MOBE’s Russell Whitney dead, Susan Zanghi’s $318M settlement
Lawyers for top MOBE affiliate Russell Whitney have confirmed Whitney passed away on November 20th.
The revelation was made seeking an extension of time for Whitney to reply to the FTC’s lawsuit.
The motion was granted, staying Whitney’s response in favor of a joint notice or motion detailing a proposed course of action.
Details of Whitney’s passing have not been made public. His death comes four months after a settlement with the FTC was reached.
The approved settlement prohibited Whitney from continuing to defraud consumers and stripped him of ill-gotten gains derived through MOBE.
In related news the Susan Zanghi’s stipulated settlement with the FTC has been approved. The settlement approval order ‘resolve(s) all matters in dispute‘ between Zanghi and the FTC.
The FTC identified Zanghi (right) as Matt Lloyd’s “right-hand person” within MOBE.
As per the stipulated order, Zanghi has been found to have participated in deceptive acts and violated the FTC Act.
The order permanently prohibits Zanghi from participating in ‘any Business Coaching Program or any Investment Opportunity‘.
A $318 million dollar judgment is also stipulated, of which Zanghi will pay only $33,400.
Zanghi is also required to turn over an undisclosed sum, held in any MOBE corporate accounts she has access to.
The drastically reduced judgment amount Zanghi will pay is based on
- a financial statement submitted to the FTC on June 11th
- “additional documentation” submitted by Zanghi’s attorney
- a June 21st sworn deposition testimony
- “additional information” Zanghi’s attorney provided the FTC via email
Going forward, Zanghi must also make herself available to cooperate fully with the FTC and MOBE Receivership.
Twelve months and ten years on from the order date, Zanghi must provide a compliance report to the FTC.
For the next twenty years Zanghi must also provide a copy of the order to anyone involved in a business she either owns or controls.
Update 14th December 2018 – A joint notice proposes the following course of action with respect to Russell Whitney;
FTC Staff and Counsel for Whitney have reached an agreement in principle on a proposed stipulated final order that would resolve the FTC’s claims against Whitney.
Counsel for Whitney anticipates that in the near future it will identify and secure a representative with authority to sign the agreement.
Once that representative is appointed and signs the proposed stipulated final order, FTC Staff will request a stay of all deadlines in the litigation against Mr. Whitney so that the Commission may consider the proposed order.
The notice was filed on December 13th.
this might top dengue fever.
I was scammed for 11K in Mobe, how can I get the money back?
You won’t get your money back. You might get some of it back when the Receiver is ready to take claim submissions.
As much as I hate to say it, but the chickens have come home to roost…
Mobe was very greedy. I felt threatened by my coach when he put me forward for a high mastermind after he sweeped all my money from my account and was not enough. He sent me an email requesting the balance ASAP.
You do not mess around with God’s children. Some of us came innocently to mobe trying to better our lives. Karma is real.
@Anonymous, It’s unfortunate when a life is lost but as you mentioned, the “Karma is real”. I’ve seen it first hand where people have their livelihoods and beyond with without any regard whatsoever.
As my uncle used to say, “the chickens have come home to roost”.
When I first say the headline Russel Whitney had died, I immediately thought of suicide. I hope I am wrong.
Article updated with notice of proposed course of action regarding Russel Whitney.
I am praying that Russell Whitney did not take his own life. He wasn’t my favorite of the MOBE team. I hope his new wife and baby are ok.
I would be interested in learning if this is the same Russ Whitney in this audio: youtube.com/watch?v=_FBU14J1kiA
If it were, then suicide would be a contradiction if it were related to his set back with MOBE and finances. The Russ Whitney in this audio sounded pretty together.
Not knowing all the facts though, I suppose even the strongest of men or women could commit suicide under the right conditions. Does anyone know?
This might help people that want to write something nice: ferdinandfuneralhomes.com/obituaries/Russell-Walter-Whitney/#!/Obituary
Can confirm it’s the same guy. Same voice: youtube.com/watch?v=vx6iUxhDElo
Haven’t listened to the podcast but it’s easy to be “pretty together” when you’re living off a ton of money you stole from consumers.
One might even argue the shutdown of MOBE brought out Whitney’s true character.
@ OZ…I think you have great point in that the “shutdown of MOBE brought out Whitney’s true character”.
When someone has lived a certain kind of life I would imagine that it would be difficult to handle certain challenges.
