Amway's money circulation scheme stems from overpriced products and enrollment

The idea behind pointing out the real value of Glister toothpaste is how many times of its value Amway India is charging its consumers. And they claim that it is direct selling. The money circulation scheme stems out from the overpriced products and above all the 'enrollment'.

Without enrollment these MLM companies would not survive. That is why the Andhra Pradesh High Court has rightly pointed out that,

"It is thus, evident that the whole scheme is so ingeniously conceived tha the inducement for aggressive enrollment of new members to earn more and more commission is inherent in the scheme. By holding out attractive commission on the business turned out by the downline members, the scheme provides for sufficient inducements for its members to chase for the new members in their hot pursuit to make quick/easy money. On the part of the promoter (Amway India) by pushing each member to achieve the minimum sales worth Rs. 2000 per month (this sale includes enrollment of new members) the promoter is assured of about Rs. 1000 crore (Rs. 10 billion) per annum. All this squarely satisfies the description of quick/easy money. In addition to this it is an admitted fact that each person in order to continue to be the distributor, shall opya renewal subscription fee of Rs. 995 per annum. In para 11(b) of the counter affidavit on the admitted number of distributors of 4,50,000 this amount is calculated at about Rs. 45 crore per annum. These figures are not denied by the first petitioner (Amway India) in the rejoinder. The plea of the first petitioner that there is no compulsion that a member shall renew his distributorship looks to be specious. Once a person becomes a distributor in a scheme of this nature where the sops in the shape of commission are so luring, it would be very difficult for a member to withdraw from their membership to avoid payment of the annual renewal subscription fee. (Para 34)."

This is enough for the Amway apologists to shut their mouths. But they never agree to the reality.

Amway's 'us vs them' fiction is a dangerous fairy tale

Shyam

A few years back, I met a very humorous man from the North of England who had encountered some active 'Amway' adherents in his village. He called them 'Jackpot Witnesses' and described them as being far more determined and annoying than 'Jehova's Witnesses.'

I don't suppose that your resident 'Amway' clown, Mr. Scott ('Tex') Johnson, will ever deduce that your resident 'Amway' propagandist, Mr. ('IBOFB') Steadson, is nothing more than a comic-book character who (by posing as a rational scientist and a secular humanist) is himself an absurd, but nonetheless dangerous, inversion of reality. Mr. Steadson has steadfastly pretended that 'Amway' might have been created by right-wing American Christians, but the organization itself has absolutely no direct connection with extremist religion, politics, cultism, etc. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.

Indian judges have yet again shown their capacity to see clearly the initial danger posed by all pernicious money circulation schemes dressed up as 'MLM Business Opportunities.' This (once all-American, but now international) racket is, indeed, an ongoing menace to society, and the fact that governments have refused to warn the public about it, has been a major factor helping it to spread. Unfortunately, the same statement could be made about totalitarian cultism in general, because it is a phenomenon that, historically, has been proven to feed off official ignorance and apathy.

The series of disturbing, totalistic comments which have recently been left on Joecool's Website by a fanatical (presumably American) core-adherent of the 'Amway' myth, begin to reveal the true nature of the abusive counterfeit 'religious' horror lurking behind 'Amway's 'kitsch counterfeit 'commercial' façade. In the USA, core-'Amway' adherents have been missionaries for what is commonly-referred to as the 'Prosperity Gospel.' They have been programmed to believe that unquestioning belief in 'Amway' and unquestioning belief in 'Christ' will automatically make them prosperous, happy and free. They even cite selected passages from the Bible which can appear to prove their case. In the USA, core-'Amway' adherents have been bonded by their unconscious acceptance of the self-gratifying, but wholly imaginary, scenario that they represent a positive force of purity and absolute righteousness derived from their leadership's access to a God-given knowledge, and that they alone oppose a negative force of impurity and absolute evil. In essence, this formulaic 'us versus them' fiction, is the dangerous fairy-tale which transforms and controls the personalities and behaviour of cult adherents.

Sadly, casual observers only see the specific behavior of cult adherents. So a group like 'Amway', that requires its followers to stop thinking and to reject all established commercial practises, and another group that requires its followers to stop thinking and to reject all established medical practises, can appear to be somewhat different. However, the restricted mental processes of core-cult adherents are always essentially identical.

Due to various anti-commercial factors which were completely beyond the control of their so-called 'Independent Owners', all so-called 'Amway Businesses' have been insolvent.

Amazingly, whilst they have all gradually bled to death financially, core- 'Amway' adherents have been programmed to believe that just by remaining 100% positive they will soon achieve 'Total Financial Freedom.'

Currently, if you want make a billion dollars, probably the best way to do it is start your own blame-the-victim fraud and call it a'MLM Business Opportunity.

David Brear (copyright 2010)

MLM is a menace to the society: AP High Court

Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday (30-07-2010) delivered a land mark judgement against the multilevel marketing companies in the country with caustic remarks.

Corporate Frauds Watch has been waging a relentless battle against such companies and filing criminal cases against the perpetrators of criminal activities. As part of the campaign against multilevel marketing companies, Corporate Frauds Watch has filed implead petitions in the writ petitions filed by several multilevel marketing companies.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court on February 4, 2010 disposed of writ petitions filed by eight companies namely, V-Can Network Pvt Ltd, QuestNet Enterprises India Pvt Ltd, Sistla Raviteja and others of Amway India, Vennala Shopping & Marketing Ltd, Southern Wonder World Resorts Ltd, Maheswara Getit Marketing Pvt Ltd, Shree Sai Empower Marketing Pvt Ltd, and Bodedla Technologies Pvt Ltd.

