Market Trader Institute Next Step Financial Holdings MTI/Next Step Financial Holdings Lying, Scamming, Involved in Ponzi Scheme, Money Laundering, Wire Fraud, Tax Evasion. ATTENTION IRS, FBI, FTC! Lake Mary, Florida

 It was an unfortunate day on Thursday April 28, 2011 because I got suckered into purchasing the Ultimate Trader's Package from Market Traders Insitute and Next Step Financial Holdings. The presenter Matthew Mocorro presents MTI's UTP in a subtle way by showing charts and a trading technique that MTI teaches that is supposed to make you money. Throughout the presentation, Mr. Mocorro says that it is up to the customer what he or she does and that if the customer is not satisfied with the product or thinks that this is not for him/her, that the customer can request a refund within 60 days. So, thinking that I could get a refund on this product easily if I needed to, I signed up for UTP. Because I was unable to afford the entire price of approximately $5,000 up front, MTI uses Next Step Financial Holdings to finance 725.00 as "tuition assistance," and the rest of it is financed as a loan through Universal Group at 18% APR for the next 18 months. The next day, albeit one day too late, I googled MTI and found an article (September 8, 2010) on the Jamaican Observer stating that Jacob Martinez and Market Traders Institute are being sued by U.S. businessman Don Dowe for their roles in a billion dollar ponzi scheme. Read it here: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/US-businessman-sues-David-Smith--Joey-Issa--OLINT--11-others-.  Another article by Michael Greenberg of Forex Magnates that "This very Institute was said to have helped David Smith with his forex ponzi scheme." Reviews on ForexPeacyArmy.com had many negative reviews concerning the dishonest business practices and inferior educational "product."  There were "multiple fake positive reviews" submitted in February 2009. In light of this new information, I called MTI and spoke with Brian Thomas, an "educational specialist" who was extremely rude as he enlightened me by saying that I was not authorized to receive a refund because of the contract stipulations and fine print. Before speaking with Mr. Thomas, Jorge Magana was the customer service representative who had signed me up over the phone. When I asked him about the refund process, he said it was simple and easy to get a refund--all I had to do was call in and request it. Mr. Magana's statement was the second time I had been lied to in one day (April 28, 2011).  Interestingly, when I asked how are the taxes reported for any profits made, Mr. Magana stated, "Just between you and me, I don't report any of my gains to the IRS, because they are made on the international market." This is classic tax evasion, if anything! After speaking with Mr. Thomas, another specialist called named Joshua and nothing was resolved after another 45 minutes of speaking with him. Then Mr. Mark Harper, a manager, called and after another hour of useless arguing, he told me he would get back to me on Friday, April 29, which he never did. I called Mr. Harper on Monday, May 2 to inquire of the refund policy, and he stated that I would have to comply with MTI's not so easy, arm twisting refund policy which states that: The student acknowledges and agrees that no promise or guarantee for success or profitability has been made between the Company and Student. Student acknowledges that he/she is entitled to a refund on the Ultimate Traders Package and MTI 4.0 Charting for a period of 2 calendar months from the date of purchasing The Ultimate Traders Package and MTI 4.0 Charting, less shipping and handling charges provided the Student meets the following criteria:
Student must show proof of trading with the Companys trading methodology.
All trades must be executed on a Live Trading Account , using the Companys Traders Checklist and Traders Worksheet, which is provided with The Ultimate Traders Package.
Student must complete  all four (4) phases of The Ultimate Traders Package:
Phase 1 - Completely Review UTP Education
Phase 2 - Attend a Phase II Online Class
Phase 3 - Attend Mentorship and Activate Charts
Phase 4 - Attend the 2-Day Onsite Class after having paid for the UTP in full.*
After completing the above mentioned criteria, return the Ultimate Traders Package to our MTI Corporate Office.
This refund policy was never shown to me in writing or verbally stated prior to signing up. I had asked Mr. Magana and he straight up lied, and the presenter Mr. Mocorro lied to all 90+ attendees of the webinar about the refund policy. The fact that MTI only shows the refund policy after wards and lies to the customer about it before hand reveals their methods of using terribly dishonest business practices to lure the customer into thinking that MTI is a reputable educational company. MTI is far from reputable as I now know. If I attended a community college or university and I decided the very next day that I needed a refund because their courses were not what I wanted, I could very well do so. MTI masks itself as an educational enterprise while luring people into their lair and then holding their assets hostage.  I wrote a letter to Mr. Harper which stated the following: 


I am writing this letter to inform you that I do not wish to associate with your company, Market Traders Institute in any way--educationally, professionally, or otherwise. 


