Merchants Area was a Ponzi scheme run by Canadian nationwide Ted Safranko.
An estimated $500 million is believed to have handed via Merchants Area in crypto alone.
ROI liabilities on the time of Merchants Area’s collapse in late 2022 have been pegged at round $3.3 billion.
Whereas Merchants Area itself wasn’t an MLM Ponzi scheme, a number of well-known MLM business figures invested into and stole via it.
Worse nonetheless they promoted Merchants Area to others, irrevocably tarnishing their reputations, careers and the belief given to them by their victims.
Right this moment we identify and disgrace the highest MLM business figures in Merchants Area.
Again in February I put collectively an in depth record of MLM Ponzi schemes that have been or have been believed to be feeding funds into Merchants Area.
This in flip offered a listing of scammers working and/or selling the hooked up MLM Ponzis, so I wasn’t utterly unaware of Merchants Area’s MLM connection.
What I didn’t know was how a lot these named had invested into Merchants Area. This info was partially made public by the YouTuber Coffeezilla on June twenty second.
Over the course of three weeks, Coffeezilla ran a three-part sequence on Merchants Area.
The sequence differed from my very own analysis in that I’d solely centered on the MLM connections to Merchants Area.
In case you haven’t seen the sequence, it’s value a look ahead to a glance into how Merchants Area operated.
I ought to level out that Coffeezilla did attain out to me throughout the course of his analysis. I wasn’t capable of present something useful, past what I’d already printed.
At [34:39] in Half 3 of Coffeezilla’s sequence, a partial record “of the highest 500 gamers in Merchants Area” runs throughout the display screen.
A number of of the names I acknowledged, prompting me to publish this followup to offer context to the record.
Observe that I did attain out to Coffeezilla to request the complete “high 500 gamers” record. That was a couple of days in the past and I haven’t but heard again.
If I do wind up in possession of the highest 500 record, I’ll both publish a separate article or make an replace under.
Lastly, word that the quantities in brackets under are the balances the named scammers had in Merchants Area at time of its collapse.
It is a mixture of non-public funding and recruitment commissions reinvested into the scheme. The quantity every of the named scammers stole via Merchants Area has not been made public.
With all that out of the best way, listed here are the highest MLM recruiters for Merchants Area named & shamed.
1. Holton Buggs ($125,289,105)
Holton Buggs has been within the MLM business for over 30 years. There may be completely no excuse for him selling and profiting Ponzi schemes.
But right here we’re.
Earlier than he started chasing crypto riches, Buggs was finest often known as a high earner inside Organo Gold.
Buggs sabotaged his place in Organo Gold in 2018, by making an attempt to funnel distributors into the Ormeus World Ponzi scheme.
That concept fell aside and Buggs went on to launch iBuumerang in 2019.
iBuumerang net visitors started tanking in the direction of the tip of 2021. This prompted Buggs to group up with Travis Bott and launch his personal MLM crypto Ponzi schemes.
Meta Bounty Hunters launched in early 2022 and was adopted up by Meta Bounty Huntresses later within the yr.
Each of Buggs’ Meta Bounty Hunters Ponzi schemes collapsed after Merchants Area collapsed in late 2022.
Along with funneling his personal Ponzi schemes into Merchants Area, Buggs additionally instantly recruited into it.
I imagine the majority of those efforts noticed Buggs pillage iBuumerang distributors via its Ellev8 platform.
Further Merchants Area accounts believed to be hooked up to Buggs embody:
- MBH Iconics – $10,595,368
- Buggs Legacy – $5,129,358
- MBH Reserves – $4,874,961
- Meta Bounty – $4,569,703
- MBH Escrow – $4,360,654
Buggs was approached by Coffeezilla for remark however didn’t reply.
2. Michael Shannon Sims ($84,739,551)
Mike Sims positioned himself as the cash man behind a couple of of the MLM Ponzi schemes funneling into Merchants Area.
By Yas Castellum, Sims and brother in legislation Todd Brisco dealt with the cash laundering for Merchants Area too.
