A cryptocurrency con artist who lost money in one failed scheme is now running another one, this time promising investors daily returns on bitcoin.

Lee Merritt runs Passive Expert, a UK-based operation that launched in March 2020, just months after he stopped promoting Karatbars International—a Ponzi scheme that collapsed. The timing suggests Merritt is trying to recoup his losses by recruiting new victims into the same fraudulent game.

Merritt's operation has backing from Gary Jeremiah Handley, who runs a YouTube channel called Crypto Analyzer. Handley uses the platform to promote multiple MLM Ponzi schemes to his subscribers. A marketing video posted on March 21st, 2020 helped launch the scheme. The website domain "passive.expert" was registered privately on March 4th, 2020, a hallmark of operators trying to hide their tracks.

The scheme is bare-bones by design. Passive Expert has no actual products or services. There's nothing to sell except membership itself. Affiliates invest $5 minimum in bitcoin and receive ad credits they can supposedly display on the company's website. But there are no retailable products. No one makes money by selling anything real.

Instead, investors get paid from money deposited by new recruits. Passive Expert promises returns of up to 1% daily, totaling a maximum of 125% ROI. The company then pays referral commissions down two levels of recruitment: 8% on personally recruited affiliates and 2% on second-level recruits. It's textbook pyramid structure dressed up as an ad credit scheme.

Investors need a minimum balance of $10 to withdraw their money, creating artificial friction. Join for free, deposit $5 in bitcoin, and you're locked in.

When asked directly, Passive Expert denies being a Ponzi scheme. The company claims it offers "optional cashback/rewards promotion only for certain products" and that "any cashback paid comes from genuine company profits." This is corporate doublespeak. Ponzi schemes don't generate profits. They shuffle newly invested money to earlier investors and call it returns.

Merritt and his operation lack transparency about who actually owns and runs Passive Expert—another warning sign. Real companies disclose their leadership. Secretive ones are hiding something.

The scheme will collapse predictably. As soon as new recruitment slows, fresh bitcoin deposits will dry up. Without new money flowing in, the company won't have funds to pay the promised daily returns. Investors who got in early might cash out. Everyone else loses.

Regulators understand how these schemes work. Calling fraudulent payments "optional rewards promotion" won't fool them. It shouldn't fool you either.

Don't invest. Don't recruit others. This is investment fraud, plain and simple.


🤖 Quick Answer

What is Passive Expert and who operates it?
Passive Expert is a cryptocurrency investment scheme launched in March 2020 by Lee Merritt, a UK-based operator. The platform promises daily returns on bitcoin investments. Merritt previously promoted Karatbars International, a collapsed Ponzi scheme, before establishing this new fraudulent operation months later.

Who supports the Passive Expert scheme?
Gary Jeremiah Handley, operator of the YouTube channel Crypto Analyzer, provides backing and promotion for Passive Expert. Handley uses his platform to promote multiple MLM Ponzi schemes to his subscriber base, including marketing videos that aided the scheme's launch.

What are the indicators of fraudulent activity in Passive Expert?
Red flags include the operator's prior involvement in a collapsed Ponzi scheme, private domain registration, and promotion through known MLM scheme affiliates. The timing of the new scheme


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