Holton Buggs – Organo Gold

A summary of what happened?

Holton Buggs is a prominent figure in the multi-level marketing (MLM) industry, notably recognized for his leadership role at Organo Gold, a company specializing in coffee and wellness products. Over the years, Buggs has been associated with several controversies and legal challenges, both during and after his tenure at Organo Gold.

1. AmeriSciences Lawsuit: In 2019, Organo Gold, along with Holton Buggs and Barry Cocheu, faced a lawsuit from AmeriSciences, L.P., alleging trade secret misappropriation, tortious interference with contracts, unjust enrichment, fraudulent transfer, and breach of fiduciary duty. The jury ruled in favor of AmeriSciences, awarding $3,461,166 in damages plus $610,482 in pre-judgment interest, holding Organo Gold, Buggs, and Cocheu jointly liable. An appeal by Organo Gold and Buggs was denied, upholding the original judgment.

2. Allegations of Cross-Recruiting: During his time at Organo Gold, Buggs was implicated in cross-recruiting activities. Notably, Jeremy Roma, a distributor under Buggs, was reportedly terminated from Organo Gold four times for cross-recruiting and policy violations, with each distributorship linked to Buggs.

3. Involvement in Crypto-Related Ventures: Post-Organo Gold, Buggs ventured into cryptocurrency-related MLM schemes. He was associated with Ormeus Global, a company offering cryptocurrency investment opportunities, which faced scrutiny for its business practices. Buggs’ role as an executive advisor to Digital Skynet’s ‘Ormeus’ subsidiary raised concerns about his involvement in potential crypto Ponzi schemes.

4. Meta Bounty Hunters Ponzi Scheme: In 2022, Buggs was linked to the Meta Bounty Hunters project, which was identified as a Ponzi scheme. The schempsed, leading to financial losses for participants and further tarnishing Buggs’ reputation in the MLM and crypto communities.

5. CFTC Charges Related to The Traders Domain: In October 2024, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charged several individuals, including Holton Buggs Jr., in connection with a $280 million Ponzi scheme operated through The Traders Domain. The complaint al least November 2019, the defendants orchestrated a multi-layered scheme involving fraudulent solicitations for trading leveraged or margined retail commodity transactions, specifically gold-to-U.S. dollar pairs (XAU/USD). The court issued a restraining order, freezing the defendants’ assets and granting the CFTC access to their records.

Holton Buggs’ career in the MLM industry has been marred by multiple legal challenges and allegations of unethical practices. His involvement in various ventures, particularly those related to cryptocurrency, has raised concerns about the legitimacy and ethical standards of the operations he associates with. These incidents underscore the importance of due diligence and regulatory oversight in the MLM and financial sectors to protect consumers and maintain market integrity.

Analyzing the Fake Copyright Notice(s)

Our team collects and analyses fraudulent copyright takedown requests, legal complaints, and other efforts to remove critical information from the internet. Through our investigative reporting, we examine the prevalence and operation of an organized censorship industry, predominantly funded by criminal entities, oligarchs, and disreputable businesses or individuals. Our findings allow internet users to gain insight into these censorship schemes’ sources, methods, and underlying objectives.

What was Holton Buggs - Organo Gold trying to hide?

Holton Buggs – Organo Gold‘s attempts to hide unfavourable content through the misuse of copyright notices while allegedly engaging in perjury present serious legal concerns. These actions suggest a calculated attempt to manipulate legal systems to suppress free speech, a fundamental violation of copyright law principles and an abuse of legal processes. The use of such tactics not only undermines the integrity of copyright protection but also potentially constitutes perjury, further entangling Holton Buggs – Organo Gold in legal accountability. Let’s examine the information Holton Buggs – Organo Gold may be trying to remove from the internet –

Investigative Report: Holton Buggs and Organo Gold – An Examination of Controversy and Allegations

Introduction

Holton Buggs is a prominent figure in the multi-level marketing (MLM) industry, most notably recognized for his tenure as Vice President of Sales at Organo Gold, a company specializing in coffee and wellness products. Buggs is celebrated within MLM circles for his success and motivational style, but his career has been marred by legal disputes, allegations of unethical practices, and associations with controversial business ventures. This report examines these allegations in depth, providing a comprehensive overview of the concerns surrounding Buggs and his business dealings.

Background: Holton Buggs and Organo Gold

Organo Gold was founded in 2008 and quickly gained traction as an MLM company offering coffee infused with ganoderma, a mushroom purported to have health benefits. Buggs played a pivotal role in the company’s rapid growth, leveraging his extensive experience in MLM to recruit top-tier distributors and expand Organo Gold’s global footprint.

However, despite its success, Organo Gold and Buggs became embroiled in controversies ranging from internal disputes to lawsuits involving alleged trade secret theft and unethical recruitment practices.