On Friday i.e. 30-07-2010, the Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court disposed of afresh three more writ petitions filed by Gemini Techno Marketing Pvt Ltd, Win Win Vartaka Pvt Ltd, and Dew Soft Overseas Pvt Ltd. The Division Bench stated that multilevel marketing (MLM) is a vicious circle and it would be difficult to come out of it.

The Division Bench of High Court comprising Justice Goda Raghuram and Justice Ramesh Ranganathan stated that all multilevel marketing businesses attract the mischief of Prize Chits & Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978 and hence illegal.

The Division Bench also disposed of the public interest litigation filed a retired scientist, Mr R Uma Maheswara Rao stating that the Division Bench of Andhra Pradesh High Court has already pronounced its judgement on Amway India branding it illegal.

IBOFB back with his reality-inverting bullshit

Shyam

I see that the masked 'Amway' Lord Haw Haw, Mr. David 'IBOFB' Steadson, has slid back on to your Site with another load of reality-inverting 'MLM' bullshit.

In the twisted world, according to Mr. Steadson, any free-thinking individual who (like you and me Shyam) ignores all the 'MLM' bullshit, and who broadcasts the ugly reality lurking behind it, is a 'liar', 'conspiracy theorist', 'sociopath', 'communist', etc. However, the evidence that 'Amway,' and its many copy-cats, are abusive Prosperity Gospel totalitarian cults whose bosses, and under-bosses, run blame-the-victim closed-market swindles and related-advance fee frauds, camouflaged as 'MLM Business Opportunities' and 'MLM Business Building Systems,' is massive and conclusive.

The leaders totalitarian cults ensnare their victims by promising them future exclusive redemption in some form of secure Utopian existence. In the case of 'Amway' and its copycats, this exclusive redemption is presented as 'Total Financial Freedom.' However, in order to achieve the 'Amway' Utopia, converts are told that they must never question its existence. This closed-logic trap is perfectly illustrated by the following comment which was recently left on Joecool's Site by an unquestioning adherent of the 'Amway' myth:

'I learned an important lesson when it comes to the intellectual person. Quite often, intellectual people are the most self deceived of all. They use reasoning without borders which opens room to doubts and self deceptions. The less intellectual or cultivated on the other hand, tend to be meek, open and teachable. The intellectual in general tend to be proud while the less cultivated tend to be humble. How humble were you? Did you follow the system or did you rebel against it out of pride? If you were to dedicate yourself in building this business just as you did over the last couple of years in writing deceptive, trash quality stories about Amway, you would have earned your way to Diamond. You would have earned your time, money, freedom and all the blessings that come with it. Your pride and 'buts' are what instilled lies and hate towards Amway and anyone who has anything to do with Amway or who was shown this business opportunity. As a Christian, I know that pride is the mother of all sins. It is your pride that is causing you to sin in your thinking, in your attitude, in your actions. You need Jesus Christ to wash you clean of your sins and then you need to repent. Are you willing to accept Jesus Christ?'

Despite what Mr. Steadson steadfastly pretends to be reality, in the self-righteous Prosperity Gospel cult of 'Amway,' failure to achieve redemption has always been presented as being solely the fault of the sinful individual who didn't believe totally.

David Brear (copyright 2010)

AP High Court dismisses Gemini Techno writ petition

Andhra Pradesh High Court on 30-07-2010 dismissed the writ petitions filed by three fraudulent companies -- Gemini Techno Services, Dew Soft Technologies and Society for Blind Services--stating that their schemes are illegal and attracted the mischief of Prize Chits & Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978.

It is apt to recall here that Corporate Frauds Watch has chosen to file implead petitions in several of such writ petitions and eight of them were already disposed of on February 4, 2010.

It is important to mention here that the Government pleader appearing on behalf of the Home Department appealed to the High Court to dismiss the writ petitions as they are all similar schemes like the one run by Amway India.

It is a victory for Corporate Frauds Watch and it is now approaching the Director General of Police to take action against those companies and seize their assets.

It could not be helped but to mention that Amway India is in such a pathetic condition that it could not submit the affidavit in the writ petition filed by the Corporate Frauds Watch against it in the Andhra Pradesh High Court. The shameless Amway apologists are still claiming that the business model of Amway India is great and is still a 'good business opportunity'.

Quick points to avoid being scammed by MLMs

Pyramid Scheme Alert (like Corporate Frauds Watch) receives emails every day asking about the legitimacy of one MLM or another. We call these the "But, what about this one?" letters. Sadly, many people fall for the MLM shell game in which they know there are 'bad' MLMs but don't know how to spot them. So they keep picking bad ones, while thinking 'most are legitimate'.

Here is a rule of thumb: AVOID ALL MLMs! We have studied the structure, pay plans and policies of hundreds of them, and found they were each and all the same 'endless chain' money trap.

But, if you do want to assess an individual scheme, use this quick and simple analysis. Will you need to recruit other sales people in order to make a sustainable profit? If so, then so would your recruits, and their recruits. Right?

That is the definition of an endless chain, also called a pyramid scheme or Ponzi scheme. Each person who makes money must get it from the next investors and each level has to be much larger than the one above, etc. And it does not matter if the money comes from fees or the purchases of inventory by each level. It does not matter if some of the money comes from a few retail sales either.

Whether you are paying in fees or making product purchases, or both with a few retail sales - it's all the same trap, if your profit depends on recruitment of other sales people (consultant, associate, coach, distributor, or whatever they call the sales reps) who must do the same.

Why is it a trap? Because the participants cannot keep multiplying level by level. There are limits to the number who can be found. There are limits to the number who would want to be in the programme.

Because there are limits, the people at the bottom will never find enough new people, nor will their recruits. You and they will ultimately fail and eventually quit, since you are on an impossible mission.

The MLM scheme itself, however, can continue for a long, long time to recruit 'failures'. Each failure will last a little while before quitting. They fail while the scheme continues to look successful. In reality the scheme's success depends on the recruits' failure. And they are led into this failure by the scheme's calculated deception about the 'income promise'.

Such a recruitment-based plan will allow less than one per cent to be at the top, and it is only within that one per cent where profit is made. (In reality, far less than one per cent make a sustainable profit). As a new recruit, you would be at the dead bottom. So you are doomed to lose from the start, based on the scheme's design, not because you did not try enough.

So a good guideline is :Unless you can make a sustainable profit from selling products, one person at a time, without a downline, you are in a scam.

If you can't make a sustainable profit from retail selling, neither can any of your recruits. Right? So this is not a 'direct selling' business. It is just a recruitment scheme, disguised to look like direct selling. That kind of plan is a carefully laid financial trap. It makes its money when you lose yours.

And, if you are in an 'endless chain' scheme, in which the only way to make money is to recruit a downline, like everyone else, the following other claims do not matter and will not help you make a profit:

--But the company is debt free! (No debt, except to all those who 'fail'.)

--The company pays out millions in commissions! (To those at the top, not to the vast majority of 'losers'.)

--It has been around for many years! (Yes, so was Bernie Madoff.)

--It has a product! (Product purchases by sales people are the way the scheme launders the money transfer. Ask how many people earn a sustainable profit only from retail selling, not recruiting.)`

--Some people make a lot of money! (How many as a percentage of the total? Answer: about one in a thousand. And where did their money come from? Answer: Sadly, it was plucked right out of the pockets of all those 'losers'.)

Crooks like Amway insist on enrollment and product sale in that order

The modus operandi of all the crooks be it Amway India, Tupperware, Hindustan Unilever Network Ltd, Herbalife, Forever Living Products or some other indigenous cheats, is enroll gullible people and sell them products which could not be sold in the open market at that price.

For instance, Glister toothpaste costs only Rs. 16 but it is sold at Rs. 120 to the Amway India members.

So is the case with Forever Living Products. The Aloe Vera toothpaste is sold for Rs. 220 to the members of Forever Living Products. However, the members of FLP claim that they need not enroll new members. If they could sell the products with smooth talk and with tall claims of its therapeutic properties of Aloe Vera he gets some money. If he could enroll more members and sell them the products, he gets the real money.

The Supreme Court of India in its judgement in Kurichan Chacko case stated that plea of non-involvement of members in the enrollment of new members is not tenable since Section 2 (c) of th e Prize Chits & Money Circulation Schemes (Banning ) Act, 1978 does not insist that enrollment of members must be by members already enrolled.

Canadian police, too, do not care for court judgements

Shyam

When you look more closely at the deaf, dumb and blind attitude taken by senior Canadian law enforcement agents towards blatantly-obvious, blame-the-victim pyramid scams dressed up as 'Business Opportunities,' you begin to understand the enormity of the problem with which Dave Thorton has grappled. As far as I am concerned, senior Canadian law enforcement agents have been a significant part of this criminogenic phenomenon, not the solution to it. Indeed, it would appear that several Canadian police officers should be imprisoned; for according to Canadian law, anyone indicted and convicted in Canada of establishing, operating, advertising or promoting a scheme of pyramid selling, faces a prison term of up to 5 years.

Given the evidence, no honest person could seriously dispute the fact that Alan Kippax is a dangerously-deluded racketeer - a practised-liar who has maliciously hidden his abusive pyramid scams behind various legally-registered corporate structures in the UK and Canada. In 2005, the UK government's Dept. of Trade and Industry succeeded in shutting down Kippax' UK front company, 'Treasure Traders Corporation Ltd.' Despite the fact that Kippax was judged by a UK civil court to have stolen millions of pounds from thousands of UK citizens, no criminal investigation or indictment followed. Instead, Kippax was allowed to abscond back home to Canada where, in association with certain police officers, he continued his vile activities until he was imprisoned for causing death by reckless driving. Typically, when Dave Thornton tried to warn the Canadian public about what lurked behind the fake 'Direct Selling' companies known as 'Treasure Traders International Corp.' and 'Business In Motion Corp.,' Kippax posed as an innocent victim under attack. However, this illegally-funded, reality-inverting strategy back-fired when a Canadian Judge decided that Kippax was in all probability running a fraud and that Dave Thornton was within his rights to say so. http://205.236.116.206/WMMW_Site/WebDemos/dt1/dt1_court_order_tti_bim_vs_thornton.pdf

Even after this damning judgement, senior Canadian law enforcement agents took absolutely no action against Kippax whilst other Canadian law enforcement agents continued to harass Dave Thornton to the benefit of racketeers.

