The infamous financial education MLM (multi-level marketing) company IYOVIA which has rebranded many times over the years, and which has been active on St. Maarten as much as elsewhere, shut down amid action by the United States FTC (Federal Trade Commission). The FTC has filed an injunction and worries that defendants – its two owners and four top distributors – are dissipating assets. As it rebranded to IYOVIA in late 2024, St. Maarten consumers might better recognise its former names: IM Master Academy, IM Academy, iMarketsLive, IMMA, or IML. Defendants are accused of causing more than US $1.2 billion in estimated worldwide consumer harm since 2018. There is no realistic way to ascertain how much has been ill-gained from St. Maarten consumers.
FTC and the state of Nevada filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in federal court on May 30 against IM Mastery Academy for deceiving consumers. They allege that it has taken more than $1.2 billion from consumers since 2018. The MLM has been under scrutiny, with authorities all over the world issuing warnings against it (the Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten [CBCS] included), and the timing of this motion was based on the fact that the MLM was suspending its operations. The FTC is concerned that it may destroy evidence, and that the defendants may be hiding/squandering assets that should be saved for future consumer redress.
“Defendants have been dissipating ill-gotten gains from the scheme by, among other things, moving funds offshore or into cryptocurrency to evade regulations and taxes, and living extravagant lifestyles. To protect consumers and preserve assets for potential consumer redress, Plaintiffs seek a preliminary injunction (“PI”) that enjoins Defendants’ unlawful conduct, preserves Defendants’ assets, and appoints a monitor over Corporate Defendants, which have operated as a common enterprise,” the FTC stated in the recent motion.
IYOVIA’s website has been reduced to a single page with one paragraph, notifying consumers that it “has officially suspended its operations”.
“Plaintiffs attached nearly 7,000 pages of evidence in support of their motion, which included more than a dozen affidavits from victims of the IML scheme, BBB complaints against the company, an IML distributor survey, three affidavits from TINA.org, and declarations from FTC investigators, a data analyst, an economist and a forensic accountant. The documents attached to these declarations are a treasure trove of damning evidence against the defendants,” reported consumer watchdog Truth In Advertising (TINA).
“Defendants have continued to operate their unlawful scheme despite numerous consumer complaints, legal actions and warnings, damning press coverage, alerts from IML’s internal compliance staff, and being on notice of the FTC’s investigation since December 2021,” the FTC pointed out.
In 2017, the CBCS issued a statement warning consumers about iMarketsLive, stating that “consumers are not legally protected and may be at a higher risk of losing their money,” as iMarketsLive does not fall under the supervision of the CBCS or under any other regulator in Curaçao and/or Sint Maarten, while dealing in the Foreign Exchange (“FOREX”) market, and that the programme it offers “has similarities with a pyramid scheme.”
Since at least 2017, authorities in no fewer than 21 countries have taken similar actions, issuing strong consumer warnings on financial risks (specifying the lack of authorization/ regulation in the respective country and underscoring the dangers of pyramid schemes and similar scams) and/or launching investigations into the company, including the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Belgium, France, Columbia, Peru, Poland, and Spain.
The following points are among the details in the summary of the case:
- “Since at least 2018, Defendants have operated a large deceptive investment training scheme targeting young adults, including Black and Latino consumers...”
- “Defendants represent that IML instructors will teach consumers how to make significant income trading in the foreign exchange, binary options, cryptocurrency, and stock markets (IML’s “Trading Training Services”)...”
- “Defendants also represent that consumers can make significant income by joining IML as salespeople and receiving commissions for selling IML’s Trading Training Services, and by recruiting other consumers to join IML as salespeople (the “Business Venture”).”
- “Defendants’ marketing, deployed through a global multi-level marketing network, routinely features examples of supposed profitable trades, images and videos of luxurious and expensive lifestyles purportedly funded by trading profits and IML commissions, statements about gaining financial freedom, and other similar claims conveying the impression that purchasers of the Trading Training Services and the Business Venture are likely to make significant income. Defendants make their deceptive earnings claims online, through social media platforms, through telemarketing, and at live events.”
- “Defendants, however, lack support for their lavish, and often made up or false, earnings representations. In truth, a substantial percentage of purchasers of the Trading Training Services lose money trading, on top of the hefty sum they pay IML. Furthermore, many of IML’s instructors are not successful traders. And Defendants’ own data show that the vast majority of IML salespeople lose money or make negligible income.”
- “Defendants profit handsomely from the deceptive earnings claims of their salespeople, which have generated more than $1.242 billion in worldwide sales since 2018. Instead of disciplining or terminating high-earning salespeople when confronted with evidence of their deceptive earnings claims, IML and IML CEO Christopher “Chris” Terry often reward them with lucrative pay-outs.”
- “Defendants IML, Alex Morton, Jason Brown, and Matthew “Matt” Rosa have even instructed IML’s salespeople on how to make those claims while escaping the detection of IML’s compliance program and law enforcement.”
A few of the motion’s subheadings include: ‘IML’s Business Model Layers Deception on Deception’; ‘Defendants Attempt to Hide Behind a Compliance Program They Actively Undermine to Further Their Salespeople’s Deception’; ‘Most Purchasers Lose Money Using Defendants’ Training Services’; and ‘Most Participants in Defendants’ Business Venture Make Little or No Income, and Many Lose Money’.
The full motion is available on the FTC website. For updates, monitor FTC.gov and TINA.org.
Image: TINA.org
