SEC Seeks Jail Time for Sanderley Rodrigues Over Repeated Fraud
Sanderley Rodrigues got a court order telling him to stop committing fraud. He ignored it and kept scamming people anyway.
Now the SEC wants him locked up for contempt.
When federal regulators shut down the TelexFree scheme last year, Rodrigues faced a preliminary injunction barring him from any fraudulent conduct. The message seemed clear. Rodrigues apparently didn't read it. Within months, he was running the same scam under a new name: iFreeX.
On August 12, the SEC filed a motion to hold Rodrigues in contempt of court, accusing him of "repeated violations of the Court's orders." The violations span months and show either brazen defiance or stunning incompetence.
Start with the accounting records. In May 2014, the court ordered Rodrigues to hand over detailed financial documentation. He didn't. More than a year passed. On July 30, 2015—over a month late—he finally submitted something. It was signed under penalty of perjury. It was also full of lies.
Rodrigues claimed he'd received only $49,000 from TelexFree and that the company still owed him commissions. The SEC found otherwise. Records show Rodrigues pulled in more than $1.3 million connected to TelexFree. That includes $282,000 directly from TelexFree accounts and another $669,000 from sources explicitly tied to the scheme. An additional $239,000 landed in an account under a shell company name—SCZV—that Rodrigues never disclosed to regulators.
Before TelexFree collapsed, Rodrigues was telling investors he'd made over $3 million. The accounting he submitted suggested he'd made pocket change. The gap was not accidental.
The shell companies tell the real story. Despite an asset freeze written into his injunction, Rodrigues set up at least ten shell entities: Atlantic Star USA Inc., Atlas Global Trust LLC, Ayin Investments LLC, JMJM Logistics LLC, SCZV LLC, SMA Logistics LLC, VICSS Inc., World Global Business Inc., WWW Global Business Inc., and ZVX Investment Corp. None were legitimate businesses. All existed to hide money and continue his fraud.
While maintaining these fronts, Rodrigues kept banking accounts flowing. He held a brokerage account at Wells Fargo Advisors. He opened six accounts at JPMorgan Chase. All while under court order to freeze his assets.
The pattern is relentless: a court order, a violation, another court order, another violation. Each time Rodrigues was supposed to cooperate with investigators, he dragged his feet or lied outright. Each time he was supposed to stop moving money, he created new companies and opened new accounts.
The SEC is asking the court to find him in contempt and enforce accountability. For Rodrigues, a man who watched TelexFree collapse, faced an injunction, and then immediately pivoted to iFreeX, jail time might finally send a message that court orders are not optional.
🤖 Quick Answer
Why did the SEC seek jail time for Sanderley Rodrigues?The SEC filed a contempt of court motion against Rodrigues for repeatedly violating a preliminary injunction issued after the TelexFree scheme shutdown. Despite court orders prohibiting fraudulent conduct, Rodrigues allegedly continued operating similar scams under different names, including iFreeX, demonstrating flagrant disregard for judicial directives.
What was the TelexFree scheme?
TelexFree was a fraudulent operation shut down by federal regulators. Following its closure, Rodrigues received a court order explicitly barring him from engaging in any fraudulent activities, establishing legal precedent for subsequent contempt allegations regarding his continued misconduct.
How did Rodrigues violate the court order?
After the preliminary injunction, Rodrigues allegedly continued committing fraud under new business names like iFreeX within months
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