@Just Observer, it’s easy to sound like you are “put together” when you’re repeating things that you’ve over and over again but have no experience to back it up.
I’m currently going through credit modification. MOBE talks you into positioning at Diamond by “using other people’s money” the banks via credit cards.
They tell you to reinvest everything you make back into your business, but who’s going to make those credit card payments.
A couple of them have settled and I’ve been sued by a couple of them as well. Not sure how this is going to play out, but it’s taken my credit score from the high 780’s to 530’s.
It’s horrible to be in the position because I have no idea how it’ll end… if it’ll end. Not worth killing myself over but pretty devastating to say the least.
Is it possible that Whitney FAKED his death to escape with the money he stole from M.O.B.E. members?
There’s a region in India where fake death certificates are printed and sold like hotcakes to scammers from all over the world.
Whitney died stateside IIRC.
You’re confusing MOBE with Quadriga.
I typically wouldn’t post but after reading some of these comments I really need to set the record straight.
First and foremost, the person you should be angry with is Matt Lloyd! He is the mastermind behind MOBE and is the person who has all the money!
The only reason he’s not mentioned in these reports is because he is hiding out in Malaysia and left the people who worked for him to be blamed like a true coward. He is pathetic.
Russell was a hired speaker for the company, he was paid to sell a product which he did very well, hence why all of you bought! However he didn’t run the company and wasn’t involved in the day to day operations behind the scenes.
He was a great sales person and he helped Matt find staff members and helped to train them to also sell but, his main role was a speaker, he sold a service/product and that’s what he got paid for.
I can understand your want to blame him but, have you thought for a moment that perhaps Russell also felt like he was scammed?
He worked for a company that he felt had integrity and when he realized that wasn’t the case, he resigned…MONTHS before the government got involved! I’m sure none of you knew that!?!
Yet, he was still dragged into this legal mess, lost his livihood and his career due to someone having to take the fall since Matt Lloyd wasn’t around.
Russell was a good man, he had his issues as we all do but he didn’t deserve what happened to him. He had a beautiful wife, a 10 month old son and he was staying positive and trying to move ahead.
He was madly in love with his family so, no, suicide was not how Russell died.
I do feel this investigation had a big part in his death due to the excessive stress he was under. Everything he had worked for was gone, he had no way to support his family and wasn’t even allowed to work until the legal issues were cleared.
I understand all of you got scammed, it wasn’t fair and you should get your money back but, your anger needs to be directed towards Matt Lloyd. His employees were kept in the dark. Don’t be so quick to judge others, there is always two sides.
People who made a ton of money shilling pyramid scams don’t get to feel like they were scammed.
Furthermore all Whitney had to do was ask himself how many retail customers MOBE had and how many people were making money as a result of the “education” – that wasn’t directly tied to the recruitment of new MOBE affiliates.
Unless you can provide medical evidence Whitney was a muppet with the mental capacity of a vegetable, he knew full well what he was doing.
How do you know when the FTC began investigating? And resigning from a fraudulent company you’ve made a packet in?
Yeah, regulation doesn’t work like that.
So how did he die then? I’ve only seen suicide put forth.
You can be madly in love with your family and still kill yourself over the guilt of scamming people, thinking you’ve made it big and then losing it all overnight in a fraud settlement.
Edit: None of this absolves McPhee but it is what it is. One scammer’s scamming doesn’t “what about…” cancel out another’s.
@OZ
Believe what you want but, I know facts…why? Because I was there. When you’re a speaker, you meet the people who signed up at the masterminds and everything is amazing!
They love the training and no complaints so, yeah, I can tell you 100% that Russell did feel scammed. When he started hearing about complaints he tried to help the company.
They worked on setting up a mentorship training to really TRAIN people. In time he realized that his efforts were pointless and he couldn’t fix a company that was so broken and resigned.
Roughly a month after he heard about the investigation starting and close to 4 months after that… his nightmare began. FACT
Russell, 100% did NOT kill himself. I don’t need to go into details on this, it’s not anyone’s business how or why he died. He had health issues and he passed away. End of story.
Regarding your comment about ‘guilt’…yes, you’re right. After finding out the truth about what MOBE was doing there was guilt and a lot of confusion. Second guessing so many decisions and soul searching to figure out what he could do to help.
He was very compliant with the government and was transparent with all info. He wasn’t fighting for his money back, what he wanted was the ability to speak again, which was his passion in life.
