Scientology, Amway, The Nation of Islam, an MLM-based cryptocurrency, lawsuits, and a crypto exchange in Guadalajara, Mexico that the Amway guy owns but denies owning: How is this all supposed to work? So many moving parts and players here in our latest investigative report.

As we previously reported, Scientologist and Nation of Islam official Tony Muhammad a/k/a Abdul Malik Muhammad launched a for-profit cryptocurrency company called PeaceCoin. Our additional research showed the company to be an MLM which sells overpriced physical silver, gold, and platinum Peacecoins and gives the buyers the crypto PeaceCoin as a bonus. There is presently no other way to obtain crypto PeaceCoin except by purchasing precious metal coins at 3X market price.

In its sales literature, Peacecoin states this will all change when its cryptocurrency is launched on the InvexCoin exchange on December 25, 2021. Located in Guadalajara, Mexico, we investigated InvexCoin exchange and came up with a few facts Tony Muhammad has not disclosed. We begin with Armen Temurian, Peacecoin’s IT Manager:

Armen Temurian

Armen Temurian’s LinkedIn page shows his work experience as 23 years with Amway up to the present time. During this same time he has been selling Kagen Water machines for Enagic.

In March 2017, this Amway careerist launched his cryptocurrency and networking company Vista Technologies. Temurian’s cryptocurrency is  VistaCoin (XVT). From the company’s website:

VISTACOIN (XVT) is a form of digital currency asset and security that can be transacted via the internet in a decentralized way through the latest cutting edge blockchain technologies.

In researching Peacecoin’s IT Manager Armen Temurian, we find he was involved in a 2019 lawsuit captioned Temurian et. al. v. Piccolo et. al. Case No. 18-cv-62737. Temurian filed this case in the US Federal Court in the Southern District of Florida, Fort Lauderdale Division.

In their answer to Temurian’s complaint, defendants Philip Piccolo and Kevin Johnson alleged that, in exchange for investing substantial time and money to build VistaCoin’s Back Office Software, Temurian promised them 10% ownership of Vista and of all “current and future direct and indirect” Vista entities. As such, defendants claimed that Temurian owns InvexCoin Exchange and they are entitled to 10% ownership:

The defendants further alleged that Armen Temurian and his wife Houry Tartarian operated their company Vista Technologies LLC as a criminal Ponzi scheme:

The claims made by defendants Philip Piccolo and Kevin Johnson are that Armen Temurian induced them to invest a significant amount of time and money to build Vista’s Back Office Software and were not compensated according to the terms of the contract.

Based upon the contract, the defendants claimed partial ownership of VistaCoin and other Vista entities including InvexCoin Exchange. This is significant because Tony Muhammad’s PeaceCoin is set to launch on the InvexCoin Exchange on December 25, 2021.

Does PeaceCoin’s IT Officer Armen Tumerian own the Mexican crypto exchange InvexCoin on which PeaceCoin will be launched? If so, does this mean Tumerian will take a fee for every PeaceCoin transaction on Invex? If this is the case, does it mean that Tumerian kicks up part of his fees to Tony Muhammad? Is there undisclosed self-dealing here? We ask because the evidence shows PeaceCoin will be transacted on an insider-owned exchange.

The court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss most of the complaints in Temurian’s lawsuit on April 19, 2019. The record further noted:

The District Judge dismissed these counts based on an Agreement, as defined in ECF No. 59, which established the PJM Defendants’ co-ownership of Vista.

In this lawsuit the court held that the defendants were co-owners of Vista and Vista’s entities — including Invex.

Armen Temurian voluntarily dismissed what remained of his complaint on May 1, 2020. This effectively dismissed the counterclaim filed by the defendants. The defendants were later awarded some of their legal fees in the case.

While Temurian was suing them in Federal court, Piccolo and Johnson filed their own lawsuit against Temurian in a Florida state court. This active case is captioned Piccolo et. al. v. Temurian et. al. (Case number CACE19-025498 — 17th Circuit Court, Broward County, Florida).

The tables were turned and now Armen Temurian is the defendant. Temurian tried to get out of the Florida case by arguing that Florida does not have jurisdiction over him as he is a California resident. The court, however, found Temurian had claimed Florida residency in another complaint. Ooops. His attempt to get the case dismissed for lack of jurisdiction was denied.

This should serve as a reminder to remember the jurisdictions in which one has filed their various legal complaints, motions, exhibits, etc. It is also important to remember what one wrote and claimed in those complaints. If you wrote that you reside in Florida, then the Florida court has jurisdiction over you. Perhaps Armen Temurian became confused because Florida and California both have coastlines, beaches, and ocean views?

