Regulators allege rebranded firm used false earnings claims to market trading services
By David Bland
“When self-regulation and government enforcement converge on the same issues, it sends a powerful signal that deceptive conduct will not be tolerated.” —Peter Marinello, Vice President, Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council (DSSRC) at BBB National Programs
Federal regulators and Nevada’s attorney general have taken legal action against a direct selling company they allege operated a massive investment training scam, bilking consumers out of more than $1.2 billion.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford filed a complaint on May 1 against International Markets Live Inc., operating as IYOVIA, alleging the company used false or baseless earning claims to entice consumers into purchasing financial trading courses and joining a multilevel-marketing operation. The company was formerly known as IM Mastery Academy, iMarketsLive, and IM Academy.
IYOVIA denies these allegations and states it has provided legitimate educational services to hundreds of thousands of satisfied customers worldwide.
Targeting Young Consumers
According to the FTC, the company enticed individuals, particularly young adults, with promises of substantial earnings through foreign exchange and cryptocurrency trading, only to enroll them in a multilevel-marketing structure that prioritized recruitment over genuine financial education.
“What IYOVIA did wasn’t just dishonest — it was predatory. They targeted vulnerable college students with empty promises, drained their savings, and walked away with over a billion dollars,” Ford stated in a news conference announcing the lawsuit.
The federal complaint names the company, its owners Christopher and Isis Terry, and several officers and top salespeople as defendants. Officials allege the group violated the FTC Act, the Telemarketing Sales Rule, the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act and Nevada state laws.
Evading Compliance and Oversight
The complaint claims that company executives allegedly tried to evade both internal compliance measures and regulatory oversight. Although the company retained a leading industry compliance monitoring platform, the complaint alleges that both corporate and field leaders attempted to override or evade violations the service identified. In September 2020, the company reportedly instituted a policy prohibiting salespeople from using hashtags identifying the company or tagging the company in social media posts.
Top company officials allegedly recommended that salespeople use the “close friends” function on Instagram to post earnings claims so that “the FTC can’t see it.” The complaint also alleges that salespeople used encrypted and private group chats to share earnings claims without being detected by compliance staff or law enforcement.
The company disputes this characterization in its official statement, noting that many practices described in the complaint represent “years-old historical claims and IYOVIA practices of people who are no longer with the company.”
DSSRC Weighs In on Case
“The IYOVIA complaint serves as a pivotal reminder for all direct selling companies: earnings claims must be substantiated, truthful, and not misleading. There is no room in the direct selling industry for exaggerated income claims that cannot be supported by company earnings data,” said Peter C. Marinello, vice president of the Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council (DSSRC) at BBB National Programs.
Marinello added that “DSSRC’s role in promoting ethical business practices in the direct selling industry includes holding companies accountable when earnings claims cross the line into deception.”
Questionable Training Credentials
According to federal officials, IYOVIA marketed itself as providing education on trading foreign exchange, cryptocurrency, futures and stocks. The company charged monthly fees ranging from $100 to several hundred dollars, plus additional services marketed as “add-ons.”
Business Insider reported on May 2 that many instructors lacked formal financial training or accreditation, with some obtaining their training from YouTube videos or the company itself. According to the FTC complaint, most of these instructors “are salespeople masquerading as top-notch investment professionals.”
The company’s “education” consisted largely of prerecorded content and live webcasts with instructors who were frequently touted as “Master Traders” despite questionable credentials. According to the complaint, the FTC found that one long-standing instructor promoted as a “Master Trader” had no formal investment training, no licenses, and actually made no trading profits between 2018 and 2021.
In comparison, during that same period, the total return for the S&P 500 index exceeded 78%, highlighting the discrepancy between the instructor’s performance and general market returns.
In its defense, IYOVIA describes itself as “not a university” but rather a platform providing “reasonably priced foreign exchange and cryptocurrency training” to customers across more than 40 countries.
Social Media Marketing Strategy
The FTC alleges the company specifically targeted young people, particularly young Black and Latino consumers. “That’s the great thing about network [marketing]… They keep making new 18 year olds everyday,” Christopher Terry, the company’s founder, once wrote to an associate, according to the complaint.
The company relied heavily on social media to project an image of luxury and success. The federal complaint details how salespeople routinely posted images of expensive cars, stacks of cash, and tropical vacations to entice recruits.
In July 2020, company compliance staff reportedly captured over two dozen social media posts from a top salesperson featuring private jets, yacht parties, luxury cars including a Rolls Royce, and expensive jewelry.
The company continued paying large commissions to this individual and other top earners who made similar posts, according to the FTC complaint.
Promises of ‘Money in Minutes’
Among the claims cited in the complaint were representations that consumers could earn “money in minutes,” trading without effort or experience. Company salespeople allegedly claimed customers could simply “copy, paste and profit” by following trading recommendations.
In social media posts, salespeople frequently boasted about making money while sleeping or “chilling in bed,” suggesting that the trading systems were automatic and effortless. One post cited in the complaint promised to show people “how to make money in minutes clicking buttons online for 30-60 minutes daily,” after which they would have “the rest of our day to do the things we actually want to do.”
Pattern of Rapid Customer Dropout
Data cited in the complaint shows that 60% of customers stopped paying for trading training services within one month, and 90% dropped the services within six months. According to reporting by Business Insider and documentation in the FTC complaint, approximately 80% of the company’s salespeople made less than $500 a year.
The FTC alleges that IYOVIA’s Income Disclosure Statement figures don’t present a complete picture because they don’t account for the fees that salespeople must pay to be eligible for commissions.
The complaint states that after factoring in these required payments, in 2022, about 83% of salespeople earned $500 or less annually, with many participants not making a profit at all, according to the FTC’s analysis.
The complaint further alleges that between 2020-2022, more than 99% of company salespeople made less than $25,000 a year, with more than 80% making less than $500 a year and 45% actually losing money, which the FTC claims contradicts the company’s marketing messages about financial freedom and substantial income potential.
Industry observers note that high turnover and modest earnings are common in many direct selling companies, which typically emphasize that results vary based on individual effort and market conditions.
International Regulatory Actions
The lawsuit notes that at least 21 international government agencies have issued warnings about the company, and Canadian law enforcement has taken legal action.
French financial markets regulators issued a public warning against the company in 2017, noting it was “specifically targeting very young people, including high school students.” In 2022, several company salespeople were arrested by Spanish National Police for allegedly trying to recruit adolescents, according to the complaint.
In May 2023, Luxembourg’s financial regulatory authority issued a public warning about the company for targeting youth on social media. Later that month, local police in Luxembourg raided a sales event and arrested several salespeople who had been targeting secondary school students for recruitment.
Company Pushes Back
In an official statement released after the complaint was filed, IYOVIA said it would “vigorously defend against the governments’ novel claims.”
The company also took issue with what it characterized as “race-baiting disparate impact claims” in the lawsuit, noting in its statement that the suit was filed while “the parties were engaged in active negotiations over a potential resolution to the investigation.”
In the same statement, IYOVIA maintained that it is “not a university but [is] proud that we have provided reasonably priced foreign exchange and cryptocurrency training to hundreds of thousands of happy customers in over 40 countries and that the Commission’s own records reflect very few consumer complaints.”
The company emphasized that after a “3 ½ year investigation,” the scope of the Commission’s lawsuit “does not challenge the validity of our compensation plan and business opportunity structure,” suggesting that the core business model is not fundamentally problematic in their view.
Regulatory Scrutiny Intensifies
Prior to the FTC lawsuit, the DSSRC had opened an inquiry into IYOVIA earnings claims but administratively closed it after the FTC and Nevada announced their legal action.
“DSSRC had an active inquiry into IYOVIA’s earnings representations, which was closed following the filing of the complaint in District Court,” Marinello explained. “The actions of the FTC and the State of Nevada mirrored many of our own concerns and reinforced the serious nature of the claims at issue. When self-regulation and government enforcement converge on the same issues, it sends a powerful signal that deceptive conduct will not be tolerated. Our shared objective is to elevate consumer confidence and ensure companies operate transparently and responsibly.”
Regulators are seeking to halt the company’s operations and secure monetary relief for affected consumers. The case will be decided by the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada.
This case represents one of the largest alleged financial losses to consumers in an FTC case targeting the direct selling industry, with the $1.2 billion figure surpassing many previous enforcement actions.
“The breadth of this scam is remarkable,” Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement.
Neither the FTC nor the Nevada Attorney General’s office provided additional comments, citing the ongoing litigation. For its part, IYOVIA stated it “remains fully committed to ensuring that customers have the highest quality products and services and that the terms on which those products and services are offered are transparent to the consumer.”
