Analysis of the death of 'FHTM' racketeer, Paul Orberson,

Readers should note that it is not my intention to cause distress to family of the late Paul Orberson, merely to uncover the wider truth.

'MLM Income Opportunity' cultic racketeer, Paul Orberson (1956-2013)

It has recently been announced that Paul Orberson - the instigator of the blame-the-victim 'MLM Income Opportunity' cultic racket hiding behind the labyrinth of legally-registered corporate structures known as 'Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing (FHTM)' - has died of cancer aged 57.

Unfortunately, 'FHTM' (which had recently been closed-down as pyramid fraud by the US Federal Trade Commission acting on behalf of the American people and 3 Attorney Generals acting on behalf of the people of the States of Kentucky, Illinois and N. Carolina), is only part of a overall pattern of ongoing, major racketeering activity (as defined by the US federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 1970).

More than half a century of quantifiable evidence, proves beyond all reasonable doubt that what has become popularly known as 'Multi-Level Marketing' is nothing more than an absurd, cultic, economic pseudo-science, and that the impressive-sounding made-up term 'MLM,' is, therefore, part of an extensive, thought-stopping, non-traditional jargon which has been developed, and constantly-repeated, by the instigators, and associates, of various, copy-cat, major, and minor, ongoing organized crime groups (hiding behind labyrinths of legally-registered corporate structures) to shut-down the critical, and evaluative, faculties of victims, and of casual observers, in order to perpetrate, and dissimulate, a series of blame-the-victim closed-market swindles or pyramid scams (dressed up as 'legitimate direct selling income opportunites'), and related advance-fee frauds (dressed up as 'legitimate training and motivation, self-betterment, programs,' etc.).

The overwhelming majority of all the countless millions of victims who have been consumed by individual 'Income Opportunity/Prosperity Gospel' cults, like 'FHTM', have remained silent and passive,  and continued (unconsciously) to form part of the overall 'MLM' lie: whilst, as a direct result of the silence and passivity of the overwhelming majority of the victims, all casual observers of individual 'Income Opportunity/Prosperity Gospel' cults (including, law enforcement agents, regulators, academics, legislators, judges, journalists, etc.) have also remained silent and passive, and have continued (unconsciously) to form part of the overall 'MLM' lie.

Today, it is very difficult to determine exactly how many people in total around the world have already been churned through the pay-through-the-nose-to-play 'MLM Income Opportunity/Prosperity Gospel' cultic game of make-believe, since it was first peddled as reality under the name of 'Nutrilite Inc. /Mytinger and Casselberry Inc.' back in the late 1940s. It is also important to distinguish between short-term and chronic, losing-players. In general, the overwhelming majority of fraud victims never complain, but, right from the outset, the self-perpetuating 'MLM Income Opportunity/Prosperity Gospel' lie was maliciously designed to implicate its victims - loading them with shame and guilt, and, thus, prevent them from ever facing reality. Classically, the quantifiable evidence proves that, without exception, chronic, losing-players have been subjected to co-ordinated devious techniques of social, and psychological, persuasion designed to shut down their critical, and evaluative, faculties. In this way, they have been conditioned (unconsciously) to think of themselves, not as the victims of a cruel deception or as brainwashed cult adherents, but as 'Independent Business Owners' exercising free-will.  What has made external reality even more unacceptable, is the ego-destroying fact that a large proportion of victims were deceived by a close friend or relative and, in turn, these victims then deceived, or tried to deceive, their own close friends and relatives. The few, destitute, chronic, former losing-players who have managed to recover fully their critical, and evaluative faculties, and who have filed well-informed civil lawsuits against the corporate fronts of 'Income Opportunity' cultic racketeers, have invariably been obliged to settle out of court. Although a number of isolated civil investigations, and successful prosecutions, have been pursued by the Federal Trade Commission against some smaller 'Income Opportunity' front-companies in the USA, like 'FHTM', no co-ordinated official effort has ever been made to face wider-reality and identify, let alone tackle, the overall criminogenic/cultic phenomenon that has lurked behind all the shielding layers of structural, and pseudo-economic/scientific, mystification, reality-inverting 'commercial'  jargon and kitsch capitalist/Utopian/American Dream imagery.

Paul Orberson was, in fact, a clean-cut, former high school basketball coach from Danville Kentucky who became a particularly-effective shill for a blame-the-victim 'MLM Income Opportunity' racket hiding the behind the labyrinth of legally-registered corporate structures known as 'Excel Communications.' Despite being presented in the kitsch 'Excel' propaganda as earning $1 million per month, Orberson abandoned this racket in 1996 and launched his own copy-cat racket, 'FHTM,' in Lexington Kentucky. However, Orberson was no ordinary charlatan. He was almost certainly suffering from severe and inflexible Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