This came about via Algo Capital, of which Sims represented himself to be Director of Worldwide Enterprise.
Algo Capital collapsed shortly after Merchants Area collapsed.
Getting again to MLM, Sims is a co-founder of the OmegaPro MLM crypto Ponzi scheme.
OmegaPro collapsed in late 2022, across the time Merchants Area collapsed.
Sims additionally seems to have had a direct hand in Holton Buggs’ Meta Bounty Hunters and Meta Bounty Huntresses Ponzi schemes – in any other case it’s an enormous coincidence he attended the rip-off’s 2022 launch occasion in Florida.
I didn’t identify Sims within the caption however he will be seen within the above picture heart back-row (to the correct of Travis Bott, marked “2”).
In what seems to be a “tip of the iceberg” regulatory strike on the a lot bigger Merchants Area Ponzi scheme, Sims and a number of other defendants have been sued by the CFTC in February 2023.
In March 2023 Sims consented to an asset freeze, pertaining to the CFTC’s $145 million greenback lawsuit. Whether or not that adequately captures Sims wider Merchants Area theft is unclear.
Coffeezilla reached out to Sims for remark. When confronted with proof of his involvement in Merchants Area, Sims solely comment was, “Is that this actual?”
3. Gilbert Pardla ($59,142,707)
Gilbert Pardla stole cash via Merchants Area by way of the shell firm Disruptive Tech.
Pardla was a part of the collapsed DagCoin Ponzi scheme. Pardla offered monetary providers to DagCoin via the Estonian shell firm SwipeX LTD.
In October 2022, across the time Merchants Area collapsed, Pardla was arrested by Estonian authorities on DagCoin associated legal costs.
There have been no updates on Pardla’s standing since his arrest.
4. Stormy Wellington ($26,540,315)
Stormy Wellington, aka Coach Stormy, cites herself as a “high chief on this planet of community advertising”.
Wellington was possible recruited into Merchants Area by Holton Buggs.
Wellington is presently a high earner in Whole Life Modifications, a weight reduction MLM firm with an autoship recruitment enterprise mannequin.
Whole Life Modifications founder and CEO Jack Fallon was additionally in Merchants Area (see #15 under).
Whether or not Wellington recruited any of her Whole Life Modifications downline into Merchants Area is unclear.
Regardless of being one in all Merchants Area’s largest net-winners, Wellington informed Coffeezilla she was a “massive investor who obtained scammed”.
5. Earlene Buggs ($17,404,854)
Earlene Buggs is the spouse of Holton Buggs.
On social media Earlene cites herself as co-founder of Buggs’ iBuumerang MLM firm.
6. Regulation Payne ($15,909,642)
Regulation Payne is a promoter of Click on Funnels.
Apart from noting Payne is a crypto bro…
…I’m unclear on his particular route into Merchants Area.
7. Eric Worre ($14,615,225)
Like Holton Buggs, Eric Worre is one other MLM business determine that has been round for many years.
On his journey to grow to be a multimillion-dollar producer who constructed gross sales organizations totaling over 500,000 distributors in additional than 60 international locations, he had his share of setbacks – like having to rebuild his group seven instances in his first three years.
Right this moment Eric is among the most revered, admired, trusted, and sought-after thought leaders in Community Advertising.
Additionally like Buggs, there’s completely no excuse for Worre’s involvement in blatant Ponzi schemes.
BehindMLM documented Eric Worre’s descent into fraud in early 2022. Our Could 2022 article adopted Worre becoming a member of the Dubai MLM Ponzi circuit.
Worre getting down and soiled with Dubai’s Ponzi scheme culminated in him signing on as a part of OmegaPro’s govt group.
Worre’s affiliation with OmegaPro possible noticed him launched to Merchants Area via co-founder Mike Sims.
Worre runs Community Advertising Professional, which offers him entry to MLM high earners.
I’ve heard rumblings of Worre recruiting MLM high earners he had entry to into Merchants Area. Nothing I can personally confirm although so I’ll depart it there.
