Alan Friedland’s NRGY Ponzi scheme has lengthy since collapsed.
It was the standard Ponzi pump and dump, by no means recovering from the preliminary withdrawal theft of funds by early buyers.
NRGY buyers are actually being funneled into StarStake, a failed NFT platform that not too long ago launched a fraudulent funding scheme.
StarStake pitches itself as an “NFT primarily based royalty market.”
I don’t actually need to get into {the marketplace} as a result of the funding aspect of StarStake has nothing to do with it.
StarStake’s new Ponzi scheme revolves round MNTR tokens/cash (I’m going with tokens).
StarStake associates make investments $100 a pop. In return they get $100 price of MNTR tokens and a “Mission” NFT.
Invested in MNTR tokens are locked up for 36 months. Over the primary twelve months, StarStake affiliate buyers obtain 50% of MNTR tokens invested in every month.
50% a month would possibly sounds ridiculous however preserve in MNTR tokens are generated out of skinny air at little to no value (I consider MNTR is an ERC-20 shit token).
What isn’t ridiculous is the securities fraud dedicated because of this course of, making StarStake a Ponzi scheme.
Early MNTR buyers, most of whom are CompCoin and NRGY bagholders, have already been onboarded. They’re receiving 50% of invested MNTR token funds every month, hoping to money out funds invested by subsequent affiliate buyers bagholders.
StarStake has no verifiable exterior income, aside from new funding. Like NRGY, NRGYGo and BuilderDEFI earlier than it, MNTR is a closed-loop smart-contract Ponzi scheme.
On the MLM aspect of issues, StarStake’s MNTR scheme combines referral commissions with a transaction bonus pool.
StarStake pays referral commissions down two ranges of recruitment on MNTR funding (unilevel):
- degree 1 (personally recruited associates) – 10%
- degree 2 – 5%
Associates who make investments $2500 or extra obtain shares in a bonus pool, made up of an undisclosed proportion of collected StarStake transaction charges.
That’s it. That’s StarStake’s new MNTR “Mission NFT” Ponzi scheme.
As to how we bought right here, BehindMLM final checked in on NRGY again in February. Again then Friedland was attempting to get BuilderDefi off the bottom.
As we speak SimilarWeb tracks negligible site visitors to BuilderDefi’s web site; i.e. the third NRGY Ponzi scheme iteration has collapsed.
BuilderDefi promised 5% per week on BuilderToken funding, with the unique funding once more locked for forty weeks.
Distinction this to StarStake’s MNTR scheme, which pumps the return to 50% per week and extends the preliminary funding lockout to 36 months (~156 weeks).
Whereas Alan Friedland owns StarStake, his companion in crime Chris Hawk is CEO and face of the scheme.
Talking on an unlisted StarStake advertising video, Hawk defined the NRGY –> StarStake transition:
[1:44] If you happen to’re an NRGY particular person, for those who had been a part of the NRGY platform … and also you informed individuals about that, we imported the database over to StarStake.
NRGY affiliate genealogies are tied to the pockets NRGY affiliate buyers initially signed up with.
From that very same video, right here’s Hawk’s breakdown of StarStake’s MNTR funding scheme;
[12:44] These Minter tokens are locked up within the good contract for you. It’s an funding in a approach, as a result of y’know, that’s locked up for 3 years. Which can fly by.
By the tip of three years, we anticipate this factor, MNTR Coin, might be doing alright.
However keep in mind, you get these 50% rewards each single month. So 50% of the Minter tokens. 50% of the Minter tokens you bought at mint, you’ll get dropped each month.
We bought individuals saying they’re going to be shopping for 100 at a time, simply due to this chance.
At time of publication, neither StarStake, Alan Friedland or Chris Hawk are registered with the SEC.
BehindMLM has been monitoring NRGY because it first emerged in early 2021. Friedland initially hid his involvement within the scheme, which fell aside after BehindMLM outed him as NRGY’s proprietor.
The rationale Friedland wished to maintain a low profile is he was within the midst of a CFTC commodities fraud lawsuit.
The CFTC went after Friedland for CompCoin and FinTech Funding Group, a Ponzi scheme constructed round a fictional ART buying and selling bot.
Friedland settled the CFTC’s fraud allegations for $1.8 million in April 2022.
Regardless of settling one regulatory lawsuit, Friedland’s fraud has continued. StarStake initially launched as a part of NRGY in December 2021 (screenshot under is from late 2021).
StarStake flopped, ultimately prompting the MNTR funding scheme reboot earlier this month.
All I’ll say about StarStake exterior of the MNTR funding scheme is that its an infringement lawsuit ready to occur.
Whereas BehindMLM isn’t monitoring StarStake exterior of its fraudulent MLM funding scheme, YouTuber No Pants Income covers StarStake in higher element for those who’re .
After Mission NFT funding runs dry, Hawk has signalled plans to launch extra funding schemes as StarStake NFT “collection”.
As of November sixteenth, Hawk claims round $630,000 has been invested into MNTR.
Underneath US regulation, StarStake’s MNTR passive funding scheme constitutes a safety. This shifts regulatory jurisdiction from the CFTC to the SEC, and probably the DOJ if wire fraud and cash laundering prices come into play.
Whether or not US authorities take additional motion towards Friedland stays to be seen.