Key Allegations and Legal Challenges

1. AmeriSciences Lawsuit

One of the most significant legal disputes involving Buggs was a lawsuit filed by AmeriSciences, L.P., alleging several breaches by Organo Gold, Buggs, and Barry Cocheu.

• Case Details:
  • Allegations:
    • Trade secret misappropriation.
    • Tortious interference with contractual relationships.
    • Fraudulent transfer and unjust enrichment.
    • Breach of fiduciary duty.
  • AmeriSciences claimed that Buggs and Organo Gold misused confidential business information and relationships for competitive advantage.
  • Ruling:
    • In 2019, a jury found in favor of AmeriSciences, awarding damages of $3.46 million, along with $610,482 in pre-judgment interest.
    • The court held Buggs, Organo Gold, and Cocheu jointly liable for the damages.
    • Appeals by Buggs and Organo Gold were denied, affirming the judgment against them.
• Implications:
  • This ruling tarnished Buggs’ reputation, raising questions about his business ethics and the operational integrity of Organo Gold.

2. Allegations of Cross-Recruiting

During his tenure at Organo Gold, Buggs faced allegations of cross-recruiting, a violation of MLM ethics and company policies.

• Incidents:
  • Jeremy Roma, a top distributor linked to Buggs, was reportedly terminated from Organo Gold multiple times for engaging in cross-recruiting and violating company policies.
  • These activities suggested systemic issues within Organo Gold’s distributor network, undermining the company’s reputation for compliance and internal discipline.
• Criticism:
  • Critics argued that Buggs’ leadership allowed or ignored these violations, prioritizing recruitment over ethical practices.

3. Transition to Cryptocurrency-Linked MLM Ventures

Following his departure from Organo Gold, Buggs ventured into cryptocurrency-related MLM schemes, raising further concerns.

• Involvement in Ormeus Global:
  • Buggs was linked to Ormeus Global, a cryptocurrency MLM promising investment opportunities in crypto mining and trading.
  • Ormeus faced scrutiny for its business practices, with accusations of being a potential Ponzi scheme.
• Digital Skynet and Crypto MLMs:
  • As an executive advisor to Digital Skynet, Buggs’ involvement with its subsidiary Ormeus raised red flags about his pivot to cryptocurrency-focused MLMs, an industry often criticized for fraudulent schemes.

4. Meta Bounty Hunters Ponzi Scheme

In 2022, Buggs was implicated in the collapse of the Meta Bounty Hunters project.

• Scheme Details:
  • Meta Bounty Hunters was marketed as a metaverse-linked NFT (non-fungible token) project.
  • It was later identified as a Ponzi scheme, collapsing and leaving participants with significant financial losses.
• Buggs’ Role:
  • As a prominent figure associated with the project, Buggs faced criticism for promoting a scheme that resulted in widespread financial harm to investors.
• Impact:
  • This incident further damaged his reputation, particularly within the MLM and cryptocurrency communities.

5. CFTC Charges: The Traders Domain Ponzi Scheme

In October 2024, Buggs was named in a $280 million Ponzi scheme investigation conducted by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

• Allegations:
  • The scheme involved fraudulent solicitations for leveraged commodity trading, specifically gold-to-U.S. dollar pairs (XAU/USD).
  • Buggs and others were accused of orchestrating a multi-layered fraud, misrepresenting returns to attract investors.
• Legal Actions:
  • A federal restraining order froze the assets of Buggs and other defendants.
  • The CFTC’s complaint alleged that the scheme operated from 2019 onwards, affecting thousands of investors.
• Significance:
  • This case is one of the most serious allegations against Buggs, implicating him in large-scale financial fraud with potential criminal consequences.

Broader Criticisms and Concerns

1. Exploitation of MLM Model

• Buggs’ career has been built on MLM models, which critics argue often prioritize recruitment over legitimate product sales.
• Allegations of pyramid-like structures and over-promising income potential have followed his ventures, including Organo Gold.

2. Lack of Transparency

• Both at Organo Gold and in his subsequent ventures, Buggs faced accusations of opaque business practices.
• Claims of inflated income representations and deceptive marketing further eroded trust among participants.

3. Shift to Riskier Industries

• Buggs’ transition from coffee and wellness to cryptocurrency and NFTs coincided with increased public skepticism about these sectors’ legitimacy.
• His involvement in projects later exposed as fraudulent intensified scrutiny of his decision-making and ethics.

Conclusion

Holton Buggs is a polarizing figure in the MLM world. While celebrated by some for his success and motivational prowess, his career has been marked by significant controversies, legal disputes, and accusations of unethical behavior. From the AmeriSciences lawsuit to his involvement in cryptocurrency Ponzi schemes and a massive CFTC investigation, Buggs’ reputation has been repeatedly called into question.

