Validus popped up on my radar as a result of its recent acquisition of AuLives.
AuLives being a Ponzi scheme, launched by former OneCoin scammers in mid 2018.
At time of publication Alexa ranks traffic to AuLives’ website as “N/A”, i.e. too small to measure.
What we take away from this is AuLives collapsed some time ago. AuLives’ official Facebook page was abandoned in November 2019.
What Validus in fact purchased was the AuLives affiliate investor database.
One last cash grab by AuLives founders Parwiz Daud and Mansour Tawafi.
There’s no mention of Parwiz Daud on Validus’ website or social media channels.
Frank Ricketts signed on for a brief stint as CEO of AuLives. Ricketts is currently on trial for OneCoin money laundering in Germany, so there’s no mention of him either.
Mansour Tawafi however has signed on as Validus’ “new VP of sales”.
Wait a minute… pre-launch call?
Validus’ website domain was registered on June 15th, 2021. The company created its official Facebook page on June 16th.
There’s nothing “prelaunch” about Validus. The company has been marketing for seven months.
About a month after it launched, Validus featured its CEO in a marketing video. A month later, in August, the CEO was introduced as “Howard Friend”.
Friend has a finance marketing history. Validus appears to be his first MLM gig.
Evidently Friend’s finance career didn’t work out. So he relocated to Dubai and here we are with Validus.
I’d be very surprised if Friend was actually behind Validus.
Update 3rd February 2022 – Parwiz Daud has crawled out of Dubai’s shadows. He’s appointed himself Validus’ Chief Network Officer.
Seeing as Daud part owns the company not sure why the facade but hey. It is what it is. /end update
Alexa currently ranks Nigeria as the only notable source of traffic to Validus’ website (93%).
Read on for a full review of Validus’ MLM opportunity.
Validus’ Products
Validus has no retailable products or services.
Affiliates are only able to market Validus affiliate membership itself.
Validus’ Compensation Plan
Validus affiliates invest funds on the promise of an advertised 300% ROI, paid over 60 weeks.
Validus solicits investment through packages, ranging from $50 to $10,000:
- TP50 – $50
- TP100 – $100
- TP250 – $250
- TP500 – $500
- TP1000 – $1000
- TP3000 – $3000
- TP5000 – $5000
- TP10000 – $10,000
Although the above amounts are in USD, Validus solicits investment in bitcoin, ethereum, tron and TRC-20.
Withdrawal Restrictions
Validus only pays out 70% of withdrawal requests when made.
The other 30% is paid out at a rate of 10% monthly for twelve months (effective 120% payout).
Validus Affiliate Ranks
There are nine affiliate ranks within Validus’ compensation plan.
Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:
- Jade – recruit and maintain two affiliate investors and generate $2000 in downline investment volume (split $1000/$1000 across the binary team)
- Pearl – maintain two affiliate investors and generate $10,000 in downline investment volume (split $5000/$5000 across the binary team)
- Sapphire – maintain two affiliate investors and generate $40,000 in downline investment volume (split $20,000/$20,000 across the binary team)
- Ruby – maintain two affiliate investors and generate $160,000 in downline investment volume (split $80,000/$80,000 across the binary team)
- Emerald – recruit and maintain one Ruby on both sides of the binary team, and generate $500,000 in downline investment volume (split $250,000/$250,000 across the binary team)
- Diamond – recruit and maintain one Emerald on both sides of the binary team, and generate $1,500,000 in downline investment volume (split $750,000/$750,000 across the binary team)
- Blue Diamond – recruit and maintain three Diamonds (each in separate recruitment legs), and generate $4,000,000 in downline investment volume (split $2,000,000/$2,000,000 across the binary team)
- Black Diamond – recruit and maintain three Blue Diamonds (each in separate recruitment legs), and generate $8,000,000 in downline investment volume (split $4,000,000/$4,000,000 across the binary team)
- Crown Diamond – recruit and maintain three Crown Diamonds (each in separate recruitment legs), and generate $16,000,000 in downline investment volume (split $8,000,000/$8,000,000 across the binary team)
Referral Commissions
Validus pays affiliates a 10% referral commission on funds invested by personally recruited affiliates.
Validus caps referral commissions at $10,000 a day.
Residual Commissions
Validus pays residual commissions via a binary compensation structure.
A binary compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a binary team, split into two sides (left and right):
The first level of the binary team houses two positions. The second level of the binary team is generated by splitting these first two positions into another two positions each (4 positions).
Subsequent levels of the binary team are generated as required, with each new level housing twice as many positions as the previous level.
Positions in the binary team are filled via direct and indirect recruitment of affiliates. Note there is no limit to how deep a binary team can grow.
At the end of each week Validus tallies up new investment volume on both sides of the binary team.
Residual commissions are paid as 10% of fund matched on both sides of the binary team.
Once paid out, matched funds are flushed. Leftover volume on the stronger binary team side carries over.
Note that Validus caps residual commissions at up to $35,000 a week.
Matrix Commissions
Validus uses a 3×12 matrix to pay a daily recruitment commission.
A 3×12 matrix places an affiliate at the top of a matrix, with three positions directly under them:
These three positions form the first level of the matrix. The second level of the matrix is generated by splitting these first three positions into another three positions each (9 positions).
Levels three to twelve of the matrix are generated in the same manner, with each new level housing three times as many positions as the previous level.
Affiliates are directly and indirectly recruited into the matrix. Validus pays $1 per affiliate with an active investment every weekday.
To qualify for matrix commissions, a Validus affiliate must have invested at TP5000 or higher, and generated $15,000 in personally recruited downline investment volume.
Rank Achievement Bonus
Validus rewards Sapphire and higher ranked affiliates with the following one-time Rank Achievement Bonuses:
- qualify at Sapphire and receive an Apple Watch Series 7
- qualify at Ruby and receive an iPhone 13
- qualify at Emerald and receive a “Dubai retreat”
- qualify at Diamond and receive a Rolex watch
- qualify at Blue Diamond and receive a BMW 3 Series
- qualify at Black DIamond and receive a Mercedes-Benz E-Class
- qualify at Crown Diamond and receive a Lamborghini Huracan
Joining Validus
Validus affiliate membership is tied to an initial $100 to $10,000 investment.
Upon receiving a 300% ROI, reinvestment is required in order to continue earning.
Validus Conclusion
Validus represents it generates returns via forex trading.
To that end Harold Friend is presented as a trading guru with thirty-years experience:
This doesn’t add up. Surely someone capable of trading at 2.5% to 3% a week with thirty years experience has a god-tier nest egg by now?
Instead, the sum total of Friend’s financial career is fronting another Dubai MLM crypto Ponzi scheme.
Validus’ passive investment scheme constitutes a securities offering.
In order to operate legally, Validus needs to register with financial regulators.
Validus provides no evidence it has registered with financial regulators in Nigeria or anywhere else in the world.
Validus doesn’t provide any UAE registrations but note any registration in Dubai is likely fraudulent.
Dubai attracts scammers from around the world due to lax regulation and minimal extradition treaties. The emirate is a hotbed for financial fraud.
As it stands the only verifiable source of revenue entering Validus is new investment.
Using new investment to pay affiliate withdrawals makes Validus a Ponzi scheme.
As with all MLM Ponzi schemes, once affiliate recruitment dries up so too will new investment.
This will starve Validus of ROI revenue, eventually prompting a collapse.
The math behind Ponzi schemes guarantees the majority of participants lose money.
Look no further than AuLives’ quiet collapse to see this in action.