Doug Wead's 'MLM XanGo' associate, Jean/John Godzich, is a wanted criminal in France

Shyam

Your free-thinking readers (and particularly senior Indian police officers) should be aware that, 25 years ago,  ‘Amway France’ proudly proclaimed ‘90 000 Independent Business Owners.’ However, at that time, the company was exposed by the mainstream French media as the front for a closed-market swindle which inflicted cult-style mind-manipulation, or brainwashing, techniques on its victims without their fully-informed consent. Independent, French consumer and cult advice associations were approached by former ‘Amway’ core-adherents who complained of significant financial losses coupled with bizarre quasi-religious and political indoctrination. The French media reported that the major financial activity within the ‘Amway’ organization was the peddling to its brainwashed adherents of publications, recordings, tickets to meetings, etc., on the pretext that ‘these optional materials contained exclusive secrets vital to achieving success.’ This bad publicity produced a drastic collapse of the'Amway' racket in France, and a possible official investigation led to the virtual disappearance of ‘Amway France’ and the creation of the ‘Group of  European Marketing Professionals’  a.k.a. ‘GEPM’  a.k.a. ‘le Groupement’ by former  ‘Amway Diamond,’ Jean/John Godzich. He, and approximately 8000 adherents, were apparently excommunicated  from 'Amway' in 1989, for allegedly being in breach of the organization's distributor rules and code of ethics. However, this new (apparently independent) corporate structure was undoubtedly just another front for  the major, US-based, organized crime group known as 'Amway'.

By the early 1990s, ‘GEPM’ propaganda was proudly proclaiming  ‘50 000 distributorships.’ However, it too was widely-exposed as the front for a vast, closed-market swindle which inflicted cult-style tactics on its victims. The French media again reported that the major financial activity within the 'GEPM’ organization was peddling to its brainwashed adherents of publications, recordings, tickets to meetings, etc., on the pretext that ‘these optional materials contained exclusive secrets vital to achieving success.’  The take from this secondary, advance fee fraud is estimated to have totalled hundreds of millions of dollars. A mystifying labyrinth of further corporate structures was created to prevent, and divert, investigation and isolate the final beneficiaries from liability. Thousands of enquiries were made to UNADFI (the Association for the Defence of the Family and the Individual) about ‘GEPM.’ During its 8 year existence, at least 300 000 annual contracts were signed with ‘GEPM’ in France and neighbouring, francophone countries. None of these so-called 'distributors' regularly retailed 'GEPM' wampum to the public for a profit. They were obliged to consume and to recruit in the classic 'Amway'-style economically-suicidal closed-market 'plan for total financial freedom' which had a hidden, overall, rolling drop-out/failure rate of effectively 100%.

Doug Wead and his long-time criminal associate, Dexter Yager, were two of the 'Amway' crime bosses behind  the  ‘GEPM’ racket. A lot of the ‘GEPM’ publications and recordings were produced by companies controlled by Yager in Canada. Doug Wead and Neil Bush were key-note speakers at  ‘GEPM’ mass-rallies in France. Wead was also the co-author of books with Godzich. During the 1990s, the pair shared an office in Phoenix Arizona where they were regular attendees of, and preachers at, the Church known as the ‘First Assembly of God.’  French core-adherents of  ‘GEPM’ were obliged to buy tickets to visit Phoenix where they secretly received full-immersion baptism into the ‘First Assembly of God.’ Pastor Leo Mark Godzich (brother of  Jean/John) officiated. These trips, called  ‘Super-Well,’ cost around 2000 Euros each. The profits went to an (apparently independent) Belgian-registered travel agency which was, in fact, controlled by Godzich and his criminal associates. All this evidence (proving a pattern of major racketeering activity), was uncovered by French television journalists who infiltrated the 'GEPM' mob with hidden cameras.

In the early 1990s, a serious complaint was filed against ‘GEPM’ by UNADFI and a French consumer advice association, the Women’s Social and Civic Union, on behalf of around 300 destitute former core-adherents. This led to a criminal enquiry conducted by the French police. Godzich and 12  ‘GEPM’ associates steadfastly pretended to be innocent, but they were eventually charged with running a pyramid fraud. In the mean time, the company was successfully sued in the civil courts by its victims, but its declared assets were insufficient to pay its new debts. ‘GEPM’ was bankrupted and compulsorily closed in 1995. A warrant was soon issued for the arrest of Godzich, but he had already escaped to the USA. At this time, approximately 1500 deeply-deluded core-adherents of  the ‘GEPM’ mob picketed the offices of UNADFI in Paris. The building was occupied, files stolen and a senior UNADFI volunteer, Mathieu Cossu, was held prisoner for several hours and obliged to make a video statement that  ‘GEPM was not a cult.’ Prior to this, Godzich had tried to silence UNADFI with a proposed 'donation' of one million French francs (approximately 160 000 Euros). When this was refused, Godzich financed the creation of an  (apparently independent) ‘anti-mental manipulation association.’ It was generally believed by core-adherents of the ‘GEPM’ mob that their company was the victim of an anti-capitalist conspiracy and that UNADFI was a form of cult itself.

