The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against a Massachusetts telephone-marketing company for allegedly running a Ponzi scheme that targeted primarily Dominican and Brazilian immigrants, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The agency claims TelexFree Inc. and TelexFree LLC ran an elaborate scheme under the guise of a legitimate telephone-marketing company based on voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) technology that raised more than $300 million, largely from Brazilian and Dominican immigrants in Massachusetts and 20 other states. The company, the complaint notes, claims to have raised more than $1 billion. According to the SEC complaint, the defendants sold securities in the form of TelexFree "memberships" that promised annual returns of 200 percent or more for whose who recruited new members and placed TelexFree advertisements on free ad sites.
