Per Gunnar Hoem promotes WMI in Norway despite ban
Back in December 2010, the Norwegian Gaming Board ruled that after a lengthy investigation into Wealth Masters International, that the WMI business opportunity was indeed a pyramid scheme.
Effective back in December, the Gaming Board ordered Wealth Masters International to
cease operations in Norway. The same applies WMIs members.
It would be illegal to create, operate, participate in or propagate pyramid schemes or similar system.
Unless the sale of products WMIs stops in Norway, it could lead to penalties or fines.
Wealth Masters Scandanavia, on behalf of Wealth Masters International appealed this decision but this appeal was dismissed in March with the Gaming Board reiterating that
The Gaming Board has considered the concept of WMI (and) our assessment (is) that the WMI is a pyramid-like sales system.
All sales of products to Wealth Masters International in Norway must immediately stop.
In plain English, Wealth Masters International in Norway was dead.
Well, unless you’re Per Gunnar Hoem, the top WMI consultant in Norway.
Despite Wealth Masters International being effectively banned in Norway since December 2010, since then Per Gunnar Hoem has still managed to take out three ‘GOLD’ awards for sales of Wealth Masters International products.
In March 2011, despite promoting WMI illegally, Hoem won two ‘GOLD’ awards for ‘top M1 and mPower sales. In April, Hoem again won ‘GOLD’ for top mPower sales company wide.
It could be argued that Hoem is still operating within Norwegian law if he’s marketing WMI to overseas customers, save for the fact that the Gaming Board has explicitly stated that all Norway WMI members must ‘cease operations‘.
Regardless of who they are selling WMI’s products too, anyone promoting WMI in Norway is doing so illegally. This of course leads to a conundrum where apparently Per Gunnar Hoem has put himself in a rather sticky situation.
I’m not exactly sure what the Gaming Board had in mind when they stated that promoting Wealth Masters in Norway ‘could lead to penalties or fines’, but it seems Hoem has decided to take it upon himself to find out.
The prize awarded in April is based on sales in March, from before the ban. I think he focused on marketing in Denmark and Sweden when the problems started in Norway, but I’m not sure about this.
We, “the People’s Movement against WMI”, try to ‘export him’ permanently to the US. It’s better to export the problem than to handle it, and US seems to need some replacements among their top networkers (many of them seems to have reached retirement age).
“The system always works, it is the people who fails.”
The rule also applies to Lavenias, Rush, Braxton, Howell and all the others. Once you’ve begun to fail, it’s time to retire. “If you live by a rule, you will also die (or retire) by the same rule.”
I was only kidding about the “People’s Movement” stuff, and the decision to ‘export’ him. Though, both of them seems to be interesting ideas. I wasn’t kidding about retirement age. They will at least have to adjust their own rules if they want to continue.
That I’m aware of, but I figured the Gaming Board decision stood back in December pending an appeal.
Back in December the Gaming Board declared WMI to be a pyramid scheme and ordered all business relating to it cease operations in Norway.
WMI was entitled to file an appeal but that still means the original ruling was in place until the decision was appealed (and thus overturned) does it not?
During this appeal period, despite the ruling, Hoem was obviously still promoting WMI in Norway, or at the very least conducting business in relation to WMI.
The deadline from December was a deadline for voluntary termination – “no decisions will be made if …”
The official deadline is March 28 (decision date), maybe plus some days needed to remove websites and ads.
“Final deadline” seems to be April 19 (deadline for an appeal). The final deadline is actually March 28, but I don’t think they will enforce that deadline.
The enforcement of the ban will not be executed until the case is fully considered in all instances – meaning that if WMI appeals, the enforcement will be delayed for a few weeks – until fully considered in the Gaming Appeals Board. The ban doesn’t apply if the Appeals Board don’t agree in the decision. The Appeals Board is neutral, and treat complaints from the documents in the case. It is not unusual that complainants receive complaints accepted, for example if the case has insufficient documentation or procedural errors.
Gaming Board is an administrative department. The department that investigates pyramid-cases consists of 5 or 6 lawyers. They typically send the cases to others when their own work is complete:
* Consumer Ombudsman for review of any breaches of the Marketing Act (done)
* the tax authorities if the case indicates tax fraud (done)
* the police if the offenses are serious (not done)
NOTE: I am not a lawyer. I’m just guessing on some of these points. I use this case to gain insight into how such cases are processed.
If the appeals are squashed, couldn’t the ban apply retrospectively back to when it was originally announced? (Nobody knows an appeal is actually lodged until it is lodged).
WMI did so much stuffing around with deadlines trying to lodge their appeal it wouldn’t surprise me. Personally if I was representing a company that got slapped with a cease and desist I’d stop altogether, pending the outcome of any appeals – it’s just not worth the risk.
Either way, it’ll be interesting to see who’s on the May GOLD list.
I just introduced myself in my previous post on another thread so here’s the brief version! My name’s Ann McLaren, I’m 55 and from County Durham in England.
