Overview, company details, product information, news, events, rankings and Rep listings for TelexFree.
TelexFree / telexfree.com was shut down as a massive Ponzi/pyramid scheme. It was presented as an internet telephone/VoIP business with a multilevel marketing program, but regulators and prosecutors said the real money came from selling “AdCentral” memberships and recruiting new participants, not from legitimate retail VoIP sales.
The SEC filed its case in April 2014, alleging that TelexFree sold “memberships” promising annual returns of 200% or more to people who recruited others and posted TelexFree ads on free internet ad sites. The SEC said TelexFree had taken in only about $1.3 million from VoIP service sales, while taking in more than $300 million from AdCentral promoter packages and promising more than $1.1 billion in payouts.
The company filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 2014, claiming it needed to restructure its MLM/pricing model, but the bankruptcy was quickly overtaken by government action. The case was transferred to Massachusetts, and the bankruptcy court later determined that TelexFree had operated a Ponzi and pyramid scheme.
The main principals were James M. Merrill and Carlos N. Wanzeler. The Department of Justice charged both in 2014; Merrill later pleaded guilty to wire-fraud conspiracy and wire fraud, was sentenced to six years in prison, and agreed to forfeit about $140 million and other assets. Wanzeler allegedly fled to Brazil and, according to DOJ/SEC materials, remained a fugitive in Brazil.
Original Npros business profile for TelexFree, preserved below for archival purposes:
TelexFree is a multilevel marketing company launched in Brazil in January 2012 that offers telephone service as well as an opportunity for members to earn income by publishing advertisements on the internet.
TelexFree’s product, 99TelexFree, is a phone service app that costs $49.99 per month and allows customers unlimited calls to cell phones and landlines within Brazil, the US and Canada.
Enrollment Options
TelexFree members pay $299.00 annually for each membership position, called an ‘’AdCentral’’. Each member may have up to 5 accounts, or an ‘’AdCentral Family Membership’’, for an annual cost of $1,375.00. The 5 memberships may be purchased in a lump sum or over time. TelexFree AdCentral Members are required to publish at least one preselected advertisement per day to the free classified ad sites on the internet.
Compensation Plan
TelexFree members earn commission on the sale of 99TelexFree subscriptions and the publishing of ads on the internet, $20 for the recruitment of each new member purchasing an AdCentral Membership and $100 per recruitment of each new member purchasing an AdCentral Family Membership. TelexFree has a binary compensation plan for commissions on the recruitment of new members and a 5X5 matrix compensation plan for commissions generated by the sale of 99TelexFree plans.
James Merrill, Founder
February 22, 2018 -- Carlos Wanzeler, the fugitive co-founder of TelexFree, was stripped of his Brazilian citizenship last week -- an unusual move by the Brazilian government which may open the door for his extradition to the United States.
Wanzeler left the United States for Brazil the day federal authorities raided TelexFree's headquarters in 2014. The U.S. had been negotiating for Wanz...
James Merrill, former president of TelexFree, was sentenced on March 22 to six years in prison and three years of probation. Merrill pleaded guilty last October to one count of wire fraud conspiracy and eight counts of wire fraud.
Merrill founded TelexFree with business partner Carlos Wanzeler, who is a fugitive living in Brazil.
Merrill's lawyer submitted dozens of written stateme...
January 26, 2017(Boston)--Approximately $20 million in cash hidden inside a box spring in a Westborough, Massachusetts, apartment was seized late yesterday, and a Brazilian man was arrested in connection with conspiring to launder proceeds of the massive TelexFree pyramid scheme.
Cleber Rene Rizerio Rocha, 28, was charged in a criminal complaint with one count of conspiring to commit money ...
Worcester, MA - October 25, 2016 -- James Merrill, president of TelexFree, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud conspiracy and eight counts of wire fraud in U.S. District Court. Prosecutors called TelexFree one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history, with nearly 1 million people losing close to $1.8 billion.
TelexFree originated in Brazil before moving operations to Marlborough, MA...
An attorney for James Merrill has requested suppression of evidence seized during a raid of TelexFree's offices in April 2014. In a court filing, Robert Goldstein said the document seizure was "unconstitutionally overbroad" and that his client "respectfully submits that all evidence seized pursuant to the warrant must be supressed." During the raid of TelexFree's offices, Homeland Security agent...
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