In their wisdom, the members of the democratic government of Canada passed a law designed to protect the Canadian public from thieves, but which senior Canadian police officers have mysteriously refused to enforce. Thus, these officers have arbitrarily authorized the very thing which their elected government sought to prohibit.

This begs the question: Who actually governs Canada?

David Brear (copyright 2010)

Unlike India, one cannot raise voice against pyramid frauds in Canada

Shyam

Currently, in Canada, if you deliberately instigate a self-perpetuating pyramid fraud by legally-registering corporate structures to peddle an 'Amway-style' fake 'Business Opportunity' - in which your front-companies steadfastly pretend to retail lawfully, but behind which your victims are actually unlawfully required to hand over cash in exchange for (effectively unsaleable) goods, and/or services, and to recruit their friends and relatives to duplicate the same economically-suicidal, and unlawful, closed-market strategy - then your chances of being held to account are virtually zero. Sadly, this type of pernicious fraud has infiltrated traditional culture in Canada to a degree which almost beggars belief. Numerous Canadian police officers, civil servants, church ministers, tax officials, etc., are known to have been deeply-involved. Indeed, at the present time, the only people who risk getting arrested in Canada in connection with 'Business Opportunity' fraud, are public-spirited citizens who try to warn the public about it. Typically, the fake 'businessmen/women' racketeers behind this profitable, Canadian crime wave, have had enormous quantities of stolen cash available to pay aggressive echelons of amoral attorneys, and to attempt to smear, and intimidate into silence, anyone challenging their self-proclaimed authenticity.

As your readers know Shyam, Dave Thornton is a public-spirited Canadian citizen who has been campaigning loudly against pyramid fraud for a long time. In the past, Mr. Thorton has been subjected to a (failed) multi-million dollar, malicious, private prosecution brought by the dangerously-deluded 'MLM' racketeer, Alan Kippax - now languishing in prison in Canada for causing the death (by reckless driving) of his cousin and for maiming an innocent young couple. Mr. Thornton has also been subjected to a vicious smear campaign (run by Kippax and his criminal associates) in which he was falsely-portrayed as a paranoid and violent conspiracy theorist and criminal. As a result of his refusing to be intimidated into silence, Mr. Thornton has previously been arrested by Canadian police officers, allegedly for making threats of violence and disturbing the peace. One month ago, Mr. Thornton was again arrested by Canadian police officers whilst peacefully distributing pamphlets explaining the dangers of pernicious 'Business Opportunity' fraud to high school students in his home town of Oakville, and for showing them photographs of three corrupt Canadian police officers taking part in a meeting promoting the pyramid fraud known as 'Global Wealth Trade,' at the Sheridan Hotel, Niagra Falls.

It seems that certain co-opted Canadian law enforcement agents are still attempting to destabilize Mr. Thornton personally and destroy his credibility publicly, by falsely-portraying him in court as a paranoid schizophrenic. Self-evidently, the only people benefiting from this latest 'Scientology'-style attack on Mr. Thornton, are the absurd, but nonetheless dangerous, racketeers whom he has valiantly tried to expose.

David Brear (copyright 2010)

All MLM companies are pyramid frauds

hyam

By chance, a witness to (but not a participant in) my recent discussions with the relatives of destitute 'USANA' victims, was a typical 21st century businessman (the joint-owner of a medium size private company which manufactures products in China to be sold world-wide for a profit, first to independent businesses, who then retail them on to the public for another profit). This cosmopolitan fellow was asked what he knew about 'Direct Selling' or 'Multilevel Marketing.' Classically, without access to any quantifiable evidence, he assumed that all businessmen/women are controlled by commercial regulators and that criminals are controlled by law enforcement agents, so, since various 'MLM' companies continue to operate quite openly without their owners being incarcerated, 'MLM' must be just as it has been presented; i.e. an alternative form of retailing where manufacturers (like himself) first sell products for a profit to networks of representatives who then sell these products on to the public for another profit. He further reasoned that, as selling often involves lying (or at the very least hiding the truth), 'MLM' owners and their sales representatives could be telling lies without necessarily committing fraud.

At this point in the conversation, I showed the businessman the recent 'Penn and Teller's Bullshit' episode entitled 'Easy Money.' When it was clearly explained to him that (for the previous 50+ years) all so-called 'MLM' companies have maliciously occulted the fact that they have had no significant, or sustainable, external revenue, and that the overwhelming majority of so-called 'MLM sales' have only been between a succession of counterfeit 'Direct Selling' companies (based on the 'Amway' original) and countless millions of their own (constantly-churning) insolvent representatives, he was truly astonished.

It is sad to reflect, but often, when it is explained how it works and how much cash it has generated for a few racketeers, persons who have not been directly effected by pyramid fraud dressed up as 'Direct Selling,' are almost in admiration of it. In reality, this hidden organized-crime phenomenon continues to cause serious damage not only to communities, families and individuals, but also to the world-economy.

David Brear (copyright 2010)

USANA is Amway copy-cat

Shyam

This week, I talked with the members of an American family who had watched Penn and Teller's humorous exposé of 'Multilevel Marketing.' These people had already witnessed the frightening effects of 'MLM' adherence, when other members of their family (who were experiencing severe financial difficulties) briefly fell into the clutches of 'USANA' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91UW5JMcyFc . 'USANA', has been described as the 'Mormom Amway.' For almost 12 months, a young married couple refused to listen to any criticism of 'USANA,' whilst dissipating all their mental, physical and financial resources to the benefit of the bosses of this 'Amway' copy-cat, whom they continued to trust and follow no matter what suffering this entailed. Indeed, the criticism of their friends and relatives, only served to drive these 'USANA' victims deeper into their deluded pursuit of future redemption. Classically, they had been programmed unconsciously to believe that the exact duplication of a proven 'Business Plan' (i.e. the purchasing a regular quantity 'USANA' products the recruitment of others to do the same) coupled with a 100% positive mental attitude, would lead them to 'Total Financial Freedom.'

David Brear (copyright 2010)

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Crooks like Amway always try to buy critics

Shyam

The reaction of the American celebrity, fraud investigators, Penn and Teller, to 'Scientology,' should be seen as a damning indictment of successive US administrations as well as of US law enforcement agencies.

To their credit, Penn and Teller had the guts openly to describe 'Scientology' as a dangerous and litigious organization. However, it is clear that Penn and Teller know that the executives of the 'Showtime' television Network would never agree to screen an exposé of 'Scientology', mainly because they fear the systematic reaction of 'Scientology's' agressive eschelon of attorneys. This (commercially-driven) attitude probably explains why Penn and Teller focused their recent exposé of the 'MLM' myth on smaller, and less litigious, organizations than 'Amway.'

It seems that, exactly like 'Amway,' most cosmopolitan Americans know 'Scientology' to be an absurd, but nonetheless pernicious, cult, with billionaire bosses who have been running a blame-the-victim fraud of global proportions, but, legalistically, cultism does not exist in the USA. Consequently, there has been no agency of US government tasked with tracing, let alone protecting the victims of 'Scientology', assembling their testimonies and taking effective action on their behalf. Furthermore, various US government agents (particularly in the State Dept.) have been so bedazzzled by the external 'religious/Hollywood' presentation of 'Scientology,' that they have actually criticized, as being 'anti-religious,' the courageous stance taken by various other democracies (particularly, France and Germany) whose own leaders and senior law enforcement agents have decided to ignore the pretty external presentation and place the ugly internal activities of 'Scientology' under close surveillance.

Whilst successive US leaders and senior law enforcement agents have never issued any clear statement concerning 'Scientology,' in the past, it has been left to a few courageous individuals to try to warn the public.http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Fishman/time-behar.html . Amazingly, although 'Scientology' was once exposed by Richard Behar of 'Time Magazine' as the 'Thriving Cult of Greed and Power,' recently, the bosses of 'Scientology' placed expensive advertising in various editions of the same publication. One wonders if the bosses 'Amway' will now be tempted to try to advertise on the 'Showtime' television Network?

David Brear (copyright 2010)-

Key GoldQuest members arrested in Iran airport

Iranian officials have arrested key members of GodlQuest, a controversial network marketing scheme which has allegedly defrauded thousands of people around the world.

Airport police chief Ahmad Asadian said at least 120 GoldQuest agents have been arrested in Imam Khomeni International Airport (IKA) upon arrival from a company meeting in Bangkok, Thailand.

"There is a strong corruption case against these people in the Prosecutor's office in the northern city of Rasht," We tracked their flight number and arrested them as soon as their flight landed."

Asadian said the Tehran government will deal severely with those who use pyramid scams such as GoldQuest to disrupt national economy and take advantage of people with poor economic knowledge.

"These people say the company is a legal multilevel marketing business, whereas their activities are against the interests of Iranian people and economy." he said.

"In other words, their get-quick rich schemes amount to financial fraud and deception, which is a crime under Iranian law and those who commit would be severely punished," he said.

GoldQuest is a global network marketing company claiming to be engaged in selling coins and watches that are said to have numismatic value.

Network marketing companies, such as GoldQuest, work on the principle of Pyramid scheme, a non-sustainable business model that involves the exchange of money primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme.

GoldQuest, believed to be on of the largest economic corruption cases in the history of Iran's history, was banned in the country in 2005. Prosecutor's found the pyramid company's activities have to led to the exit of half a billion dollars from Iran.

Pyramid schemes have been banned in many countries including the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Malaysia, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Iran.

A recent poll in India suggested more than 90% of investors in MLM or pyramid schemes have lost their money.

(It is apt to mention here that the CID police of Andhra Pradesh, India, are preparing charge sheet against about 2800 people in the GoldQuest scam. Corporate Frauds Watch is proud to recall it was the first to file a criminal case against GoldQuest International in India and then the bubble burst.)

Shyam

Your Indian readers possibly don't know Penn and Teller.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_%26_Teller . They are highly-popular American stage magicians who have made their reputation out of debunking illusions. One of their early television shows explained how various stage magic tricks are performed. Their current show is called 'Penn and Teller's Bullshit.'

At the start of this month, 'Bullshit' featured 'Multilevel Marketing.' Our good friend, Robert FitzPatrick was invited to participate.

