SPECIAL REPORT: OWOW, Phil Piccolo-Associated Firm That Pumped Text Cash Network, Purportedly Cited ‘Financial Trouble’ Last Summer And Sought ‘Brand New People’ To ‘Pay Off All Of The Past Commissions And Money Owed To Suppliers’

UPDATED 5:05 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) Did One World One Website Inc. (OWOW) — the Phil Piccolo-associated company that appears to have been given some of the top positions in Text Cash Network (TCN) and recruited a huge downline with the knowledge of TCN management — try to fix its own problems last year by hatching a Ponzi plan in which money sent in by new members would be used to pay commissions owed to original members?

A bizarre OWOW promo dated July 30, 2011, on Dealslinker.com suggests so. The promo, which claimed that “O.W.O.W. Management left town a long time ago” and “gave up for many reasons,”  further claimed OWOW was implementing a restoration plan and suggested that the company was being run by “leaders.” The “leaders” were not identified.

Incongruously, the promo claimed that “[i]t is actually not the current O.W.O.W. that is in Financial Trouble. It is the baggage from 10/10/2010 to 3/10/2011 that has brought us down. And is a Ball and Chain around the current O.W.O.W. Team.”

“WE NEED YOUR HELP ‘OR’ THE HELP OF BRAND NEW PEOPLE…” the promo urged. “THE SOLUTION IS ‘FOUNDER OWNERSHIP’ YES… FOUNDERS…”

With those words in July, OWOW introduced a scheme by which “FOUNDER PACKAGES” would be created in four tiers (Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum) and sold online to right the OWOW ship. The purported packages were priced between $500 and $5,000, and purchasers who bought in at the $5,000 level were promised they would get “20 shares in a (sic) 5% of The Sales Profit Pool from 8/8/11 to 12/12/12 of The O.W.O.W. Program…”

The claim leads to questions about whether OWOW was offering unregistered securities as investment contracts and effectively creating an investment pool while using unregistered broker-dealers to sell the offer.

Purchasers who bought in at the lower-priced tiers were promised a smaller number of shares, according to the promo. Members at the $500 level would get one share; members at $1,000 and $2,500 levels would get three shares and 10 shares, respectively.

Despite the claim that OWOW’s profits would be shared among certain members through Dec. 12, 2012, the business registration in Wyoming of One World One Website Inc. is listed as “Inactive – Administratively Dissolved (Tax).”

OWOW and at least one releated entity also appear to have lost the ability to gather money via PayPal.

Whether OWOW sold any of the purported packages referenced in the July 2011 promo is unclear. But about three months later — during the opening days of November 2011 and while OWOW apparently was still reeling — OWOW appears to have been given a 10-day head start to sell TCN.

Some TCN members now say that TCN has delayed commission payments to members for a fourth time and that members have been encouraged to send money via Western Union and money orders to both the company and individuals associated with the firm.

A pulldown menu on TCN’s website says money can be sent via Western Union to three individuals: Tyler Johnson, Brett Hudson or Jane Johnson. TCN purports to have hundreds of thousands of members globally.

Brett Hudson is listed on TCN’s website as the firm’s president. TCN purports to operate from Boca Raton, Fla. OWOW and another Piccolo-associated entity know as Data Network Affiliates (DNA) also purported to operate from Boca Raton and environs.  The Better Business Bureau issued an alert about DNA in 2010.

Why TCN is asking members to send funds to individuals via Western Union is unclear.

TCN purportedly is owned by “The Johnson Group,” although descriptions about that company have been vague and ambiguous.

Here is what TCN says about itself:

“Text Cash Network Inc is a USA Corporation and is own (sic) 100% by a five year old communication company which is another USA Corporation owned by The Johnson Group. We have not disclosed the communication’s company name or contact information in fear that THOUSANDS OF AGENTS may or should we say would call them for information prior to our official launch of 12/12/2011.”

The date TCN advertised as its launch date — Dec. 12, 2011 — was precisely one year ahead of the date through which OWOW promised to pay tiered members who purchased shares in a pooling arrangement: Dec. 12, 2012.

Curiously, TCN promoters associated with OWOW added an ampersand and extra proper noun to the name of TCN’s purported ownership group, describing TCN’s owners as the “Johnson & Johnson Group.”

Whether the addition of the ampersand and extra proper noun was a bid to trade on the name of Johnson & Johnson, the New Jersey-based Dow and S&P 500 component, is unclear. TCN came out of the gate trading on the name of Groupon, but a Groupon logo that once appeared on the site has been removed.

Returning to the subject of OWOW, money from the purported OWOW “FOUNDER PACKAGES” would be used in part to “pay off all of the past commissions and money owed to suppliers,” according to the bizarre OWOW promo, which was attributed to “Mister P.”

“Mister P” is an alias used by Phil Piccolo. Strangely, though, the OWOW promo was positioned as a “personal letter from J.P. aka Mister P.” Why the initials “J.P.” were used is unclear.

Other Oddities

The July 2011 OWOW promo referenced in this post appears to be a bid to sell both OWOW and a program known as ThatFreeThing. Indeed, the headline on the promo reads, “OWOW Wholesale Direct and MyFreething – ThatFreeThing.”

Despite the headline reference to That Free Thing, the promo does not contain a link to the That Free Thing program.

That Free Thing uses an address in Westminster, Colo., and publishes a picture of an office building with the name of the company affixed in large letters to the side of the building.

TCN promos have featured images of a building in Boca Raton with the company’s name affixed in large letters near the crown of the building. The Boca Raton Police Department said on Dec. 14 that TCN’s name was not affixed to the building — despite what promoters led recruits to believe.

“Mister P,” meanwhile, also is referenced in a promo for something called “MY FREE EVERYTHING,” which appears to be operating through a domain styled “TheDebtFreeCard.com.”

Visitors to that site are told about a “100% PASSIVE!” program through which they can earn through the sale of “$50,000 to $250,000 JVP FOUNDER LOAN PACKAGES.” Like the OWOW promo, the My Free Everything promo raises questions about whether the purported firm is selling unregistered securities as investment contracts and whether promoters are serving as unregistered broker-dealers.

Amid confusing claims on the site, visitors are told this: “If you are within 10 Levels of This Sale you will EARN IMMEDIATE MONEY… $500 to $2500… or If you personally sell one $5000 to $25,000… However THE BIG PICTURE will be THE RESIDUAL INCOME because THE SALE was made in YOUR DOWNLINE… There are many DOCTORS and OTHER PROFESSIONALS looking for PASSIVE INCOMES… All you do is FIND THEM and The Leadership SELL THEM… ”

Separately, promos for OWOW on LinkedIn are asking viewers to visit a YouTube site to “see [an] Oprah” video on OWOW.

When a link in the LinkedIn promo for OWOW is clicked, however, visitors are taken to a video that has nothing to do with Oprah Winfrey, the entertainment icon and business titan whose name often is appropriated by MLM hucksters and affiliates unwise to their ways.

Instead, the video is about a product known as PhoneGuard, an app that purportedly keeps teens and children safe by shutting off a cell phone’s texting capacity while they’re in automobiles.

See this story about DNA, another Piccolo-associated program that used Winfrey’s name. DNA purported to have ties to Anthony Sasso, who was described as DNA’s data expert and a “special board consultant.”

Sasso, who reportedly once had a role in PhoneGuard, is a convicted felon who was charged in a South Florida racketeering case. DNA, the Piccolo-associated entity, hyped him as “The King Of Data For Dollars” and Sasso was said to be the “owner of the largest database of text numbers in the world.”

TCN purports to be a text-advertising company.