This past Monday, Multinational company, TelexFree, filed for bankruptcy protection in a federal court in Nevada. The next day FBI and Homeland Security agents raided the company’s offices in Marlborough, Massachusetts. On Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission disclosed it has filed charges against the Marlborough-based telecommunications and multi-level marketing firm TelexFREE. The commission's pronouncement came two days after the Massachusetts Secretary of State's office filed its own complaint against the company , which is confronting charges of being a billion-dollar, international pyramid scheme, and federal investigators raided its Cedar Hill Street offices. So far the SEC has identified roughly $39 million in assets in public records – just a minor piece of a large pie that estimates $300 million the company is alleged to have brought in since November 2012. During the agents’ search of the offices, a deputy sheriff stopped chief financial officer Joseph H. Craft as he sought to leave. He was carrying a bag and a computer. He told the deputy he was merely a consultant, helping TelexFree plan its bankruptcy case. When the Telex CEO was apprehended he had a bag with over $37,000,000 in cashiers checks. There must be more money to be located. If the SEC's case against TelexFREE is fruitful in court, the commission could ultimately set up a method with which to repay investors who have lost money in the Ponzi scheme. But at this point, the commission has no procedure by which defrauded customers are able to file claims. However, since TlexFREE filed for bankruptcy protection, the Bankruptcy Code does contain a specific manner for creditors of TelexFREE (the debtor) to file a claim for their share of the money located. The Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Process A Chapter 11 case begins with the filing of a petition in bankruptcy court. After filing the Debtor Continues running the Business Operations. In most Chapter 11 cases, a trustee is not appointed. In its place, the debtor continues to manage its business in the ordinary course as the “debtor in possession” (or “DIP”). In some cases, the bankruptcy court will appoint a trustee to take over operations from the debtor if it discoveries sufficient cause. Sufficient cause for appointing a trustee includes fraud, dishonesty, incompetence, and gross mismanagement of the debtor’s affairs. In the case of TelexFREE, there is little doubt that a Trustee will be appointed to run the day to day operation of the debtor, TelexFREE. While some debtor ordinarily continues in business after it files Chapter 11, it loses control over major decisions. The bankruptcy court takes over. Including other things, the bankruptcy court must approve: 1. any sale of assets, such as property or real property (except for items such as inventory sold by a retail debtor in the ordinary course of business) 2. entering into or breaking a lease of real or personal property 3. mortgage or other secured financing arrangements that allow the debtor to borrow money after the case is filed 4. shutting down or expanding business operations 5. entering into or modifying union, vendor, licensing, and other contracts and agreements, and 6. the retention of, and payment of fees and expenses to, attorneys and other professionals. Ordinarily, the debtor has the exclusive right for four months after it files Chapter 11 to propose a reorganization plan. Upon a showing of good cause, the court can extend the debtor’s “exclusivity period” to file a Chapter 11 plan to up 18 months after the petition date. The court also can shorten the exclusivity period depending on the circumstances. A Chapter 11 plan allows a debtor to reorganize, or in other words, restructure, its financial affairs. A Chapter 11 plan is, in effect, a contract between the debtor and its creditors as to how it will operate and pay its obligations in the future. Approval of a proposed plan is referred to as “confirmation. What TelexFree Creditors (investors) must do To Protect their Interest and regain some or all of their investment. Any creditor or indenture trustee may file a proof of claim within the time prescribed by the court. File the Proof of Claim ASAP - also note, "Please file proof(s) of claim, if any, via US Mail or other hand delivery system. Facsimile and other electronic delivery methods are not acceptable. You must file an originally executed proof of claim. If you would like a copy of your claim returned to you as proof of receipt, please enclose an additional copy and a self-addressed postage-paid envelope." WHERE TO FILE THE PROOF OF CLAIM United States Bankruptcy Court, District of Nevada Foley Federal Building 300 Las Vegas Boulevard South Las Vegas, NV 89101 T: (702) 527-7000 http://www.nvb.uscourts.gov Case Numbers: 14-12524, 14-12525, 14-12524 Any questions about this case call the U.S. Trustee: United States Trustee 300 Las Vegas Boulevard Suite 4300 Las Vegas, NV 89101 WHERE TO GET A FILLABLE PROOF OF CLAIM FORM TO FILE WITH THE BANKRUPTCY COURT? You can get a sample of a Proof of Claim by going to http://www.wiwb.uscourts.gov/fillable_forms/ProofofClaim_B10.pdf.. YOU DO NOT NEED TO HIRE A LAWYER TO DO FILE YOUR CLAIM. ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION TO PROVE TELLEXFREE DEFRAUDED YOU. Also I recommend everyone to file a Complaint for Fraud with the Bankruptcy Court: Office of the United States Trustee Special Investigations Unit 300 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Suite 4300 Las Vegas, Nevada 89101 Upon receipt, your complaint will be reviewed promptly. If the information furnished establishes a reasonable belief that a criminal violation has occurred, the matter will be referred to the United States Attorney. If the United States Attorney deems the matter to hold prosecutorial merit, it will be referred to the appropriate law enforcement agency for investigation. A clearly written statement containing copies of any available documentation will expedite this process. Submit the following information: The bankruptcy case name and file number, together with copies of any pertinent court filings. A chronological summary of the matter. A narrative of what occurred.  Names, addresses and telephone numbers (to the extent available) of the subjects and witnesses known to you. A LAST WORD Most investors in Bernie Madoff's classic Ponzi scheme originally expected they had lost it all. But a new distribution announced Tuesday by court-appointed trustee Irving Picard brings the complete amount already returned to investors to over $5 billion. In total, Picard and his team have recouped about $9.3 billion. So , don’t just give up. File your Proof of Claim as soon as you can and write a complaint to the U.S> Trustee as I explained about. If you do these two things, I am sure everyone will receive some money back. Best of Luc!

The multinational company, TelexFREE, recently shut down in Brazil is being investigated by the Secretary of the State  in Massachusetts, triggered by TelexFree’s filing for federal bankruptcy protection. Securities regulators in Massachusetts accused TelexFree of a $90 million fraud in Massachusetts, and $1 billion around the world. According to Brazil's Ministry of Justice and the Federal Public Ministry, Telexfree’s Brazilian operations has been labeled as one of the largest financial frauds in the history of Brazil. The company is currently under investigation by Brazilian authorities, where the Court to froze the company's and its owners' assets and has suspended of its operations in Brazil. Security regulators have now accused the company, which purports to sell Internet telephone services, of enticing investors from immigrant communities, who in some cases have invested their life savings, into the scheme. Federal agents from the FBI and Homeland Security acting on a search warrant raided the TelexFree office on Tuesday. It appears that the filing for federal bankruptcy protection that sparked federal authorities to action. TelexFree filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy with the same goals as other companies that file for bankruptcy; to reorganizing its' business in order that it may generate sufficient money to pay its creditors, over a period of time, a reduced amount of debt. A Chapter 11 debtor generally remains in possession and control of his property throughout the bankruptcy. In the end the debtor expects to obtain a discharge from all debt in excess of an amount it can manage. This is normally obtained by the confirmation of a plan of reorganization that explains which creditors will get paid, how much they will get paid, and when payments will happen. This goal will be a practical impossibility for TelexFREE to obtain, if the allegations of the Securities regulators in Massachusetts are established in a court of law. The reason  is that no fraudulent debts can be discharged. The Bankruptcy Code makes some debts “non-dischargeable” if the Category of claims arises from a debtor’s bad acts – namely a debtor’s liability for: (1) debts arising from fraud by the debtor as a fiduciary, embezzlement, or larceny; (2) debts obtained through false pretenses, false representations, or actual fraud; (3) consumer obligations – credit card debts and luxury goods – owed to a single creditor over a certain threshold; and (4) willful and malicious injury caused by debtor to another’s property. In order for these debts to be declared “non-dischargeable” a creditor must file a complaint to obtain a bankruptcy judge’s determination that a particular debt is nondischargeable. This must be done within the first few months after the filing of the bankruptcy, otherwise, if the creditor fails to timely take action to protect its interests, a discharge awarded to the debtor will also discharge the potentially nondischargeable debt. The likeliness of such a happening in the TelexFREE case is highly unlikely as there has been enormous publicity throughout the world of the alleged misconduct of the debtor. Over the next few months there will be much litigation on the issue of fraud and non-dischageability of any debt that falls into the categories mentioned above.