Some of the other tactics attempted by Godzich to maintain his absolute monopoly of information in France were classics of a cultic movement. However, an 'Amway'-style gagging-clause in 'GEPM distributor contracts,' linked to a Mafia-style, internal system of dispute resolution, failed to prevent more dissidents from coming forward. Malicious lawsuits were filed against external critics in which Godzich posed as victim. Traditional culture was infiltrated via gifts to charity, sponsorship of sport, etc. During the early 1990s, Godzich (who included an insurance agency, ‘Cabinet l’Andelle,’  amongst his web of corporate structures) gave approximately 160 000 Euros to sponsor a professional cycling team known as ‘Norwich Union Groupement’ (Norwich Union France gave only about 16 000 Euros). The star rider was Luc le Blanc (the then reigning world road-race champion). In 2000, 2 years after his official retirement, Luc le Blanc confessed to taking illegal drugs in order to obtain his world title in 1994. (Interestingly, during WWII, the ‘Nazis’ also identified cycling as the most popular sport in France and used it to try to manipulate public opinion in their favour. ‘Nazi’ agents created a sports magazine and sponsored a series of major cycling races).  

The criminal case against Jean/John Godzich (in absentia) and his‘GEPM’ associates, didn’t come to trial until the Summer of  2000. At this time, no evidence was presented by the prosecution relating to the secondary advance fee fraud lurking behind ‘GEPM,’ and the pyramid fraud charge was eventually dismissed on technicalities. GEPM's attorneys were allowed to present the failed-company's own unenforced 'retailing rules' as evidence that the accused had not intended to break the law, whilst  French prosecutors failed to produce any of the abundant documentary evidence proving that, despite these demonstrably-fake 'retailing rules', 'GEPM' had actually always been operating an unlawful money circulation scheme dissimulated behind effectively-unsaleable products, and services. However, in January 2007, Jean Godzich received a prison sentence (by default) of  3 years from the Correctional Tribunal of Evreux (Dept. of Eure, Normandy), for illegally transferring around 6 millions Euros of his failed-French-registered company’s social funds to the USA (prior to its compulsory closure in 1995). At the same time, an international arrest warrant was issued for Godzich (a citizen of both France and the USA) and he was given an additional fine of 500 000 Euros for again failing to turn up for his trial in October 2006. Three of his former associates were given suspended prison sentences ranging from 8 months to 2 years along with fines ranging from 10 000 to 80 000 Euros. Apparently, the warrant for Godzich's arrest has not been served, because the USA does not permit the extradition of its citizens. Similarly, Godzich's fine cannot be collected, because he holds no assets in France. 

‘Amway France’ still exists today, albeit on a vastly reduced-scale of less than 5000 claimed adherents. Interestingly, in recent years, a large proportion of these ill-informed people have been ethnic Chinese living in the Paris region. Since its creation more than 30 years ago, the overall, rolling drop-out / failure-rate of 'Amway France' has been effectively 100%, but, for obvious reasons, this key-information has been deliberately hidden from the French public.

David Brear (copyright 2011)

'XanGo' and 'Tahitian Noni Juice' are 'MLM business opportunity' rackets

Shyam

One 'Amway' copy-cat 'MLM business opportunity' racket, 'Speakasiaonline', faces closure in India, but many more are queuing up to cheat ill-informed and vulnerable Indians. 

Since its initiation in post WWII America, the 'MLM' racket has come full-circle.

Around 60 years ago in California, the original 'MLM' racketeer, Carl F. Rehnborg (a former toothpaste salesman suffering from delusions of grandeur), hid a closed-market swindle behind what he called 'Nutrilite Double X Health Tonic.'  This classic, effectively-unsaleable 'MLM' wampum comprised inert, coloured pills packaged to resemble a banal proprietary medicine. Rehnborg, in fact, peddled his victims, whom he called 'distributors,' a placebo made largely from harmless vegetable extracts costing a few cents, for just under $20 (the equivalent of several hundreds dollars today) per pack. Although Rehnborg made no specific therapeutic claims on its packaging, his victims were bombarded with separate propaganda which told them that 'Nutrilite' was good value, because it could cure or prevent any known human illness. They were also told that they could achieve total financial freedom by handing over around $20 each month and by recruiting more 'distributors' who would then recruit more distributors, etc. ad infinitum. When, in the late 1950s, the 'Nutrilite' racket finally faced closure for breaking US federal laws concerning the misbranding of medicines, two young 'Nutrilite ' under-bosses, Richard DeVos and Jay Van Andel, created the 'Amway' racket in which they cleverly avoided regulation by the US Food and Drug Admistration by peddling banal, but grossly over-priced, household products to the victims of the identical, dissimulated closed-market swindle. What remained of the 'Nutrilite' racket was absorbed into the 'Amway' racket in the early 1970s.  

