The financial activity of the MMM pyramid began in January 2011. Despite the fact that millions of Russians have already lost their savings in a similar pyramid of 1994, despite the fact that Mavrodi openly referred to his structure as a financial pyramid, there were many depositors. The mechanism of functioning of the MMM sample of 2011 had many differences from MMM`94.
The basis of MMM's work is the principle of buying and selling the virtual currency MAVRO, originally called MMM-dollars. The course for the acquisition and sale of this currency changed twice a week and was personally appointed by Sergei Mavrodi. Participants were offered the opportunity to receive income from buying MAVRO at a lower rate and selling it at a higher rate. Several types of MAVRO were envisaged, depending on the level of profitability and on the terms of purchase. However, when MMM began to curtail its activities, there was only one type of MAVRO with a yield of 40% per month.
The peculiarity of the functioning of MMM-2011 is that it does not have the status of a legal entity, a single center and a single current account. The process of buying and selling MAVRO occurs as a process of buying and selling between individual participants or groups of participants. Methods of money transfer are very different: cash, postal and bank transfers, payment systems, etc. Each new participant of MMM registers in the primary cell - ten and contributes to its head - the ten's manager. In return, the participant receives a certain amount of MAVRO at the exchange rate at the time of purchase. In the future, he can track the growth of his contribution by changing the course of the MAVRO. When selling their MAVRO system, money is paid to the participant from the funds of the cell.
In fact, the participant does not transfer funds to anyone. He simply opens his bank account, deposits the amount of the deposit on it and undertakes to transfer them at the request of the foreman or centurion. For refusing to transfer money, the participant is excluded from MMM without the right to be restored in the system. In return, on the official MMM website in the participant's personal account, he is credited with the MAVRO amount of the agreed type at the rate. When selling their MAVRO, money is transferred by another participant or participants by order of the foreman or centurion. This feature of MMM's work makes it problematic to prove the fact of fraud, and even more so - the fact of theft.
Above the foremen are centurions, who manage the activities of several cells. In the event that a dozen funds are not enough to pay a deposit to a participant, funds from other dozens are used, and if necessary, from hundreds of cells, etc. The centurions, managing the foremen, in turn, are led by the thousand's managers. They are run by temniks (ten-thousanders), and they are by an official manager. Mavrodi himself is an advisor to the MMM. All positions are elective and correspond to the levels of the structural organization of the MMM, in no way correspond to the real number of the cell.
Leaders of all ranks and personally Mavrodi openly warn all participants and those who are simply interested that MMM is really a financial pyramid, they do not guarantee income and even return of already invested funds, they warn about the constant risk of losing. The rules in MMM are rather arbitrary and change quite often.
From a legal point of view, MMM is neither a legal entity nor a public organization and exists as a social network that is not registered anywhere. There is no possibility to independently check the number of participants in the pyramid, but according to Mavrodi himself, it exceeds a million people.