He wanted to start a new company, helping people. You have this awful picture painted of this man but, you didn’t know him. He wasn’t the monster you are making him out to be.
Cool story but I’m going with the FTC’s version of events.
Their investigation into Whitney lead to the settlement, and recovery of much of Whitney’s ill-gotten gains through MOBE.
Good enough for Whitney and court? Good enough for me.
People who “get scammed” don’t make money in pyramid schemes. They’re the ones doing the scamming. Spin it how you want, it is what it is.
Given the timing of his death (literally a few months after he loses it all), yeah – you do. Or don’t. Your call.
Any reasonable person is going to put 2 and 2 together. So if Whitney didn’t commit suicide out with it.
MOBE was running a pyramid scheme in which there were little to no retail sales and the majority of affiliates sucked in, many by Whitney himself, lost money.
This went on for years. MOBE didn’t screw a ton of people out of a ton of money overnight.
Again, Whitney knew exactly what he was doing and how he was making/stealing his money. As did anyone else in MOBE who made money.
Living in denial while scamming people != “Herp derp I had no idea I was scamming people by recruiting them into a $318 million dollar pyramid scheme only people recruiting such as myself were making any money in.”
Stop making excuses for scammers. Whitney had nobody to blame but himself.
MOBE wasn’t shut down because people were complaining about the training.
The training was just bundled pseudo-compliance to facilitate the pyramid scheme business model. Whitney, like anyone else in MOBE who made money, did so on the recruitment of new affiliates.
The math behind a pyramid scheme guarantees the majority of participants lose money – it doesn’t matter what “training” you attach to one. Cue FTC investigation bing badda boom.
@oz
Cool ‘story’? It’s not a story, it’s the truth and of course someone like yourself would believe the FTC’s reports since, the government is incredibly honest and cares about the people living in America, right?
It makes no difference to me whether you believe me or not, I wrote down what I know to be true and this info is all first hand.
No need to reply, I don’t really care what you have to say….take care.
Geez, conspiracy theory, passive aggressive sign off and pyramid scheme apologist all in one post – well done, “Truth”.
Let’s not forget Russell Whitney signed off on the facts as presented by the FTC. So did a Judge in granting the FTC an injunction about MOBE.
But oh no, ebil gubmint conspiracy fucknuts like yourself know “the real story”. Better than Russell Whitney himself.
And that’s what it ultimately comes down to. You don’t care about the facts as they stand.
@littleroundman thanks! Coming from you, i’ll take that as a compliment
@oz how about we agree to disagree. I know a different side of things, more hands on. It’s not just about the report, you have to believe that there is more to this situation than what you’ve read, right? Or do you solely believe everything you read?
It’s been close to 4 months since Russell’s passing, yet, people are still bashing him. He’s done with Mobe, so maybe place your aggression onto someone else. Maybe, someone who is alive and can defend themselves.
He was a good person who got caught up in a bad situation- he tried to change things and it was too late.
And as for my last comment- I care about facts, I just don’t care about your opinion since, it’s completely one sided and quite ignorant. You don’t know anything about the seminar business, clearly, or the ‘key players’ in MOBE or what their roles were.
You read a government report and use it as gospel. I take both the report and the knowledge of being behind the scenes and put them together. I’m just pointing out that perhaps you shouldn’t be so quick to judge.
Nah. Facts are facts.
Russell Whitney was a MOBE scammer caught out by the FTC. He agreed as much in his signed settlement.
Best of luck with the alternative reality you’ve got going there.
Who cares? MOBE was a pyramid scheme.
The “training” was all pageantry, designed with one specific goal: To get victims to hand over their money.
Actually things were pretty quiet round here concerning Whitney… until you rocked up and started making excuses for him being a top net-winner in a $318 million dollar pyramid scheme.
‘Truth’ says.
Yet you keep embarrassing yourself with these sad,crackpot posts on here.
Is that the actions of someone who doesn’t care?
Hilarious…in a sad way.
I know a thing or two about the seminar business, Russ Whitney Sr. was my first teacher.
Day one of a three day lecture you give specific coaching on how to increase the limits on the sucker’s credit cards.
Start off day two with reports from the “serious” suckers as to what there old limits were and what the new ones are. Don’t glance to the back of the room to where all the “success counselors” are writing down who has how much to spend.