Today, various 'MLM business opportunity' racketeers are hiding closed-market swindles behind what they call 'anti-oxidant health drinks.' This classic, effectively-unsaleable 'MLM' wampum comprises common substances packaged to resemble banal alternative medicines. The racketeers peddle their victims, whom they call 'distributors,' a placebo made largely from cheaply-procured fruit juices, for around $40 per pack. Many of these crooks have made specific therapeutic claims on their packaging, and their victims are bombarded with additional propaganda which tells them that 'anti-oxidant health drinks' are good value, because they can cure or prevent any known human illness (particularly, arthritis and cancer). Victims are also told that they can achieve total financial freedom by handing over their cash each month and by recruiting more 'distributors' who will then recruit more distributors, etc. ad infinitum. Various 'MLM health drink' racketeers have already been pursued in the US courts for breaking federal and State legislation concerning the misbranding of medicines and foodstuffs, but mysteriously, they have never been charged with criminal fraud or racketeering.

Two of the largest, US-based, 'MLM health drink' rackets are: 'Tahitian Noni International'  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tahitian_Noni_International and 'XanGo LLC International' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XanGo . Interestingly, the 'MLM business opportunity' racketeers Doug Wead and Jean Godzich, both of whom have previously been associated with the bosses of  the 'Amway' mob (particularly, Dexter Yager), are currently involved with the 'Xango' racket. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1T657rMOiY   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fs0X8UboKsw&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGiqXOF8WO8&feature=related . 

Meanwhile in the adult world of quantifiable reality: In  2006, the United States Food and Drug Administration issued a warning to 'XanGo LLC International' in response to the company's promotion of 'Xango Mangosteen juice' as an aid to treat, and/or cure, various diseases. The agency's letter warned that 'Xango juice' had not been properly tested for safety and efficacy, and as a proposed new drug it could not be legally sold in the US without prior approval of the FDA, and that the company could face enforcement action including seizure, and/or injunction, of products or suspension of business. Under FDA drug labeling rules, 'XanGo LLC,' as manufacturer, is responsible for satisfying scientific criteria to make health claims on its product labels and all marketing materials. As of September 2008, the case remains open. In 2005, the Mayo Clinic said that 'there are no published clinical trials showing evidence that either the fruit or its juice, marketed under the name 'XanGo' juice, is an effective treatment for arthritis, cancer or any other disorder in humans. In 2006, the U.C. Berkeley Wellness Newsletter, sponsored by the University of California at Berkeley, said that 'Mangosteen juice marketers make far-fetched and unsubstantiated claims for their products.' The newsletter observed that 'there are no clinical trials, and what happens in a test tube or animal may not occur in a human. Any reported benefits in humans have been anecdotal. No one even knows if the processed fruit juice and capsules retain the potentially beneficial compounds. What’s more, the juice is typically a mix of fruit juices with an undisclosed amount of mangosteen in it.' Dr. Ralph Moss, author of several books on cancer research, has said of mangosteen juice:

'In my opinion, what we have here is simply an overpriced fruit drink. Fruit drinks are often healthful beverages. But the only reason I can see that the promoters of mangosteen can get away with charging $37 for this product is that they are playing on patients' hopes and fears in a cynical way. Without the health claims, open or implied, the product could only be sold for at most $5 or $6 (which, for example, is the cost of antioxidant-rich pomegranate juice).'

Amazingly, essentially the same warnings were issued by the FDA in the early 1950s to the owner of 'Nutrilite,' and similar commentaries were made by independent, medically-qualified observers. Yet for more than half a century, countless, pernicious copy-cat 'MLM business opportunity' frauds have remained effectively-unregulated in the USA, whilst their bosses have been allowed expand their criminal activities around the globe and to acquire capital sums which place them alongside the most notorious racketeers in history.

David Brear (copyright 2011)

Mainstream media widely reports speakasiaonline scam

The mainstream Telugu media has picked up the news of criminal case against speakasiaonline and four '24-hour News channels' have already telecast the news prominently. The two franchisees D Srinivasa Reddy and Lanka Venkata Ayyappa Swamy were sent to judicial remand.
Meanwhile, the CID sleuths have started more information on the number of franchisees and the members who have already made a sizable amounts in the racket. As per the provisions of PCMC Act, 1978, joining and making others join in such schemes is a crime.
The print media - both English and Vernacular - has already covered the news extensively and we have to wait and see what the police departments in the neighbouring states would do to curb the menace.
Several people congratulated Corporate Frauds Watch for lodging a complaint with the police and bringing out  one of the largest scams, of course second to Amway, in recent times.
However, there are no other criminal cases filed by others in this case like in the case of GoldQuest International.  

