A Texas couple was sentenced yesterday to 40 years each in prison for running a fraudulent chain-referral pyramid scheme, following their convictions by a jury on conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering charges in January 2026.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, LaShonda Moore, 38, and Marlon Moore, 39, of Frisco, Texas, co-founded and ran “Blessings in No Time,” known as “BINT,” an illegal chain-referral pyramid scheme that targeted victims during the COVID-19 pandemic from June 2020 to June 2021.

BINT targeted and recruited victims with false and misleading promises through weekly live-stream video broadcasts to thousands of participants across the United States. Victims were falsely promised that they would earn 800% returns on each $1,400 investment and were guaranteed a refund if they were unsatisfied. The Moores falsely held out BINT as a way for people to help their own community by paying “blessings” of at least $1,400 to participants who had already joined.

The Moores falsely promised that new participants’ “blessing” payments would be paid back eight-fold within a few weeks. BINT was falsely presented as an altruistic invitation-only community to help others during the economic downturn from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The defendants structured BINT to operate on “playing boards” that had positions for participants on four levels: eight Fires, four Winds, two Earths, and one Water. Once eight new participants were recruited to fill all eight Fire positions on the playing board, each Fire was directed to “bless” or pay at least $1,400 to the participant in the Water position.

A Water participant then received eight payments totaling more than $11,000. After a Water participant received his or her payment, other participants at lower levels would move up one level on the playing board and then be required to recruit new participants into the Fire positions to perpetuate the scheme. To profit from the investment scheme, the defendants placed themselves in positions on the playing boards so that they received many of the ultimate payments, and they otherwise diverted substantial money to themselves that was paid by the participants.

The defendants’ pyramid scheme victimized more than 10,000 people across the country and inflicted more than $30 million in victim losses.