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| Hook, Line, Sinker (How I fell for a phishing scam) (Photo credit: ToastyKen) |
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.
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.
Darr also wants the ability to compel any of the 5 parties to provide more documents in case they don't provide stuff fast enough or completely enough by summoning them to personal presentation explaining why such documents cannot be found or never existed. The judge has not yet signed off on this order, with a hearing set for 24-JUN-2014. Such a request though, is likely to be approved by the judge.
NOTE: Click through KCCLLC website to see the various motions by Stephen B. Darr
TelexFree victims tell how they fell for the $1 billion Ponzi scheme
Boston Globe has two recent articles tracking TelexFree. One of them profiled multiple affiliates of TelexFree, all low-level players that lost money. Some lost as much as $45000, and have to face dozens of friends a relatives, whom they recruited into TelexFree.
The other reported on people in Brazil, many of them still believe in TelexFree and distrusts their own government. Some of them persist in believing that most of their money is still in TelexFree accounts, merely frozen by the court. As soon as the company's "cleared" they will continued to be paid, they said. Wanzeler, through his local attorney, claimed that he will not be returning to the US, and Brazil does not extradite Brazilian citizens to other countries. (Wanzeler never renounced his Brazilian citizenship).