Curbing the menace of 'MLM business opportunity' cultism

Shyam 

Monil has posted this comment on Corporate Frauds Watch, containing an important question: 

'I would like to bring to the notice of the readers that people in Bangalore are being now cheated in the name of "independent business opportunity with limitless income." Please let me know how do I curb this menace? Many ignorant Bangaloreans are falling into the "MLM Amway" trap, the version called as "Britt world wide." ' 

Perhaps the only effective way to curb the menace of 'MLM business opportunity' fraud is for as many free-thinking people as possible to complain loudly to law enforcement agents, legislators and to the media, and to continue to complain loudly. In reality, 'Britt World-Wide' is just one corporate structure forming the US-based, major organized crime group most-commonly referred to as 'Amway/Quixtar'. Bill Britt is the ostensible boss of 'Britt World-Wide', but (to date) he has never faced criminal charges. However, Mr. Britt's extensive racketeering activities were clearly exposed by national television in the USA in 2003. It might, therefore, be a good idea to direct the attention of Bangalorean law enforcement agents, legislators and journalists to this television programme http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuEfVbnCT2Q   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR2_m3lefOI&feature=related . 

That said, 'MLM' is no ordinary racket and few law enforcement agents, legislators or mainstream journalists have the time, or inclination, to comprehend the wider-implications of what is only the latest evolutionary stage of an ongoing historical phenomenon. The Utopian myth that 'MLM' is a viable way to achieve 'total financial freedom' based on the 'Christian principle of helping others,' was originally tailored to fit the spirit of post-WWII America, but, over the years, it has been adapted to lure and exploit all-manner of ill-informed and vulnerable people around the world. Today, the majority of people (whatever their culture) do not want to listen to Christian Evangelists preaching the two thousand year-old, closed-logic 'Gospel' of exclusive future redemption in Heaven for those who believe without question. However, the same religious sceptics will often fail to recognize that 'MLM' racketeers are essentially-identical Evangelists, but who are preaching an up-dated, and perverted, closed-logic 'Gospel' of future financial redemption on Earth for those who believe without question. Unfortunately, the wealthy bosses of numerous cultic groups continue to enslave the unwary with essentially the same pay-to-play game of make-believe. This blame-the-victim charade has been designed to manipulate the existing beliefs and instinctual desires of its players, creating the illusion that they are excercising free-will. The basic design for the cultic trap has remained the same down the centuries even if the bait has become evermore sophisticated. 

David Brear (copyright 2011) 

YouTube - Videos from this email

The brainwashed core-adherents of the 'Speakasiaonline' fraud continue to deny reality

Shyam

For months, we have been calmly explaining on Corporate Frauds Watch that, since its ignominious origins in the USA more than 50 years ago, a mountain of damning-evidence now proves beyond all reasonable doubt, that the entire so-called 'multi-billion dollar MLM Industry' has shielded a vast criminal enterprise. The first instigators of this global financial holocaust (with a small 'h'), and a growing band of copy-cat crooks, have been allowed to dissimulate the age-old crime of a closed-market swindle behind essentially the same fake 'business opportunity' which has actually obliged ill-informed participants regularly to purchase effectively-unsaleable products, and/or services, and to endeavour to recruit others to perpetuate the same economically-suicidal plan, rather than to earn their livings from regularly retailing 'MLM' wampum to the public for a profit. We have also explained how many victims of these camouflaged, illegal money circulation schemes, have also fallen for secondary advance fee frauds, in which they have been peddled over-priced publications, recordings, tickets to meetings, etc., on the pretext that these materials contain exclusive secrets vital to achieving success in 'MLM.'  In this way, tens of millions of ill-informed individuals in dozens of different countries have been systematically robbed and blamed. The funds which have been taken by numerous gangs of manipulative 'MLM' racketeers, now total many billions of dollars - some of which has been used to infiltrate traditional culture and to buy political protection (particularly, in the USA). For all these reasons, Corporate Frauds Watch has taken the wider-view that the entire so-called 'MLM Industry' represents an ongoing threat to democracy and the rule of law, and that (in the final analysis) blame-the-victim  'MLM business opportunity' racketeers should not be treated on a case by case basis, or as common criminals.  Tellingly, for all their stolen wealth, not one single 'MLM' racketeer has dared to attempt to challenge our demonstrably-accurate, published analysis. Even when isolated 'MLM' rackets like 'Speakasiaonline,' are recognized by law enforcement agents, the media, legislators and the public, and begin to collapse, a core-group of their most-brainwashed adherents always continues to deny reality. Usually, these poor sheep indignantly bleat the additional twisted-fairy tales that:

'MLM' is perfectly legal and has been accepted all over the world for decades.

Their particular 'MLM' scheme is not fundamentally fraudulent. 

Its collapse is due to lies which are being spread by 'negative' former distributors who refuse to accept responsibility for their own lack of success.