 Furthermore, I am also stating in writing that I wish to have my loan contract with Universal Account Servicing LLC canceled and reversed/voided, per statement on the Authorization Agreement for Prearranged Debits which states: This agreement will remain in effect until Universal Account Servicing, LLC receives a written notice of cancellation from me, or until I submit a new authorization form to the Billing Department. I have underlined this statement in red for you to reference in the copy of this agreement.


I have not attended orientation or any of MTI's classes or downloaded any of MTI's software or purchased any products from MTI. You and your company, MTI, cannot lawfully force me to abide by your refund policy without legal consequences.


Because you and MTI's representatives lied to me about how easy it was to get a refund and in fact did not review the refund policy when asked prior to my signing the agreement, you and your MTI representatives have knowingly deceived me. Furthermore, official court documents also state that MTI and its owners Jacob and Jared Martinez have been cited as co-conspirators in a Ponzi scheme.  


I have enclosed additional documentation concerning the Martinez' criminal dealings. Official court documents are also found online at: 
 
1. http://www.docstoc.com/docs/61813391/State-of-Florida-Divison-of-Corporations?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=112205776&utm_content=3
2. http://www.docstoc.com/docs/75108765/25_PLEA-AGREEMENT-re-counts-One-through-Twenty-Three-of-the-Information-_3_  
3. http://www.docstoc.com/docs/63019631/Florida-Public-Records-Police-a-E-Belcher  

To make matters worse, your customer service representative Jorge Magana said to me that he evades paying taxes to the IRS by not claiming his earnings because they were made on the international market.  I wonder just how much of MTI's profit is made internationally by the Martinez family or any of MTIs employees that the IRS does not know about (even though it is based in Florida, a state of the U.S.A.)?  

After reading through the court documents, it is evident that MTI is under suspicion of being involved in wire fraud and money laundering, under the auspices of Jacob and Jared Martinez. Suspicion is more than enough motivation for the IRS to launch a full scale investigation of MTI, if it has not already done so.  Such financial crimes go well with tax evasion as appropriately mentioned by Mr. Magana.

To summarize, it is clearly evident that MTI and its owners, Jacob and Jared Martinez, are under legal suspicion to have been involved in illegal financing schemes, as shown by the civil and criminal lawsuits in the official court documents.  The statement made by Jorge Magana is a verbal admission of committing the crime of tax evasion itself.  

MTI's customer feedback on various sites that review MTI were full of complaints about being ripped off and of MTI's dishonest business practices, especially with regards to your refund policy. It was duly noted on that same website that in February of 2009, multiple fake positive reviews were submitted. For reference and fact-checking, go to the website: http://www.forexpeacearmy.com/public/review/www.markettraders.com.  

Mr. Harper, I have tried multiple times over the phone with you and your MTI representatives to process a cancellation of the contract or refund. I have spoken with Brian Thomas, Joshua Martinez and you over several hours to resolve this situation. Once again, I will not go through with the unlawful stipulations in your refund policy, and wish to part peacefully and without any trouble from your company. If you and MTI would like to dissolve this relationship peacefully and without further trouble in motivating me to contact agencies like the BBB and the IRS (this would just be the beginning of course), it would be in your and MTIs best interest time-wise and otherwise, to dissolve the contract and utilize your time-consuming efforts in trying to retain me upon another individual who is more willing to comply and go through your educational course.

I await your reply and hope that you will seriously consider the consequences of your final decision. It is evident that MTI and MTI's owners are already in quite a bit of legal trouble. I would not want to add to that burden by any means, unless of course, you wish to enforce upon me MTI's refund policy procedure. 

A wise decision could save all parties a whole lot of time and trouble.

A certified (USPS) letter was physically mailed to Mr. Harper along with articles and the credit agreement from Universal Group. After this letter was mailed, Mr. Harper called me on Wednesday May 4, 2011 to discuss the refund. Even though I had not attended any orientation or received any materials from them, MTI wanted to charge me 7% of the $5000 to cancel my contract. I told Mr. Harper that even if I wanted to pay them (which I no way would ever do), I could not at this time because of my financial situation. The conversation was extremely short and Mr. Harper said that he would get back to me on Thursday, May 5.  I did not hear from Mr. Harper on Thursday. Then on Friday, I receive an email from MTI stating that I would have to comply with their refund policy by going through their program. On Saturday, I receive a letter from Universal Group that I will be charged on 6/1/2011 for $211.83 per loan agreement. I have already taken steps to ensure that none of my money will go to MTI or Next Step Financial Holdings. Despite these actions however, my credit report may be at risk due to MTI's refusal to rescind and cancel the contract.  I also sent a certified letter (with articles and copy of agreement) to Universal Group stating the following: 

I am writing this letter to inform you that I do not wish to associate with Market Traders Institute in any way, educationally, professionally or otherwise and have sent a written notice to Mark Harper, manager. I have enclosed a copy of the letter that was faxed (May 2, 2011) and physically mailed to Mr. Harper, manager at MTI.  

Furthermore, I am also stating in writing that I would like to have my loan contract with Universal Account Servicing LLC canceled and reversed/voided, per statement on the Authorization Agreement for Prearranged Debits which states: gThis agreement will remain in effect until Universal Account Servicing, LLC receives a written notice of cancellation from me, or until I submit a new authorization form to the Billing Department.h I have underlined this statement for you to reference in the enclosed copy of the agreement.

I have not attended orientation or any of MTI's classes or downloaded any of MTI's software or purchased any products from MTI. However, MTI has a refund policy which was not fully disclosed to me prior to my signing on with them (and UGA).  MTI's representative lied to me about how easy it was to get a refundhe said I could just call and cancel. Apparently in order for a customer to get a refund, they cannot simply call or write a request for a refund/cancellation. The customer is actually forced to go through with the program which takes longer than two months and show that he/she is unsuccessful. Only then will the customer receive consideration for a refund. This refund policy does not give the customer enough time to complete all the requirements for the consideration of a refund and also forces the customer to go through with the program, without considering a customer's unique circumstances.  

In addition to being blatantly lied to by MTI's representative, I found a plethora of negative news concerning MTI and its owners Jacob and Jared Martinez. Listed below are the links to official court documents that state that MTI and its owners Jacob and Jared Martinez have been cited as co-conspirators in a Ponzi scheme.  I have also enclosed two additional news articles (hard copies) concerning the Martinez' criminal dealings. 


Official court documents are found online at: 
 
1. http://www.docstoc.com/docs/61813391/State-of-Florida-Divison-of-Corporations?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=112205776&utm_content=3
2. http://www.docstoc.com/docs/75108765/25_PLEA-AGREEMENT-re-counts-One-through-Twenty-Three-of-the-Information-_3_  
3. http://www.docstoc.com/docs/63019631/Florida-Public-Records-Police-a-E-Belcher  


After reading through the civil and criminal case court documents, it is evident that MTI is under suspicion of being involved in wire fraud and money laundering, under the auspices of Jacob and Jared Martinez. On one website that contains reviews of MTI's services, the customer feedback amounted to complaints about being ripped off and of MTI's dishonest business practices, especially with regards to their refund policy. It was duly noted on that same website that in February of 2009, multiple fake positive reviews were submitted. For reference and fact-checking, please go to the website: http://www.forexpeacearmy.com/public/review/www.markettraders.com.  

Jason, I have tried multiple times over the phone with MTI's representatives to process a cancellation of the contract or refund. I have spoken with Brian Thomas, Joshua Martinez and Mark Harper for several hours to resolve this situation. Once again, I will not go through with the unlawful stipulations in their refund policy, and have requested a written request for cancellation to MTI, in addition to this written request to Universal for a loan cancellation. 

This situation must be remedied in the right way I have not cheated the company in any way; I have not cheated UGA in any way; in fact it is MTI who is trying to cheat me by forcing me to go through over two months educational programming with them before they can even consider giving me a refund/cancellation. 

After reading all the extremely negative reviews and complaints on MTI's refund policy, I do not trust MTI one iota to keep their word. Additionally, MTI and its owners are implicated in illegal activities such as wire fraud and money laundering.  So, I ask you, Jason please review all the documents cited in this letter and see for yourself why I cannot and will not do business with MTI.  

Please cancel my loan contract with MTI as stated in the Authorization Agreement for Prearranged Debits which states: This agreement will remain in effect until Universal Account Servicing, LLC receives a written notice of cancellation from me, or until I submit a new authorization form to the Billing Department. 

This is my written notice of cancellation to UGA.  Please cancel this loan as I will not do business with MTI.

It appears that UGA does not honor their own agreement which states that This agreement will remain in effect until Universal Account Servicing, LLC receives a written notice of cancellation from me, or until I submit a new authorization form to the Billing Department. I have provided written notice of cancellation.  I will contact Mr. Harper again on Monday, May 9, 2011 and see what he has to say. I will also contact Jason from Universal Group (to whom the letter was addressed).


...To be continued...