Statutory Warning
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.
- 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 organised 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 rigged-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, recruitment leads, lead generation systems,' etc.).
http://mlmtheamericandreammadenightmare.blogspot.fr/2015/08/donald-trump-now-tries-to-rewrite-his.html
At times of mass-alienation (following: wars, natural disasters, economic crises, etc.), history proves that would-be demagogues steadfastly pretending moral and intellectual authority, whilst pursuing hidden criminal objectives, who (at other times) would have been universally-recognised as narcissistic charlatans, have found it much easier to become widely-accepted as authentic Messiahs.
Despite Donald Trump's repeated boasts to be a genius who is as pure as driven snow, since 2006, in return for millions of (stolen) dollars, the Trump name and image has been used to promote blame-the-victim 'MLM income opportunity' cultic rackets in general, and the one known as 'ACN' ('American' a.k.a. 'All Communications Network'), in particular.
President Donald Trump has been deeply-involved in 'MLM' racketeering, both as a paid-pitchman for 'ACN' and as yet another parasite - peddling the secrets of how to achieve success to the transient adherents of various 'MLM' rackets around the world. I personally would contend that, had he been held fully to account for these many crimes, Donald Trump would currently be sat in a federal prison cell. Mysteriously, to date, neither the mainstream media nor the FBI has ever pursued a rigorous investigation of these shameful matters. Laughably, the 'MLM' phenomenon continues to be treated by the authorities as an 'industry:' when it's actually been fraud on an industrial scale.
These are just a couple of examples of the unreserved praise which Mr. Trump has publicly heaped on the 'ACN' racket and its instigators.
'Well, ACN has really been a great company, and you Greg have been doing a great job, you and your whole staff and group of people. It's an honour to be with you. And believe me, if you were not amazing, and if your company wasn't a great company, I wouldn't be doing this.'
'First of all, I'd say stay at ACN. You know, I'm asked to do this, what I'm doing here with you, many many times, and I turned down many many proposals. Because for one reason, I don't have the time, but for another reason, I don't like the company. And we do a lot of research, before we agree to do something like I'm doing for you. And ACN is a great company.'
Faced with a few mainstream US journalists finally beginning to ask mildly-searching questions about 'ACN,' Mr. Trump has recited a very different fairy story. Indeed, his reality-denying reaction to his participation in the 'ACN' racket, demonstrates that Mr. Trump knows full-well that he's left himself open to an avalanche of lawsuits, and to criminal prosecution, because the majority of persons who have signed up for the pernicious 'ACN' game of commerical make-believe since 2006, undoubtedly did so on Mr. Trump's personal recommendation.
www.wsj.com/articles/trump-made-millions-from-multilevel-marketing-firm-1439481128
In a tragicomic interview with the Wall St. Journal, Mr. Trump now asks the world to believe that 'ACN' had only employed him to give motivational speeches.
'I do not know the company. I know nothing about the company other than the people who run the company.'
'I’m not familiar with what they do or how they go about doing that, and I make that clear in my speeches.'
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| Carl C. Icahn (b. 1936)
'With President Trump's blessing, I ceased to act as special adviser to the president on matters relating to regulatory reform.'
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With an irony close to exquisite, yesterday Donald Trump's long-time pal, Carl Icahn, announced that he is no longer the President's (unofficial non-salaried) 'special adviser on regulatory reform.' That said, it has also been reported that Carl Icahn was fired earlier this week, but how anyone can be fired from an unofficial post has not been explained.
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| Patrick Radden Keefe http://www.patrickraddenkeefe.com/bio/ |
Perhaps it's just a coincidence, but these developments have so-far been completely overshadowed by the headline-grabbing departure of Steve Bannon. However, they came just before a major article by Patrick Radden Keefe was published online cataloguing some of Carl Icahn's extraordinary conflicts of interest.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/08/28/carl-icahns-failed-raid-on-washington
Although the 'New Yorker' article appears to be comprehensive, it doesn't detail the following.
In the last 4 years, Carl Icahn has acquired around 22.9 millions shares (or 24% of the shares outstanding) of the legally-registered 'MLM' racketeering front-company known as 'Herbalife.' On paper, this ultimately-valueless holding still appears to be worth more than one billion US dollars. This is despite the fact that, after a protracted investigation (and timid ruling) by the US Federal Trade Commission, it is now public knowledge that 'Herbalife's' declared revenues have mainly derived unlawfully via tens of millions of ill-informed persons around the world having been lured into, and churned through, the pay-through-the-nose-to-play pernicious 'Prosperity Gospel' game of make-believe known as the 'Herbalife MLM Income Opportunity.'