Last year, on June 15, 2012, the Secretary of Homeland Security publicized that some individuals, who arrived in the United States as children and can qualify under specific rules, may apply for President Obama’s version of the “Dream Act” for a two-year period for work authorization and deferred action. Deferred action is a discretionary decision by the government to defer deportation action of an individual as an act of prosecutorial discretion. The granting of deferred action does not grant an individual with lawful status. The official name for this program is Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Individuals who fail receive a renewal before the expiration of their original DACA period will be out of status and lose work authorization. The following is the official Homeland Security Statement:* To help prepare the public for the anticipated process to request a renewal of DACA from USCIS, we have created an outline found below. This outline is subject to change until USCIS announces the details of the final process in late May 2014. Outline to request renewal of DACA from USCIS: File the revised version of Form I-821D, Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, together with Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization and I-765WS, Worksheet, as in the initial filing. The forthcoming version of Form I-821D will be dual-use for both initial and renewal filers and will contain modified questions pertaining to each situation. The draft form is currently going through the Federal Register public comment process and is not yet available for use. Do not file the current version of Form I-821D to renew. USCIS will not accept renewal filings until the new version of the form is published. However, if you received DACA from ICE instead of USCIS, please read the ICE-Granted DACA Renewal Guidance. Submit your DACA renewal request package approximately 120 days (or 4 months) before your current period of DACA expires. This is also the date that your Employment Authorization Document (EAD) expires. While USCIS will continue to accept filings after this date, it will not accept requests made earlier than 150 days (or 5 months) before that expiration date. The expiration date is printed on the front of the EAD, Form I-766 . Complete renewal requests include signed Forms I-821D, I-765, and I-765WS with fee and evidence, if applicable. If you file your renewal request package approximately 120 days before the expiration date of your current period of DACA, USCIS anticipates making a decision on your deferred action request and adjudicating your employment authorization application well before your current period of DACA and employment authorization expires. If you have filed at least 120 days before your deferred action and EAD expire and USCIS is unexpectedly delayed in processing your renewal request, USCIS may provide deferred action and employment authorization for a short period of time until your renewal is adjudicated. You only need to submit new documents pertaining to removal proceedings or criminal history that you have not already submitted to USCIS. You do not need to re-submit documents you already submitted with your previous DACA request that was approved. However, you should keep copies of all documents that support how you meet the DACA guidelines so you can provide them if they are requested by USCIS. NOTE: If you received DACA from USCIS, do not file the current version (edition date 6/25/13) of Form I-821D to renew. USCIS will not accept renewal filings until the new version of the form is published in late May 2014. However, if you are among those few individuals who received deferred action for childhood arrivals from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) between June 15, 2012 and August 15, 2012, please read the ICE-Granted DACA Renewal Guidance. Source: Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Process

FOR IMMDEIATE RELEASE APRIL 14, 2014 -  The Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law is sending today a letter to President Obama in response to his request to the Department of Homeland Security on how to slow deportations. We do not believe asking for "Deferred Action Status" is enough. Our letter explains how aside from granting Deferred Action Status (temporary status) to the largest possible group of immigrants, the President could also, with no change in federal laws, grant lawful permanent resident status possibly to as many as two million immigrants -- without requiring any action by Congress. The letter to Obama may also be downloaded here . We urge all advocates to review the Center's letter and to send similar or supportive letters to the President, Secretary of Homeland Security, and Attorney General, with copies to all other principle aides and principle lawyers listed below. A complete list of names and addresses of officials who should receive letters from the community, unions, faith-based groups, city and county councils, CEOs, etc. is at the end of this email . With "comprehensive" immigration reform in Congress going nowhere, it's imperative that as many concerned groups and individuals as possible send letters at this critical time urging that the types of changes suggested in our letter be adopted now. As you know, in response to political pressure by immigrant advocates, President Obama recently ordered the Department of Homeland Security to come up with recommendations on how to slow deportations of immigrants with special equities through an