Thousands conned by $10m ‘Blessings in No Time’ scheme where ‘players spent $1,400 to advance in twisted board game’
THOUSANDS of people have been tricked into joining a pyramid scheme that falsy claimed could bring members returns up to 800 percent of their initial payment.
LaShonda Moore, 35, and Marlon Moore, 37, co-founded and ran the Blessings in No Time together out of their home in Prosper, Texas — 38 miles north of Dallas — cops said.
From June 2020 to June 2021, the couple, who were on Oprah Winfrey's OWN reality series Family or Fiance, conned people into joining their pyramid scheme, per the Arkansas Times.
They promised "800% guaranteed returns and guaranteed refunds if participants were unsatisfied with the program," per the US Department of Justice.
However, according to police, this was a false promise and the members couldn't get their money back, per Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
The chain-referral pyramid scheme targeted African Americans and initially said you had to have a Black ancestor to be a member, per the Arkansas Times.
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BINT operated under the guise of faith and promised to help people meet their financial goals — instead, it defrauded thousands of people of more than $10 million, per the Department of Justice.
HOW IT WORKS
BINT's payment scheme was organized with playing boards that followed the four elements.
They had eight fire positions, four wind positions, two earth positions, and one water position, per the US Department of Justice.
A full board held 15 members.
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Allegedly, people in the fire position, along the outside, advanced inward towards the wind slot by paying $1,400 to the person in the water position and requiring two new fire-level members.
For one participant to make a return on their initial investment, eight new participants had to be recruited into the scheme.
The Moores allegedly put themselves and their family members in the water position on multiple playing boards.
This meant they were collecting the money from people in the fire position and a sum from monthly user fees which were required to stay part of BINT.
MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR JUDGEMENT
The Federal Trade Commission didn't believe their business plan.
In 2021, A federal judge in Arkansas banned the Moores from operating a multi-level marketing business and required them to pay a minimum of $450,000 to a Texas-administered fund to help people who were affected by the scheme, per the Arkansas Times.
Later that year, the Texas Attorney General's Office filed a separate lawsuit against the business and announced an almost $10.8 million judgment on it.
A spokesperson for the Attorney General's Office explained to the Arkansas Times how they got to that whopping number.
How did the BINT blessing loom scheme work?
LaShonda Moore, 35, and Marlon Moore, 37, co-founded and ran the Blessings in No Time together and falsly promised participants a 800% return of their initial payment.
BINT's payment scheme was organized with playing boards.
They were organized by the four elements. It had eight fire positions, four wind positions, two earth positions, and one water position.
Allegedly, people in the fire position, along the outside, advanced inward towards the wind slot by paying $1,400 to the person in the water position and requiring two new fire-level members.
For one participant to make a return on their initial investment, eight new participants had to be recruited into the scheme.
The Moores allegedly put themselves and their family members in the water position on multiple playing boards.
This meant they were collecting the money from people in the fire position and a sum from monthly user fees which were required to stay part of BINT.
According to the US Department of Justice.
"The total judgment of $10.76 million is made of $2.5 million in restitution, $10,000 to Arkansas for costs and fees, $50,000 to Texas for costs, fees, and claims administration costs..." they explained.
"A suspended fine of $7.2 million that will be triggered if they violate the terms of the settlement, and another fine of $1 million if we determine if the Moores have lied to us about their finances."
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After operating their scheme, the couple was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.
The pretrial for the Moore's has been set for October 2024, per the Department of Justice.
