Since I started blogging about Polaris Media Group, one of the more unbelievable claims I’ve heard has been that Polaris is simply a front for Scientology.

Some of my readers have claimed the allegations have been flatly denied by Polaris executives and others claim that Krider and co. don’t attempt to hide their Scientology links when asked.

A thread over at scam.com is a further example of some of the claims that have been made:

The Liberty League “Inner Circle” (most EMC members) and the new owner Shane Krider are Scientologists seeking to climb “thetan” OT levels and obtain OT VIII: Truth Revealed.

Brent Payne and wife (Julia Payne) sold their share to Shane Krider for various reasons, but one main speculation is due to the fact that Shane Krider is only allowing the top trainers of Liberty League International to be trainers if they are trained, pay money, & practice Scientology communication teachings at the L Ron Hubbard Institute.

Personally I’ve refrained from writing about any possible Scientology links as, despite my criticisms of the Polaris business model, the link just seemed too far fetched.

I mean seriously, it’s Scientology we’re talking about here. Sure half the population might not know the ins and outs of the religion, but thanks to several high profile members and a continuous stream of bizarre news stories, most people know to turn around and run screaming when they see anything associated with them.

If you fall in the other half of the population you might want to read this indepth analysis of Scientology that made Time Magazine’s 1991 May front cover.

Although hugely skeptical, I never ruled out the Scientology link to Polaris but instead waited until I came across something concrete.

Today, that something came along. [Continue reading…]

We utilize the principles taught in the movie The Secret and teach people how to apply them to their life and business.

The above statement is taken directly from Rachel Oliver’s UXL website and is fairly stereotypical of the connection between James Arthur Ray’s ‘The Secret’ book/movie and Polaris Media Group.

In fact ‘The Secret’ is mentioned so frequently on Polaris Media Group associate’s websites you’d be forgiven for thinking the entire company was simply a business opportunity built around the book.

Polaris EMC member Tony Rush swears by it:

I found the movie “The Secret” to be far more credible and scientific.

So what happens when you take the credible and scientific ‘The Secret’ and apply it to an event that’s a bit more involved then your standard ‘everybody sitting in a conference room telling eachother how great they are’ event?

You wind up with two people dead. [Continue reading…]

Over the past few weeks I’ve been in communications with various associates (ex and current), the QLD and NSW office of fair trading and have suspected that something has been building behind closed doors.

I can’t prove or confirm my suspicions at this stage but I thought I’d put together what I’ve observed and heard as together. Curiously they all seem to point to the same thing.

Have a read and perhaps you’ll experience a little ‘know for yourself’ too. [Continue reading…]

Ever since the Polaris Media Group launch, Polaris distributors and the general public alike have been trying to get their heads around the hugely complicated compensation plan.

There’s been emails, tables, diagrams, conference calls, videos and even a recently announced EMC (the guys who make all the money) Aussie tour between the 18th and 22nd of September with free entry to hopefully clear the confusion up.

Free entry…? Geez you know things are bad when Polaris aren’t charging for events.

I’m not a marketing guy nor do I have any extensive knowledge of MLM business opportunities. My focus on Polaris Media Group is continued on after writing about Liberty League International. I’m a guy who saw a tv commercial, did some research and started writing about what I found.

I’d like to think I’m fairly educated yet it still took me many goings over, rewatching and relistening to try and get my head around Polaris’ compensation plan.

The good news is I think I’ve figured it out and can hopefully explain it properly in this article. The bad news is I still think the entire thing is a pyramid scheme and will inevitably rely on a constant influx of new recruits to generate the infamous ‘six figure incomes’ distributors love to market.

But anyway, that’s what I think. Hopefully by the end of this article you’ll have enough information and leave some feedback for others to read on what you think of it all.

With all that out of the way, here’s an indepth look at the new Polaris Media Group compensation plan. [Continue reading…]

With the official launch of Polaris Media group just hours away, it seems the company has gone into a massive scale crisis management.

Things haven’t gone as smoothly as the company’s head honchos would have liked. Polaris Media Group advisors are running around issuing legal threats, the NSW government have declared Liberty League to be a pyramid scheme, job networks are refusing to list Polaris ads and a Whirlpool Australian community forum thread is thriving with over 2000 replies where Australians are discussing Polaris Media openly.

In addition to ordering a complete media blackout for Polaris Media Group associates, the company has also recently enlisted the services of Australian public relations company, Wilkinson PR.

At this time associates have been advised not to engage with any media or “bloggers” and to forward any enquiries to a Wilkinson PR email address. [Continue reading…]

With the Polaris Media Group launch just around the corner on the 9th of September, it seems some advisors have had enough of being called out on their scam.

Understandably tension appears to be high as all sorts of wild accusations and claims fly in the days before the company’s launch.

This evening the following email threat was received by OzSoapbox and appears to be from a genuine source. [Continue reading…]

With the recent NSW Office of Fair Trading press release going out yesterday there’s been a bit of an awkward silence over at the Polaris Media Group camp.

You’re trying to sell a scam that’s worked previously but now even random prospects are starting to ask some very uncomfortable questions.

So what do you do, how do you answer these questions and still get the sales?

The following is an actual query that was raised by an associate over at the ‘Polaris Media Group Network’ forum run by Polaris EMC member Tony Rush addressing this very issue.

I guarantee you the answers given will leave you shaking your head in disbelief. [Continue reading…]

Despite months of telling you it wasn’t a pyramid scheme, telling you to trust the EMC marketing committee, lying to your faces and declaring bloggers like myself to be posting “unconfirmed information and opinions” (Tony Rush)…,

Today the NSW government finally went officially public with its findings: [Continue reading…]

The biggest problem with the Liberty League sales model was that everybody knew nobody was paying those prices without the pyramid scheme business opportunity attached. Effectively you weren’t buying retail products, you were buying the right to resell the business opportunity you were buying into to others.

What this meant was that if you got in early and signed up enough people, you could effectively sit back and relax as qualifying products were sent to you as the bottom level of your sales pyramid attempted to resell the opportunity to others.

With Polaris Media Group we’re apparently going to see a shift away from the business opportunity and instead more focus on the products.

After having a look at the new lineup of products, I can honestly say I’m not convinced Polaris Media Group is going to be any more sustainable then Liberty League was.

The reason?

The underlying problem is still fundamentally the same. [Continue reading…]

After being tipped off by OzSoapbox reader Rod late last week that the NSW office of fair trading had classified Liberty League International as a pyramid scheme, I lodged my own complaint and then called them up on Thursday.

In talking to a representative I was told a report had been concluded back on the 5th May, 2009 and that the finding was Liberty League was indeed a pyramid scheme.

When I went public with this information (Liberty League found to be pyramid scheme in Australia) news spread quite quickly. At the time all I had was my word and supporters of Liberty League pushed the point that nothing had been released in writing, nor made publicly available.

In my Thursday call to the office of fair trading I requested a copy of the report be sent to me in the mail. Over the last week I waited patiently for it to arrive whilst a barrage of disbelief attacked me from all directions.

After not receiving anything yesterday in the mail, as promised this morning I again contacted NSW Fair Trading. After looking me up on the system my information was passed onto another department (of which I was unable to get the name of) and told they would be in touch.

A few hours later I held in my hand written confirmation from the New South Wales government that Liberty League is a scam in Australia. [Continue reading…]