In August 2015 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) – an USA Government institution – hit Vemma with full power, many agents entered the head office in Phoenix, Arizona on a monday morning. A raid.
Bank accounts and credit cards were seized, 150+ employees were fired within a couple of hours, and a receiver took over.
A $180 million company was ruined, Vemma’s world wide distribution channel burned to the ground.
It was a direct attack on the MLM – network marketing industry.
The allegations: illegal pyramid scheme, income claims, failure to disclose, means and instrumentalities, relief defendent.
The FTC was granted a court order, to freeze the company’s and CEO B.K. Boreyko’s assets, as well as a temporary restraining order.
“Defendants are running a global pyramid scheme that has likely victimized hundreds of thousands or millions
Tag Archive for MLM Lawsuits
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Consumer Watchdog TINA Going After Plexus Worldwide
by Ted Nuyten • • 0 Comments
TINA.org is a non-profit organization that uses investigative journalism, education, and advocacy to empower consumers to protect themselves against false advertising and deceptive marketing.
The organization has triggered in the past FTC investigations. According to their below press release, Plexus could be a target.
TINA:
Plexus Worldwide, an Arizona-based multilevel marketing (MLM) company that markets nutritional supplements, weight-loss, and personal care products, calls itself the “health and happiness” company that offers life-changing financial freedom for recruits.
But an investigation by ad watchdog truthinadvertising.org (TINA.org) has found issues that could put a darker spin on the meaning of life-changing.
Here’s what you should know about Plexus:
1. Unsubstantiated Health Claims
Despite a previous FDA warning, TINA.org found more than 100 unsubstantiated health claims marketing Plexus products for everything from depression to cancer to Lyme disease.
2. Breast Chek Recheck
Though Plexus’ Breast Chek
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Legit Direct Selling Companies, Ponzi’s, Pyramids And Our Opinion
by Ted Nuyten • • 0 Comments
We at Business For Home get almost daily the question “Is company XYZ legit or a Ponzi – Pyramid scheme?”
Hard to answer as it takes in-depth knowledge of a compensation plan, the owners, product/service and the country a company is registered, and there are over 10,000 Direct Selling companies worldwide….
What is not compliant in the USA, can be no problem in other countries.
Bill Ackman thinks Herbalife is a Pyramid, we do not think so. The Federal Trade Commission in the USA had the opinion Vemma is a pyramid, we do not think so (and the FTC has settled this case).
However our opinion is not important, YOU have to do your own research.
The USA is not longer the Direct Selling Center of the universe, Asia is, and rules are there
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Reza Mokhtarian CEO Kaizen Global Charged With Fraud In Canada
by Ted Nuyten • • 0 Comments
Reza Mokhtarian is CEO and founder of Kaizen Global – a Forex education opportunity with a network marketing compensation plan.
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) announced today that Reza Mokhatarian of King City, Ontario has been charged with an alleged breach of the Criminal Code following an investigation by the OSC’s Joint Serious Offences Team (JSOT).
Mokhtarian has been charged with one count of fraud against the public over $5000, contrary to section 380(1)(a) of the Criminal Code.
The OSC alleges that Mokhatarian committed this offence between the dates of July 1, 2013 and December 31, 2015.
Mokhtarian is scheduled to appear in court on this matter on October 26, 2016, at 9:00 am in Courtroom #111, Old City Hall, 60 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario.
JSOT was established by the OSC as an enforcement partnership between
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Former CEO Longaberger Sued By JRJR Networks For Fraud
by Ted Nuyten • • 0 Comments
About a year after Tami Longaberger sued current Longaberger parent JRJR Networks over $1 million she loaned the company, JRJR has countered, suing Longaberger for fraud.
In the lawsuit filed Thursday in Texas, JRJR — previously known as CVSL — accuses her of failing to disclose millions of dollars in tax liabilities when JRJR Networks bought the Newark-based company in 2013.
Tami Longaberger was traveling and not available to comment Monday. However, her attorneys said the suit “lacks merit.”
“(We) anticipate it will be vigorously defended,” said Steven W. Tigges of Zeiger, Tigges & Little LLP.
