Former boss pleads guilty to fraud James M. Merrill faces up to 10 years in prison

Mr. [James M. Merrill]'s partner in TelexFree, Carlos N. Wanzeler of Northboro, remains under indictment. He fled the country in 2014 as TelexFree collapsed and is thought to be in his native Brazil. Prosecutors charged that Mr. Merrill, along with Mr. Wanzeler, deceived participants and govern...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inTelegram & gazette
Main Author Eckelbecker, Lisa
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Worcester, Mass GateHouse Media, Inc 25.10.2016
Subjects
Bankruptcy
Goldstein, Robert
Hillman, Timothy S
Lelling, Andrew E
Merrill, James
Wanzeler, Carlos N
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Summary:Mr. [James M. Merrill]'s partner in TelexFree, Carlos N. Wanzeler of Northboro, remains under indictment. He fled the country in 2014 as TelexFree collapsed and is thought to be in his native Brazil. Prosecutors charged that Mr. Merrill, along with Mr. Wanzeler, deceived participants and government regulators by not disclosing that TelexFree was a pyramid scheme. Mr. Merrill also spoke at TelexFree events, telling one crowd, "You're gonna get paid. We are here to help you make money," prosecutors allege. A Securities and Exchange Commission civil action against TelexFree, Mr. Merrill, Mr. Wanzeler and several other people has been on hold while criminal prosecutors pursued Mr. Merrill. In addition, a class action lawsuit against TelexFree is underway, and the trustee of TelexFree's estate is collecting claims in bankruptcy court from people who say they were victimized by the scheme. About 119,000 people worldwide have filed claims for compensation so far.
ISSN:1050-4184