- 6 months ago
Imagine investing let's say one thousand dollars and getting back ten times the amount in a matter of months.
Could this really be true? Or was this investment scheme designed to lure the unsuspecting who didn't really think it through?
In part one of TV6's investigation "Get rich or penniless trying" we uncover a crypto and forex market scheme that promised financial freedom for thousands, but still they have nothing to show for it.
Could this really be true? Or was this investment scheme designed to lure the unsuspecting who didn't really think it through?
In part one of TV6's investigation "Get rich or penniless trying" we uncover a crypto and forex market scheme that promised financial freedom for thousands, but still they have nothing to show for it.
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NewsTranscript
00:00it seemed like the chance of a lifetime all over town at barbershops and whatsapp groups during
00:23lunch breaks at work people were talking about it a new crypto project promising huge returns
00:29if you got in early for some it was a way out of debt for others it was a chance to build a future
00:35for their families few really understood how it worked but everyone knew someone would make quick
00:41money or so they said but behind that website and the flashy promises was a scheme carefully designed
00:49to drain every dollar it could fake account balances staged payouts and slick promoters kept
00:57the money rolling in by the time people realized they couldn't withdraw their so-called profits it
01:03was too late the founder procrastinated and claimed the money train was on its way a train that's yet
01:10to find its way and realistically deposit the much-needed money into the accounts of thousands
01:16thousands of ordinary people now left with nothing but regret questions and a trail now gone cold and the
01:27issue of getting rich or penniless trying
01:30meet james karon timothy rose the self-styled mastermind behind trillion system limited a company
01:46registered in 2022 but only springing to life in late 2023 when rose flooded instagram and other platforms
01:54with hundreds of flashy videos his pitch convincing eager would be investors to trust him with their
02:01money in forex and crypto schemes all under the guise of his so-called expertise he has spread messages
02:08like these across the internet one go we have at this junction here i like to build our company or
02:14organization into a billion dollar organization and how it is you can do that none different than what
02:20you've already been doing simple compounding then i the formula then i the system day by day people from
02:26every walk of life street vendors construction workers even professionals like doctors and lawyers
02:33bought into his grand vision rose sold them dreams of doubling or quadrupling their money dangling promises
02:40of returns tenfold what they invested many did and waited rose even expressed this exact sentiment when
02:50we spoke with him in early july for this story dismissing claims that he wasn't paying out repeating
02:56the same rhetoric about building funds on these platforms yet never addressing the core
03:02issue of when these people will get their money back and the projected returns he allegedly made on
03:08their money he insisted it wasn't a scam the pool of persons swelled to over 3 000 according to investors
03:16and senior police sources who launched an active investigation into rose and trillions in late june
03:22this year the securities and exchange commission is also conducting a parallel investigation into trillions
03:29we were reliably informed the trillions fever seemingly took over early last year with rose promising
03:35many who invested a payment of 10 percent weekly on the initial investment several investors spoke to tv6
03:42on the condition of anonymity fearing victimization and other repercussions for speaking out thousands
03:49of persons made investments from as small as ten thousand dollars to as large as 14 million dollars with several
03:56including a doctor and business people who wish to remain anonymous putting in quarter million dollars
04:02or more in many instances one investor got on board in august 2024 and put in an initial investment of 50
04:09000 and everything appeared to be normal for the next four to five months it was running smoothly i was
04:18withdrawing you know trying to take back out my initials and everything and then coming down to december
04:26they had a um something called a mystery pool right where they would take a extra amount of money
04:34and then flip that and you would get um it was up to five potential up to 5x your money they end up paying
04:432.5x i didn't really spend i had any more money to it i took some of the initials that um some of the
04:51profits that i got 7 500 right at that time you were sold on the island you were convinced after four
04:59months again paid yeah definitely i was it was it seemed like it was making sense you know um and then
05:06in the middle of december they no at the end of november they had a a party you know a party for every all the
05:17investors and stuff they rented out a whole vip section in bayside right they invited everyone
05:25they paid for a ticket to come they had more they had everything the full works little did you know
05:31it was your own money you're drinking back out there you know but when christmas 2024 came around