These incidents highlight the challenges of the MLM industry and its intersection with high-risk ventures like cryptocurrency. Buggs’ trajectory underscores the importance of regulatory oversight and the need for due diligence by individuals considering participation in MLM or crypto-linked opportunities.

Recommendations

1. For Regulators:
   • Strengthen oversight of MLM companies and cryptocurrency-linked ventures.
   • Enforce stricter transparency and income disclosure requirements.
2. For Participants:
   • Conduct thorough research before joining MLMs or investing in cryptocurrency projects.
   • Be cautious of ventures promising high returns with minimal risk.
3. For Industry Leaders:
   • Prioritize ethical practices and compliance to rebuild trust in MLM as a legitimate business model.
   • Avoid association with high-risk ventures that lack regulatory clarity.

Holton Buggs’ case serves as a cautionary tale for both entrepreneurs and investors about the risks inherent in fast-growing but poorly regulated industries.

How do we counteract this malpractice?

Once we ascertain the involvement of Holton Buggs – Organo Gold (or actors working on behalf of Holton Buggs – Organo Gold), we will inform Holton Buggs – Organo Gold of our findings via Electronic Mail.

Our preliminary assessment suggests that Holton Buggs – Organo Gold may have engaged a third-party reputation management agency or expert, which, either independently or under direct authorization from Holton Buggs – Organo Gold, initiated efforts to remove adverse online content, including potentially fraudulent DMCA takedown requests. We will extend an opportunity to Holton Buggs – Organo Gold to provide details regarding their communications with the agency or expert, as well as the identification of the individual(s) responsible for executing these false DMCA notices.

Failure to respond in a timely manner will necessitate a reassessment of our initial assumptions. In such an event, we will be compelled to take appropriate legal action to rectify the unlawful conduct and take the following steps –

Since Holton Buggs – Organo Gold made such efforts to hide something online, it seems fit to ensure that this article and sensitive information targeted online by these events get a lot more exposure and traffic than what it would have received originally

We hope this becomes an excellent case study for the Streisand effect…The key idea behind the Streisand effect is that efforts to restrict information can backfire, often causing the information to gain more attention than it would have otherwise. This effect is widespread in the digital age, where users quickly notice and spread censorship efforts on social media and other platforms. Trying to suppress something can unintentionally lead to it becoming more visible, which Holton Buggs – Organo Gold is finding out the hard way.

Potential Consequences for Holton Buggs - Organo Gold

Under Florida Statute 831.01, the crime of Forgery is committed when a person falsifies, alters, counterfeits, or forges a document that carries “legal efficacy” with the intent to injure or defraud another person or entity.

Forging a document is considered a white-collar crime. It involves altering, changing, or modifying a document to deceive another person. It can also include passing along copies of documents that are known to be false. In many states in the US, falsifying a document is a crime punishable as a felony.

Additionally, under most laws, “fraud on the court” is where “a party has sentiently set in motion some unconscionable scheme calculated to interfere with the judicial system’s ability impartially to adjudicate a matter by improperly influencing the trier of fact or unfairly hampering the presentation of the opposing party’s claim or defense.”  Cox v. Burke, 706 So. 2d 43, 46 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998) (quoting Aoude v. Mobil Oil Corp., 892 F.2d 1115, 1118 (1st Cir. 1989)).

Is Holton Buggs - Organo Gold Committing a Cyber Crime?

Yes, it seems so. Holton Buggs – Organo Gold used multiple approaches to remove unwanted material from review sites and Google’s search results. Thanks to protections allowing freedom of speech in the United States, there are very few legal ways to do this. Holton Buggs – Organo Gold could not eliminate negative reviews or search results that linked to them without a valid claim of defamation, copyright infringement, or some other clear breach of the law.

Faced with these limitations, some companies like Holton Buggs – Organo Gold have gone to extreme lengths to fraudulently claim copyright ownership over a negative review in the hopes of taking it down.

Fake DMCA notices have targeted articles highlighting the criminal activity of prominent people to hide their illegal behavior. These people, which include US, Russian, and Khazakstani politicians as well as members from elite circles including the mafia and those with massive financial power, are all connected – and alleged corruption ranging from child abuse to sexual harassment is exposed when exploring evidence found at these URLs. It appears there’s a disturbing level of influence being exerted here that needs further investigation before justice can be served. Holton Buggs – Organo Gold is certainly keeping interesting company here….

The DMCA takedown process requires that copyright owners submit a takedown notice to an ISP identifying the allegedly infringing content and declaring, under penalty of perjury, that they have a good faith belief that the content is infringing. The ISP must then promptly remove or disable access to the content. The alleged infringer can then submit a counter-notice, and if the copyright owner does not take legal action within 10 to 14 days, the ISP can restore the content.

