The Federal Trade Commission and the State of Nevada announced this week that the ringleaders of IM Mastery Academy - a company that sold "financial trading education" through multi-level marketing - will be forced to hand over nearly $90 million in assets to settle charges of fraud.
The total judgment against the scheme is $795.8 million. That number reflects how much the FTC says the company defrauded consumers. The actual seizures - eight luxury homes in New York, Nevada, Florida, and Dubai; 19 cars including Range Rovers, a Bentley, and a Rolls Royce; a yacht; and jewelry including a 15-carat diamond ring - will cover a portion of that.
The rest is suspended, pending the defendants not having lied about what they own.
What IM Mastery Academy Actually Was
The company, which has gone by multiple names - iMarketsLive, IM Academy, and most recently IYOVIA - sold subscriptions to online courses that claimed to teach people how to trade currencies and cryptocurrencies. Since 2018, it generated more than $1.2 billion in revenue.
The problem, according to the FTC: the "education" was largely a cover. The real money came from recruiting new members into the multi-level-marketing structure. To make money, you had to sell the courses to others, and earn commissions from their sales and the sales of people they recruited.
The marketing featured influencers on social media - many of them young people - showing off private jets, sports cars, and luxury vacations. The FTC says these lifestyle claims were "false or baseless." Most participants earned little or nothing. Some lost money.
Why This Matters for Small Business Owners
This isn't just a story about a bad actor getting caught. It's a pattern you will see again - probably soon, probably on your social media feed.
The IM Mastery Academy model targeted a specific type of person: someone working a job they don't love, who wants financial independence, who is open to "building something of their own." That description fits a lot of the people reading this newsletter.
The FTC's complaint describes tactics used to recruit people:
- Social media posts from "students" showcasing expensive items and claiming it all came from trading profits or referral commissions
- Low entry price points (monthly subscriptions starting around $195) that felt like "just trying it out"
- Community language - you weren't a customer, you were a "member," an "IBO," part of a movement
- Emphasis on duplication - the real wealth came not from trading but from building a "downline" of recruits
The FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection said plainly: "Consumers should be cautious when encountering money-making opportunities that promise significant earnings, especially those spread on social media."
The Test for Any "Side Hustle" or "Business Opportunity"
Before joining any income opportunity, ask three questions:
1. Where does the money actually come from? If the answer is primarily "recruiting others to join" rather than selling an actual product or service to people who genuinely want it - that's the structure of a pyramid scheme, regardless of what it's called.
2. What do published income disclosures show? Legitimate MLM companies are required to publish income disclosure statements. Find it. Read the median income, not the examples at the top. If the median annual income is $500 or "no income earned," that's your answer.
3. Would someone buy this if there was no business opportunity attached? IM Mastery Academy sold trading education. Ask yourself: would someone who had no chance of earning commissions still pay $195/month for this? If the product only makes sense as a vehicle for the business opportunity - the product isn't really the product.
What Happens Next
The FTC has banned the Terrys and their co-defendants from selling trading-training services or investment opportunities. They are also barred from making earnings claims without a reasonable, documented basis - and from using negative-option billing without clear consent and easy cancellation.
The assets seized will be used to provide refunds to defrauded consumers. Given the scale of the scheme, individual refunds will likely be small - this is more about shutting down the operation and establishing precedent.
For the FTC, this is the second major MLM enforcement action in the past 18 months. The agency has made clear it is watching this space.
Source: Federal Trade Commission, "Lead Defendants in the IM Mastery Academy MLM Scheme to Turn Over Tens of Millions of Dollars in Assets to Settle FTC Charges," May 13, 2026.