Convince the suckers that the “success training” is so powerful that they are sure to make the money they’re about to invest back before the credit card bill comes due.
Yea, I know a thing or two about how Russ Jr’s dad ran seminars.
I have sympathy for those who morn Russ Jr’s passing even as I know his death cut short the career of a second generation con man and saved untold victims untold dollars.
@brianski- thanks for your comment, glad my honest comments are ‘hilarious’ to you…even if it’s in a ‘sad way’. Your opinion really matters to me, clearly.
@glimdropper Russ and Russell are totally different, they were even estranged for many years.
Russ may be all the things you mentioned but, Russell was NOT the same man! I know you won’t believe that comment and that’s fine but, I’ve known that family for close to 20 years.
@oz thanks for the well wishes, you seem like a swell guy. Oh and his name was RUSSELL… two L’s.
Thanks for the pickup.
Who to believe ? who to believe ?
Court approved FTC allegations and settlement or a drive by, pseudonym using, willfully ignorant anonymous blog poster ?
Not a hard decision, really.
@littleroundman willfully ignorant? Wow, sure. I’m not trying to convince anyone of anything, I’m simply sharing what I know to be true.
Plus, if you feel the government always tells the truth and isn’t corrupt in any way… then, I’m pretty sure that defines which one of us is really ignorant.
MOBE was an open and shut pyramid scheme case. As was Whitney being one of its top net-winner scammers.
By all means hold onto your evil government conspiracy theories. Buy they don’t apply here.
IF (and I do mean “if”) the government is corrupt, what does that have to do with MOBE being a fraudulent operation and Whitney being totally unaware of where his income was derived ?
This “Russell was a good man” is such ULTRA BS. They came after his ass because he was selling shady at the seminar and stealing.
I worked for MOBE in several departments before I bailed out.
Matt got what he deserved. He had people at his company that wanted MOBE to be successful in the right way but good old Matt didnt listen because it was his way. He had the wrong people on his team whispering in his ear.
As far as Russell creating mentor packages to help people was BS. The packages were created to make more money.
How the hell are you going to take $60k from someone for all the levels and then sell them a $25k mentor package.
Damn it help people. There was a consultant that invested over $100k and didn’t make any commissions. She purchased one of those mentor packages, traffic, and Diamond.
The overall problem with MOBE was they didn’t help people and the greedy ass coaches and the reps at the seminar that wanted money from selling everything to people like you.
Its ashamed people lost life savings, marriage, homes, and whatever else because of Matthew Lloyd McFool, Athar Rohan, and Russell Whitney Jr.
Rather funny really that People are protecting this Russel Guy. To be honest he is as bad as his Dad who also does. Marketing and his damn seminars going on to even duping the poorest people who can’t even afford to sign up for whatever rubbish he was up too.
As they say, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and Whitney’s Dad uses criminal activities too. It runs in the family.
I wonder how many families have been broken by this. My thoughts are with those scammed by Mobe not these trash people who clearly knew what they were doing.
Shame on them is all I can say. Yes, every dirty dog has its day and yes at the end of the day it gets dark no two ways about it. You have choices and one of those choices is not to rob other people who have their own families to support Period!
My thoughts are with those Families, not these biggies who think they can do what they want.
TTFN
I agree @ Debs Garner.
Think about the people who got fleeced, not the ones who were doing the fleecing.
The ones doing the fleecing always cry when they get caught and are exposed.
I got tempted by MOBE way back but, luckily for me, when I saw him speak and discovered the prices he was charging, I thought Matt Lloyd McPhee was a bit of dummy BS’er so didn’t spend a penny on him.
McPhew!!!!!
Once a gov agency gets involved, it’s pretty much a wrap. You can call it a day cause it doesn’t get any better.
It’s often hard to know what’s in a person’s heart from the outset of a money grabbing scheme.
It’s unfortunate that lives have to be ruined on both sides of the issue, but that’s usually how life rolls.
Many are so deep into an illegal scheme to turn back because the money and lifestyle are so addictive and they’re afraid to lose it all.
MOBE scammed me out of money I also blame my “coach” as he knew what was going on with this crap.
Never like to hear about anyone passing away too early; however everyone high up with MOBE knew it was a scam and were living the high life.
I hope Matt Lloyd gets his and he rots in $%#$#. Karma will work it out eventually, someone that he scammed out of much more money than me will get their revenge.