TVI Express Review and History

TVI Express no longer appears to be active as a direct sales company.

TVI Express is no longer active as a legitimate direct-selling business opportunity. The travel-based program became the subject of major regulatory actions internationally, and an Australian federal court formally found TVI Express to be an illegal pyramid selling scheme in 2011.

Original Npros business profile for TVI Express, preserved below for archival purposes:

TVI Express, also known as Travel Ventures International, emerged around 2009 as an international travel-club and network-marketing opportunity. The company promoted a London headquarters and claimed operations across more than 150 countries. Members paid a one-time enrollment fee of approximately $250, later documented at $330 in Australia, and received travel certificates, access to discounted travel offers, a personalized website, and the right to participate as independent distributors. TVI promoted vacation accommodations, companion airfare offers, travel discounts, hotel and resort packages, and other travel-related benefits.

The compensation plan relied on two cycling boards known as the Traveller Board and Express Board. New members entered the Traveller Board and advanced as additional participants entered the organization. Cycling through the Traveller Board generated a $500 benefit under company materials, while cycling through the Express Board was promoted as paying $10,000. The plan also included residual downline commissions, leadership bonuses, Business Generation Bonuses, and a global Power Pool. TVI's own compensation materials described a revolving matrix and promoted repeated $10,000 Express Board payouts.

Regulators concluded that recruitment, rather than genuine travel sales, drove the compensation system. In November 2011, the Federal Court of Australia ruled that TVI Express was a pyramid selling scheme. The court found that the only way participants could earn income was through the introduction of additional members and that the travel certificates were extremely difficult, if not impossible, to redeem and therefore had little or no practical value. The court also found that promoters made misleading representations about TVI's relationships with travel companies. In May 2012, the court imposed $200,000 in total penalties against three Australian promoters: $90,000 against Lualhati "Teddi" Jutsen, $80,000 against Tina Brownlee, and $30,000 against David Scanlon.

TVI Express also became the subject of extensive action in South Africa. The South African Reserve Bank began investigating the operation in 2011, and subsequent court proceedings described TVI as a pyramid-type scheme operating through travel vouchers and participant recruitment. Regulators determined that participants and related entities were accepting money from the public in violation of South Africa's banking laws and ordered repayment of money collected through the scheme. South African courts continued handling TVI-related asset and repayment proceedings for years afterward.

The original tviexpress.com website remains accessible, but the material is clearly legacy content dating from the company's original operating period, including pages carrying a 2009 copyright and the old Traveller/Express Board compensation program.