‘Growth Cave’ Scam of a $50 Million Business Opportunity and Credit Repair Fraud Halted

‘Growth Cave’ Scam of a $50 Million Business Opportunity and Credit Repair Fraud Halted

In a major crackdown on deceptive business schemes, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has filed a lawsuit against Growth Cave, a widespread operation accused of scamming consumers out of approximately $50 million. The operation, which has been active since at least 2020, falsely promised individuals the opportunity to earn substantial income through business opportunities and credit repair services. The FTC’s complaint highlights how Growth Cave used a series of misleading advertisements and false promises to deceive hopeful entrepreneurs into investing thousands of dollars, often with little to no return.

The heart of the Growth Cave operation was its Knowledge Business Accelerator (“KBA”) program, marketed through YouTube ads featuring the company’s founders, Lucas Lee-Tyson and Osmany Batte, alongside Jordan Marksberry. These ads painted a picture of financial success, claiming that consumers could easily generate $20,000 to $50,000 in passive income by launching a digital education program. Lee-Tyson and Batte, in particular, portrayed themselves as self-made millionaires, showing off lavish lifestyles funded by the money they took from customers. They guaranteed success, with Lee-Tyson even declaring that it was “literally IMPOSSIBLE to fail.”

However, as the FTC’s complaint reveals, these promises were far from truthful. Consumers paid thousands of dollars for the KBA program only to find that the support they were promised never materialized. Growth Cave didn’t provide customized marketing help but instead offered generic scripts, requiring consumers to do much of the work themselves. Even after fulfilling all requirements to launch their programs, many consumers failed to earn any income. In many cases, these individuals were left in debt, paying for services they never received.

The scheme expanded further with an “upgraded” version of KBA, the Digital Freedom Mastermind (“DFM”), which promised even more hands-off assistance at a cost of up to $50,000. Again, consumers were left disappointed, as the promised support never came through. The FTC also pointed to other failed business opportunities sold by Growth Cave, such as the Cashflow Consultant Academy (“CCA”), which promised to connect customers with wealthy business owners but instead placed them with fellow consumers involved in the KBA scam.

In 2023, Growth Cave added a bogus credit repair program called Buffalo Bridge, claiming to help consumers fix their credit and secure 0% interest loans. But the program’s true goal was to get people to sign up for business credit cards, all while charging $6,800 upfront. Even after facing multiple lawsuits from consumers, the company continued to push new fraudulent offerings, such as the PassiveApps AI program and the ApexMind service, which the complaint alleges use many of the same deceptive tactics as the earlier schemes.

On March 7, 2025, the FTC won a victory, securing a federal court order that temporarily halted Growth Cave’s operations and froze its assets. This move is part of the ongoing litigation, with the FTC charging the defendants, Lee-Tyson, Batte, Marksberry, and others, under various laws, including the FTC Act, the Business Opportunity Rule, the Credit Repair Organizations Act, and the Reviews and Testimonials Rule. The FTC is working to hold these individuals accountable and seek redress for the consumers who were deceived by their fraudulent schemes.

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This article is for information purposes only. It is not intended to be and should not be relied on as legal advice for any particular matter.