In the show, entitled 'Easy Money,' Penn and Teller revealed (in their inimitable comic-style, complete with four letter words), that all-manner of over-priced wampum is currently being used in the USA to entice the gullible into essentially the same illegal money circulation scheme based on the 'Amway' original. You can take your choice of almost any (effectively unsaleable) products and services, from macho 'Man-Cave' toys and fruit drinks, to sex toys. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgcZyhfU0FA

Penn and Teller are multi-millionaire international celebrities who are apparently scared of no one and who work for a very wealthy Television channel, 'Showtime,' but look at their reaction when they were asked if 'Bullshit' would be covering 'Scientology?' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRYsjMrHnvQ

David Brear (copyright 2010)

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Amway adherents incapable of accepting ugly truth

Shyam

Like core-'Scientologists,' the most gung-ho 'Amway' adherents remain completely incapable of accepting the ugly truth about their group and its criminal bosses, or of evaluating their inevitable losses, until it is too late. Furthermore, these doomed, but Bolshie, 'Ambots' have been programmed systematically to focus only on achieving a future, secure Utopian existence, and to exclude, and/or denigrate, all free-thinking adults who, instead of accepting this puerile fiction as fact, insist on examining the quantifiable evidence, and on evaluating the 'Multilevel Marketing' myth, using rules made by democratic institutions defining what is criminal, and/or unethical.

David Brear (Copyright 2010)

Complaints are needed to nab these MLM racketeers

After reading the judgement of the Supreme Court of India which clearly categorised what forms cheating under Section 420 and why they should be held jointly liable under Section 34 of Indian Penal Code, people still believe that they need more facts. When the Legal Scan said the dearth of complaints, he meant that complaints basing on facts and the facts are clear in each and every case of multilevel marketing. All these multilevel marketing companies indulge in the same set of rules. Join the scheme and join more members to earn a lot of commission. This simple fact is sufficient to nab these fraudsters.

The problem is people who lost in these schemes remain silent to avoid humiliation after getting cheated. Some others believe that it was their fault that they could not enroll members but the scheme was perfect.This is what is called blame-the-victim. They fail to realise that the scheme is nothing but cheating. This is true with even some advocates who fell for such schemes.

It is better to go back to the judgement of the Supreme Court of India and read, nay, study it once again.

Scandal of MLM is a rancid can of worms

Shyam

You have got to laugh when unquestioning inhabitants of the fictional world most-commonly referred to as 'Amway', start bleating about 'facts.'

50+ years of quantifiable evidence, proves that countless millions of ill-informed (constantly-churning) individuals around the globe have all signed 'contracts' with dozens of fake 'Direct Selling' companies controlled by the billionaire bosses of the 'Amway' mob, and their many copy-cats, in which they (the signatories) were arbitrarily, and falsely, defined as 'Independent Business Owners.' Not one of these ill-informed signatories has had any say in the content of the inflexible, comic-book documents with which they were presented, let alone the quality and price of the (effectively unsaleable) wampum which they were obliged to offer. No matter what certain, deluded individuals steadfastly pretend to be reality, I have yet to see any quantifiable evidence (in the form of indendently-audited accounts) that any ill-informed signatory of a comic-book 'Multilevel Marketing Contract' has ever received an overall material benefit out of running a so called 'Independent Business,' but all these persons were led to believe that it was possible to make money. The few persons who have featured in kitsch 'MLM' propaganda as glowing examples of success to be copied, were either insolvent dupes or wealthy schills whose income secretly derived from illegally peddling over-priced: publications, recordings, esoteric accessories, tickets to meetings, etc., on the pretext that the purchase of these exclusive materials was vital to achieving success in 'MLM.'

In plain language, countless millions of people have all been systematically defrauded. Furthermore, it would be a relatively simple matter to put an end to this ongoing organized-crime phenomenon and convict those responsible, but the political will does not exist in the US, and elsewhere, because too many ill-informed legislators, journalists, law enforcement agents, etc., have been deceived, and/or corrupted, themselves.

The continuing scandal of 'MLM' is a rancid can of worms that no one in authority yet wants to open.

David Brear (Copyright 2010)

Supreme Court of India confirmed MLM is cheating

Generally people believe that multilevel marketing is a very good business opportunity. Let us look at what is multilevel marketing or network marketing or referral marketing. All one has to do is join in as a member and introduce his friends and relatives to join as members.

Referring to this type of marketing, the Supreme Court of India in the case of Kuriachan Chackko and others vs. State of Kerala (2008) 8 SCC, stated that "the promoters of the scheme very well knew that it is certain that the Scheme was impracticable and unworkable making tall promises which the makers of the promises knew fully well that it could not work successfully. It could work for some time in that "Paul can be robbed to pay Peter" but ultimately when there is a large mass of Peters they will be left in the lurch without any remedy as they would by then have been deceived and deprived of their money. If it is so, it could be said to be a case for application of Section 420 (Cheating) with Section 34 (Joint Liability) of the Indian Penal Code, of course, at this stage."

Apart from this, the Supreme Court also confirmed that the Scheme falls under the mischief of Prize Chits & Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978.

In spite of these confirmations, many believe, rather wrongly, that multilevel marketing is a wonderful business opportunity.

