text: WESTBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — About $20 million in cash that was hidden inside a box spring in a Massachusetts apartment has been seized as part of a wide-ranging investigation into an internet telecom company that was actually a massive international pyramid scheme, federal prosecutors said. 
   
   The cash was found Wednesday inside a Westborough apartment by investigators who had tailed a Brazilian man from New York. That man, Cleber Rene Rizerio Rocha, 28, was charged with conspiring to commit money laundering and was held after an appearance in federal court Thursday pending a detention hearing scheduled for next week. His lawyer could not immediately be reached. 
   
   The cash seizure was made in connection with an investigation into TelexFree, a Marlborough, Massachusetts-based company that purportedly sold VOIP telephone service. 
   
   TelexFree had few customers and made most of its revenue from people buying into the company with a promise of payouts for posting online ads for it, prosecutors have said. They were paid with money from new recruits, often friends and family of earlier investors. 
   
   Although initially aimed at Brazilian immigrants to Massachusetts, authorities allege almost 1 million people worldwide were swindled out of nearly $1.8 billion. 
   
   TelexFree filed for bankruptcy in 2014, its assets frozen, and its two principals were indicted on federal charges of wire fraud and conspiracy. 
   
   One of them, former chief executive James Merrill, pleaded guilty in October and awaits sentencing on Feb. 2. 
   
   The other, Carlos Wanzeler, fled to his native Brazil where he remains, U.S. prosecutors said. 
   
   Rocha was part of a scheme to transfer millions of dollars of hidden TelexFree assets to Brazil by laundering the cash through Hong Kong, prosecutors said. 
   
   According to court documents, Rocha, acting as a courier for Wanzeler's nephew, flew from Brazil to New York City a few days ago. Rocha then met with a cooperating witness at a restaurant in Hudson, Massachusetts, and gave him a suitcase containing $2.2 million. 
   
   After the meeting, agents followed Rocha to the Westborough apartment and later arrested him. ||||| BOSTON (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors on Thursday announced that about $20 million found under a mattress in a Massachusetts apartment had been seized after a Brazilian man was arrested for laundering money linked to a multi-billion-dollar global fraud. 
   
   Federal prosecutors in Boston charged Cleber Rene Rizerio Rocha, 28, with conspiring to commit money laundering in a case connected to the investigation of TelexFree Inc, which promoted itself as an internet telecom company but prosecutors say was actually a pyramid scheme. 
   
   Rocha was detained following a court hearing, prosecutors said. His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 
   
   The arrest stemmed from an investigation into TelexFree, a Marlborough, Massachusetts-based company that sold voice-over-internet telephone service and was founded by James Merrill, a U.S. citizen, and Carlos Wanzeler, a Brazilian. 
   
   Prosecutors said TelexFree was a massive pyramid scheme, making little to no money selling its service while taking in millions of dollars from thousands of people who paid to sign up to be “promoters” and post ads online for it. 
   
   TelexFree filed for bankruptcy in April 2014 owing $5 billion to its participants, prosecutors said. In total, 965,225 victims in the United States, Brazil and various other countries lost $1.76 billion when it collapsed, they said. 
   
   Merrill was arrested in May 2014 and pleaded guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud charges in October. Wanzeler in 2014 fled to Brazil and could not be extradited. 
   
   According to Thursday’s criminal complaint, in 2015, an individual working on Wanzeler’s nephew’s behalf approached a cooperating witness about laundering money still in the United States through Hong Kong accounts and moving the funds to Brazil. 
   
   The intermediary told the witness that she wanted $40 million transferred out of the country because Wanzeler’s wife, still in the United States, was filing for divorce and knew where it was located, the complaint said. 
   
   On Dec. 31, Rocha, acting as a courier for Wanzeler’s nephew, flew to the United States and subsequently met on Wednesday with the cooperating witness, whom he gave $2.2 million in a suitcase, according to authorities. 
   
   After the meeting, federal agents followed Rocha to an apartment complex in Westborough, Massachusetts. 
   
   They returned to it after arresting Rocha to find a “substantial amount of cash” hidden under a mattress, the complaint said. Rocha said the money totaled $20 million, the complaint said. 
   
   Wanzeler’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 
   
   The case is U.S. v. Rocha, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts, No. 17-mj-05007.
target: – You'd think that much cold, hard cash would make for an uncomfortable night's sleep. The AP reports a 28-year-old Brazilian man was arrested this week in Massachusetts after authorities found about $20 million hidden in a box spring. The arrest of Cleber Rene Rizerio Rocha is connected to an investigation into TelexFree, an alleged pyramid scheme, according to Reuters. Authorities say TelexFree was originally created to swindle Brazilian immigrants but ended up taking $1.8 billion from nearly 1 million people around the world. Authorities say Rocha, acting as a courier for the nephew of TelexFree's founder, delivered a suitcase containing $2.2 million to a cooperating witness. They then followed him to an apartment where they found $20 million more under a mattress. He's been charged with conspiring to commit money laundering.