Federal authorities announced the sentencing of Cleber Rene Rizerio Rocha, 28, a Brazilian national convicted in connection with laundering approximately $20 million from the TelexFree pyramid scheme, which devastated hundreds of Chelsea residents. On Feb. 8, U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin imposed a sentence of 33 months in prison and one year of supervised release. Rocha’s October 2017 guilty plea encompassed one count of conspiring to commit money laundering and one count of money laundering.
The TelexFree operation, based in Marlborough, was exposed when a search warrant was executed at company headquarters in April 2014. This massive pyramid scheme ultimately caused billions of dollars in losses affecting nearly two million victims worldwide. Co-founder Carlos Wanzeler abandoned the company that day, first traveling to Canada before reaching his native Brazil. In his rush to depart the United States, Wanzeler left behind millions in cash concealed throughout the greater Boston area.
During mid-2015, someone acting as an intermediary for Wanzeler sought assistance from an associate to move funds out of the country. The associate, who would later become a cooperating witness with federal authorities, coordinated a laundering plan involving cash transfers through Hong Kong, conversion to Brazilian Reals, and deposits into Brazilian accounts. Rocha arrived in New York City in January 2017, working as a courier for Wanzeler’s Brazilian representative. In Hudson, Mass., Rocha met the cooperating witness and delivered a suitcase holding $2.2 million in TelexFree proceeds intended for laundering. Following this exchange, law enforcement agents tracked Rocha to an apartment in Westborough, Mass., where his arrest was made. Officers searching the location discovered approximately $20 million in cash concealed in a mattress box spring.
Co-founders Carlos Wanzeler and James Merrill faced indictment in July 2014 for operating TelexFree as a pyramid scheme. Merrill’s guilty plea led to a six-year prison sentence in HYPERLINK “https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/former-president-telexfree-sentenced-billion-dollar-pyramid-scheme” March 2017. Wanzeler continues to evade capture as a fugitive.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil J. Gallagher Jr. of the Economic Crimes Unit and U.S. Attorney Andrew E. Lelling, with the announcement made jointly with Michael Shea, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston.