“And while the company claims its primary objective is selling products, many of its distributors tell a different story. ESPN interviewed more than 30 current and former salespeople, the vast majority of whom said their focus, and the focus of their superiors, was on recruiting other distributors. These new members, many of whom are drawn to the business’ strong religious culture or convinced of its credibility by its ties to the sports world, infuse the company with new funds — money that ultimately flows up to the powerful people who walk the stage at Success School.” — From “Drew Brees Has A Dream He’d Like To Sell You,” ESPN The Magazine And “Outside The Lines,” March 15, 2016
With Herbalife under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission and Vemma charged by the FTC with operating a pyramid scheme, ESPN has asked one of its own sponsors — AdvoCare, an MLM company — whether it is pushing a pyramid scheme.
“Absolutely not,” replied Allison Levy, AdvoCare’s executive vice president and chief legal officer. (Link to March 11 AdvoCare video below. In its story (link below), ESPN said AdvoCare set up two cameras to record ESPN’s recording of the March 2 interview and also changed some info on its website after the network began to ask questions.)
With MLM, one of the key questions is whether a significant percentage of products end up in the hands of retail users or whether a program’s distributors load up on product to qualify for commissions.
Levy did not discuss the Herbalife and Vemma matters, although AdvoCare says on its website that it has 320,147 “retail customers.” Herbalife once famously said it didn’t have “visibility” into its number of retail customers, fueling concerns it was a pyramid scheme.
One of the questions posed in the ESPN story is whether AdvoCare is drafting the unwary into its MLM program by relaying on professional athletes such as Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints to be spokespeople for the firm. And is the company also trading on religion?
3RD UPDATE 4:11 P.M. EDT U.S.A. There is a Twitter report in Spanish dated today that Vemma Europe Limited has been put in “provisional liquidation” and that the High Court of Ireland has appointed a provisional liquidator to verify claims.
The PP Blog has observed a message on a Vemma.es domain that identifies the provisional liquidator as “Mr Ken Fennell of Deloitte.” Deloitte’s website identifies a man by that name as a “[p]artner in our restructuring services” who has more than “20 years’ experience in restructuring and insolvency assignments.”
Separately, a motion docketed Oct. 2 by the former receiver in the FTC’s pyramid-scheme and deceptive-advertising case against Vemma asserted that Vemma had been considering bankruptcy options in the United States and that Vemma had failed “to disclose to the Court that its Australian subsidiary has recently been placed into the Australian equivalent of a Chapter 7 liquidation proceeding.”
The FTC sued Vemma in August.
Robb Evans & Associates, the former receiver, is now the court-appointed monitor in the FTC case — as the agency and Vemma continue to clash after a federal judge allowed it to reopen last month but put it under severe restrictions.
BULLETIN: (3rd update 10:17 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) The Federal Trade Commission has gone to federal court in Arizona, alleging that Vemma CEO B.K. Boreyko violated a court order within 11 days after a federal judge imposed a preliminary injunction against the MLM company.
Boreyko contacted certain affiliates on an unknown date with Vemma “sales or marketing material” in violation of U.S. District Judge John J. Tuchi’s Sept. 18 order prohibiting such contact “without prior delivery to the FTC and a five (5) day period for the FTC to review the materials,” the agency argued.
The violation occurred “a mere eleven days or less” after Tuchi’s Sept. 18 order, the FTC contended,
“FTC staff recently located two Facebook postings by self-proclaimed Vemma Affiliates that include a message from Defendant Boreyko outlining details about Vemma’s new compensation plan . . . ,” the FTC argued. “The postings assert that Vemma has doubled its Auto-delivery discount from 10% to 20% and will be having a ‘Customer Thank You Sale,’ and attaches a revised price list of Vemma products . . . None of the information contained in the messages had been disclosed to the Monitor or the FTC before being disseminated.”
Prior to today’s FTC argument, Vemma asserted (yesterday) that “it is clear that the FTC’s interpretation of what constitutes ‘new marketing or sales materials’ and the scope of its authority to dictate the content of communications by the Corporate Defendants under the Order extends far beyond the intended scope of the Order. Furthermore, the persistent objections by the FTC to any communications that the Corporate Defendants propose or send is preventing Vemma from restarting operations as permitted by the Order and causing it irreparable harm.”
BULLETIN: (7th update 3:26 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) An SEC complaint against USFIA Inc. first reported on Tuesday by the Sierra Madre Tattler and BehindMLM.com now has become public, with the SEC calling the venture a “worldwide pyramid scheme” that gathered on the order of $32 million while claiming it was backed by amber mines and duping MLM participants into believing they’d score big through a purported cryptocurrency known as Gemcoins.
Among the deceptions, according to the SEC, was that “the United States government has purchased 70% of the Gemcoins in circulation.”
The SEC complaint follows by less than two months a complaint by the FTC that called Vemma, another MLM program, a pyramid scheme.
“We allege that the defendants’ false claims of riches that investors would realize from USFIA’s amber mining activity never materialized,” said Michele Wein Layne, director of the SEC’s Los Angeles Regional Office. “In reality, as alleged in the complaint, the defendants were operating a fraudulent pyramid scheme that left many investors with nothing.”
Here’s how the SEC described the action, which has led to asset freezes ordered by U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner of the Central District of California (italics added):
This is an action brought to halt an ongoing securities offering fraud perpetrated by defendant Steve Chen, and various purported business entities that he operates and controls including defendants US Fine Investment Arts, Inc. (“USFIA”), Alliance Financial Group, Inc. (“AFG”), Amauction, Inc., Aborell Mgmt I, LLC, Aborell Advisors I, LLC, Aborell REIT II, LLC, Ahome Real Estate, LLC, Alliance NGN, Inc., Apollo REIT I, Inc. Apollo REIT II, LLC, Amkey, Inc., US China Consultation Association (“USCCA”), and Quail Ranch Golf Course, LLC. All of these entities are co-located in an office building owned by one of Chen’s business entities, Apollo REIT II, LLC, located in Arcadia, California.
“In the face of growing investor unrest, and negative publicity in the press, Chen was interviewed by the Arcadia Police Department on September 15, 2015, regarding his operation of USFIA,” the SEC alleged. “Immediately after that interview, Chen attempted to wire $7.5 million out of USFIA’s bank account at Bank of America to a bank in the Peoples Republic of China. The wire was broken down into two parts, and $3.5 million was sent abroad, while the remainder is still held by the bank.”
New release: SEC halts $32M scheme that promised riches from amber mining: https://t.co/FeeHkwrk4C
What about the amber? Some investors received some, and discovered it was “practically worthless,” the SEC alleged.
USFIA sold unregistered securities in tiers and tied them to a recruitment scheme, the agency charged.
“USFIA also represented that it had an extensive bonus and award system to encourage investors to recruit additional investors,” the SEC charged. “As set forth in its written investor ‘Compensation Program,’ investors could choose from five different ‘packages’ ranging in amounts of$1,000, $2,000, $5,000,$10,000 and $30,000. Depending on the type of package purchased by a downstream investor, the recommending investor would receive a 10% ‘Recommendation Award,’ and an additional ‘binary”‘reward based on sales of an investor’s downline investors. Investors would also receive a ‘Recurring Bonus’ generated by different ‘generations’ of downstream investors, ranging from 5% to 20%.”
As was the alleged circumstance with Vemma, USFIA allegedly used showy automobiles to lure prospects. At USFIA, prospects also allegedly were lured with the prospect of owning a dream home on a golf course.
Though USFIA initially claimed investors would score through an IPO, the IPO never materialized. Investors then were told they’d receive gemcoins, “some type of digital currency,” the SEC alleged. The gemcoins purportedly were backed by amber holdings in the Dominican Republic and Argentina.
Chen and USFIA issued “outlandish statements” to dupe the masses, the SEC charged.
“Consumers represented by the FTC knowingly and voluntarily, and possibly unreasonably, exposed themselves to any claimed losses with knowledge or appreciation of the risk involved.” — Part of Vemma’s Sept. 30 defense to pyramid-scheme and deceptive-advertising charges filed by the FTC in August
Consumers can be forgiven if they view part of Vemma’s defense to the FTC’s pyramid-scheme and deceptive-advertising charges as a reason to avoid the MLM trade altogether.
Not taking time and expenses into account, the odds of losing money in MLM already are high and the odds of making money are low. But Vemma now is asserting that while the risk affiliates took when joining its program may have been unreasonable, they took it knowingly.
Meanwhile, Vemma is claiming that “[a]ny losses sustained by the FTC and/or the consumers it purports to represent were caused by the acts or omissions of third parties over whom the Corporate Defendants had no control or right to control.”
Vemma did not identify the third parties. But if the firm was referring to its own affiliates, including those who hyped the program on college campuses and through constant banging on social media, consumers again can be forgiven for avoiding the trade.
There is little reason for consumers to trust any MLM if one of the industry’s most famous companies is saying it cannot control affiliates, especially if it earlier benefited from the toxic tradecraft of those affiliates.
Vemma’s defense is pretty much a blanket denial of the FTC’s material allegations contained in the complaint here.
Vemma critic Truth In Advertising has a link to Vemma’s response to the FTC complaint. (See Vemma’s Answer to FTC’s Complaint for Permanent Injunction here.)
A week before Vemma filed its response, one of its top affiliates took to the web and made crude remarks about the FTC while at once asserting that Vemma itself had a “douchebag element” in its affiliate ranks. This occurred just days after CEO B.K. Boreyko had made an appeal for people to pray for the company.
The firm’s defense that affiliates may have knowingly made an unreasonable choice in joining would come later.
EDITOR’S NOTE: On some days, it seems as though no one in MLM has any PR savvy. This is one of those days.
Positioning himself as an insider who has spoken with Vemma CEO B.K. Boreyko, one of the company’s top affiliates took to the Internet today to declare the Federal Trade Commission appears to have worn a “very overlarge, extra-size strap-on dildo” and initiated a “bend-over job” against the company in the agency’s pyramid-scheme and deceptive-advertising case last month.
This approach apparently has hampered Vemma’s ability to get restarted, the pitchman suggests.
The crude, videotaped remarks by self-identified Top 25 Vemma affiliate Lanny Morton on Periscope came while Pope Francis was visiting the United States and occurred just days after Boreyko took to Instagram and asked “prayer warriors worldwide” for 24 hours of nonstop prayer in advance of a key Vemma hearing on Sept. 15.
The PP Blog was unable to contact Vemma today for its reaction to Morton’s comments, which were recorded while he drove a car on an Arizona highway. His video, titled “vemma vs FTC update,” also blamed the company’s troubles on Vemma promoters who were a “douchebag element.”
6th Update 6:41 p.m. EDT U.S.A. A federal judge has issued a much-anticipated order in the Federal Trade Commission’s pyramid-scheme case against Vemma that says “[t]he evidence before the Court leaves little doubt that the FTC will ultimately succeed on the merits in demonstrating that Vemma is operating a pyramid scheme.”
U.S. District Judge John J. Tuchi is doing away with the receivership approach established in August and instead will appoint a monitor, according to the order.
This section of the order suggests the judge views Vemma’s products as marketable if it can get its sales process under control both in-house and externally. Even so, a limited restart may prove to be a hollow win for Vemma. Although the company will be able to restart operations under the order, Tuchi has banned the sale of “Affiliate Packets” and a compensation system that “links or ties an Affiliate’s eligibility for bonuses, or the Affiliate’s accumulation of bonus qualifying points, to that Affiliate’s purchase of the Corporate Defendants’ product, such as through autodelivery or Two & Go.”
Was Vemma a good ambassador for the MLM trade?
Vemma’s marketing material was “replete with deceptive income statements,” Tuchi found.
And, the judge observed, “Some Vemma material also contains representations the Court would characterize as ridiculous—bordering on absurd—such that a listener could not reasonably be expected to believe them. ”
From the order (italics added):
In practice, [Vemma] Affiliates are very likely engaging in inventory loading. The great majority of Vemma product sales is to its Affiliates and, as [FTC expert witness] Dr. [Stacie] Bosley noted, under the current bonus system there is no way to unbundle the Affiliates’ intent to consume Vemma products as ultimate users from their desire to remain qualified for bonuses— bonuses that are largely driven by recruitment of other Affiliates. But their intent in purchasing Vemma products must be viewed in light of Vemma’s program design as well as its training and marketing materials, which explicitly provide that Affiliates should enroll in auto-delivery for the purpose of remaining qualified for bonuses.
In all likelihood, Affiliates’ purchases of Vemma products are incidental to the right to qualify for and obtain bonuses . . . Moreover, Vemma’s purported anti-inventory-loading safeguards are neither effective nor enforced . . . Vemma contacts only 15 of its over 90,000 Affiliates a month to ask if at least 70% of their sales were for consumption or retail. And Vemma’s Vice President of Legal Affairs admitted in her testimony that the script for those calls does not really investigate the reason an Affiliate purchased product or check for inventory loading. Moreover, the Receiver found that, in practice, Vemma is five months behind on its inventory loading audits and has never suspended or disciplined an Affiliate who failed to make the requisite sales to ultimate users. And Vemma does not even attempt to apply a rule similar to the ten customer rule that was found to be a reliable way to control inventory loading in Amway.
Also from the order:
” The FTC’s evidence is certainly sufficient to show Vemma was operating an illegal pyramid scheme through 2014, and although evidence is not yet complete for 2015, the Court notes that Vemma’s 2015 “Two & Go” program contains the same indices of pyramidal structure as the former programs. Defendants have not produced evidence that the critical defects in their programs have been remedied since 2014, and the Court thus has no reason to believe at this stage that Vemma’s violations of the FTC Act are not continuing or likely to recur in the absence of injunctive relief. In sum, the Court finds the FTC has again met its burden to show a likelihood of success on the merits in demonstrating Vemma and Mr. [B.K.] Boreyko are operating a pyramid scheme, even in light of the argument and evidence provided by these Defendants.
Tuchi has lifted the asset freeze, saying the monitor and court supervision and “an injunction against the alienation by Defendant Boreyko of any of his real estate holdings during the pendency of this action” should be enough to protect against mass dissipation.
More analysis upcoming.
Read the order at the website of Truth In Advertising, a Vemma critic that has worked with the FTC on the pyramid and deceptive-advertising case.
Vemma critic Truth In Advertising has posted a transcript of the Sept. 15 battle in Arizona federal court between Vemma and the Federal Trade Commission over the preliminary injunction, asset freeze and appointment of a receiver. Vemma hopes to undo these things or at least to modify them in a way that would put the company back in business. (Link to transcript below.)
Truth In Advertising — TINA, for short — is a witness against Vemma and has been investigating the company since at least 2013. TINA says its mission is to empower consumers to protect themselves and one other from false advertising and deceptive marketing.
As a preliminary matter, the PP Blog observes that the transcript shatters the myth advanced by some Vemma supporters that the firm — alleged by the FTC last month to be a pyramid scheme — has been denied due process.
At least five attorneys appeared for Vemma. Two others appeared for Vemma CEO B.K. Boreyko, a charged FTC defendant. Still two others appeared for Tom Alkazin and his wife Bethany. (Tom is an alleged promoter charged by the FTC; Bethany is a relief defendant alleged by the agency to have profited from the scheme.)
Vemma cross-examined FTC witnesses and advanced witnesses of its own.
The transcript consists of 228 pages. The FTC claims that Vemma was a pyramid scheme through which Vemma told its own distributors they effectively could buy commissions. Vemma, meanwhile, accuses the FTC of gross overreach, orchestrating a sneak attack against a legitimate business and cherry-picking facts to make it appear as though the only appropriate way for the court to deal with the company is to kill it through the imposition of an asset freeze and the installation of a court-appointed receiver.
The judge is expected to issue a key order by 2 p.m. Arizona local time tomorrow.
2ND UPDATE 4:16 P.M. EDT U.S.A. Former Herbalife President’s Team member Anthony Powell is referenced in a report by the court-appointed receiver in the Vemma pyramid-scheme case filed by the FTC last month.
The mention is potentially embarrassing to the MLM trade, which has a reputation for recruiters dragging financially strapped prospects from scheme to scheme.
Powell, an MLM recruiter, joined Vemma after leaving Herbalife in 2013 and has been a subject of scorn by activist-investor and Herbalife short-seller Bill Ackman. Herbalife is under investigation by the FTC. Ackman has claimed since 2012 that Herbalife is a pyramid scheme.
With the FTC calling Vemma a pyramid scheme, Vemma receiver Robb Evans says a firm operated by Powell was the subject of at least 16 complaints to Vemma and that Vemma appears disingenuously to have tried to distance itself from Powell.
At least one such complaint about Global Pro Systems or GPS — the Powell firm — was submitted to the Arizona Attorney General, according to the report by Evans.
Trying to play dumb about Powell could constitute a material misrepresentation by Vemma, the receiver opines.
From the receiver’s report dated Sept. 4 (carriage returns added/formatting may not be precise):
The Temporary Receiver has made reference to GPS several times in this report. The Temporary Receiver located a document at the premises that stated GPS is operated by Anthony Powell. In a letter to the Arizona Attorney General dated August 29, 2013 wherein the Field Compliance Manager attempted to distance themselves from GPS by stating that, “Global Pro Systems is not owned or operated by Vemma Nutrition Company or BK Boreyko.”
Similar statements were made by the company in all of the responses sent to the Arizona Attorney General and the Arizona BBB regarding complaints that also involved GPS. While these statements on their face are true and may not be a misrepresentation, they are not completely forthcoming. In an email communication from the field compliance
manager to the BBB, the company stated, “Unfortunately, since Global Pro Systems (GPS) is not owned or operated by Vemma Nutrition Company or BK Boreyko, we do not have any control over their marketing tactics (emphasis added).”
The Temporary Receiver has determined that Anthony Powell is in fact a Star Ambassador with Vemma. Assuming Mr. Powell had to sign an Affiliate Agreement like every other Affiliate, he and his business practices would be subject to the same terms and conditions as any other Affiliate. The company made a material misrepresentation when they claimed that they had no control over GPS’ marketing tactics.
The Temporary Receiver also viewed a video posted by the company showing the defendant, Boreyko personally welcoming Anthony Powell to Vemma. Anthony Powell claims that he made millions with Herbalife and decided to bring his team to Vemma. The video indicated that Mr. Powell was a Star Ambassador. The Temporary Receiver is not aware of any disciplinary action taken against Mr. Powell or any of the other Affiliates associated with GPS. This would indicate that the most successful Affiliates are not subject to the same level of scrutiny as the less successful Affiliates.
UPDATED 6:44 P.M. EDT U.S.A. The Federal Trade Commission voted unanimously (5-0) to charge Vemma Nutrition Co. with operating a pyramid scheme. So much for the absurd proposition that Republicans on the commission are like hapless “Wheel of Fortune” contestants who couldn’t form the term “pyramid scheme” if spotted 12 of the 13 letters that comprise it.
Want to put yourself on the FTC radar? Develop a scheme. Target college students. Plant the seed that a higher education in an academic setting is a waste of time and perhaps even a conspiracy to keep students and their parents chained to college-loan debt. By all means make sure your CEO and most visible figure (Benson K. “B.K.” Boreyko) has a history such as this.
The PP Blog encourages readers to pay careful attention to the wording of today’s FTC announcement about the Vemma action. Make no mistake: the agency clearly is calling Vemma a “multilevel marketing company” that is operating a “pyramid scheme.” That’s important because it speaks directly to an absurd claim from practiced hucksters that no MLM can operate as a pyramid scheme because the two terms — MLM and pyramid scheme — are mutually exclusive.
Put another way: Not all MLM is legitimate.
Meanwhile, the FTC is seeking a permanent injunction that would prohibit Vemma from continuing to operate a pyramid scheme. As of Aug. 21, the company is in receivership. A federal judge has ordered an asset freeze.
Vemma is a member of the Direct Selling Association. DSA, notably, did not come out today with word daggers aimed at the heart of the FTC. Such a muted response by the DSA will hardly be a source of comfort to Vemma’s cheerleaders in the field.
“Earlier today, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced action against Vemma Nutrition Company alleging violations of federal law, which, if true, would also constitute violations of DSA’s Code of Ethics.
“Every member of our Association, including Vemma, is required to abide by our Code as a condition of membership. All companies which use the direct selling model must uphold the highest ethical business standards, including polices that protect consumers and members of the salesforce against unrealistic earnings, lifestyle and product claims.
“The Code’s independent administrator will be alerted to the action and will review the FTC’s allegations against Vemma. If they are proven to have merit, the administrator may pursue punitive measures to ensure that appropriate standards of consumer protection are enforced.
“The allegations against Vemma have yet to be proven, and the company is entitled to due process of law. Any consumers or salespeople who have concerns regarding any DSA member, including Vemma, should contact the Code Administrator.”
“Consumer losses are inevitable because Vemma is an illegal pyramid scheme that rewards affiliates for recruiting participants rather than for selling products, the FTC alleges. The defendants provide affiliates little guidance for selling products, but instead teach them to give away products as samples when recruiting new participants. Vemma offers no meaningful discounts or incentives to encourage retail sales, according to the complaint.
“In addition to allegedly running an illegal pyramid scheme, the defendants are charged with making false earnings claims, failing to disclose that Vemma’s structure ensures that most people who join will not earn substantial income, and furnishing affiliates with false and misleading materials to recruit others.”