I joined WM Int. on 30 October 2007 and have made multiple six figures with the business.
Before I say any more, let me preface it by saying that my views are entirely my own and I don’t speak for, and have had no discussions on the subject with anyone else.
I’ve always been a law unto myself, so my outspoken comments are purely mine and I wouldn’t presume to set myself up as a company spokeswoman.
My thoughts on the pyramid ruling are as follows. In the strictest sense of the Norwegian law, YES, it IS a pyramid scheme – as are 99% of direct sales companies in the home business arena. And it’s a “pyramid scheme” I’m proud to belong to.
We all know that well-intentioned laws can often backfire. Here in England we have a saying “the law is an ass”. I have an acquaintance who now has a criminal record because he awoke one night to discover the glass pane in his front door broken and an arm poking through it, busy trying to unlock the door. He grabbed the intruding arm, twisted it and broke it.
Because the intruder wasn’t yet inside his home and hadn’t YET stolen anything, he was charged and found guilty of causing bodily harm.
Nothing to do with the matter at hand – just an example that the law doesn’t always provide justice and I think the ruling against WM Int. is a good case in point.
Most people who join a top-tier direct sales company do so with the intention of making money. It’s not like selling cosmetics or vitamins.
Certainly some stand alone product sales are made, but the vast majority of products purchased are by people looking to start their own business.
My personal take on this is that provided the products on offer from the direct sales company are worth the retail purchase price, it’s a perfectly legitimate business.
It would be a different matter if people were purchasing the equivalent of buckets of air – that turns it into a pure money game and that is NOT ethical.
I was able to retire after just over 2 years with the business because of the information and education I gained from the PRODUCTS.
I was able to put the knowledge I gained into investing the money I earned in ways that will keep me comfortably off for life.
ANYONE USING THE PRODUCTS WILL END UP WITH MORE IN THEIR POCKET THAN THE PRICE THEY PAID FOR THE PRODUCTS.
That’s why I’m proud to belong to this business and happy to come on here using my own name.
My own cousin, Charles Wright, a chiropractor, http://charles-wright.net bought into our top level at $20k and has been a pure product customer.
I did not finance this for him. The money came out of his own pocket. Anyone is welcome to contact him for confirmation that he feels he has had MORE than his money’s worth from the products alone.
And as to why the company hasn’t addressed the pyramid ruling in Norway? I have no idea – I’m not a company insider, just a happy member.
However, my common sense tells me that they’re not going to draw even more attention to it by making a public statement.
Okay, that’s my 2 cents on the matter. Been a pleasure talking to you all!
Regards,
Ann McLaren
@Ann
Please. You’re not seriously suggesting that 99% of
direct salesMLM companies have one time consumable products and compensation plans stacked towards recruitment are you?And incase you try, no, tickets to annual conferences are not repeat consumables.
A nice story, but hardly comparable to a regulatory body conducting an investigation into WMI and finding it to be a pyramid scheme. Relevancy please.
You can’t just say ‘well hey I disagree with this one time the law was applied, therefore all laws are crap’.
So you’d agree then that the only people joining companies like WMI are those looking to enter into the business. Therefore nobody is selling at a retail level and people are just selling WMI’s ‘products’ to new recruits, and inturn recruiting them.
Effectively everyone is just getting paid on new recruits joining the company.
…and you don’t see anything wrong with this scenario?
Because buckets of air are an irrelevant token product and the real money is in recruitment. Replace buckets of air with wealth conferences and a self help non-accredited ‘education’ course and you’ve got WMI’s business model.
Unfortunately the real money is still in recruitment. Ethical? You tell me.
I’m trying not to pre-emptively guess that you hit WMI’s presidential level but you keep mentioning ‘2 years’ (which is the time requirement to reach this level and not have to make a minimum monthly
recruitmentsales quota).If you did infact reach the presidential level, are you sure it wasn’t simply because after 2 years you’re no longer required to constantly recruit people to earn your commissions and make money with WMI?… y’know, rather than anything you ‘learnt’ in WMI’s ‘products’?
(Unless of course the products merely tell you to go out and bring people into the business and earn off their efforts to do the same).
Only if they succesfully recruit people into WMI. Herein lies the problem.
Is he counted as a member by WMI? Do you have any non-friend/family retail customers? Was he financially succesful before purchasing tickets to the conferences? As a retail customer, how does he tangibly measure this financial worth?
I’d take a stab in the dark and say it’s because their worried any attention drawn to it might result in the same kind of investigation being launched in the US.
It’s a shame that in doing so WMI fail to publicly clarify their position on the matter, instead choosing to pretend like it never happened and ignoring it and their (ex) Norwegian members.
Cheers and thanks for entering into the discussion, hopefully you’ll take the time to followup.
Hello,
Below is a portion of a blog post I am currently working on. I am a WMI Consultant. I am not a top producer. I am not a spokesman for the company. I am consumer of their products. That’s it. It is totally true that anyone using WMI products will end up with more money in their pocket. Here is the portion of the blog I have yet to post.
So, using me as an example, I am going to profit substantially, even if I don’t make a single WMI sale. Also, I have not been able to find a comparable software solution to the Wealth Accelerator that WMI offers to their members for free as part of the five major membership levels.
I’m sticking with WMI.
Respectfully,
Corey
Sorry but I refuse to believe that an automated tool can accurately predict what is going to happen in the finance and investment sectors over the next eleven years.
…and if the tool is wrong? You’re essentially trying to pass off software prediction as guaranteed success.
Hah, people have been marketing debt eliminator programs for decades. Even Robert “Rich Dad” Kiyosaki have plenty of debt elimination “tips” in his various books. Most of them are common sense stuff like “squeeze out 50-100 bucks every month, save and invest the fund, and in a few years you’ll have a substantial sum.” No special software needed.
@Ann McLaren:
It seems like you’re selling it as a business opportunity, you too? Not as “education” or something?
You’re website doesn’t try to sell PRODUCTS or SERVICES at all? I tries to recruit new distributors to the business opportunity, into the same “system” that you are a part of yourself? The main focus on your webpage is on the business opportunity.
Most participants claim they sell products or services, but it’s actually recruiting they’re doing. The products are nearly impossible to sell if they don’t have some kind of opportunity attached to them. Basically, you sell a business opportunity with a product-line attached to it. The main product is the opportunity itself, not the products attached to it.
Sooner or later WMI will have to inform their members about the situation. They draw even more attention if they don’t inform people, pretending that everything is OK.
As far as I know, the decision in Norway is currently being handled by an appeals board. They usually use 2-3 months (or more) before they make a decision.
Per Gunnar Hoem has popped up on a list claiming that he’s ‘on the fast track to success this week based on total BV‘.
Hoem is credited as ‘Per Gunnar Hoem – Kvikne, Norway’.
BV means he’s actively selling WMI in Norway, despite the current ban in place doesn’t it?
I believe Per Gunnar Hoem is selling WMI in Denmark and Sweden, our neighbouring countries. The ban only applied to Norway, and WMI isn’t illegal in Denmark and Sweden yet.
I’d have thought having a base of operations would constitute running the business in Norway. It’s obvious he’s operating from there.
I guess if the ban just applies to marketing WMI in Norway then that’s different.
Exactly how TVI Express and other scams and using border jurisdictions to continue operating, despite being outlawed in China, US, Australia, and other places.
The ban only applies to Norway. It’s illegal to sell and market WMI in Norway, but the decision is appealed to the Gaming Appeals Board. I don’t think they will execute anything before they get a final decision from the Gaming Appeals Board.
I don’t think PGH is breaking any law (or regulatory decision) if he sells WMI to people living in another country.
There haven’t been any interesting news in this case since they appealed in late April 2011.
* WMI had a meeting with the Gaming Board in ultimo June (after June 20th).
* 2 days later they sent a request through a new lawyer (Even Rønvik), asking for the sound file recorded during the meeting.
* A week later the lawyer sent an addition to the appeal.
That’s all I know. I can order a copy of the addition to the appeal, but I haven’t been that interested yet. I am far more interested in the final decision from the Gaming Appeals Board (when they are finished).
Wealth Masters is banned in Norway, but WMI just named Per Gunnar Hoem their Vice President of Marketing for Europe.
I hope the Gaming Board is watching this guy.
Barely six months after being named Wealth Masters’ Vice President of Marketing for Europe, Per Gunnar Hoem has now surfaced as a member of Avant.
It’s unclear at this stage whether or not Hoem is still with WMI or what his apparent Avant membership will mean for his Vice President position.
Meanwhile perhaps not so co-incidentally, WMI just announced the promotion of Kevin and Melissa Knecht to their coporate team.
Promoted to an ‘expanded leadership role’, this appears to give the Knecht’s a ‘voice in the direction of Wealth Masters‘.
More of an advisory role than an actual coporate position from the sounds of it.
@Oz
The link over at Pharaoh’s Tomb points to random member profiles, a new member each time I click on the link.
“How can Hoem be a part of both WMI and Avant?” seemed to be a very suspicious mindset, when the profiles that popped up belongs to Kaz Spence, Jay Allyson, Deborah Brake, Christy Jackson, etc. 🙂
The testimonials are from randoms and Hoem hasn’t filled in ‘his story’, but on the far right it states
The registration is about 4 weeks old. Avant has yet to reach 1000 members; Kjell Huus and Per Hoem are the only Norwegians to sign up so far.
In addition, Hoem is pushing Cooking With Monkey through the website http://cookingwithmonkey.no
It’s so funny that this guy could become Vice President of Marketing when his own website looks like a car crash.
He is listed as advisor at Cooking With Monkey:
http://cookingwithmonkey.com/investors/board-of-advisors/
Kjell Ståle Huus has been marketing Avant for a while and claims to earn $1.000 a month:
http://swom.com/people/57280-kjell-s-huus
http://www.secretsbehindwealth.com/