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:
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- 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.
Sometime after this, Sann Rodrigues apparently smuggled himself out of Brazil, violating the Brazil judicial order for him to stay put. This is serious enough, that the Brazilian police added him to an Interpol wanted list known as "red notice" (search for "vasconcelos") :
After that, nothing is heard of Sann Rodrigues except untraceable Facebook posts. That is, until his FB feed stopped updating on May 16th.
Turns out he was nabbed by Immigration at Newark International Airport in New Jersey, on May 16th, after coming back from the Middle East, and charged with visa and immigration fraud. He was ordered to put up $200000 secured bond and had his passport and those of his family confiscated, PLUS electronic monitoring (i.e. ankle bracelet) and home confinement.
Right about this time, iFreeX website went offline.
Sann Rodrigues claimed he doesn't have the money for bail. On June 26th, his wife Camila finally coughed up the 200K for bond, and Sann Rodrigues may finally be released on bail... But apparently not, as the Brazilian authorities, hearing about Sann Rodrigues' arrest, invoked their Interpol wanted notice and Sann Rodrigues was arrested right after he was "released" from ICE custody.
It is unknown if Sann Rodrigues will be extradited as there's no official extradition treaty between US and Brazil. However, mutual police cooperation through Interpol is often done despite lack of such treaty.