Labyrinth of lies galore regarding frauds

Shyam

Your readers should be aware that Ms. Jodie Bernstein (Director of Consumer Protection at the US Federal Trade Commission, 1997-2002) was solicited by the St. Louis-based law firm, Bryan Cave LLP, and that (in her new, much more highly-paid capacity) she then lied to her former colleagues at the FTC on behalf of the billionaire bosses of the ‘Amway’ mob - arguing that there was no need for government regulation of her client in particular, and of ‘Multilevel Marketing’ in general.

It should come as no surprise to your readers to learn that Bryan Cave LLP also defended Reed Slatkin. Indeed, Mr. Gerald Boltz (a former Securities Exchange Commission Administrator) was solicited by Bryan Cave LLP, and (in his new, much more highly-paid capacity) he then lied to his former colleagues at the SEC on behalf of Reed Slatkin, arguing (at the beginning of 2000) that there was no need to file a civil enforcement action to freeze his client’s remaining assets.

In 2003, it was reported that Reed Slatkin’s bankruptcy trustee, R. Todd Neilson (a former FBI agent) had complained to US Bankruptcy Judge, Robert Riblet, that Gerald Boltz and his associates at Bryan Cave LLP had deliberately mishandled Slatkin’s case and, thus, permitted hundreds of individuals to continue to lose their money. Neilson argued that Boltz (as a former top SEC lawyer) should have immediately deduced that Slatkin was running a Ponzi scheme, but (inexplicably) he did not.

Bryan Cave LLP subsequently filed a ‘tentative settlement’ with the US Bankruptcy Court, in which the law firm denied any wrongdoing, but (all the same) offered to pay Slatkin’s trust $650 000 to be distributed to its creditors. Limply, Bryan Cave LLP (a firm that promotes itself as being expert in financial fraud) posed as a wide-eyed victim totally deceived by Slatkin’s fake documentation. In any event, Gerald Boltz’ amoral defence was that, as Slatkin’s counsel, his duty was to his client: not to his client’s ‘investors.’

In 2003, Slatkin’s labyrinth of lies was still in process of being partially dismantled by Alexander Pilmer, the attorney acting for R. Todd Neilson. At this time, hundreds of Slatkin’s victims were owed around $240 millions, and more than 200 lawsuits had been filed to recover money from financial institutions which, and individuals who, had profited directly from Slatkin’s crimes. However, Pilmer was also in negotiation with attorneys acting for another labyrinth. The leadership of ‘Scientology’ had profited indirectly from Slatkin’s crimes - numerous'Scientology'-controlled corporate structures had received an unspecified number of payments (arbitrarily defined as ‘donations’) from 75 individuals who were core-‘Scientologists’. These people headed the list of those who had profited directly from Slatkin's crimes. For obvious reasons, Pilmer requested that all these payments of stolen cash to ‘Scientology' (allegedly totalling many tens of millions of dollars) should be immediately declared and returned. After 5 years of wrangling, the leadership of ‘Scientology’ coughed up $3.5 millions, but this included $1.7 millions that Slatkin ‘donated’ himself.

Many obvious questions have (apparently) never been asked by US law enforcement agents - principally:

Since, out of the 75 core-‘Scientologists’ who (over a period of 15 years) were proved to have received a total of $151 millions (arbitrarily defined as ‘profits on investments’) from Slatkin, a significant number were from the so-called ‘Sea Organization’ who are paid just $50 per week, where exactly did certain pious members of this poor ‘Scientology Religious Order’ suddenly acquire the odd quarter of a million dollars (in cash) to ‘invest’ with Slatkin?

David Brear (copyright 2010)

Criminal cases pending, still criminals like Amway operate

I would like to know whether there is any country anywhere in the world that allows a criminal to continue his crimes when a criminal case is pending against that person. Mind it, a corporate body is treated as an entity in the eye of the law.

That is exactly what is happening in India with the exception of GoldQuest International Ltd, which closed its operations after several criminal cases were filed against it.

A number of criminal cases were pending against Amway India, Herbalife and other corporate bodies which are running pyramid schemes. Still, these companies have been running their fraudulent schemes with impunity. Is there anything wrong with the democratic system running in India? No. That is not the case. Because of the democratic system only, we are able to express our opinions freely.

It is the Goebbels' propaganda undertaken by these crooks that is working overtime. The other day I met a police officer who much to my surprise told me that the criminal cases against Amway India were irrelevant as the Supreme Court has given it a stay order in its favour. When I showed him the Supreme Court judgement only he was convinced.

The writ of Mandamus petition filed by the Corporate Frauds Watch in the Andhra Pradesh High Court is still pending. Still, the police could file fresh criminal cases against these companies as these schemes attracted the provisions of the Prize Chits & Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978. However, police are reluctant to file fresh cases pointing out that there are no victims coming forward to file criminal cases. But the Act stipulates that the police could file criminal cases suo motu on mere suspicion that some money circulation scheme is being run by any person or company. The police say that their hands are busy with routine criminal cases and security arrangements for the politicians and other work.

US scribes, legislators have always been bedazzled by swindlers

Shyam

Judging by recent events, it is perfectly obvious that most American legislators, journalists and regulators have always been just as bedazzled by the likes of (erstwhile billionaire swindler) Bernie Madoff, as any victims. Even now, in the light of the Madoff fiasco, it seems that the average American legislator, journalist and regulator still doesn't know how to recognise a camouflaged closed-market swindle or money circulation scheme, if it fell on his/her head.

