A disgraced Dubai Ponzi scheme operator is launching a new company with the same people who helped run the original fraud.

Mansour Tawafi, co-founder of Validus—a scheme that collapsed in April 2023—announced in a September 2024 video that he's moving on to a new venture called Odecent. "My decision to move on with a new company called Odecent and join my old partners as part of what we believe will be a good solution," he said in the recording.

The problem: his old partners are the same ones who helped orchestrate Validus, which the Dubai Financial Services Authority slapped with a securities fraud warning on December 22nd, 2023.

Tawafi revealed that Odecent wasn't new at all. The company was actually a failed Validus reboot attempt that began in late 2023. He said his Validus partners Billal Ali and Salman Shahzad approached him with a product they'd been developing for three years—even before Validus existed. They had tested it within Validus under the name Fingenius near the end of the scheme, but it "didn't run very successfully." A January 2024 launch was shelved after the DFSA's cease and desist order in December rendered Validus "operationally inactive."

Now they want to try again with Odecent.

Ali is listed as a co-founder of the Validus Ponzi scheme. Shahzad was a top Validus promoter operating out of the UK. Both are now attached to Odecent.

Also involved is Phil Moser, also known as Philippe Moser, who hosted an Odecent prelaunch webinar around September 1st. Moser, with ties to Canada, the US, and Colombia, was a Validus executive who played a key role recruiting victims across Africa and South America. Before Validus, he worked in ACN, a multilevel marketing company. He later jumped to NeXarise, an MLM launched by former ACN promoters in 2020.

Odecent's website offers no ownership or executive information. The domain was registered in 2022 with private registration last updated on May 22nd, 2024.

Notably absent from the Odecent lineup are Parwiz Daud and Howard Friend. Daud and Tawafi originally launched Validus in 2021 following the collapse of their previous Ponzi scheme, AuLives, which came after OneCoin. Friend served as Validus CEO.

The pattern is unmistakable. Tawafi and his associates have a track record of launching fraudulent schemes, getting shut down, then repackaging the same operation under a new name with the same cast of characters. Odecent appears to be the latest iteration of that playbook.

🤖 Quick Answer

What is Odecent and how is it connected to Validus?
Odecent is a company launched in 2024 by Mansour Tawafi, co-founder of Validus, a Dubai-based Ponzi scheme that collapsed in April 2023. According to Tawafi's own statements, Odecent originated as a failed Validus reboot attempt initiated in late 2023, involving the same partners from the original operation.

Why was Validus flagged by regulators?
The Dubai Financial Services Authority issued a securities fraud warning against Validus on December 22, 2023. The scheme had collapsed in April 2023, and regulatory action followed after evidence indicated fraudulent securities activities conducted through the platform under the direction of its co-founders and partners.

Who is Mansour Tawafi?
Mansour Tawafi

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