http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/victim_assistance/seeking-victim-information/telexfree-inc.-case


Please note this is for the CRIMINAL case, which is separate from the CIVIL case pursued by SEC

http://patrickpretty.com/2014/05/15/update-for-speakers-of-spanish-or-portuguese-secs-telexfree-complaint-now-available-in-your-language/


Uganda Makes First TelexFree related arrest

Uganda makes the first TelexFree related arrest of a local Ronald Muramuzi, who apparently was recruiting people into multiple HYIPs under multiple aliases and alternate names, and thus making himself quite rich. He's alleged to have profited by 2.37 Million USD (over 4 billion UGX)

http://behindmlm.com/companies/telexfree/top-ugandan-telexfree-affiliate-arrested/

BREAKING NEWS: TelexFree Bankruptcy Will Be Moved to Massachussetts

It was just announced (about 30 some minutes ago) Judge Landis of Bankruptcy Court in Las Vegas Nevada has decided to move the case to Massachusetts.

http://www.ponzitracker.com/main/2014/5/6/court-suspends-telexfree-bankruptcy-grants-motion-to-transfe.html

Judge cited many reasons, essentially concluding that the ONLY thing tying TelexFree to Nevada is a mailbox and a piece of paper filed with Nevada. EVERYTHING that had something to do with the company, such as HQ, staff, equipment, assets, and so on, are in or near Massachusetts. Even 10 of the top 30 creditors are in Massachusetts.

Judge did not rule on motions such as which parts of temporary restraining order conflicts with the automatic stay (part of bankruptcy) or the US Trustee's request to have a special trustee placed to oversee the bankruptcy rather than TelexFree personnel (such as Runge and MacMillan).

Stay tuned to MLMSkeptic blog, BehindMLM, PonziTracker, and/or PatrickPretty websites for more updates as they become available.

UPDATE: News now confirmed by Boston Globe

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/05/06/las-vegas-bankruptcy-judge-will-send-telexfree-case-back-massachusetts/KAo3EqqIOmcfFYGGnjioNP/story.html

TelexFree News Update 5/2/2014: New CEO knows nothing, most procedural things done, no big news

May 2nd is the big court date for TelexFree and Jordan "Ponzitracker" Maglich was live-tweeting about the trial, and not too much happened. Before giving you a summary, I would like to make some comments.

1) Nothing Important Happened. Really. 

Any one who tell you otherwise, like "court exonerates TelexFree", are LIARS.

There was ONE document, that says something will be decided today, but today's session will be continued Monday. It has NOT concluded. So any one who was talking about "good news" are LIARS. There are NO SIGNIFICANT NEWS. Today is just some testimony, and decisions on what can be admitted as evidence, and what cannot be.

2) Unauthorized and plagiarized "live tweet" of trial

Any one "live tweeting", unless they are actually IN the courtroom, and they are probably lying, are simply copying Jordan "Ponzitracker" Maglich's coverage (and Oz's authorized copy on BehindMLM).

Here's the original: http://www.ponzitracker.com/main/2014/5/2/live-blogging-the-telexfree-bankruptcy-hearing.html

There are many alleged coverage on Youtube, mostly of stupid, unattributed (and unauthorized) translations and copies of the real thing, and often the information are outright WRONG. Some even claimed that the bankruptcy was already approved (it haven't even started).  THOSE ARE LIARS. THEY POST CRAP LIKE THIS:

Actual fake news found online even before the trial
coverage ended today, 2-MAY-2014

Accept no substitutes. Ponzitracker will be covering the continuation on Monday. If you wish to donate a few dollars to pay for his special lawyers-only subscription ($30 per hour!) to the trial, please do so at his website.

Now, a quick summary of the trial thus far:

TelexFree News Update, April 24, 2014: Claim process starts (DO NOT FILE YET!), more investigation in Dominican Republic, and more legal motions

A flurry of news for past 24 hours, but all of them small. Here's the summary:

TelexFree Bankruptcy will Continue in Nevada for Now, Claim Deadline Set

Bankruptcy judge in Nevada has allowed the bankruptcy proceedings to continue for now (on an interim basis), with another court date for May 2nd among the parties such as TelexFree, SEC, and US Trustees. KCC has been appointed interim claims and noticing agent to handle paperwork. 

As a result of this appointment, court also has set tentative dates, including a "341 Meeting" (named for the bankruptcy law section) for May 22nd, and claim deadline of August 20.  The debtors will be present and if you are a creditor, there may be an opportunity to question the principles of TelexFree. 

The "341 Meeting" will take place May 22, 2014 at 3:00 P.M. in the Jury Assembly Room of the Lloyd D. George U.S. Courthouse in Las Vegas, Nevada

Any and all claims *must* be filed with the claim agent. Absolutely DO NOT file the claim with the court itself.  Jordan "Ponzitracker" Maglich will have a guide on how to fill out the claim and where to send it and it will be linked from here when it is published. You can wait a few days!

See http://www.ponzitracker.com/main/2014/4/24/claim-deadline-set-for-victims-in-telexfree-bankruptcy.html


ANALYSIS: Do not file any claims yet. Wait until after May 2nd at least. You don't even know if the claims will be staying in Nevada just yet. By then a guide to fill out the claim will be published.


TelexFree and SEC file a flurry of motions and briefs

TelexFree is arguing that bankruptcy would trump some parts of the TRO. This will be decided in Nevada court on May 2nd.   (SEC asked for April 30th, but judge took TelexFree's side and gave both May 2nd).

