SEC holds TelexFree promoter liable for $1.8M
A TelexFree promoter was found liable for $1.83 million in the Marlborough pyramid scheme.
A promoter of TelexFree, Inc. was found liable for more than $1.83 million in federal court in Boston last week, two months after the company’s president was sentenced to six years in prison.
TelexFree, based in Marlborough, marketed itself as an internet telecom company but was actually a pyramid scheme, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC on May 25 entered a final judgment by consent against defendant Sanderley Rodrigues de Vasconcelos, who admitted he promoted TelexFree by appearing at sponsored public events and gatherings at hotels and restaurants.
Rodrigues de Vasconcelos is one of four promoters of TelexFree charged in April 2014 with perpetrating an international pyramid scheme that targeted Latino communities in the U.S. Four company officers were also charged.
Of the $1.83 million Rodrigues de Vasconcelos is responsible for, $1.7 million is for disgorgement and prejudgment interest, and the remaining $150,000 is a civil penalty.
James Merrill, TelexFree’s former president, was sentenced to six years in prison with three years of supervised release in late March. The total scope of the TelexFree pyramid scheme was about $3 billion, according to federal prosecutors.
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