Facing an
order to show cause
as to why he shouldn’t be found in contempt of court, Troy Barnes
plead ignorance
back in June.

I don’t have counsel and can’t afford it.

I would like to explain that I am guilty of being ignorant in this case.

The order stemmed from Barnes’ thus far non-participation in the SEC case against him.

In late June the court accepted Barnes’ explanation, on the proviso he would participate fully in the case going forward.

It (sic) hard to do anything when you don’t understand anything of the law and have no counsel.

Thank you and I will do everything I can to move forward in helping this case.

Yet one month later, a new filing from the SEC reveals Barnes is 
still
 refusing to participate.

Barnes’ continued non-participation has been detailed in a proposed scheduling order, submitted by the SEC on the 31st of July 2015.

In it, the agency writes

Defendant Troy Barnes, who is proceeding pro se, informed counsel for the Commission that he would not be participating in the Rule 26(f) conference.

The conference in question was scheduled for July 7th, roughly a week after Barnes’ pledged to ‘
do everything I can to move forward in helping this case
‘.

Mr. Barnes also failed to respond to emails requesting his input on this scheduling order.

In stark contrast to Barnes, Kristi Johnson, the other Achieve Community co-founder, is fully co-operating through her attorney.

As to the SEC’s case against the pair:

(Barnes and Johnson) enticed investors to buy “positions” in The Achieve Community (“TAC”) by claiming investors would earn extraordinary investment returns of 700 percent, which was generated through a purported “triple algorithm” that Johnson and Barnes developed.

Defendants further claimed TAC was a long-term, stable program that would generate “limitless,” “lifetime” returns. In reality, TAC was a pure Ponzi and pyramid scheme.

Early investors were paid their purported investment returns from the funds of newer investors.

BehindMLM concluded as much when we first
reviewed Achieve Community
back in October 2014.

The SEC is not seeking damages. The SEC is seeking, from each defendant, a permanent injunction against future violations of the federal securities laws charged in the Complaint.

The SEC is also seeking disgorgement of ill-gotten gains relating to the alleged illegal conduct, plus prejudgment interest. The SEC is also seeking civil penalties.

I’m guessing the lack of damages probably ties into the
DOJ’s criminal filing against Johnson
, which sees her facing jail time and heavy fines.

A criminal case against Barnes has yet to be filed but is expected at some point in the future (there’s probably non-cooperation issues there too that are still playing out).

To support their case, the SEC will be providing information from payment processors, evidence collected during their investigation, bank and financial institution records.

Johnson meanwhile stipulated she is

preserving any e-mails o

🤖 Quick Answer

What is Troy Barnes' current status in the SEC legal proceedings?
Troy Barnes continues to refuse participation in the SEC case against him, despite a court order issued in June requiring his full involvement. His non-compliance has been documented in recent SEC filings, indicating his persistent failure to cooperate with legal proceedings despite previously claiming ignorance of legal matters.

Why did Barnes initially claim he couldn't participate in the case?
Barnes cited lack of legal counsel and insufficient financial resources to afford representation as reasons for his inability to understand and participate in the SEC case, requesting the court's consideration of his circumstances.

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