GSPartners / DAO1 Fraud: 45-State Settlement Violated and How to Recover (2026)

Josip Heit and GSB Group signed a 45-state securities fraud settlement in 2024. As of June 2026, victims still have no refunds and US residents are actively promoting the rebranded DAO1 scheme.

By DefendMe Editorial, Intelligence Team · 2026-06-15 · Hot News

If you invested in GSPartners, purchased DAO1 trading bot plans, or were recruited into any product under the Apertum Foundation umbrella, your money is part of a securities fraud case that regulators across 45 North American jurisdictions have already acted on. You are not alone, and you were not naive: this scheme was designed by experienced operators who recycled the same structure through multiple rebrands specifically to stay ahead of enforcement. As of June 2026, the operator behind all of it, Josip Heit of GSB Group, is openly running a replacement scheme called DAO1 and hosting lavish international marketing events, while victims who submitted refund claims through the official settlement process still have not received a single dollar back.

How It Works

GSPartners was the flagship fraud product of GSB Group, operated by Josip Heit from Dubai. Members invested Tether (USDT) into so-called metaportfolio certificates in exchange for promised passive returns. Recruitment was financially incentivized through a multilevel compensation plan, meaning existing members earned commissions for bringing in new investors. This structure, passive returns funded by new recruitment, is consistent with a classic Ponzi scheme. Following more than a dozen regulatory fraud warnings issued globally, GSPartners collapsed in late 2023.

Rather than wind down, Josip Heit relaunched the scheme. DAO1, which debuted in late 2024 under the Apertum Foundation banner, replaced GSPartners in name only. The metaportfolio certificates were swapped for a purported trading bot. The passive return promise remained. The MLM recruitment compensation plan remained. As of June 2026, DAO1 was soliciting investments of up to 70,000 USDT with the promise of a 350,000 USDT return. That is the same unregistered investment model that 45 US states and Canadian provinces found to constitute securities fraud.

By June 2026, Apertum Foundation had already begun terminating the DAO1 trading bot scheme and rolling out yet another replacement: APTM DAO, structured around an APTM token mining investment plan. Each iteration follows the same pattern: rebrand the product, preserve the recruitment layer, and continue soliciting funds from a global network of promoters. Open-source web traffic records indicate approximately 15,000 monthly visits to the DAO1 website as of May 2026, with 72 percent of traffic originating from South Africa and 25 percent from Germany.

Top promoters are rewarded with travel vouchers worth up to $15,000 and recognition at international events. In June 2026, Apertum Foundation held its "Asia Hustle" DAO1 marketing event in Hong Kong, covering travel costs for qualifying promoters. Social media footage from the event was then used to recruit new participants, presenting the scheme as a thriving global business community.

Red Flags. What Victims Reported

Promises of a 350,000 USDT return on a 70,000 USDT investment with no credible explanation of how returns are generated
Passive income claims tied to a trading bot that has never published independently audited trading results
Multilevel compensation plan pays existing members to recruit new investors, the defining feature of pyramid fraud
Operator Josip Heit has signed a securities fraud settlement with 45 North American jurisdictions and still has not paid victim refunds
GSPartners collapsed after 12 or more global regulatory fraud warnings; DAO1 and Apertum Foundation have already received warnings from Texas, Alberta, Latvia, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, and Lithuania
The scheme has rebranded at least five times since its original launch, a pattern associated with operators evading enforcement
US residents from settlement jurisdictions including Utah, Georgia, and Maryland attended a Hong Kong DAO1 marketing event in June 2026, in apparent violation of active cease and desist orders
Claims administrator AlixPartners has not issued refund determination letters as of June 2026 and is reportedly not responding to victim inquiries
Texas Securities Commissioner publicly accused Josip Heit of violating the settlement term sheet in March 2025 before Texas temporarily withdrew from the agreement
Investor funds appear to be financing international marketing events and promoter travel rather than being preserved for court-ordered refunds

Investigation Findings

In September 2024, GSB Group and Josip Heit entered a multi-jurisdictional term sheet, signed by Heit on September 5, 2024, settling securities fraud allegations with 45 US states and Canadian provinces. The term sheet, publicly available through the Texas State Securities Board, explicitly prohibits Heit and named respondents from offering, selling, or renewing any unregistered security in settling jurisdictions until all GSPartners victim refunds have been paid. As of June 14, 2026, those refunds remain outstanding. This means every existing regulatory fraud warning and cease and desist order against GSB Group remains legally in force.