'Herbalife's' jaw-dropping defence (which Carl Icahn has enthusiastically supported) is that:
this never-ending chain of 'Herbalife' recruits (who, since the company's instigation in 1980, have been arbitrarily defined in their contracts as 'Distributors/Independent Business Owners' i.e. non-salaried commission sales agents) weren't unwitting losing victims in a fraudulent pyramid scheme: they were 'Herbalife's customers' - the fully-informed 'Members' of a form of 'discount club.'
Since the FTC launched its investigation, the 'Herbalife' bosses have altered the wording of the company's take-it-or-leave-it annual contracts.
The above, Orwellian 'Herbalife' propaganda video (which employs covert hypnosis, ego-destruction, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, etc. and which Carl Icahn will probably claim he's never seen) features various exemplary 'MLM' shills acting out a fictitious scenario of control as fact, in which they once were 'dirty' and 'miserable' little rats trapped on a treadmill in a form of Hell (i.e. the world of traditional employment), but after exactly duplicating a 'Proven Step-By-Step System,' they have achieved redemption as superhumans in the miraculous 'Herbalife' Utopia, where no one works, but everyone is healthy, wealthy, happy and free....
..... and also drives a Ferrari, and/or a Hummer, and/or a Bentley, and/or a Porsche!
Fraudulent 'Herbalife' material like this, has supposedly now been banned by the FTC, but for decades, senior US regulators have been turning a blind eye to this form of blame-the-victim cultic racketeering.
http://pyramidschemealert.org/PSAMain/news/MLMInfluenceBuying.html
During the administration of George W. Bush, Timothy Muris ( an attorney who had worked for 'MLM' racketeers) was appointed as the Chairman of the FTC. However, this is just the tip of an iceberg of regulatory corruption.
http://ir.herbalife.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=874595
'MLM' racketeers have been allowed to infiltrate US regulatory bodies simply by offering lucrative employment contracts to senior US regulators (like Pamela Jones-Harbour who currently works for 'Herbalife').
David Brear (copyright 2017)
It's an amazing time for the American people. Never has there been as horrible of a choice for leader, even when the election is fixed and you two faces to the same coin, as the last election. I was honestly hoping that Trump would continue his rhetoric, and start to "drain the swamp", but he has been incredibly weak.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you do when your two choices are both demagogues, but the only difference is the one that lost is a murderous globalist that has exploited the world for her own gain? I still think we chose the better charlatan, but does it really feel comfortable saying that? Sure, Trump hasn't swindled upwards of a trillion dollars (as approximated by Charles Ortel), and he hasn't left a path of war and death, but he has done enough to have himself locked away for life. In fact, I just recently heard a story about the way he would screw a prominent real-estate mogul in New York, only to have to come crying back to him when his own deal fell through, and be forced to pay double. Donald Trump is not a savvy businessperson, he is a horrible narcissistic shill, and any potential redemption he may have been able to garner, has been completely eviscerated with this attempt at being President.
John - I sympathise with Americans who were faced with a horrible choice last November, but the evidence of Trump's dangerous mental state was there for everyone to see. Trump could, and should, have been stopped many years ago, but America has lost its way.
DeleteOften if you want a more insightful view of something in your own country, it is better not to rely on your country's own media.
The faustian bargain which members of the Republican party have struck with Trump (and which they are now beginning to regret) is essentially no different to the one he once struck with certain Scottish politicians (and which to a man and woman they all now bitterly regret). Only the scale of the illusary rewards Trump has promised to Americans, and which the overwhelming majority of you are not going to get, is much larger.
Just have a look at what Trump has been allowed to destroy in Scotland in return for fuck all except a pile of narcissistic BS tailored to the existing beliefs, and instictual desires, of those useful idiots whom he wanted to manipulate.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx3RottHG4E
One of the bravest and wisest targets of Trump's bullying in Scotland, Michael Forbes, has offered the following common-sense advice to the American people
'Keep pissing Trump off and he will crack up and end up in a padded cell.'
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pbTmXsfiYk
Hi David,
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to congratulate you on all you've done to expose the scams. That 'American Dream Denied' video is heartbreaking and every reason on earth to carry on your good work.