The suit, filed in District Court of Dallas County, Texas, says that when JRJR Networks bought the Longaberger Co., it was unaware that the company had made a tax increment financing agreement with Newark on May 1, 1996, for
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Vemma Reaches Settlement Agreement With The FTC
by Ted Nuyten • • 0 Comments
Vemma, as top distributors Tom and Bethany Alkazin have reached a settlement with the FTC in the case the agency filed more than a year ago.
While details of the settlement have not yet been disclosed, court documents state that the company and its CEO BK Boreyko as top distributors Tom and Bethany Alkazin have agreed to a permanent injunction and monetary judgement.
As legal costs mounted to well over $1 million, Vemma and Boreyko had an additional court battle with their insurance company Hanover.
In April, Hanover Insurance filed a complaint against Vemma and Boreyko seeking a court declaration that it was not required to pay the legal costs because, the insurer contended, it was not properly notified about previous allegations that arose years earlier.
While the court held in July that pending the
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Longaberger – JRJR Networks In Trouble Sued By AT&T
by Ted Nuyten • • 0 Comments
Basket-maker Longaberger and its parent company, JRJR Networks, are under scrutiny from various quarters over unpaid phone bills and late financial filings.
And a potential source of revenue, its iconic basket-shaped headquarters in Newark, isn’t attracting much interest from potential buyers.
The latest issue to arise faces the parent company. Dallas-based JRJR Networks owns direct-sales firms including Longaberger.
Late Thursday, the publicly traded company announced it will file its quarterly earnings report late — again. It was also late in filing its annual report and and its first quarter report, too.
Issues like this can threaten the company’s ability to trade shares on the New York Stock Exchange.
“It doesn’t lend an aura of confidence,” said Eleanor Bloxham, a corporate-governance expert based in Westerville. A late filing “does happen, but it’s not usual.”
After its tardy
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Top Executive Speaks Out On State Of The USA Network Marketing Industry
by Ted Nuyten • • 0 Comments
Justin Serra is the General Manager of North America and serves on the global executive team for Modere.
Justin:
“While no one can debate that the USA network marketing industry is changing, the debate continues on about what the changes will bring.
Given the size of the industry only a very small fraction of companies have been directly affected by regulators, yet many companies are nervous it could be just the beginning. Based on the precedence recent actions have set, the industry, as a whole, may have serious reason to be nervous.
Given the respected and well run companies that have been recent targets of the FTC, company owners and field leaders know it’s just a game of Russian Roulette to who could be next.
This article is not to debate the politics of why the FTC
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Xango Pops Up On The FTC Radar
by Ted Nuyten • • 0 Comments
The FTC is a USA government organization, their mission:
“To prevent business practices that are anticompetitive or deceptive or unfair to consumers; to enhance informed consumer choice and public understanding of the competitive process; and to accomplish this without unduly burdening legitimate business activity.”
One of the results of the FTC battle against Vemma, is their case against Tom Alkazin, Vemma’s nr. 1 top earner.
In the latest filing from the FTC vs. Tom Alkazin, Utah based direct Selling Company Xango pops up.
Xango, founded in 2002 is a B classified company by Business For Home.
A number of Vemma top leaders joined Xango in October – November 2015 and the company introduced a initiative simular to the YPR (Young People Revolution) program of Vemma. That program was one of the triggers of the FTC case
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USA Jury Finds ZeekRewards Founder Paul Burks Guilty Of Fraud
by Ted Nuyten • • 0 Comments
A federal jury found Paul Burks, the founder of ZeekRewards, guilty Thursday on all four charges in a $939 million Ponzi scheme.
It was one of the largest Ponzi schemes in U.S. history, according to federal regulatory officials and prosecutors. The companies, which debuted in January 2011, were shut down and their assets frozen in August 2012.
The jury needed less than three hours to come back with its verdicts, according to Lia Bantavani, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina. Burks, 67, of Lexington was found guilty of wire and mail-fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud, and tax-fraud conspiracy.
“For nearly two years, Burks used deceit and dishonesty to engineer an extensive Ponzi scheme that amassed millions of dollars from thousands of victims, many in the Western