These lies have been repeated by a media which is controlled by the deluded enemies of free-enterprise. etc.

Fortunately, there is now a good chance that the real bosses of the 'MLM' gang known as 'Speakasiaonline',  might be held to account in India, but, so far, their labyrinth of corporate structures has obstructed investigation and isolated them from liability. Hopefully, the Indian authorities will not be so foolish as to fall for this Mafia-style mystification.  

My advice to anyone investigating blame-the-victim 'MLM business opportunity' fraud, is:

Follow the money!

David Brear (copyright 2011)

AP CID arrests two franchisees of speakasiaonline in Vijayawada

The CID police of Andhra Pradesh raided the offices of two franchisees of speakasiaonline in Vijayawada and sezied laptops, desktops, passbooks and other material on the charges of illegally indulging in money circulation scheme in the name of online survey.

http://www.hindu.com/2011/06/26/stories/2011062661900300.htm

Corporate Frauds Watch formally lodged a complaint with the CID which prompted the sleuths to conduct the raids.

Way back on February 6th, 2011, Corporate Frauds Watch posted the illegal activities of speakasiaonline which is nothing but an illegal money circulation scheme in the guise of conducting surveys.

The two franchisees - D Srinivasa Reddy and L V A Swamy were arrested and would be presented in the judicial court, said Mr Ramana Kumar, Deputy Superintendent of Police, CID, Vijayawada. He said that speakasiaonline's business model is pyramid structure and a banned activity under the provisions of Prize Chits & Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978. He said that they would also raid the Mumbai office of the company and arrest the persons responsible for the 'operations'. He did not rule out the possibility of more arrests basing on the information available in the computers and laptops.

Teacher knew 'Amway' to be a fraud, but still wanted to join

Shyam

Down the years, many people have asked me: How can adults be so stupid as to fall for the puerile 'MLM'  lie? However, a while ago, I was asked a variation of that perennial question by an Eastern European, English language teacher who began looking at 'MLM business opportunity' fraud, when (to her complete amazement) one of her junior colleagues encountered 'Amway'. 

My correspondent described how an apparently-bright 'thirty-something' fellow had begun to tell other members of staff, and his adult students (at a private language school), that he was going to retire from work by 'building the Amway business.' However, what he proposed was even more crackpot than usual, because he openly-declared 'Amway' to be a pyramid scam. He then claimed that he'd worked out a fool-proof plan to cheat the 'Amway' cheats, but it required the use of other people's names.

Tellingly, this strangely-frank fantasist had no real commercial experience. However, he did have a background in IT, as well as access to the wider-evidence. Amazingly, he had directed my correspondent to Robert Fitz Patrick's Pyramid Scheme Alert, and to my own articles about 'Amway' and 'MLM business opportunity' fraud, published on the 'Quixtar Cult Intervention' Blog. Consequently, he clearly understood that the so-called 'Amway business opportunity' (as it has been operated for more than half a century) is an economic impossibility, because participants do not make their livings by selling 'Amway' wampum to the public for a profit. He realized that 'Amway' participants have actually been told to hand over their cash each month (in exchange for effectively-unsaleable goods and services) and to recruit more participants. Thus, perpetuating the same camouflaged money circulation scheme. The teacher had also read about the UK government's civil enquiry into 'Amway UK Ltd' and about the US FTC prosecution of 'Amway' in the 1970s. He apparently understood that the 'Amway' organization is a major, organized crime group which has escaped closure and criminal prosecution for decades, simply because its billionaire bosses have arbitrarily defined all transactions (internal and external) as 'sales,' thus, appearing to offer a lawful commission-based pyramid 'sales' scheme in which the higher the volume of 'sales' participants (their recruits and the recruits of their recruits, etc. ad infinitum)  achieve and maintain over a 12 month period, the higher successful participants climb in the pyramid, and the higher their commission payments. However, 'Amway' has not been subject to rigorous external regulation and obviously the organization itself cannot, and has not, verified if participants actually make sales to the public. Unfortunately, like many others, at this point the teacher became bedazzled by the organization's attractive claims that once participants reach the higher levels, they need never work again, because 'Amway' guarantees to keep on paying the corresponding commission to any successful participant, even if he/she ceases to be active. In simple terms, this fellow began to believe that all you have to do to receive a substantial passive income from 'Amway' for ever, is deceive the organization into believing that you have generated the required level of 'Business Volume' for the required period of time. Therefore, he openly-proposed to sign up for the 'Amway' fraud himself, and he began asking his friends, family members, colleagues and students, if he could put their names down as his recruits. Apparently, he intended gradually to invest a recent inheritence to make it appear that he was 'building the business,' and that his (imaginary) recruits were obediently duplicating his example. He reckoned that it would take him a couple of years and around $150 000 to go 'Diamond,' but then he would be paid at least $50 000 per year for the rest of his life for doing nothing.