05:37and thousands were expecting a bumper payout this investor says rose's first excuse was that he
05:43couldn't pay out because he feared people would get robbed during the holiday season when that didn't
05:48hold up there was another excuse we gave him a week and we came back here next week now before the week
05:53was over that is when he sent the message saying that everyone he lost this money and the markets took
06:01a great hit with him which didn't make sense because back then donald trump won and then the market
06:06skyrocket so how did he take a hit crypto skyrocket stock skyrocket it didn't make sense rose then pushed
06:15the payout to january 2025 then february and finally told everyone they'd get their windfall on june 27th
06:23this year promising them 10 times what they'd invested that didn't go down well with a female investor
06:30who was working in the legal field and decided to invest early this year with the hope of finishing law
06:35school i put in some money in january and february and how much money are you talking about here 50
06:42over 50 000 both together january and very 50 each or 50 overall 50 overall right 50 000 plus yeah right
06:52which would include shares and stuff like that right because you had to when i went into the company i
06:58wasn't interested in being a shareholder but they told me that in order to have access to the 10
07:05percent you need to buy shares so i did you know buy some shares and stuff so i to my surprise now
07:14they keep moving the dates in january they keep shifting it shifting it so i was i find it was a
07:20bit odd and strange but i know people were getting pay out since june or july the year before so i tell
07:29it myself well all right this has to be the trading thing it it can't be anything other than that and
07:34as of date i put money then i was never able to withdraw one cent so you're not getting any
07:42any refund or any return on your investments i never would was able to withdraw any money
07:50out of what i put in i never get one black cent rose told or rather instructed investors that he was going
07:56to reinvest their money in a 10x mystery pool but this didn't sit well with anyone including this
08:04female investor i wasn't interested in that so i didn't join that okay but then he came i think in
08:09february and he was like the 10 percent is no longer um oh we no longer have that and everybody's money
08:19going to be compounded 10x in a mystery pool you know i had a problem with that because how you could just
08:25take my money and just put it in a mystery pool and have no discussion with me and that was a major
08:30problem because i had no interest in my money being compounded for a period of months i only joined
08:37because i know i was getting a weekly thing every single week so it's technically like you're con
08:45like i felt conned really and i feel the proper thing to do if he was a genuine person
08:51what he should have done was come to the public and say what to the shareholders and say we could
08:56no longer offer this this is the option we have like so many others this investor's financial dreams
09:03were dashed it has set me back a lot because one of the reasons i had joined is to make up money to
09:09finish certain things with school and now i'm not able to do that because my money is tied up there
09:15you understand what i'm saying so it's very very difficult now like and school is starting back
09:20soon and i do have access to my money so that in itself is very frustrating but in spite of so many
09:26stories told to tv6 news on and off the record about the mountain problems with trillions and complaints
09:33sent to rose on social media platforms rose chose to ignore their questions and complaints about their
09:39investments still peddling his message across all social media platforms convincing everyone he was
09:46building their money we have a protocol and we make it plain clear a bank bank bank bank bill a bank
09:57you're not a bank right now it's earning season though while it is you building while it is you
10:04building me it's like real building to do that especially now can i don't know i don't think
10:09us there figures are another investor said he had been familiar with rose back in 2023 when
10:16trillions were advertising packages for a platform known as primordial from 500 us to 100 000 us dollars
10:24i joined with them back then in october in october of 2023 the platform came to a crash i lost
10:36approximately about 100 000 on that platform um fast forward to 2024 i got a phone call from my friend
10:49that's when trillion systems really started right after primordial primordial was somebody different
10:56primordial was our online platform that was doing trading with promises of returns but trillions was
11:02advertising the platform in trinidad okay so you would go to them to purchase the crypto and do the
11:07exchange and you would go to them to sell the crypto to get back cash so when you lost the money
11:13initially in primordial yeah you had no recourse who did you try to get on in contact with we tried
11:18to contact with trillions trillions say because anything happened to the platform they were the first to
11:24know and they said they were not the creators of the platform that they just used the platform because the
11:30platform was working but still reeling from those losses and desperate to recover any semblance of