DefendMe analysts identified that residents of settling jurisdictions attended the Apertum Foundation "Asia Hustle" DAO1 event in Hong Kong on June 12 through 14, 2026. Individuals identified in publicly available social media records and event footage include Utah residents Christian Jensen, Lynda Kasteler Jensen, Jon Moody, and Kenneth Burgess. Georgia resident John Johnson, whose 2022 GSPartners presentation was cited directly in Florida's Office of Financial Regulation securities fraud cease and desist order dated November 17, 2023, also attended the event alongside his wife. Georgia's Emergency Order, issued January 22, 2024, named Josip Heit and Georgia promoter Michael Dalcoe, each fined $500,000, and remains active pending refund completion. Open-source records also indicate Dalcoe holds a current DAO1 promoter account despite that standing enforcement order.

In March 2025, Texas Securities Commissioner Travis J. Iles formally accused Heit of violating the term sheet and announced Texas was withdrawing from the settlement. Texas subsequently issued a standalone Apertum Foundation cease and desist order in May 2025. After negotiations resumed, Texas rejoined the settlement in September 2025, and the Apertum order was voluntarily dismissed on the representation that Apertum Foundation products were not available to Texas residents. The June 2026 Hong Kong event, attended by residents of multiple settling jurisdictions, directly contradicts that representation. Whether settling jurisdictions treat the documented attendance as a formal violation of the term sheet is, as of publication, unresolved.

Criminal Context and Enforcement Landscape

The Georgia Commissioner of Securities issued an Emergency Order against GSPartners, Josip Heit, and named local promoters on January 22, 2024, finding grounds to conclude that respondents engaged in acts or practices constituting violations of the Georgia Uniform Securities Act of 2008. GSPartners and Heit were fined $500,000 under that order, which remains in force. Florida's Office of Financial Regulation issued a separate GSPartners securities fraud cease and desist on November 17, 2023. Both orders are part of the broader 45-jurisdiction settlement framework signed in September 2024. Texas, after temporarily withdrawing and accusing Heit of term sheet violations, rejoined the settlement in September 2025 and separately issued a cease and desist against Apertum Foundation in May 2025. Regulatory fraud warnings specifically targeting DAO1 and Apertum Foundation have been issued by Alberta, Latvia, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, and Lithuania. DefendMe analysts confirmed through publicly available reporting that US federal authorities opened an investigation into GSB Group and Josip Heit in late 2023; no public update on that investigation has been issued as of June 2026.

The broader enforcement landscape around MLM-based crypto investment fraud has intensified globally. Regulators in North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region have each demonstrated willingness to pursue cross-border cases involving unregistered securities and pyramid recruitment structures. Victims in settling jurisdictions have a documented legal pathway through the multi-jurisdictional settlement, but that pathway currently appears stalled. Victims outside settling jurisdictions, including those in states not party to the agreement, face a more difficult road and should document all transaction records and communications immediately. Recovery fees demanded by any third party claiming special access to settlement funds are themselves a common follow-on fraud targeting victims of schemes like this one.

What Victims Should Do Now

Stop all deposits into DAO1, Apertum Foundation, APTM DAO, or any product associated with GSB Group immediately.
Preserve all evidence: screenshots of your account dashboard, investment plan confirmations, payment receipts, wallet transaction hashes, promotional messages, and any communications from promoters or the platform.
Do not contact the platform, promoters, or anyone connected to GSB Group about your funds. Communication can be used to reset legal timelines or produce fabricated records against you.
Do not pay any recovery fee to any third party claiming they can retrieve your funds through special settlement access. This is a common secondary scam targeting GSPartners victims.
Report to your state or provincial securities regulator. If you are in a settling jurisdiction, contact the regulator directly and reference the September 2024 multi-jurisdictional term sheet. If you submitted a claim through AlixPartners and have received no response, document that as well.
File a complaint with the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at ic3.gov and with the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov, providing all transaction records.
Use a qualified technology platform to trace any crypto transactions and document the flow of funds before records become harder to retrieve.

Source: https://behindmlm.com/companies/gspartners/gspartners-north-american-fraud-settlement-violated/