At the time, I explained that, in order to go 'Diamond,' this fellow would have to keep on inventing more and more recruits, and to keep handing over around $2000 per year to 'Amway' for each one of them. Thousands of imaginary 'distributors' and millions of real dollars would actually be required. I half-jokingly advised my correspondent to throw a bucket of cold water over her deluded junior colleague in the hope of bringing him to his senses. The last I heard, this dunce with a diploma had finally decided not to sign up for 'Amway' after being threatened with suspension from his job if he tried to put his fool-proof plan into operation.

David Brear (copyright 2011)

'Amway' Doug Wead and the 'Religious Right'

Shyam
Recently we have had Kasey Chang posting a series of puerile, false and defamatory comments on one of his own Blogs in which he attempted to dismiss my accurate references to 'Amway' and the 'Religious Right' in the USA, as a conspiracy theory.
Unknown to the likes of Mr. Chang, the 1997 Polish film documentary, 'Witajcie w Cyciu'  ('Welcome to Life') features a contraversial figure linked to the American 'Religious Right,' Doug Wead (b.1946), preaching in English to a flock of Eastern European 'Amway' adherents (with the help of a translator) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK4E5ceN_5g&feature=related . When you know that (over a period of more than 50 years) the so-called 'Amway business opportunity' has had a hidden, effectively 100% failure/drop-out rate, the key words and images which Wead constantly repeats, are a grotesque inversion of reality. This clean-cut, wealthy and psychologically-dominant liar, was seeking to manipulate the egos of his pyschologically vulnerable, poor audience by telling them that they had all lived for half a century with the oppressive boot of 'communism' grinding their faces into the mud, and that, by refusing 'Amway,' they would be refusing the opportunity to stand up and be free. In plain language, Wead is planting the self-perpetuating, and self-gratifying, delusional belief that, by becoming an unquestioning 'Amway' recruiter, any cowardly loser can transform into a heroic winner. Your free-thinking readers will note that Wead's fictitious controlling-scenario (through abandoning individuality and by believing totally in the group and its leadership, ordinary men can transform into supermen) is essentially identical to that used by Adolf Hitler and Stalin.
Wead has his own page on Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Wead . However, much of this is just a catalogue of his own reality-inverting propaganda. In the adult world of quantifiable reality, along with his vile little chum Dexter Yager, Wead is one of the greedy charlatan/racketeers (attached to the 'Amway' mob) who has acquired a vast fortune by producing and peddling many millions of books, recordings and tickets to meetings, on the pretext that he is a heroic winner who knows the secret of how to achieve total financial freedom in 'Amway' - a secret which, out of the kindness of his Christian heart, he is prepared to share with cowardly losers (for a price). 
For years, Doug Wead was one of the links between US Republican party leaders and the Religious Right. In simple terms, in order for presidential candidates to get elected in the USA, they need the support of all the millions of right wing Christian voters. Consequently, presidential candidates like George W. Bush have employed persons like Doug Wead to advise them on exactly what to say (and what not to say) to get elected. However, Wead used his extensive private contact with the Bush family in a way which made him into a highly-controversial figure.
In 1987, Wead began to record his conversations with members of the Bush family (with their permission and allegedly to provide a historical record). In 1988, Wead published 'George Bush: Man of Integrity,'  which drew heavily on these taped conversations. However, Wead secretly continued taping between 1997 and 2000, acquiring at least 9 hours of private telephone conversations with George W. Bush (then Governor of Texas) whilst he was running for President. Wead later claimed that he intended to record Bush as a historical figure. In February 2005, one month after Bush was sworn in as US President for the second time, Wead approached 'The New York Times,' and publicly released 12 extracts, ranging in length from a few minutes to 30 minutes. Wead claimed that these recordings were perfectly legal, because in the USA, there is no no law against taping someone without his/her consent. In the released-extracts, Bush seemed to admit having used marijuana and other drugs, because said that he would not answer press questions about his drug use, because he did not want to set a bad example for children.
It seems that, in 2005, the 'Amway' racketeer, Doug Wead, was trying to send a powerful message to George W. Bush and the Republican party leadership. No one (apart from George W. Bush) knows what else was lurking in Wead's collection of tapes. However, during the Bush presidencies, there was never the slightest official enquiry into the ongoing, major racketeering activities of the 'Amway' mob in the USA. Indeed, George W. Bush appointed one of 'Amway's' own attoneys, Timothy Muris, to Chair the US Federal Trade Commission.
David Brear (copyright 2011)

YouTube - 

The truth is the mortal enemy of 'Amway'

