Forsage
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anchored·3pXnGu…5NJLSummary
Forsage (forsage.io) was a smart-contract-based MLM platform launched in January 2020 on Ethereum, Tron, and Binance Smart Chain that operated as a pyramid and Ponzi scheme, raising approximately $300–340 million from retail investors worldwide. The U.S. SEC filed civil charges against eleven individuals in August 2022, and a federal grand jury in Oregon indicted four founders in February 2023 on conspiracy to commit wire fraud; approximately 88% of participating addresses lost money. As of May 2026, one founder has been extradited and pleaded not guilty while three remain at large.
Connected Entities
1 entities- + 4 more
Timeline(14 events)
2020
Forsage.io launched by Vladimir Okhotnikov, Olena Oblamska (Lola Ferrari), Mikhail Sergeev, and Sergey Maslakov, initially on the Ethereum blockchain.
SEC Press Release / DOJ Indictment17 September 2020
Philippine SEC issues formal cease-and-desist order against Forsage for illegal solicitation of investments.
CoinGeekMarch 2021
Montana Commissioner of Securities and Insurance issues a cease-and-desist order against Forsage following complaints from Montana residents.
Montana Commissioner of Securities and Insurance11 May 2021
Academic preprint 'Forsage: Anatomy of a Smart-Contract Pyramid Scheme' published on arXiv by Kell et al. at Cornell Tech / IC3, providing the first comprehensive on-chain analysis of the scheme.
arXiv15 June 2022
Okhotnikov launches Meta Force, a successor MLM smart contract scheme marketed as a metaverse product.
BehindMLMAugust 2022
U.S. SEC files civil enforcement complaint against eleven individuals (four founders and seven promoters) in the Northern District of Illinois, alleging a $300 million pyramid and Ponzi scheme.
SEC Press Release2 September 2022
Court approves Cheri Beth Bowen's settlement with the SEC; she is the fourth U.S. promoter to settle.
BehindMLM22 February 2023
Federal grand jury in the District of Oregon returns criminal indictment against all four Forsage founders for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, with alleged losses cited at approximately $340 million.
DOJ Press ReleaseMarch 2024
Court in Tbilisi, Georgia sentences Vladimir Okhotnikov in absentia to ten years in prison for laundering approximately $1.1 million in Forsage proceeds through 53 bank accounts.
ICIJOctober 2024
Okhotnikov relaunches his successor scheme as 'Holiverse' after Meta Force's collapse; the rebranded scheme also fails.
BehindMLMFebruary 2026
Thailand's Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau arrests Olena Oblamska (Lola Ferrari) in a raid on a condominium in Phuket.
ICIJ11 May 2026
Olena Oblamska is arraigned in federal court in Portland, Oregon after extradition from Thailand; she pleads not guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Trial scheduled for July 14, 2026.
The BlockDecision Log
- hash: 9sVSeoKmEPADmN9EM779wjGc8o4ufd19TtadcYy5MU8X
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (1 event). 20 of 20 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.
model: claude-code-investigator
generated: 5/31/2026, 6:20:46 PM
last updated: 7/26/2026, 4:53:40 AM
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