SEC's arguing that the case belongs in Massachussetts, where the creditors and the principal all reside. This will be heard on May 2nd.

The individual defenders, such as Labriola, Crosby, and so on have entered their own motions to fight the TRO. On Friday, April 25th, court in Massachussetts will decide whether the TRO will be made permanent.

You can read a full list of motions and order on BehindMLM.com

See: http://behindmlm.com/companies/telexfree/telexfree-court-status-24th-april-2014

ANALYSIS: May 2nd seem to be the big day. Wait until then.

Dominican Republic Authorities Expand TelexFree investigation

Dominican authorities, including anti-money laundering unit, National Prosecutor, and Superintendency of Securities, will coordinate efforts to trace the money of victims in Dominican Republic, which is believed to be tens of millions of pesos. They promised to track down the top promoters and find out where the money went, and if it did indeed left the country, will seek US help to retrieve the money. 

See http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/local/2014/4/22/51221/Dominican-agencies-probe-TelexFree-ponzi-scheme

BREAKING NEWS: SEC appears in TelexFree Nevada bankruptcy court, wants whole thing moved to Massachussetts

English: The Seal of the
United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

SEC has formally filed a motion to join the Nevada TelexFree bankruptcy hearing, and to move the Nevada Bankruptcy hearings to Massachussetts, according to court documents filed, as spotted by PatrickPretty.com. The filing revealed that there are two separate probes, one by Massachussetts secretary of state, securities division, and one by US Attorney's office (department of Justice), that involved FBI, HSI, ICE, and possibly other agents. It notes that while the company is registered in Nevada, it really exists only in Massachusetts.  Asset freeze obtained by SEC started April 16th, 2014.

The SEC motion can be viewed here, courtesy of KCCLLC

TelexFree Update: SEC will intervene in bankruptcy, telecom licenses in jeopardy, victims may be trolled for reload scams

Every day the scope of TelexFree scam seem to expand, and getting more complex, as different people search for ways to cope with the situation, whether they are victims, or "leaders" who lead victims, or worse. Here are some choice updates.

TelexFree owners paid themselves and more millions with participant money

TelexFree, according to SEC, only sold $1.3 million dollars worth of VOIP over 2 years that it operated. However, its owners passed out checks worth much more in the last six months. Here's some highlights, according to SEC's forensic accountant:

Albers [SEC forensic accountant] said TelexFree transferred a total of $3.1 million to Merrill Dec. 26 [2013] and the following day. Over those same two days, the company moved $7.3 million to Wanzeler, who wired half that amount to a Chinese bank in Singapore a week later, Albers said in court documents. 

There’s lots more: TelexFree sent more than $2 million to companies controlled by chief financial officer Joseph Craft between last November and March of this year. He was in the office when FBI agents raided the company, and he tried to walk out the door with $38 million in cashier’s checks. Among those checks: one made out to Wanzeler’s wife for another $2 million.

Now consider this simple question: if they sold only $1.3 million worth of VOIP over 2 years, where did all that $7.3 mil, $3.1 mil, $2 mil, and $38 mil come from?



Nevada Attorney General will "Intervene" in TelexFree's telecom approval

According to documents spotted by PatrickPretty.com, Nevada Attorney General / Consumer Protection Bureau has filed "intent to intervene" in regard of TelexFree licensing issues with the Nevada Public Utilities Commission.

This appears to be in reaction to the Joe Isaacs / ISG Telecom letter apparently sent to all 50 states (and DC) that he was lied by TelexFree to and the information submitted to various commission to "prove" TelexFree is a viable company, many of which were "submitted under seal" and thus not for public review, may be utter fabrications.

What that really means is Nevada AG wants to throw out the entire application for telecom license to operate in Nevada in light of the new information, such as TelexFree's bankruptcy and charges by SEC and Massachusetts SecState of being a huge Ponzi scheme.

Expect other states to follow in the next few days. TelexFree should have all of its telecom license invalidated within a few weeks. They were likely fraudulently obtained through filing of false information.


Also see BehindMLM: TelexFree communications registrations in jeopardy?

But wait, there's more!

BREAKING NEWS: Massachusetts formally charged TelexFree with being a 1 BILLION dollar fraud (UPDATED)

It's now official: US Government has acted on TelexFree, a long suspected fraud. Commonwealth (state) of Massachusetts, home of TelexFree, has charged TelexFree of being a 1.2 billion dollar fraud (90 million in Massachusetts alone), and also stated that the company is declaring a bankruptcy to PREVENT the authorities from securing victim's money.

“They clearly are responding to the fact that an investigation was underway,’’ Galvin said in an interview. “Now the thing is to act promptly and get whatever we can for these people.’’

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/04/15/secretary-galvin-charges-marlborough-phone-service-company-with-million-fraud/RSaSTWvJpnOjo8Ryh8stpN/story.html

Jordon "Ponzitracker" Maglich has covered this in Forbes:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jordanmaglich/2014/04/15/massachusetts-regulators-allege-telexfree-is-1-billion-ponzi-scheme/

Expect Massachusetts lawyers filing complaint with Nevada to stop the bankruptcy filing at once, and a more formal cease, desist, and account freeze put in its place instead.

Stay tuned, folks. This will get ugly FAST. Expect the Feds to jump in any second.

P.S. News has already reached Brazil

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Feconomia.ig.com.br%2F2014-04-15%2Ftelexfree-e-piramide-diz-autoridade-dos-eua.html

Editor's note: Updated with the correct figure, previously the newspaper quoted only 90 million.