8. Alan Bagamaspad ($8,615,024)
Alan Bagamaspad, initially from the Philippines and now believed to be a resident of California, has been selling MLM crypto Ponzi schemes for years.
WoToken was an MLM crypto Ponzi that launched in 2019. After it collapsed, WoToken’s co-founders have been arrested in China in 2020.
After WoToken collapsed, Bagamaspad seems to have gone underground.
9. Robert Rakowski ($8,314,789)
Robert Rakowski is a high earner in Organo Gold, Holton Bugg’s outdated MLM firm.
Rakowski can also be related to Eric Worre.
I’m unsure how Rakowski was launched to Merchants Area however it was possible via both Buggs or Worre.
10. Rabu Gary ($7,539,343)
Rabu Gary is a US-based serial promoter of MLM crypto Ponzi schemes. Gary coordinates his scamming via “United Funding Group Worldwide” (aka UIGI Social Membership).
Through the years BehindMLM readers have tied Gary to Daisy AI (2020), Troncase (2021) and NovaTech FX (2022).
In 2020 a knowledge leak revealed Gary was a high earner in Mirror Buying and selling Worldwide.
MTI collapsed in October 2020. CEO Johann Steynberg was arrested in Brazil on a world arrest warrant in late 2021.
The CFTC sued CEO Johann Steynberg in July 2022, alleging Mirror Buying and selling Worldwide was a $1.7 billion Ponzi scheme.
Gary was a high promoter in Holton Buggs’ Meta Bounty Hunters and Meta Bounty Huntresses Ponzi schemes.
This paved the best way for Buggs introducing Gary to Merchants Area.
Gary possible made appreciable commissions recruiting his UIGI Social Membership downline into Merchants Area.
After Coffeezilla’s Merchants Area video got here out, Gary was publicly referred to as out by the YouTube channel “Pocket Watching with JT”.
As a substitute of acknowledging his Ponzi scamming, Gary responded to JT by issuing a stop and desist.
Earlier at the moment Gary addressed his involvement in Merchants Area. In a video uploaded to FaceBook, Gary additional insulted his victims by claiming he didn’t “get a purple penny” via Merchants Area.
Gary maintains Merchants Area, an estimated half billion Ponzi scheme, is “an organization in good standing” that’s simply “going via a hiatus”.
11. Alexis Romano ($7,061,124)
Alexis Romano is a high earner in Isagenix.
Whether or not Romano recruited any of her Isagenix downline into Merchants Area is unclear.
Romano is related to Eric Worre, so it’s possible he launched her to the Ponzi scheme.
12. Marina Worre ($6,895,623)
Marina Worre is the spouse of Eric Worre.
On social media Marina refers to herself because the CEO of Eric Worre’s Community Advertising Professional firm.
Marina additionally claims she’s an “advocate for ladies” and founding father of “The Most Highly effective Ladies in Community Advertising” and Worre Studios.
13. Tara Romano ($6,036,157)
Tara Romano is a high earner in Isagenix.
Romano’s tied up in Merchants Area possible ties into Alexis Romano’s involvement.
14. Alayna Stepter ($5,939,846)
I don’t have something particular however public information recommend Alayna Stepter is tied to Mike Sims.
15. Jack Fallon ($5,809,184)
Jack Fallon is the founder and CEO of Whole Life Modifications.
As detailed above in #4, Whole Life Modifications high earner Stormy Wellington was additionally in Merchants Area.
I can’t be 100% certain however it’s possible Holton Buggs recruited Wellington who then recruited Fallon.
Fallon obtained bitten by crypto brainrot in late 2021 or early 2022.
In his pursuit to ram crypto into Whole Life Modifications’ MLM alternative, Fallon created a memorable MLM crypto catastrophe.
Fallon’s and Wellington’s involvement in Merchants Area strongly suggests different TLC distributors have been possible recruited into the Ponzi scheme below them.
16. Travis Bott ($4,958,288)
Whereas he stole virtually $5 million via an account hooked up to his personal identify, Travis Bott additionally had one other Merchants Area account named “MLAgents Group”.