Since these platforms are predominantly based in the U.S., the complaints are typically made under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which requires online service providers and platforms to react immediately to reports or violations. Big Tech companies rarely have systems in place to assess the merit of each report. Instead, all bad actors need to do is clone a story, backdate it, and then demand the real thing be taken down.

Reputation Agency's Modus Operandi

The fake DMCA notices we found always use the “back-dated article” technique. With this technique, the wrongful notice sender (or copier) creates a copy of a “true original” article and back-dates it, creating a “fake original” article (a copy of the true original) that, at first glance, appears to have been published before the true original.

Then, based on the claim that this backdated article is the “original,” the scammers send a DMCA to the relevant online service providers (e.g. Google), alleging that the ‘true’ original is the copied or “infringing” article and that the copied article is the “original,” requesting the takedown of the ‘true’ original article. After sending the DMCA request, the person who sent the wrong notice takes down the fake original URL, likely to make sure that the article doesn’t stay online in any way. If the takedown notice is successful, the disappearance from the internet of information is most likely to be legitimate speech.

As an integral part of this scheme, the ‘reputation management’ company hired by Holton Buggs – Organo Gold creates a website that purports to be a ‘news’ site. This site is designed to look legitimate at a glance, but any degree of scrutiny reveals it as the charade it is.

The company copies the ‘negative’ content and posts it “on the fake ‘news’ site, attributing it to a separate author,” then gives it “a false publication date on the ‘news’ website that predated the original publication.

The reputation company then sent Google a Digital Millennium Copyright Act notice claiming the original website infringed copyright. After a cursory examination of the fake news site, Google frequently accepts the notice and delists the content.

In committing numerous offences, Holton Buggs – Organo Gold either premeditated actions or were unaware of the consequences. Despite hiring an agency to make Google disregard any negative information about Holton Buggs – Organo Gold, ignorance does not excuse this wrongdoing.

Fake DMCA notices have targeted articles highlighting the criminal activity of prominent people to hide their illegal behavior. These people, which include US, Russian, and Khazakstani politicians as well as members from elite circles including the mafia and those with massive financial power, are all connected – and alleged corruption ranging from child abuse to sexual harassment is exposed when exploring evidence found at these URLs. It appears there’s a disturbing level of influence being exerted here that needs further investigation before justice can be served. FSMSmart is certainly keeping interesting company here.

The Reputation Laundering

Rogue Reputation agencies use spurious copyright claims and fake legal notices to remove and obscure articles linking clients to allegations of tax avoidance, corruption, and drug trafficking. Most of these reputation agencies are based offshore, mainly in Russia, India, and Eastern Europe, and they do not worry about complying with US-based laws.

The content in all of the articles for which the fraudulent DMCA notices have been sent relates to allegations of criminal allegations, including corruption, child abuse, sexual harassment, human trafficking and financial fraud against businesses and individuals with ultra-high net worth.

In addition to the misuse of the DMCA takedown process, there is a notable absence of enforcement concerning perjury violations. The statutory requirement related to perjury is designed to deter copyright holders from submitting fraudulent or knowingly false takedown requests, as they may face legal consequences for making false declarations under penalty of perjury. However, to date, there have been no known instances of any individual being prosecuted for perjury in connection with the submission of false DMCA takedown notices.

This lack of enforcement has emboldened copyright holders to exploit the DMCA takedown process to suppress dissent, criticism, or other unfavorable content, without fear of legal repercussions.

Some of the people and businesses who have employed this tactic to remove legitimate content from Google illegally include a Spanish businessman-turned-cocaine-trafficker, Organised crime, an Israeli-Argentine banker accused of laundering money for Hugo Chávez’s regime, a French “responsible” mining company accused of tax evasion, child molesters and sexual predators. Holton Buggs – Organo Gold is in great company ….

What else is Holton Buggs - Organo Gold hiding?

We encourage you to ‘Dork‘ Google by searching for keyword combinations such as [Holton Buggs – Organo Gold] + {Negative Keyword, such as Scam, Fraud, Complaints, Lawsuit, Sanction, etc} on Google. It’s likely if you scroll down to the bottom of this Google search results, you’ll stumble upon this Legal Takedown notice (pictured below)

To make such an investigation possible, we encourage more online service providers to come forward and share copies of content removal requests with industry experts and researchers. If you have any information on Holton Buggs – Organo Gold that you want to share with experts and journalists, kindly email the author directly at [email protected].

All communications are strictly confidential and safeguarded under a comprehensive Whistleblower Policy, ensuring full protection and anonymity for individuals who provide information.