Shyam

In 1997, an important documentary was made in Poland by an independent filmaker, Helmer Henryk Dederko, which is entitled 'Welcome to Life.' In this, a typically-deluded core-'Amway' adherent was openly-filmed taking a base-ball bat and smashing his television set to pieces. After being exposed (without his fully-informed consent) to co-ordinated devious techniques of social, psychological and physical persuasion, this poor Polish fellow had become convinced that television was a 'negative threat to achieving total financial freedom.'  Dederko's truthful documentary, revealed the economically-suicidal blind-faith of core-'Amway' adherents in their 'Diamond Leaders' and in the so-called 'Amway business opportunity.' Obvious comparisons were drawn between the 'negative versus positive' totalitarian myth ruling the lives of the unquestioning 'Amway' faithful in democratic Poland in the late 1990s and the reality-inverting 'good versus evil' totalitarian fairy tale which had ruled the lives of the unquestioning 'Communist' faithful in non-democratic Poland 1945-1990. Not surprisingly, when the billionaire bosses of the 'Amway' mob discovered what this film contained, they immediately invested a sizeable quantity of their ill-gotten gains in a criminal attempt to have their mortal enemy, the truth, repressed.

 

The following article (which explains what happened ) was published in the 'Warsaw Voice' in January 2003.

http://www.warsawvoice.pl/WVpage/pages/article.php/858/article

'One of the best documentaries made in Poland over the past decade has been kept locked up for the past five years.

The institution of censorship was repealed in Poland in 1990.

However, a new kind of censorship appeared in 1997. Theoretically, independent courts decide what can and what cannot be distributed and broadcast in free Poland, but in practice, this is done by skilled lawyers representing the interests of their clients. The imperfection of the Polish law makes the new court censorship no less efficient and ruthless than the communist Office for the Control of Press, Publications and Performances. Five years ago, Henryk Dederko, a film director from Łódź, made Witajcie w życiu (Welcome to Life), a documentary about the activities of the Amway Corporation-one of the world's largest companies selling chemical products and cosmetics in the network marketing system, which started its operations in Poland in the early 1990s. The documentary won recognition from the jury of the Eighth Media Festival, which gave it the Grand Prix. Polish TV bought the documentary and wanted to show it immediately, announcing the broadcast for Nov. 25, 1997.
Witajcie w życiu exposed the work of Polish Amway sales representatives, the methods of their training resembling brainwashing, and the philosophy of the corporation, with considerable political influences in the United States. Presidents Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George Bush did not try to conceal their relations with the company, and Bush openly said: "I feel I am an 'Amwayer' deep inside." Amway has several lobbyists on Capital Hill, headed until recently by Congressman Richard W. Pombo from California.
The documentary featured eight people who sold products and trained new members of the organization. They all authorized their appearance in the documentary and were paid for their involvement. However, they did it all without informing the company headquarters in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the Warsaw subsidiary. The Warsaw subsidiary and the headquarters learned about the documentary from reviews following a presentation for the press.
Amway hired one of the best and most expensive Polish lawyers, Jerzy Nauman. He tried to press the jury not to award the documentary, and then he brought a case to court concerning protection of personal goods of Amway and its sales representatives. He also put forward a motion requesting security for the claim in the form of a ban on the distribution of the documentary. Finally, he demanded that all copies be destroyed. That was reminiscent of the recent past, but had grounds in the Polish law. Forty editors-in-chief of Polish media were disturbed by the return of censorship for the protection of private interests. They protested, but the significance of their protest was purely moral.
Normally, you have to wait years for the settlement of cases concerning protection of personal goods in Poland. This time, the court made a decision after barely three days. It "temporarily" banned distribution of the documentary, also making it illegal to publish the script and the soundtrack until the valid determination of Amway's claim of zl.100,000 in damages. The law does not state that cases of this kind should be tried in the first place, as it is with electoral petitions.
TVP canceled the broadcast of the documentary, which cannot be shown even at private screenings. Deputies from the Sejm Committee for Culture, to which the editors-in-chief had addressed their protest, wanted to see the documentary so as to have an opinion on it, but the Sejm immediately received a fax from Amway's lawyers, who reminded the deputies that they would thus violate the court's ban. 
Even in the Polish Sejm, Amway has its people who advise their company about everything that might be of some importance to it. The main lobbyist of Amway is an influential deputy from the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD).
The "temporary situation" has continued for five years. With the temporary seizure of the film, Amway achieved its goal. So, now it can take its time before the case is resolved, especially that the sentence could be unfavorable to Amway. The court did look after its basic interest: the public opinion will not learn the inconvenient truth of Amway and of the methods it employs.
Dederko says he is surprised that the new era of censorship in Poland was initiated by a company from the United States-a country where the First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees freedom of speech. For five years, Dederko and Jacek Gwizdała, producer of the documentary, have had no time to work, as they have to be regularly present at consecutive proceedings of the five lawsuits that Amway filed against them in courts in Łódź and Warsaw.
TVP, who bought the documentary, cannot make any profit on it. Amway lost as well-its sales in Poland have plummeted over the past five years, and the number of sales representatives have dropped by half.'

