The $26 Million Pyramid Scheme That Preyed on OneCoin Victims
The SEC is suing iPro Network and its founder Daniel Pacheco for running a $26 million pyramid scheme that specifically targeted investors burned by OneCoin's collapse.
iPro Network launched in early 2017, just as OneCoin imploded in January. The timing wasn't coincidental. The company built its investor base almost entirely from OneCoin's wreckage, offering what amounted to the same fraudulent model with a different name.
The scheme worked like this: iPro sold "education packages" bundled with a worthless cryptocurrency called PROC. Customers paid thousands of dollars believing they were buying e-commerce training materials. In reality, they were buying the right to recruit others into the scheme and earn commissions based on recruitment, not actual sales. The educational component was window dressing—a fake compliance fig leaf borrowed directly from OneCoin's playbook.
The compensation structure made the pyramid scheme obvious. Members didn't make money teaching e-commerce. They made money by signing up the next wave of recruits. When iPro went public with PROC in July 2017, the insiders knew what was coming. Top investors and company owners dumped their shares during the pump to 66 cents per token. Today PROC trades at 0.14 cents. Everyone else lost nearly everything.
The SEC lawsuit names Pacheco, E Profit Systems, Matthew Lopez, and several shell companies including Fintact Payment Solutions and Maritus Regalis. Notably absent: Armando Contreras, listed as CEO of iPro Network. According to investigators, he may not actually exist—a convenient ghost to hide behind.
To give the scheme legitimacy, Pacheco brought in recognizable names. He recruited Infomercial kingpin Kevin Harrington to promote the opportunity at an iPro event in California. Harrington called it "an amazing new opportunity" in marketing materials. Attorney Scott Warren of Wellman & Warren LLP served as the company's in-house legal counsel, lending a thin veneer of legitimacy to an obviously fraudulent operation.
The scheme's genius was cynical: it targeted people who'd already lost money to OneCoin. They were desperate, they understood cryptocurrency, and they wanted to recoup losses. iPro offered them the same false hope with updated branding. Some probably didn't even realize they were buying into an identical con.
This is how these operations work. When one scam collapses, the architects simply rebrand and hunt the same victim pool. The playbook never changes—just the name of the coin and the person's face on the promotional video.
🤖 Quick Answer
What is the SEC lawsuit against iPro Network about?The SEC filed a lawsuit against iPro Network and founder Daniel Pacheco, alleging a $26 million pyramid scheme that targeted OneCoin victims. The company sold worthless "education packages" bundled with PROC cryptocurrency, requiring participants to pay thousands of dollars and recruit others to earn commissions.
When did iPro Network launch and why was the timing significant?
iPro Network launched in early 2017, coinciding with OneCoin's collapse in January 2017. The timing was deliberate, as the company recruited its investor base almost entirely from OneCoin's victim population, effectively replicating the same fraudulent model under a different corporate identity.
How did the iPro Network pyramid scheme operate?
iPro Network sold education packages containing worthless PROC cryptocurrency tokens. Investors paid thousands of dollars believing they purchased e-commerce training materials. The
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