11:36that money this investor said he got a call from a friend who said they were looking for some persons
11:41to invest in trillions in june 2024 he collected some sixteen thousand dollars after investing four
11:48thousand dollars a few months earlier but he like many others soon realized that this was the way
11:56persons were reeling to dump more cash into the crypto and forex markets and he did too between
12:03september and december 2024 he invested an additional ninety thousand dollars he said in december he received
12:11a mere ten thousand dollars but the eighty thousand dollars still sat in his account as rose said they
12:17weren't paying out any money from mid-december due to persons at the risk of being robbed this investor
12:23then realized rose was apparently stalling for time he explained they'd been requested to invest in the
12:29physical side of the business of a quarry in case the digital side of the business took a hit to him
12:36something didn't quite sit right i was under the impression that the profits was coming from
12:42trading because they claim business men were buying the crypto to use as foreign exchange to bring in
12:48goods and whatnot right also that payments were making partially from the profits from the quarry
12:54they were advertising so i was under the impression that the quarry is making money and that is what
13:00they're using when they're short of cash to pay people i discovered there was doing plenty shady stuff
13:04with the quarry and when you said that there was some issue that the quarry was likely not theirs no the
13:12quarry they don't own any quarry lands they renting lands from people that's that's what they claim they
13:18claim the renting lands and stuff to do their business so they're using other people license and whatnot
13:25facilitate their work senior police sources in the know about the investigation told us that based on
13:30the information they uncovered trillions did not own any quarry and seemingly was fronting a quarry owned by
13:37someone else rose failed to respond to questions we later sent via text messaging about this the uncertainty
13:45and impact for this investor who sank 90 000 into this venture still plays on his mind mentally physically
13:52emotionally it's been a disaster all right because sometimes you're in a frame of mind where okay
14:00you finally find a peace and somebody mentioned the name trillions and then you
14:06your mind all over the place because the money that you have tied up within the company
14:11could use to pay bills and whatnot other medical expenses and stuff right
14:20the message to mr rose as a business owner right speaking to another business owner
14:27it is unfair to treat shareholders the way you treat us it appears that rose has a history of
14:34launching similar ventures prior to trillions one investor told us he lost us 50 000 back in 2018
14:42with a company called rose capital investments limited according to documents obtained by tv6 news
14:48rose was listed as one of directors and incorporators of that company the investor claimed the investments
14:54were made in early 2018 and was promised his money in march that year march came when he promised payments
15:05he made a excuse that he couldn't pay the money yet or whatever the case is some people who were ill
15:12and needed the money some people want school or loans or whatever took loans wanted the money in march
15:17when they went to the office they were met with abuse and bullying and verbal abuse and stuff like that
15:25the former investor explained they were ordered to later signed a non-disclosure agreement
15:29and more empty promises followed with new payment dates set in 2019 but when covid hit
15:36rose went silent and everyone gave up hope his chances of recovering his fifty thousand dollars
15:43more than three hundred thousand dollars were dashed my initial plans was actually to go to
15:49canada and actually pursue my dream in becoming a pilot and
15:57that was like basically my savings to do that and now there isn't any hope for that um
16:06james
16:06james
16:09as i say he fell off the basically he fell off the
16:13the face of the the earth no one heard anything everybody just forget about it but i did report it
16:18to the uh law enforcement um so happens there was some raids and stuff in his house in belly and
16:27Golconda or whatever, but nothing has ever come out of that situation. I still try to follow up
16:33on it. Aware of the grave situation thousands were facing, who had invested with trillions,
16:39the former Rose Capital investor set up a group to alert people about Rose's former ventures.
16:45I did reach out to people, not because I'm trying to cause chaos or anything like that,
16:50but I'm trying to make people aware that he dreams and he hopes that this guy is selling,
16:54because basically that's what he sells. He sells dreams and hopes. And I'm just there to let them
17:01know that the dreams and hopes of you guys getting paid in June 27th or whenever else he promises you
17:08guys, I'm there since 2018 and I'm still there waiting for payment and nothing has been given to
17:16me, not even a red cent. To borrow in part two, we seek further answers from Trillion Systems Limited
17:22founder and director James Rose and visit their office in San Fernando, where several investors
17:28turned up in early July, all later turned away empty-handed. Mark Passant, TV6 News.
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