Twelve years ago, Michael Deese launched MyAdvertisingPays (MAPS), a notorious Ponzi scheme that is believed to have defrauded victims across the US and Europe of tens of millions of dollars.
By late 2015, MAPS was already on the brink of collapse. The scheme managed to stagger along throughout 2016, but by early September, withdrawals had completely frozen. Following the inevitable crash, Maltese authorities issued a fraud warning against MAPS in November 2016.
As part of MAPS’ exit strategy, Deese claimed that investor funds had been frozen by VX Gateway, MAPS’ payment processor. In December 2016, Deese filed a lawsuit against VX Gateway, accusing its owners — Celia Dunlop and Timothy Mackay — of stealing $60 million in investor funds. At the time, both Dunlop and Mackay were believed to be residents of Texas.
However, the lawsuit failed to gain traction and was ultimately dismissed in mid-2017.
Sometime after the collapse of MAPS, Dunlop and Mackay relocated from the US to Malta. There, the Australian couple lived lavishly for nearly a decade in a multi-million euro property — until recent developments caught up with them.
Unbeknownst to many, Polish authorities had quietly launched an investigation into VX Gateway. This investigation culminated in European arrest warrants being issued for Dunlop and Mackay in December 2024.
According to Polish prosecutors, Celia Eileen Jane Dunlop and Timothy Alan Mackay, both aged 64, were involved in operating a criminal organization and running a pyramid scheme that defrauded approximately 432 victims out of £238,603.
In February 2025, a Maltese judge acknowledged the Polish arrest warrant and ruled in favor of extraditing Dunlop and Mackay to Poland.
While both individuals appealed the decision, Timothy Mackay’s appeal was rejected in late March 2025. He has since been ordered into custody pending his extradition. A decision on Celia Dunlop’s appeal is still pending at the time of writing.
As for Michael Deese, the original founder of MAPS, he has never been held accountable. Reports indicate he continues to reside freely in Texas, USA. It remains unclear whether Deese is considered a person of interest in the ongoing Polish investigation.
Coverage of Dunlop and Mackay’s legal proceedings is expected to continue, although following MLM-related criminal cases in Europe is often challenging due to language barriers and strict privacy laws — laws that often protect scammers more than their victims.
Efforts to locate Polish-language reporting on the VX Gateway investigation have, so far, been unsuccessful.