The MLAgents Group account held an extra $5,014,315.
“MLAgents” is an abbreviation of “Meta Labs Brokers”.
Meta Labs Brokers is an NFT Ponzi by Holton Buggs’ partner-in-crime Travis Bott.
Whereas Buggs was the promotional man, Bott labored behind the scenes and dealt with the “tech” aspect of the scams.
This came about via Meta Labs Company, Bott’s failed NFT Ponzi manufacturing facility.
Previous to teaming up with Buggs, Bott already had a protracted affiliation with MLM Ponzi schemes.
Travis Bott first appeared on BehindMLM’s radar in mid 2017. We tied Bott to Divvee’s unlawful securities fraud providing, via Ryze AI.
Bott reemerged in late 2017 with Westmyn, a shell firm used commit securities fraud via Investview’s Wealth Mills.
Investview was subpoenaed and subsequently fined $150,000 by the CFTC in 2018.
A yr later Travis Bott went solo with Onyx Way of life.
In mid 2021 what was left of Onyx Way of life was rolled into Digital Revenue.
Digital Revenue imploded with a “dangerous trades” exit-scam in August 2021. Traders misplaced a whole bunch of 1000’s of {dollars}.
17. Jeremie Sowerby
I can’t 100% verify his involvement however I imagine Sowerby’s cryptocurrency fraud dates again to BitClub Community.
BitClub Community was a crypto mining MLM firm launched in 2014.
The rip-off’s homeowners have been arrested in 2019, with the DOJ confirming BitClub Community was a $722 million greenback Ponzi scheme.
BehindMLM has been monitoring Sowerby’s confirmed securities fraud since 2019, starting with Dunamis Community.
Dunamis Mining was an MLM crypto “mining” themed Ponzi launched in early 2019.
Just a few months after launch, Sowerby (proper) put BitClub Community scammer Joe Abel in cost and rebranded as Dunamis World Tech.
Dunamis World Tech collapsed by the tip of 2019. Sowerby offered the affiliate investor base off to Travis Bott’s Onyx Way of life Ponzi.
After Dunamis World Tech got here Kannabiz Koin and My Blockchain Life, the latter of which might finally grow to be My BlockX.
Sowerby, a Canadian nationwide residing within the US, was sued by the Arizona Company Fee for My BlockX associated securities fraud in late 2022.
At time of publication the ACC’s case continues to be taking part in out.
18. Eduard Khemchan ($4,489,949)
You received’t discover him on the corporate’s web site however Eduard Khemchan is credited as a co-founder of the Daisy AI MLM crypto Ponzi scheme.
It’s value noting the person internet hosting the above 2021 webinar is Avinash Nagamah, iBuumerang’s “Journey Financial savings Ambassador for Europe”.
Because of his proximity of Holton Buggs and iBuumerang, Nagamah was closely concerned in Meta Bounty Hunters and Meta Bounty Huntresses.
It’s assumed Nagamah was additionally invested in Merchants Area, making him possible one other Holton Buggs recruit.
19. Savvy Pockets ($4,336,635)
Savvy Pockets ties Frank DiCrisi and Gregory “Tuffy” Baum to Merchants Area.
BehindMLM first reported on the hyperlink between Savvy Pockets and Merchants Area again in February 2023.
In a nutshell, Oscar Garcia, DiCrisi and Baum have been working the since collapsed Batched Ponzi scheme.
Sooner or later DiCrisi (proper) and Baum started funnelling Batched investor funds into Merchants Area via Savvy Pockets, a crypto cost processor they owned.
In mid 2022 the SEC contacted Batched requesting details about the enterprise.
In the direction of the tip of 2022 DiCrisi and Baum reduce Garcia out. Batched went on to break down across the identical time Merchants Area collapsed.
The SEC’s investigation into Batched and Garcia (and presumably Baum and DiCrisi) is ongoing.
20. Nicola Smith Jackson ($4,238,715)
Nicola Smith Jackson claims to have “over 25 years of entrepreneurial expertise”.