Again, I should like to remind your readers that the essential identifying characteristic of all closed-market swindles, or money circulation schemes (no matter how heavily they are disguised), is that they have no significant, or sustainable, source of revenue other than their own temporarily-deluded participants. In simple terms, the victims of closed-market swindles can be defined as persons who (unbeknown to them) have been peddled infinite shares in what can only be their own finite money. Consequently, it is a relatively simple matter to prove beyond all reasonable doubt if any 'trading scheme' has been hiding a premeditated closed-market swindle. All that is required is to ignore the mystifying claims of the instigator(s) and the blissful ignorance of the participants, and establish exactly from whence any 'trading scheme's' intigator has actually derived the majority of the money which he/she claims can be divided in such away as to produce endless profits for participants.

Bernie Madoff (a previously-unremarkable lifeguard) persuaded his victims' to hand over their capital assets on the absurd pretext that he alone had access to a secret knowledge which enabled him always to return substantial profits for his clients (no matter what the overall trading conditions were) by investing their own money on the stock market. In reality, Bernie Madoff wasn't trading at all. His only real source of revenue was his victims, and this fact could have been easily discovered at any time by ignoring Madoff's own documents and the blissful ignorance of his victims and, instead, demanding that he supply independent proof that his alleged endlessly profitable transactions had really taken place. The other rather obvious question which the regulators failed to ask Mr. Madoff was:

Why, if you are such an infallible trader as you steadfastly claim, do you bother to invest on behalf of others in return for a small percentage of their profits, when you could invest for yourself and keep the lion's share?

David Brear (copyright 2010)

You can't fool all of the people all of the time

Shyam

With a few notable exceptions, for a long time, Bernie Madoff was not only generally portrayed by the traditional media as an admired and respected financial guru, but also as one of America's most generous philanthropists (guided by his religious faith). The entire world now knows that, in reality, nothing could have been further from the truth. Ironically, the same media which (for decades) completely failed to expose Madoff as a dangerous sociopath running one of the most outrageous scams in history, was suddenly more than ready to savage the financially-illiterate clowns at the US Securities Exchange Commission who (in their official capacity) also refused to launch a rigorous investigation of Madoff and, thus, effectively assisted him in peddling his fictitious '£50 billions Hedge Fund' as fact.

It seems that the morally, and intellectually, feeble attitude of high-level SEC officials towards Bernie Madoff, influenced mainstream journalists and vice versa.

At one time, I would have found it difficult to believe that so many well-educated adults could have continued to swallow, and regurgitate, such a pile of puerile nonsense without bothering to check the facts. However, after looking at 50+ years of the absurd, but nonetheless pernicious, 'MultileveI Marketing' lie, I now realize the enduring wisdom of the phrase (variousy attributed to Abraham Lincoln, P.T. Barnum, or Mark Twain):

'You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.'

David Brear (copyright 2010)

Why media so scared of Amway?

Shyam

One question which I have been asking for a long time is: Why is the traditional media so scared of 'Amway' and its copy-cats?

In the UK, the authenticity of the 'Amway' myth began to be seriously challenged by a few perceptive journalists back in the 1990s. Most notably, Tony Thompson published a major exposé of 'Amway' as a fraud and a totalitarian cult, in 'Time Out' magazine, and (a few years later) this was followed by a television exposé made by James Garrett of HTV West.

In both cases, although destitute 'Amway' victims were interviewed who had been exposed (without their fully-informed consent) to co-ordinated, devious techniques of psychological, social and physical persuasion, the billionaire bosses of the'Amway' mob hid behind their labyrinth of corporate structures and echelon of amoral attorneys. Typically, 'Amway UK Ltd.' tried to obstruct justice by threatening to file malicious lawsuits against 'Time Out' and HTV West, in which the counterfeit 'Direct Selling' company's officers posed as innocent victims under attack. Amazingly, 'Amway UK Ltd.' and 'International Business Systems UK Ltd.' lodged complaints of 'unfairness' against HTV West with the 'UK Broadcasting Standards Commission,' which were partly upheld in 1998. The commissioners: (Lady Howe,Jane Leighton, Suzanne Warner, Danielle Barr, David Boulton,Dame Fiona Caldicott DBE, Strachan Heppell CB, Rev. Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Robert Kernohan OBE, The Very Rev. John Lang,Susan Lloyd, Sally O’Sullivan, Sioned Wyn Thomas, Stephen Whittle), were easily duped by 'Amway's' and 'IBS' reality-inverting literature. In simple terms, without access to any quantifiable evidence, these dunces with diplomas swallowed the puerile 'MLM' fiction as fact.

In the adult world of quantifiable reality, between 1973 and 2006, the billionaire bosses, and millionaire under-bosses, of the'Amway' mob cheated at least one million UK and irish citizens, and secretly netted more than one billion dollars. The majority of these illegal profits were shipped out of the UK to Dexter Yager in the USA, using the 'IBS UK Ltd.' (run by Messrs. Scriven and Gregory, and their spouses) as a front. The cash derived from an advance fee fraud, in which the constantly-churning, insolvent UK victims of the 'Amway' closed-market swindle were peddled over-priced publications, recordings, tickets to meetings, etc. on the pretext that these exclusive materials contained a secret knowledge which could lead anyone to 'Total Financial Freedom.'

David Brear (copyright 2010)