UPDATED 11:23 P.M. EST (U.S.A.) Using a blueprint by Curtis Richmond, an Iowa resident has filed a motion to intervene in the AdSurfDaily case.
As was the case with Richmond’s motion last week, U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer added a hand-written note to the cover page of the motion.
“Let this be filed,” Collyer wrote.
The motion was filed by Aaron Wilkey, president of Tingley Chiropractic Center and M.H.M. Inc. of Tingley, Iowa. “M.H.M.” stands for “Midwest Healing Ministries.”
Richmond’s motion last week was filed on behalf of Pacific Ministry of Giving International Inc.
M.H.M. purchased $73,000 in ASD “ad packs” between May 13 and June 15, 2008 to advertise Vemma, according to documents filed along with the motion. Tingley Chiropractic, which also advertised Vemma, purchased $5,000 in ASD “ad packs” on June 15.
Vemma calls itself “quite possibly the most powerful liquid antioxidant program in the world!” Vemma is sold MLM-style.
Wilkey did not explain how the two entities that spent a combined $78,000 to advertise Vemma expected to recapture the expense. But at ASD’s advertised rate of return of 1 percent per day, the firms would have shown a paper return of $780 a day, whether or not they sold a single product as a Vemma affiliate.
M.H.M. Also Contributed To ASDMBA
Although Wilkey used the shell of Richmond’s motion to file his motion, he appears also to have had a Plan B.
M.H.M.’s name is listed as a $100 contributor (Aug. 21, 2008) to the ASD Members Business Association (ASDMBA) Trust-Legal Fund. Aaron Wilkey also is listed in ASDMBA documents as an individual contributor to the Trust in the amount of $100 (Aug. 14, 2008). The names and amounts appear on Page 9 of an ASDMBA list of contributors. The ASDMBA contributor’s list is dated Dec. 22, 2008.
ASDMBA was one of at least three entities that collected money from ASD members and announced intentions to enter the litigation. Some ASDMBA members have challenged Bob Guenther, who helped organize ASDMBA, to explain in precise detail how ASDMBA spent the money it collected from ASD members and to explain precisely how the organization intends to proceed. No ASDMBA litigation has been filed, but ASDMBA representatives did meet with federal prosecutors in Washington.
Wilkey’s Claims
As was the case with Richmond’s filing, Wilkey’s filing accuses Collyer, Clerk of the Court Nancy Mayer-Whittington, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor and Assistant U.S. Attorney William Cowden of conspiring to deny ASD members justice.
It also accuses Collyer and the prosecutors of stealing “Most of the $93 million of ASD Member Ownership Interest.” It further accuses the judge and prosecutors of interfering with commerce, and specifically accuses the judge of dozens of felonies.
The document — as did Richmond’s — also accuses Chief Judge Royce Lamberth of entering into a conspiracy against ASD members. Both Lamberth and Collyer were accused of running a “Kangaroo Court.”
Actions by Collyer, Whittington and the prosecutors prevented an ASD member named Alana Holsted from collecting $30 million from “defendants,” the motion claimed. Richmond made the same claim in his motion.
Richmond is associated with a sham Utah Indian tribe that, in the past, has tried to have federal judges imprisoned. The tribe filed huge judgments against prosecutors and litigation opponents in Utah.
In his motion, Wilkey threatens to charge the judge and prosecutors under federal racketeering statutes if Collyer does not set aside the ASD forfeiture within 30 days.
Screen shot of excerpt from Wilkey motion.
“Justice is going to be Served either quickly and painlessly or the Hard and Expensive Way if the Co-Conspirators believe they are Above the Law,” Wilkey threatened.
Today, members of the Surf’s Up Pro-ASD forum asked members to get involved in a campaign to petition Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to investigate the ASD prosecutors.
“Professor” Patrick Moriarty, who has spoken warmly of Richmond’s litigation methods, wrote a letter to Leahy yesterday. Today Surf’s Up sent out an email asking members to follow Moriarty’s lead in asking Leahy to get involved.
Late tonight, reports were circulating that a link on Moriarty’s website leads to the website of a man who claims to own an asteroid. A link on the website of the man who claims to own Eros, the asteroid, carries a story of how he sent NASA a bill for “parking/storage” of a probe on Eros.
With Herbalife under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission and Vemma charged by the FTC with operating a pyramid scheme, ESPN has asked one of its own sponsors — AdvoCare, an MLM company — whether it is pushing a pyramid scheme.
