A federal grand jury in Texas returned an indictment Wednesday charging a Texas couple for operating an illegal pyramid scheme that defrauded thousands of participants of more than $10 million, officials stated
According to court documents, LaShonda Moore, 35, and Marlon Moore, 37, co-founded and ran an illegal pyramid scheme called Blessings in No Time (BINT).
BINT was allegedly a chain-referral pyramid scheme that targeted the African American community during the COVID-19 pandemic with false and misleading promises.
They promised that participants could expect 800% guaranteed returns and guaranteed refunds if participants were unsatisfied with the program.
The Moores allegedly organized BINT’s payment scheme with “playing boards” that had eight Fire positions, four Wind positions, two Earth positions, and one Water position.
As alleged, players in the Fire position advanced on the board by paying at least $1400 to the person in the Water position and recruiting two new Fire-level participants, at which point the cycle would repeat.
In other words, eight new participants had to be recruited into the scheme for a single earlier participant to receive a return on their initial investment.
The Moores allegedly placed themselves and their family members in the Water position on multiple playing boards to receive the payments from participants in the Fire position and collected a substantial sum from participants’ monthly user fees, which were required for participation in BINT.
The Moores are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.
They each face up to 30 years in prison if convicted of the charges. The defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
USPIS, U.S. Secret Service, and IRS-CI are investigating the case.
Trial Attorney Theodore M. Kneller and Assistant Chief William Johnston of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathaniel Kummerfeld for the Eastern District of Texas are prosecuting the case.