Like the institutionalised scams and fraud in the Financial and Financial Services sectors the cost to humanity, livelihood and quality of family life is far greater than just 'money lost'. I have learned a great deal from your blogs even about the five years or so that I was in the MLM system 30+ years ago.
That is the problem - the establishment and mainstream media will always allow self regulation by the multi billion sectors as it is regarded as anti capitalism or anti entrepreneurial to appoint truly independent regulators that may interfere
The scams are so complex (primarily in the lines of sponsorship where the regulators don't look) and the MLM companies are so loved for their wealth, sports and entertainment sponsorship, charitable work, research and contribution to government policy making, donations to political parties and the like that the MLM sector, like the Financial Sector, can get away with ripping off millions of people each year and making minor reforms when they get their wrists slapped.
In my conference speeches about enterprise I now mention your website and work as proof that the American Way of starting and building your own business usually only makes the promoters and speakers wealthy. The long line of revered American motivational speakers from Napoleon Hill, Norman Vincent-Peale, Robert Schuller, Rich Devos, Jim Rohn, Tony Robbins, Donald Trump etc will always make out that the critics of their income generating plans (like you and I) are losers and getting in the way of people achieving their dream - only associate with winners. You can see what my talk is about on http://TonyRobinsonOBE.com I can, hopefully, get millions to start and run their own enterprise in a safer, happier and proven way to make ends meet. You can, hopefully, convince them that in MLM the 80% that never make a penny each year often lose a lot, not just money,too. Thanks for all you do.
Best
Tony
Good to hear from you Tony.
DeleteI would contend that 'MLM' rackets might appear to be complex, but they are actually blindingly easy to prosecute in the UK under the Fraud Act 2006 (section 3). This makes it a criminal offence to hide key information deliberately from people in order to take their money, and not one 'MLM' front company has ever made the (effectively 100% churn/loss rates) overall quantifiable results of its so-called 'income opportunity' available to the public in a comprehensible format. The impossible complexity of 'MLM' is actually part of the racket.
Unfortunately, to date there has not been the political will to hold 'MLM' cultic racketeers and their associates to account in Britain, because too many greedy little pigs have had their snouts in the stinking 'MLM' trough.
High on the list of greedy little pigs is a former Deputy Director of the UK Serious Fraud Office, Peter Kiernan, who once briefly worked for 'Amway' in 2007 when this 'MLM' front company faced investigation Britain
I believe it was in 1997 that HTV West produced a short documentary for a local current affairs programme, 'West Eye View.' This featured similar interviews to those in 'American Dream Denied,' but with distressed British 'Amway' victims.
These people had each lost tens of thousands of pounds, but they had no law enforcement agency to go to, to make a complaint. In fact, there were plenty of UK police officers participating in 'Amway.' One of these victim/interviewees was a cameraman at HTV in Bristol and this is what had first alerted journalists. A popular local entertainer had also come forward to HTV journalists (after he'd been approached) suspecting that 'Amway' was some sort of scam.
At this time, I was just about the only person in the UK trying to get the authorities/media to investigate/take action against 'MLM' rackets.
I visited HTV and spoke with the man responsible for this 'Amway' programme. In private, he admitted that he couldn't give his real opinion of 'Amway' except in private and off the record. He'd already received legal threats from 'Amway's' attorneys and a (malicious) complaint of 'bias' against HTV had been filed with the Independent Broadcasting Authority. Unbelievably, this was later upheld.
I sent DVDs of the HTV programme to UK regulators, journalists, legislators, etc., but absolutely nothing was done to investigate 'Amway' in the UK until 2007, when the old DTI strolled in and Peter Kiernan was hired by 'Amway'.
Snce I first complained to UK government regulators about 'MLM' in the mid 1990s, I estimate that at least 5 millions UK citizens have been churned through 'MLM' rackets (most of which were American controlled).
Today, it is almost impossible to calculate how much cash has been stolen in the UK via 'MLM'-related advance fee frauds in which the 'secrets of success' have been peddled to the transient losing-contractees of various 'MLM' front companies.
Thanks David - your second paragraph about snouts in the trough rings true. It is exactly why I've had no joy in stopping government funded employment, training and business support providers from wrecking people's lives by wrong advice and training or by getting vulnerable people starting up into debt. All in order to meet government targets and make themselves a lot of dosh. Start Up Loans would be one current example which will end up worse for the loanee than student Loans The problem is government always side with the 'wealth creators' over the victims. Government also has no memory so even if some officials were concerned in the past about a MLM company they might now be their best friends.
ReplyDeleteI've been campaigning against many programmes, providers and policies since 1996 (10 years into having my own business) but basically whatever the banks (and big 5 in each sector) say goes with government about enterprise, business opportunities and start ups. Even though I founded with government backing organisations to raise standards I even stopped going on government policy committees in 2010. The reason was it was a waste of time because our recommendations never made the final reports never mind influence policy - the usual suspect lobbyists always win.
Like you I carry on campaigning but I do understand how frustrating, and how they'll demean us in every way, it is taking on the all powerful establishment. It's why my best known book 'Freedom from Bosses Forever' is a fictional satire with a fictional narrator, packaged to look like a self help book you'd buy to realise your 'dream' It also features, in a comic way, the kind of cult like methods and words you describe so well but which are, unfortunately, mainstream entrepreneurship speak.
As for 'complexity' I can only say, in my defence, that in my time at Amway UK (1981-1986) I only found about 3 staff and a handful of distributors that fully understood the bonus plan. The lines of sponsorship (going back to Britt & Yager in the US) pretty much kept completely from the UK staff how the 'leaders' were actually making their money outside of the bonus plan. It was two parallel worlds - the company with its products (marketing these products and teaching people how to sell them) and the lines of sponsorship with their recruitment methods and sale of books, tapes and events. When we did find anything wrong we tried to stop it but I realise now how feeble this was. After reading all your blogs I laugh at how stupid I was believing that by enforcing the 10 retail customer rule we could ensure selling product was more important than sponsorship.
I always maintained when I was on the DSA that an MLM that is recruitment to a buying club could not be legal or ethical which is why I didn't like the look of Herbalife. It would appear that the Fraud Act 2006, which I wasn't aware of, should make such schemes illegal in the UK.
Thanks for continuing to educate me and many others but I'm really sad and angry about the HTV complainants - I hadn't heard about it - indeed I haven't heard anything much about Amway UK since 1986/87 when me and then my team left.
Best
Tony
Tony - This is an extract from the Fraud Act 2006:
Delete1. Fraud
(1)A person is guilty of fraud if he is in breach of any of the sections listed in subsection (2) (which provide for different ways of committing the offence).
(2)The sections are—
(a)section 2 (fraud by false representation),
(b)section 3 (fraud by failing to disclose information), and
(c)section 4 (fraud by abuse of position).
(3)A person who is guilty of fraud is liable—
(a)on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum (or to both);
(b)on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or to a fine (or to both).
(4)Subsection (3)(a) applies in relation to Northern Ireland as if the reference to 12 months were a reference to 6 months.
2Fraud by false representation
(1)A person is in breach of this section if he—
(a)dishonestly makes a false representation, and
(b)intends, by making the representation—
(i)to make a gain for himself or another, or
(ii)to cause loss to another or to expose another to a risk of loss.
(2)A representation is false if—
(a)it is untrue or misleading, and
(b)the person making it knows that it is, or might be, untrue or misleading.
(3)“Representation” means any representation as to fact or law, including a representation as to the state of mind of—
(a)the person making the representation, or
(b)any other person.
(4)A representation may be express or implied.
(5)For the purposes of this section a representation may be regarded as made if it (or anything implying it) is submitted in any form to any system or device designed to receive, convey or respond to communications (with or without human intervention).
3Fraud by failing to disclose information
A person is in breach of this section if he—
(a)dishonestly fails to disclose to another person information which he is under a legal duty to disclose, and
(b)intends, by failing to disclose the information—
(i)to make a gain for himself or another, or
(ii)to cause loss to another or to expose another to a risk of loss.
4Fraud by abuse of position
(1)A person is in breach of this section if he—
(a)occupies a position in which he is expected to safeguard, or not to act against, the financial interests of another person,
(b)dishonestly abuses that position, and
(c)intends, by means of the abuse of that position—
(i)to make a gain for himself or another, or
(ii)to cause loss to another or to expose another to a risk of loss.
(2)A person may be regarded as having abused his position even though his conduct consisted of an omission rather than an act.
www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/35/crossheading/fraud
Tony - The pernicious 'MLM income opportunity' fairy story has been tailored to fit the existing beliefs and instinctual desires of not only its victims, but also those of casual observers (particularly, politicians who advocate free-market policies, but who are demonstrably devoid of common-sense).
