What the UK Post Office/ 'Horizon' scandal reveals about 'Multi-Level Marketing (MLM)' racketeering.

• The Big 'Horizon is robust' Lie. 
• What does it tell us about the Big 'MLM is legal' Lie?' 

For years, there have been inflexible 'Multi-Level Marketing' propagandists active on the Net  - some of them posing as independent fair-minded observers. These people have all recited the Big 'MLM is legal' Lie. Tellingly, none of them has ever tried to refute my published analysis - that decades of evidence proves, beyond all reasonable doubt, that what has been falsely-described as the 'MLM Direct Selling Industry,' is an (as yet) officially-unrecognised criminogenic phenomenon of historic significance. Conversely, no quantifiable evidence exists (in the form of income-tax payment receipts) proving that any contractor of any so-called 'MLM' company has ever generated an overall net-income lawfully (after the deduction of all allied start up, and operational, expenses) by regularly retailing products/services to members of the general public (i.e. persons who are not fellow 'MLM' contractors) based on value and demand. Due to all the bulit-in anti-commercial factors, the hidden overall net-loss/churn rate for 'MLM' participation has always been effectively 100% by design. To put it bluntly, this is a fake business based on a crack-pot economic pseudo-science which is guaranteed to produce universal failure. Indeed, the longer anyone persists in trying to succeed, the more time and money they will waste. Thus, anyone claiming or implying that it is possible to make money from the operation of a so-called 'MLM business,' let alone gain life-changing amounts of money, cannot be telling the truth and will not produce any quantifiable evidence to verify their vague anecdotal statements. On odd occasions, 'MLM' propagandists have attempted to trivialize and misrepresent my work, but all of them run a mile when asked the most-basic questions. Meanwhile, it's painfully obvious what has really been happening.

More and more courageous survivors of the Big 'MLM is legal' Lie have been coming forward to tell the truth that they were lured into a trap at times of vulnerability, and not only robbed, but also tricked into wasting their time and money as de facto slaves, acting the role of bait to lure others into the same trap. These survivors are further explaining how they were subjected (without their fully-informed consent) to coordinated devious techniques of persuasion and, thus, made to feel that they were entirely responsible for their 'MLM'-related losses. The increase in the number of witnesses who have the correct words to describe what was inflicted on them, is because the full history, and accurate explanation, of 'Amway' copy-cat 'MLM' cultic racketeering has become widely-available in recent years. Thus, the current generation of reality-denying US Federal Trade Commission officials, and their flock of blinkered academic advisers, cannot completely ignore what has become known as the 'anti-MLM' movement, or the accelerating melt-down of the 'MLM' racketeers' monopoly of information. However, they still cannot openly-accept the embarrassing truth and take the matter to the FBI. This is because politically-appointed senior FTC officials made a serious mistake when, back in the 1970s, they broke with established legal precedent, and chose not to nail the bosses of 'Amway' for running what was obviously an endless-chain pyramid scheme, albeit disguised behind effectively-unsaleable products.

In reality, far from finding that 'MLM is legal,' under the adminstration of president Gerald Ford (a Republican politican whose main financial backers just happened to be the bosses of 'Amway'), the amoral chiefs of an important agency of the US government simply buried their heads in the sand and, thus, effectively-authorized fraud. The resulting, politically-motivated, eyes-wide-shut American regulatory policy, allowed 'MLM' racketeering to be extensively-cloned and exported all around the world. We have long-since reached the point where truth has become almost unthinkable.

Subsequent generations of politically-appointed senior FTC officials have consistently refused to admit to their their predecessors' catastrophic failure. This is partly because a significant number of senior FTC officials have been in receipt of piles of stolen money offered to them by the 'MLM' racketeers whose profitable criminal enterprise they refused to identify. Certain FTC officials' corrupt role in these matters should also be identified as criminal, because, even though they pretend ignorance, they must know damn-well what they have done. They also know of the extensive damage that their mistake has caused, and still causes, but they continue to obstruct a full criminal investigation, to protect their own interests. The damage caused by the Big 'MLM' Lie obviously hasn't only been confined to those lured into believing it, because it has also destroyed the lives and happiness of friends and relatives of its chronic victims. Indeed, I'm a firsthand witness to this, being a collateral victim of an 'MLM' cultic racket.

In reality, the FTC has itself been broadcasting the Big 'MLM is legal' Lie, for decades. We had a word-perfect performance of this dangerous nonsense during the recent 'MLM' conference stage-managed by FTC employee, Bill Keep.

This shameful, ongoing American cover-up has remarkable parallels with what has happened in Britain with the Post Office scandal, albeit on a much smaller scale. More than 900 innocent Post Office contractors are known to have been wrongfully sacked, prosecuted, extorted, bankrupted and their lives and happiness destroyed, due to a faulty computer system which they were assured was 'robust,' and which they were obliged to use. More than 230 innocent people were sent to prison. Furthermore, 3500 other innocent sub-postmasters were coerced, by the threat of sacking (which also meant the loss of their initial investment) and criminal prosecution, into paying the Post Office significant sums of money (in some cases over £100 000) which they were falsely-accused of stealing. The effectively-valueless software  -  known as 'Horizon' and which cost UK tax-payers one billion £ - made it appear that all these thousands of honest people were liars and thieves. The true scale of the damage caused by the Big 'Horizon is robust' Lie, is incalculable, because, obviously, it wasn't just the innocent sub-postmasters whose lives and happiness were destroyed by it. Yet, no independent quantifiable evidence existed to prove that any money had been stolen.

The politically-appointed senior management of the UK Post Office, and of the government-backed Japanese commercial company, Fujitsu, that supplied the faulty software, knew the truth, but maliciously hid it to protect their own reputations and financial interests - causing a massive miscarriage of justice to occur and, in some cases, lives to be lost. Perhaps the most- damning evidence proving that the abuse was centrally-directed by the Post Office senior management, lies in the fact that the victims were all fed exactly the same scripted-lies - initially when they contacted the Post Office's 'help-line,' and subsequently, when they faced the Post Office's bullying investigators. They were told individually that the Horizon system was proven to be without fault, in that they alone were the only sub-postmaster in the UK with large sums of money missing. Just like in a totalitarian state, the all-powerful Post Office managers maintained an absolute monopoly of information over their powerless workers, whilst the ruling-regime's closed-logic controlling-narrative, could never be wrong. Thus, any sub-postmaster challenging the Big 'Horizon is robust' Lie, was sytematically branded as 'a liar and a thief.' According to their contracts, sub-postmasters were personally responsible for any losses and the Post Office had the right to prosecute them to recover losses. However, it was later ruled by the UK High Court, that since the Post Office had withheld key-information from, and lied to, the Sub-postmasters, their contracts were unenforceable and, therefore, none of them should have been prosecuted in the first place.

Perhaps the most damning-evidence proving that the abuse was also centrally-directed by the senior management of Fujitsu, lies in the fact that the company is now known to have employed a team of 12 specialists to gain constant remote access to thousands of the sub-postmasters' 'Horizon' accounts. This was a secret attempt to maintain Fujitsu's management's monopoly of information by identifying and correcting the many accounting mistakes, and thus, remove the evidence that the system was fatally-flawed. At the same time, Fujitsu propaganda kept telling the sub-postmasters that remote access to their Horizon accounts was completely impossible.

Adam Crozier

Paula Vennels

As it gradually became clear that something must be radically-wrong with 'Horizon,' because hundreds of sub-postmasters were being accused of theft, an all-party group of Members of Parliament was formed to investigate. The Post Office CEO, Adam Crozier, was replaced.

In 2012, a sinister game then began to be played when the new CEO of the Post Office, Paula Vennels (an ordained Minister in the Church of England), began pretending that she too was in search of the truth about Horizon. However, the ensuing independent investigation she organized, but which she and her colleagues tried to limit and stage manage, reveals that just like her predecessors, Paula Vennels was probably only interested in hiding the full-truth, and/or playing for time.

Eventually, when it looked like the Post Office's monopoly of information could no longer be maintained, Paula Vennels instigated an internal system of dispute resolution, supposedly to compensate the innocent sub-postmasters, but this turned out to be just another cruel charade.

Most of those criminally-responsible for creating, and maintaining, the Big 'Horizon is robust' Lie have finally been hauled before a public enquiry and grilled by lawyers acting for the surviving victims. Some of the most-arrogant guilty parties had to be forced to appear. All of a sudden, their memories of their own abusive criminal roles in these matters have become lost. They have kept reciting the classic phrase, 'I don't recall.' Various current, and previous, UK government Ministers are also implicated for failing to take appropriate action, until public opinion suddenly-shifted and they began to fear for their future electoral chances. 

  

justice-lost-in-the-post.pdf (private-eye.co.uk)

After several years with, little or no, well-informed media interest, Fujitsu and the Post Office's monopoly of information began its slow public melt-down. This was the result of an article by Rebecca Thompson published in 2009 by a specialist magazine, 'Computer Weekly.' That was followed a few years later, by an investigation conducted by journalists from the popular satirical magazine, 'Private Eye.' 

In 2015, the BBC took an interest and from then on news reports of developments in the Post Office scandal continued to appear.

Mr Bates vs The Post Office - Wikipedia

However, the award-winning television dramatization, 'Mr. Bates vs the Post Office' (broadcast as recently as January 2024), was the major factor that finally changed everything. This four part ITV series shone a light on the truth, revealing the courage and determination of ordinary decent British people, who refused to surrender in the face of an immoral, reality-inverting corporate regime that was Hell bent on destroying them. The quality of this programme and the strength of the public outcry it triggered, forced the sitting Conservative government to take swift appropriate action.

 

Alan Bates is a financially-savvy, dignified and tenacious former sub-postmaster who, when in 2000, he spotted substantial short-falls in his weekly 'Horizon'-generated accounts, went through all his Post Office transactions with a fine tooth-comb. Alan Bates immediately realized exactly what was going on. 'Horizon' was glitching and duplicating certain transactions making it appear that money had gone missing. He contacted the Post Office with his urgent concerns and, realizing the serious implications, refused to sign any Post Office document which would make him look responsible for 'Horizon's' obvious mistakes. At the same time, he did his best to confront the Post Office bosses with the reality that they had bought a fragile system which could not be trusted, but he met with an inpenetrable wall of organized lying and obstruction. Eventually, Alan Bates was arbitrarily sacked simply for continuing to report the truth, and refusing to be framed. The Post Office counter was removed from his shop, and his initial investment of £60 000 was lost. That didn't stop Alan Bates, because he gradually managed to gather together an alliance of other, equally-determined, and well-informed, innocent victims.

The 'Justice for Sub-postmasters Alliance' eventually managed to take the Post Office to court and ultimately win against all the odds. The Post Office spent £100 millions on defence attorneys, and attempted to prolong the proceedings knowing that the sub-postmasters funds were limited. Essentially, the Post Office’s echelon of intellectual prostitutes were paid to deny reality and keep reciting the Big 'Horizon is robust' Lie. Although 550 sub-postmasters were vindicated and awarded £58 millions, £47 millions of this went on their own legal fees, leaving just £20 000 each. The initial triumph of the truth in the High Court, opened the flood gates, because the justice system itself then had to confront the shameful catalogue of cruel abuse it had presided over.

Prior to the broadcast of 'Mr. Bates vs The Post Office,' although they were fully-aware that a massive miscarriage of justice had happened, the government Ministers with responsibilty for these matters had claimed to be concerned, but they had done as little as possible to compensate fully the surviving victims and their families. Folowing the widespread public outrage sparked by the broadcast, the government suddenly changed its tune.

Alan Bates considers private prosecutions of Post Office bosses (bbc.com)

As the public enquiry advances, it looks increasingly likely that a number of current, and former, Post Office and Fujitsu employees are soon going to be charged (at the very least) with the crime of 'conspiracy to pervert the course of justice,' and they will probably be jailed themselves. That said, there seems to be a very strong case that, by the malicious withholding of key information and lying, senior Post Office managers, investigators and prosecutors engaged in a blatant conspiracy to commit extortion and fraud. In this way, they knowingly-destroyed the lives and happiness of thousands of innocent sub-postmasters and their families, as well as causing the deaths of several of the victims of their criminal conspiracy, whom they deliberately framed. Alan Bates says he is quite prepared to raise the cash via public appeal in order to launch private criminal prosecutions; that is, if the authorities fail to hold the guilty parties fully to account. The succession of impotent politicians who presided over this tragedy for more than 20 years, of course, will never be held fully to account.

In the meantime, UK tax payers will have to foot the bill for the Big 'Horizon is robust' Lie, although Fujitsu is ultimately responsible financially. The innocent survivors' criminal convictions are still in the process of being quashed. They are all still waiting for full compensation. Sadly, more than 30 victims have already died.

David Brear (copyright 2024)

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Footnote.

Sub-postmasters, are contractors who have bought a form of frachise from the UK Post Office to operate a local post office business. However, contrary to the vocabulary employed, these take-it-or-leave-it contracts have placed sub-postmasters in the position of dependent employees, rather than independent business owners. Indeed, the Post Office has retained the one-sided right to terminate these contracts, if it is ruled that any of the many terms set out in them, is not being respected by a sub-postmaster.

'Horizon' is the name of a computer software system which the UK Post Office originally purchased at a cost of one billion pounds sterling from the Japanese information technology company, 'Fujitsu.' At the time of 'Horizon's purchase, the government of Prime Minister, Tony Blair, held power in the UK and it was ultimately a government decision. 

'Horizon' was supposed to have been acquired for the benefit of sub-postmasters, in order for them to accomplish electronically the laborious day-to-day tasks of running a sub-Post Office (accounting, stock-taking, etc.). These activities previously required hours of paperwork and calculations.  

'Horizon' was installed by the Post Office in 1999. Serious problems immediately began to be reported to the Post Office's own 'helpline.' Postmasters were assured that their concerns were being addressed. However, Post Office management not only disregarded these concerns, they also began reciting the Big Lie that 'Horizon is robust,' and they began blaming, and isolating, the sub-postmasters for the accounting mistakes that the faulty system kept producing. 

In this way, the faulty Horizon system made it appear that money was being stolen by hundreds of previously honest sub-postmasters, when in reality, this obviously could not be the case. It is interesting to note that 'Horizon' never seems to have made it appear that money was appearing: only that money was disappearing, a fact which seems suspicious to me. That said, the faults in Horizon are evidently only assumed to have been the result of genuine mistakes in the system's development, rather than any criminal activity.

David Brear (copyright 2024)