expansion of the Deferred Action Status program, the same status the administration recently extended to several hundred thousand DACA immigrants who were brought here by their parents as children and attended school here. In the Center's six-page letter sent to President Obama, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, and Attorney General Eric Holder, we make clear that the administration has the authority to grant Deferred Action Status to as many as two million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. with approved visa petitions. The letter points out that these immigrants are already "in the system" as they are named in employment or family based visa petitions that have been approved by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. The government therefore already knows their names, addresses, social security numbers, criminal histories, and other personal data. These immigrants very rarely self-deport and are highly unlikely to ever be apprehended or deported. Despite the fact that approximately two million of these immigrants have approved visa petitions, they are unable to become lawful permanent residents because they entered the U.S. long ago without inspection and therefore cannot adjust their status here but must travel to a U.S. consulate abroad to seek lawful permanent resident status. However, very few do so because in 1996 Congress enacted a so-called 10-year bar which states that an immigrant required to leave the country to process his or her permanent resident visa abroad who has lived in the U.S. for more than one year in unauthorized status must remain outside the U.S. for 10 years before becoming eligible for permanent resident status. While some immigrants are eligible for waivers of the 10-year bar, these are rarely granted as the immigrant must prove that denying the waiver would cause extreme hardship to a U.S. citizen petitioner, something most immigrants cannot prove. The result, we argue, is that the vast majority of these immigrants with approved visa petitions, as many as two million, simply continue to live in the U.S. in undocumented status. Our letter urges President Obama to grant this population Deferred Action Status (DAS), which then allows them to apply for "advance parole" (routinely granted to people on DAS) with which they can briefly travel to their home countries to visit relatives and then reenter the country lawfully on "parole" status. Once they reenter the U.S. lawfully on parole status, they become eligible to apply for lawful permanent resident status in the U.S. without having to leave to have their status adjusted by a U.S. consulate abroad. The 10-year bar does not apply to immigrants who can adjust their status in the United States, only to those who must go abroad for processing at a U.S. consulate. We argue that "following this administrative approach, President Obama could legally and without the involvement of Congress promptly extend lawful permanent resident status to about two million currently undocumented immigrants who mostly are long term residents of the U.S. and have unique skills that allowed them to obtain employment-related approved visa petitions or immediate family members here that allowed them to obtain family-based approved visa petitions." In addition, current regulations require that thousands of immigrants with outstanding deportation orders who have become eligible to adjust their status must "reopen" their deportation cases to have an Immigration Judge adjudicate their adjustment applications but the vast majority cannot reopen their cases because of strict time limits to do so. Amending this regulation to allow USCIS to handle these applications would permit thousands of immigrants to now be granted lawful permanent resident status. The letter charges that administrative policies over the past six years have "caused the deportation of hundreds of thousands of immediate relatives of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, resulted in tens of thousands of criminal convictions of persons for no more than entry without inspection (making it difficult to impossible for these migrants to ever legalize their status in the future), resulted in hundreds of thousands of migrants being fired from stable jobs (through "worksite enforcement" that largely misses sweatshops) forcing them to turn to sweatshops and unscrupulous employers to find work (less than 1% leave the U.S.), discouraged thousands of immigrants from reporting serious crimes for fear of exposure to deportation, [and] incarcerated more immigrants than ever before at enormous cost to the public and for no sound public safety reasons ..." We argue that by now "it should be clear that these policies have done nothing to advance the goal of comprehensive immigration reform." The letter also recommends that the largest number of immigrants possible be granted Deferred Action Status even if they are not eligible for adjustment of status under existing law. We also identify about six sub-groups of immigrants with long-term residence and unique equities who should obviously qualify for DAS, including for example, the parents of U.S. citizen children who are unable to petition for lawful permanent resident status until their children turn 21 years of age, unaccompanied abused and abandoned children, the parents of children and youth already granted Deferred Action Status by the administration, etc.. We point out that "granting immigrants Deferred Action Status and temporary employment