DeleteI believe that you had already left the 'UK DSA' when, in the mid-1990s, PM Tony Blair made a supportive video for 'DSA' members in which he pretended moral, and intellectual, authority and recited elements of the pernicious 'MLM' fairy story; apparently, believing this puerile nonsense to be true.
Blair is a classic example of a politician whose own over-sized ego (and possibly the offer of over-sized payments for future speaking/consultancy work) prevented him from accepting that he had been a useful idiot. A member of his own parliamentary party wrote to Blair on my behalf, but he simply weasled his way out and refused to accept any responsiblity for promoting a form of fraud and preventing victims from facing reality.
It is my considered opinion that the Fraud Act 2006 could easily be used to pursue successful private criminal prosecutions against 'MLM' racketeering front-companies, and individuals associated with them, in the UK. I would include employees of the 'UK DSA' on the list of persons who have been withholding the quantifiable results of 'MLM' racketeering from the British public - although the full extent of what these persons have been involved in, is almost certainly beyond their understanding.
Unless absolutely forced by public opinion, the authorities aren't going to investigate, let alone, prosecute 'MLM' front companies as dissimulated criminal enterprises, due to all the greedy little pigs whose noses would be pulled out of the stinking 'MLM' trough.
That said, tackling individual 'MLM' rackets has always been a waste of time.
When common-sense is applied and only the quantifiable evidence is examined (and the bedazzling camouflage, and scripted preachments of bedazzled recruiters ignored), the growing collection of 'Amway' copy-cat rigged-market swindles, and allied advance fee frauds, that have become laughably referred to around the world as 'the Multi-Level Marketing industry,' is revealed as a largely-unrecognised ongoing, criminogenic phenomenon of historic significance.
Tony - The HTV progamme also revealed a series lawsuits which had been filed in the USA against 'Amway' by James Dyson, and by 'Amway' against James Dyson. At the time of the programme's broadcast, Dyson's only factory was based in Somerset, but the money to build it had partly come from a financial settlement paid by 'Amway' to Dyson
DeleteDyson detailed much of his 'Amway' experience (excluding the size of his settlement) in his first autobiography, 'Against The Odds,' but then he was unsuccessfully sued by 'Amway' when he tried to publish his book in the USA.
Long before Dyson made his fortune, he was a struggling inventor with a potentially valuable patent for a bagless vacuum cleaner, but no one wanting to back him. After encountering a grinning 'Amway' company representative, he flew to the US and, without counsel, was subjected to an exhausting, and frustrating, negotiation process - finally signing an unfavourable deal with 'Amway' in which Dyson received just $150 000 in return for an initial licence to manufacture, and sell, his patent cleaner in the USA.
On his return to the UK, Dyson received a demand for the return of the $150 000 in an angry letter from 'Amway's' attorneys also informing him that his cleaner didn't work and that he was essentially a charlatan.
Dyson was obliged to pay back the cash, but then later, to his horror, he discovered that 'Amway' was still manufacturing and selling his cleaner.
I believe it took 5 years and millions of dollars in legal fees, for Dyson to get redress. Finally, an agreement was signed in which 'Amway' was allowed to continue to manufacture, and sell, Dyson's cleaner under licence in the USA - after paying an undisclosed lump sum (believed to be many millions $) and paying substantial ongoing licencing fees. Dyson agreed not to disclose full detail of the settlement.
Sir James Dyson is now a billionaire, but at one time, he could easily have been destroyed by the 'Amway' racketeers.
I was once contacted by Dyson's attorneys during his book-related US lawsuit. I had been named in a deposition in which my Ambot brother falsely claimed that I had boasted on being a paid agent of James Dyson -spreading lies about the company in the UK. This deposition was later withdrawn after I contacted my family's UK attorney.
Mr Brear
DeletePlease do you know is this British 'Amway' programme available anywhere? and do you know the names of the journalists who made it?
Anonymous- As far as I'm aware, this particular short documentary on 'Amway' is not available on the Net, but I retain a copy (somewhere) on DVD.
DeleteThe programme was made and presented by James Garret who was the then head of current affairs at HTV and who went on to become head of programmes for ITV in Bristol before going to work for Channel 4 and the BBC.