An interesting part of the Florida state case is that Defendant Armen Temurian has denied owning InvexCoin Exchange.  In a January 2021 motion regarding a contempt order, plaintiffs Piccolo and Johnson wrote:

B. Interrogatory No. 6
8. Interrogatory No. 6 requested Defendants to identify the entity that owns and/or
manages InvexCoin.com (which is one of the entities referenced in the contract underlying this dispute) and provide various information in connection therewith.

9. Defendants’ ‘amended’ response is that the information is “[n]ot available. Vista
does not own invexcoin or invexcoin.com …. ”

10. Again, Plaintiffs are lazily lying to Plaintiffs and the Court in this amended
response.

11. Defendants apparently forgot that, in the underlying federal lawsuit between the
parties, Temurian testified extensively about how he/Vista “bought [InvexCoin] at a discount” and “recently took 100 percent interest of that company”:

Q. Okay.
A. I paid $30,000 for it — $28,000. I got it for free, literally.
Q. Okay.
A. That was the — the most amazing thing that we bought at a discount. It’s definitely worth more than that, you know. So — so we also did a similar thing. We — we formed a partnership with a Mexican citizen and we — we started the process of an exchange, like a coin-base exchange, the — currency with banking licenses and all that in Mexico. And so we were able to achieve that.
Q. Which company — which company is that or –
A. This is Invex.
Q. That’s Invexcoin?
A. Invex, yeah.
Q. Okay.
A. And we recently took 100 percent interest of that company. So we had 49 percent, so we really didn’t have control in development or sales or anything, but our partner was a good guy, stayed very loyal. He got the licensing, one of the only three companies that have that in Mexico to — to trade or to accept and to sell them coin, like coin based – and recently we took 100 percent control of that and now we are going to engage that module, too.

***
Q. Who’s identified as the owner of lnvexcoin?
A. I’m 100 percent owner.
***
Q. Okay. How long has that been in existence there in Mexico?
A. We started — we started the company in 2017 with the help of our investors. We started — we put money in, I think just over -personally over a hundred thousand dollars we put in to start the company with our partner. So it was 2017 — I don’t remember which month, but could have been June, July, something like that — where we — May we kind of started that idea. And then it fruitioned, you know, actually went through.
Q. Was any of the Vista $12 million investor money used to fund the Mexican exchange company?
A. So the — the — that company was funded primarily with that -the investor money, yes.

12. Again, Defendants are now simply lying that they have no connection to Invexcoin in an effort to avoid substantively answer the interrogatory…

28. As discussed above, Temurian testified extensively about his ownership, setup, and
use of millions of dollars of Vista funds with respect to InvexCoin.com
(https://www.invexcoin.com/). Notwithstanding this, Defendants want the Court to believe that they have no documents whatsoever regarding this entity.

A jury trial has been set for May 2, 2022 in this case.

A jury trial and cross-examination under oath will surely refresh Armen Temurian’s memory about his ownership of InvexCoin.

We checked Vista’s website and found that it does not buy or sell cryptocurrency. Buyers wanting crypto have to purchase it at Invexcoin.com.

We further learn at the Invexcoin website that it will not go live until December 25, 2021.

Armen Temurian’s claim that he does not own InvexCoin Exchange appears to be undercut by his filing with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in which he states that Invexcoin is a Vista project:

The Vista Projects USPTO filing shows a project called “Higher Network.” What is the Higher Network? It is Armen Temurian’s social media networking app where, apparently, players meet other players. The CEO of the Higher Network is Tony Muhammad. We know this because we spotted Tony Muhammad in a video at a Vista event held in Glendale, California. In the video, Tony Muhammad is cited as being the CEO of the Higher Network:

Tony Muhammad’s Peacecoin and Armen Temurian’s VistaCoin appear to be intertwined in many ways, particularly as their respective cryptocurrencies will be traded on the InvexCoin Exchange located in Guadalajara, Mexico when it finally goes live on December 25, 2021.

Armen Tumerian is facing a civil trial in Florida in May 2022.

How will this play out?

And how did an Amway guy who had no experience in crypto get involved with a Scientology-Nation of Islam member who admitted in a video he had no experience in crypto?

In Part 2 of our investigative report on Peacecoin we add the Church of Scientology and a few other things into the mix to make this picture even more convoluted.

Stay tuned.

The Piccolo et. al. v. Temurian et. al. complaint is set for jury trial in May 2022:

Temurian’s (corrected) second amended answer and counterclaim to Piccolo: