Amway bosses paid millions to keep Amway myth alive

Shyam

Judging by his latest '100% Positive' squawk from the 'Amway' script, your young friend, Trivedi, has sunk back into the same old ego-protecting delusion.

The poor fellow has cut and posted pretty propaganda from the 'Amway' Ministry of Truth which, ignoring all the ugly background detail, simply insists that the US Federal Trade Commission found 'Amway's' scheme to be perfectly legal back in 1979. However, prior to the FTC ruling to which young Trivedi refers, federal agents and lawyers had taken the extraordinary step of investigating 'Amway' for almost a decade. In fact, US government agencies had been monitoring and prosecuting the dubious activities of so-called 'MLM' companies since the late 1940s. This was a result of complaints being filed concerning exorbitantly priced, but (effectively) valueless, pseudo-scientific pills and potions which were then being illegally peddled by these companies as 'universal cures for all ailments, including cancer and the common cold. ' In brief, 'MLM' companies were merely the updated version of snake-oil selling.

When, in the late 1950s, the original 'MLM' company 'Nutrilite Products Inc.' was facing closure under criminal misbranding of medicines law rather than anti-pyramid scams legislation, two of the 'Nutrilite' schills, Richard De Vos and Jay Van Andel, created 'Amway' and started peddling exorbitantly priced, but (effectively) valueless, pseudo-scientific washing powder. This dodge prevented prosecution, because household products did not fall under the scope of the Federal Drug Administration.

When, after receiving complaints, FTC economists and lawyers finally started to look closely at 'Amway' as a form of heavily camouflaged pyramid scam or money circulation scheme, they deduced that the 'Amway' scheme was mathematically impossible, because it had virtually no external customers due to the quality and price of the products. After 10 years of investigations and hearings, 'Amway' was found guilty of price-fixing, but the company avoided closure by making a stack of empty promises to the US federal authorities. 'Distributor Rules' were introduced at this time to make it appear that a majority of authentic retail sales would have to be conducted by 'Amway' commission agents before they could receive any commission. However, these rules have never been enforced. Tellingly, it was at this time, when they were facing closure, that the 'Amway' bosses were obliged to move their criminal activities outside of the USA. They first set up their organization in Canada, where, a few years later Richard DeVos and Jay Van Andel were charged with perpetrating the largest tax fraud in Canadian history. Facing extradition and lengthy prison sentences, they made an agreement with the Canadian courts in which the 'Amway' company in Canada was (alone) found guilty of tax fraud and forced to pay enormous fines. However, the money to pay these fines was supplied by De Vos and Van Andel themselves.

In other words, the 'Amway' bosses have a history of paying out millions of their stolen dollars to keep themselves out of prison and the 'Amway' myth alive.

David Brear