“Anti”-Pyramid Scheme Bill and “Alternative Legality”
Update: The proposed law promoted by the Direct Selling Association to protect "MLM" companies from future regulation, criminal prosecution and class action lawsuits was reintroduced in 2017 with changes, though the intent is the same. It is now called HR 3409. The...
Sign of What’s Coming in Pyramid Scheme Law Enforcement at the FTC
Perhaps the clearest and most direct indicator of what is coming in America for pyramid scheme law enforcement and consumer protection occurred in recent week before the inauguration of president-elect, Donald Trump. Regulation and consumer protection are poised for a...
Why MLM Is Invisible, Part II: False History and Identity
In the previous (Part I) of this series, it was seen how the fictionalized language that was invented by MLM promoters serves to prevent critical analysis. Terms, which have nothing to do with how MLM actually operates, serve as protective coating, preventing a...
Why MLM Is Invisible, Part 1: False Language
Normally, a social or economic phenomenon, in which as many as 15 million American households participate year after year and which involves intrusive and sometimes disruptive personal and social interactions in addition to potentially thousands of dollars of lost...
Deception and Delusion: How Pyramid Schemes Maintain the “Direct Selling” Disguise
According to the MLM companies, Herbalife, Nu Skin and Amway, and others, the great majority of people who sign sales contracts, join as “salespeople” and buy sales kits have absolutely no interest in being salespeople or in making any money at all in those...
Wall Street Piracy and Pyramid Mania Merge
When pyramid schemes ignite on Main Streets anywhere in the world, the ensuing manias have been compared to a wildfire, a stampede, a mob-like madness. The rallying cries of “get in now, ground-floor opportunity, unlimited income!” are spread virus-like in...
Who Loses If Herbalife Is Not Investigated or Prosecuted
After William Ackman of the hedge fund, Pershing Square Capital, made his now famous slide presentation in which he charged that Herbalife is an illegal pyramid scheme that should be prosecuted by the FTC and the SEC, the debate soon shifted away from Herbalife itself...
Half of Amway’s Products Are Retailed. Really! Plus Other Wacky Numbers
The Search for Amway Customers In a recent video interview with Amway executives, Doug DeVos and Steve Van Andel, a Wall Street Journal reporter asked them a probing and revealing question. The question was, what percentage of the products that Amway sells to the...
Have I Got a Deal For You: The Endless Chain Offer
This Blog references an excellent article on the legality of multi-level marketing by MLM legal expert, Bruce Craig, former Asst. Attorney General of the state of Wisconsin. http://seekingalpha.com/article/918831-an-investor-s-guide-to-identifying-pyramid-schemes...
Zeek Rewards, Just an Ordinary MLM?
With Batman-like zeal, the SEC swooped in and closed down the multi-level marketing company, Zeek Rewards. Should we all feel safer now? Or should we be wondering why the SEC singled out this one MLM but left all the hundreds of others to run rampant? Zeek offered MLM...
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