Jackson cites involvement in two MLM firms on her LinkedIn profile; Ardyss Worldwide (2008-) and Monetary Training Providers (2014-).
Smith’s LinkedIn locations her in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2021 the Atlanta Lawyer Basic’s Workplace fined Monetary Training Providers $1 million for
working an unlawful credit score restore enterprise and utilizing illegal and misleading practices of their multi-level advertising construction.
The FTC sued Monetary Training Providers in Could 2022, alleging the MLM firm was a $467 million pyramid scheme.
At time of publication the FTC’s case continues to be lively.
Jackson is related to Eric Worre…
…so it’s possible he recruited her into Merchants Area.
Names I’m not 100% certain of
There are a couple of names on Coffeezilla’s Merchants Area shortlist that I’m not 100% certain of.
First off we now have “Steve L” coming in at $6,097,326.
I imagine this could possibly be Steve Lawson, a serial promoter of MLM Ponzi schemes.
“Dean Gray” could possibly be William Dean Kosage, who began off his MLM profession in Amway.
Mr. Gray additionally has intensive expertise in Direct Promoting. By the age of twenty three, Mr. Gray turned the youngest recipient of Amway’s Government Diamond award for rising the income of his Amway direct gross sales enterprise’ into the biggest high 0.002% of the group.
Dean would converse 4x a yr to coliseums full of individuals in his group in over 18 international locations for over a decade.
Amthrax tied Gray to Allysian Sciences in 2015. That very same yr Gray based Skylab Apps, an app growth firm.
Adam Powell is up for ($7,140,005)…
…and might be tied to Travis Bott via his spouse Cassandra Powell Bott.
Public information hyperlink Travis Bott and an Adam Powell as kinfolk:
I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the above information although, therefore the uncertainty.
What occurs now?
As beforehand acknowledged, the CFTC’s Yas Castellum lawsuit does identify Merchants Area gamers however stays a “tip of the iceberg” lawsuit.
There are way more names and an amazing deal more cash hooked up to Merchants Area than the CFTC has filed swimsuit over.
I wouldn’t be shocked if in some unspecified time in the future we see the DOJ file costs, however in opposition to who and after I can’t say.
Over the previous few years we’ve seen the SEC and DOJ group as much as take out Ponzi schemes, its operators and high promoters (e.g. Forcount, the “Mike G Deal“, Forsage, AirBit Membership and so on.).
Contemplating the scale and scope of Merchants Area, I’d actually be shocked if this doesn’t occur.
On the very least we’re securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and cash laundering (word not all of those offenses will apply to all of Merchants Area’s net-winners).
As I used to be publishing BehindMLM’s personal “tip of the iceberg” Merchants Area MLM hyperlinks articles again in February, I acknowledged;
If all of this matches collectively as I feel it does, given the quantity of individuals concerned and the hundreds of thousands laundered (I’d guess over a billion via OmegaPro alone, if not excessive a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands), this convoluted net of Ponzi schemes locations Sims, Safranko, Worre and Buggs on the heart of the biggest US-based “in home” MLM Ponzi empire I’ve seen in years.
I haven’t seen folks sabotaging their private {and professional} reputations this tough since Zeek Rewards (Troy Dooly, Gerry Nehra, ANMP and so on.).
The Merchants area MLM fallout has solely elevated since then, with an increasing number of names being added to the disgrace record.
And take note, presently I’m working off an abbreviated high 500 record. If Coffeezilla does wind up offering me a replica of the complete high 500 record, I’m most likely going to be holed up researching for weeks.
Regardless of Merchants Area itself not being an MLM Ponzi scheme, its broad MLM hyperlinks are simply the largest MLM scandal I’ve seen since launching BehindMLM in 2009.
Reputations that took a long time to construct have been obliterated with one collapse.
Each single particular person concerned in Merchants Area ought to be completely ashamed and publicly apologizing profusely to the folks they scammed and stole from. Incrimination worries be damned, we’re nicely previous that.