For more than 50 years, the billionaire bosses of the 'Amway' mob have been seeking to repress the truth about their hidden criminal objectives. The following article was published in 'Variety' in October 2009.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118010073?refCatId=1061

'In a year when Poles are commemorating the 20th anniversary of their freedom from Communist rule, a film that has been banned for 12 years is generating doubt about how far that freedom extends.

Helmer Henryk Dederko’s "Welcome to Life!," a docu about the practices of U.S. direct-sales empire Amway in the Polish market, was due to unspool at the Warsaw Film Festival, which ran Oct. 9-18. But the pic was pulled at the last minute by its producer, pubcaster TV Poland.

TV Poland rep Daniel Jablonski says the station could "not grant permission for the presentation of the film … because of unfinished legal proceedings."

The 1997 doc had been banned by a local court after Amway filed suit, claiming it was defamatory.

Amway Poland corporate affairs supervisor Anna Wieraszko says its lawsuit against TV Poland, which holds the pic’s copyright, and Contra Studio, the production shingle, is pending. Amway seeks a symbolic $3,000 compensation.

Fest director Stefan Laudyn wrote an open letter to fest auds Oct. 13, lamenting the last-minute reversal and saying that the withdrawal of the docu is an assault on freedom of expression.

At the very least, the legal wrangling could renew interest in the film. File sharing demand for "Welcome," already popular in local underground screenings, is expected to rise.'

Yet again, all of this clearly demonstrates an overall pattern of ongoing, major, racketeering activity (as defined by the US federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 1970, and clarified by subsequent US Supreme Court judgements).

David Brear (copyright 2011)

Few police officers have warned the public about 'MLM business opportunity' fraud, but many have promoted it

Shyam

You are very fortunate to have at least one insightful senior police officer in India, Mr S V Ramana Murthy, who will go on record and warn the public about 'MLM business opportunity' fraud.

It is a well-known fact that countless police officers, and even FBI agents, have been tricked into promoting the 'Amway' fraud in the USA. However, there have been at least 5 members of the US House of Representatives who have been bought by the 'Amway' racketeers. Numerous senior politicians (including former US Presidents) and celebrities have been tricked into accepting stolen funds for speaking at 'Amway' rallies, and/or endorsing the effectively-unsaleable 'Amway' wampum. 

All of this is evidence of an overall pattern of major, ongoing, racketeering activity (as defined by the US federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 1970, and clarified by subsequent US Supreme Court rulings).

Back in the 1990s, in the northern English town of Halifax, where my brother (a teacher) was recruited into the 'Amway' racket, there were numerous low-ranking police officers who had been tricked into promoting 'Amway.'  My brother boasted of the fact that he had police officers and local-government officials in his group as a guarantee that 'MLM' was ethical and lawful. However, over-worked and under-paid public-servants (including teachers and police officers) seem to have been perhaps the most-commonly-targeted social group for 'MLM' recruitment in the UK. I was even told about a police station in a suburb of the northern English city of Leeds where an entire 'Amway' group had once been formed by officers.

When I tried to make a criminal complaint about 'MLM business opportunity' fraud in the UK, detectives in the north of England were convinced that this problem was not their responsibility, because UK police forces operate in geographically-defined regions, making the investigation of privately-owned, limited-liability, commercial companies registered in the south of England very difficult. When I tried to complain to detectives in the south of England, I was told that pyramid fraud was not the responsibility of the police: it had been decided by government that this complex problem should be regulated by specialist investigators in the UK Dept. of Trade and Industry. When I tried to complain that numerous uniformed police officers had, in fact, been promoting 'MLM' fraud in the UK, I was told that UK police officers are allowed to have part-time jobs and businesses provided they first obtain the written permission of their Chief Constables. When I pointed out that any UK police officer who had been given permission to be involved in 'MLM' must have misled their Chief Constable, I was referred to the Independent Police Complaints Authority.

When 'Amway UK Ltd.' was finally hauled before the UK High Court, British government prosecutors made absolutely no attempt to explain to Judge Norris that a significant number of UK police officers had been deluded agents of the 'Amway' organization, and that, consequently, 'Amway' and its many copy-cats represent an ongoing threat to the rule of law in Britain. In simple terms, back in the 1990s, no one in Britain (least of all the police) wanted to open the 'MLM' can of worms, and, for obvious reasons, this shameful situation has remained largely-unchanged. Since the isolated, civil investigation and prosecution of 'Amway UK Ltd.', certain UK government officials have become aware that the entire so-called 'MLM industry' has been the front for a multi-billion dollar global racket, but, to date, there has never been an official attempt to warn the British public, let alone an official British-based effort to hold the billionaire bosses of the global 'MLM' racket, to account.

I wonder what the policy of the Indian police service will be towards officers who have been tricked into promoting 'MLM business opportunity' fraud?

David Brear (copyright 2011)