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‘Narcissistic Personality Disorder,’ is a psychological term first used in 1971 by Dr. Heinz Kohut (1913-1981). It was recognised as the name for a form of pathological narcissism in ‘The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 1980.’ Narcissistic traits (where a person talks highly of himself/herself to eliminate feelings of worthlessness) are common in, and considered ‘normal’ to, human psychological development. When these traits become accentuated by a failure of the social environment and persist into adulthood, they can intensify to the level of a severe mental disorder. Severe and inflexible NPD is thought to effect less than 1% of the general adult population. It occurs more frequently in men than women. In simple terms, NPD is reality-denying, total self-worship born of its sufferers’ unconscious belief that they are flawed in a way that makes them fundamentally unacceptable to others. In order to shield themselves from the intolerable rejection and isolation which they unconsciously believe would follow if others recognised their defective nature, NPD sufferers go to almost any lengths to control others’ view of, and behaviour towards, them. NPD sufferers often choose partners, and raise children, who exhibit ‘co-narcissism’ (a co-dependent personality disorder like co-alcoholism). Co-narcissists organize themselves around the needs of others (to whom they feel responsible), they accept blame easily, are eager to please, defer to others’ opinions and fear being seen as selfish if they act assertively. NPD was observed, and apparently well-understood, in ancient times. Self-evidently, the term, ‘narcissism,’ comes from the allegorical myth of Narcissus, the beautiful Greek youth who falls in love with his own reflection.

Currently, NPD has nine recognised diagnostic criteria (five of which are required for a diagnosis):

•       has a grandiose sense of self-importance.
•       is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, ideal love, etc.
•       believes that he/she is special and unique and can only be understood by other special people.
•       requires excessive admiration.
•       strong sense of self-entitlement.
•       takes advantage of others to achieve his/her own ends.
•       lacks empathy.
•       is often envious or believes that others are envious of him/her.
•       arrogant disposition.

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For several years, the 'FHTM' chapter of the pernicious, and mathematically-mystifying, 'MLM' Income Opportunity fairy story (that anyone can become a millionaire simply by duplicating a step-by-step plan of recruitment and self-consumption) survived various low-level civil investigations and prosecutions (notably in Texas and Montana), when an echelon of shyster attorneys, acting for Orberson and his criminal associates, negotiated to pay substantial fines (without accepting any fault on the part of their client), but (all the same) undertook to reform all the alleged unlawful activities, of their client. In reality, the attorneys fees (and the fines they negotiated) were paid out of part of the proceeds of racketeering. Thus, the attorneys' manoeuvres were themselves a clear attempt to obstruct justice in order to continue to commit fraud.

'FHTM' whistleblower, Joseph Isaacs.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/companies/2010-10-15-multilevelmarketing14_cv_n.htm

'FHTM' was widely-exposed as a fraud and a number of courageous victims, like Joseph Isaacs, spoke out. Classically, as part of the overall pattern of ongoing, major racketeering activity, all former adherents publicly-dissenting from the pernicious 'FHTM/MLM' fairy story, were subjected to various forms of intimidation; particularly, malicious lawsuits.

http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2013/01/ftc-action-leads-court-halt-alleged-pyramid-scheme

At the start of 2013, as part of a long-overdue 'crack-down' on 'Business Opportunity' fraud, the HQ of 'FHTM' was finally raided by FTC officials accompanied by police officers, the counterfeit 'direct selling' company closed and all its visible assets seized (before trial) to protect the public. Laughably, this raid was ordered only after 12 years of crime, during which hundreds of millions of dollars had been stolen from several hundred thousands individuals (most of whom remained completely oblivious to the fact that they had not only been defrauded, but also tricked into believing that their failure to make money was entirely their own fault).  Charges were filed against Paul Orberson and his associates: including the operation of an illegal pyramid scheme, making false earnings claims and providing victims of the illegal pyramid scheme with false and misleading materials for the purpose of ensnaring more victims. However, the 'FHTM' bosses were allowed to remain free pending trial, whilst these protracted events only reveal the tip of a monumental iceberg of financial, and psychological, abuse which has been allowed to grow largely-unchecked behind the pernicious 'MLM Income Opportunity' fairy story, for more than half a century. I have to say that the frighteningly-limp presentation of the FTC attorney in the above video, demonstrates the US government's pitifully low-level of understanding of this up-dated version of an age-old criminogenic cancer which has already gnawed its way deep into the heart of the Republic. That said, it should never be forgotten that no common-sense law exists in the USA to prevent legally-qualified law enforcement officers from going to work in the private sector, where they have used their inside knowledge to reap fat rewards by betraying their former employers, the public.  

Would-be 'MLM Income Opportunity' racketeer, Marc Shamus

Yesterday, 'The American Dream Made Nightmare' received a particularly stomach-churning comment on the subject of Mr Orberson's death, from a young fellow by the name of Marc Shamus, who seems to be currently attempting to emulate his dead hero's parasitic racketeering activities.

'This is so sad to see how things unfolded with FHTM after the brilliant early career Paul Orberson developed through Coaching and of course Excel Communications. Also sad for Paul that he passed away a few days ago after a real long difficult struggle with cancer.

I remember Paul from back in the days at Excel Communications during the mid 90's when I was aggressively promoting there at the same time. He was a smart marketer and knew that you had to keep the conversation real simple with prospects.

He knew that he needed to quickly remove himself out of the equation so the prospect did not base the opportunity on him alone. I learned a lot from his wisdom then. Condolences to the family and friends of Paul. He will be missed.'


Of particular note to readers, is Mr. Shamus' exhibition of the diagnostic criteria of severe and inflexible Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Perhaps, this time, America's federal and state law enforcement agencies will manage to put a stop to Mr. Shamus' clandestine criminal activities, before he causes too much damage.


David Brear (copyright 2013)