James Merrill, who founded and then captained the meteoric rise of TelexFree LLC before it was shut down by federal authorities, has pleaded guilty to criminal fraud charges for his role in running a multibillion-dollar pyramid scheme, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Merrill pled guilty to one count of wire fraud conspiracy and eight counts of wire fraud in a deal that will limit his sentencing to no more than 10 years in prison, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston. Court papers show that if he had been convicted at trial, he could have faced up to 20 years in prison. The plea agreement further calls for the former chief executive of TelexFree, a multi-level marketing company that sold telephone-service plans, to forfeit tens of millions of dollars in assets. The list of assets, which prosecutors say Merrill and his business partner collected as part of the scheme, includes cash, real estate, luxury cars and a yacht. Read more. (Subscription required.)
For a further analysis of commercial fraud, make sure to pick up a copy of ABI’s Fraud and Forensics: Piercing Through the Deception in a Commercial Fraud Case.