authorization would immediately benefit U.S. workers by removing the incentive of unscrupulous employers to hire undocumented migrants over equally or better qualified US citizens." Regarding immigrants with closed deportation cases who are now eligible one way or the other for permanent resident status but cannot get their deportation cases reopened because of time limits on doing so, we point out that Obama could easily amend the regulations to allow the USCIS (instead of Immigration Judges) process these applications for LPR status and this would legalize thousands more people. We explain why Operation Streamline is a reactionary program that has turned tens of thousands of immigrants into "criminals" merely based upon unauthorized entry, blocking them from legalizing their status in the future, and provide proposals that would reduce border violence and deaths, and reduce ICE involvement with local police which clearly discourages immigrants from reporting crimes. We hope this letter helps spark a debate that goes beyond Deferred Action Status to include ways to get people lawful permanent resident status now without needing any involvement by the Congress. We have a range of separate ideas on what Congress could be doing that we'll circulated separately fairly soon. For the next few weeks, we urge groups to focus on what President Obama and his team could accomplish if they have the political will to do so. As mentioned above, the officials to write to are listed below with addresses. It is critically important that groups and individuals concerned with the abysmal failure of current immigration policy PROMPTLY communicate their views to the President that NOW is the time for the Administration to show leadership and put its political capital where its mouth has been on immigration reform . Letters can be short or long. But now is the time to act while the Administration has these issues under serious consideration and before they make decisions. Thanks. Feel free to email me with comments or questions. Peter Schey, President, Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law pschey@centerforhumanrights. org Address letters to: President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 _______________________ Jeh Johnson Secretary, Homeland Security 245 Murray Ln. SW Washington, D.C. 20528-0360 _______________________ Attorney General Eric H. Holder U.S. Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20530-0001 _______________________ Copies to: Denis McDonough, White House Chief of Staff The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 _______________________ Rob Nabors, White House Deputy Chief of Staff The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 _______________________ Alyssa Mastromonaco, White House Deputy Chief of Staff The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 _______________________ Cecilia Munoz, Director, White House Domestic Policy Council The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Twitter: @Cecilia44 _______________________ Alejandro Mayorkas Deputy Secretary, Department of Homeland Security 245 Murray Lane SW Washington D.C. 20528-0395 _______________________ Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Thomas S. Winkowski U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 500 12th St., SW Washington, D.C. 20536 _______________________ Stevan E. Bunnell General Counsel, Department of Homeland Security 245 Murray Lane SW Washington D.C. 20528 _______________________ Peter S. Vincent Principal Legal Advisor, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Department of Homeland Security Mail Stop 3650 Washington, D.C. 20528 _______________________ Stuart F. Delery, Assistant Attorney General U.S. Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20530-0001 / / /

Due to a lack of Congressional action on comprehensive immigration reform, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced yesterday that the congressionally mandated cap of 65,000 H-1B petitions for fiscal year (FY) 2015 has been met. USCIS has also exceeded the limit of 20,000 H-1B petitions filed under the U. S. advanced degree exemption. USCIS will finish the initial processing of all filings turned in by April 7. It is currently too late to submit a petition until next year, unless there is an exception. In the next phase, a computer will select 65,000 petitions at random for the general category and 20,000 under the advanced degree exemption, respectively. USCIS has said it is not yet able to announce the date on which it will conduct the random selection process because of the volume of petitions. All petitions which do not get randomly selected will be rejected and the filing fee returned. The advanced degree exemption lottery will be processed first so that unselected petitions can become part of the random selection process for the general 65,000 limit. Note: The caps will have no effect on foreign nationals who have already obtained H-1B visas to extend their stay, change employers, change the terms of their employment, or obtain a concurrent H-1B position. This is not necessarily the end of the road for employers who seek to sponsor foreign nationals for employment. There are alternatives to the H-1B visa. Click here to view my series of articles on other steps that businesses can take to sponsor a foreign national for employment. For official bulletins or anouncements, visit www.uscis.gov or follow them on Facebook (/uscis), Twitter (@uscis), YouTube(/uscis) and the USCIS blog The Beacon.