Last week I published a review on Yoli.

The review saw me criticize Yoli for ambiguity in their affiliate sign-up form, with respect to affiliate fees and monthly autoship.

I also criticized the withholding of crucial information in Yoli’s compensation plan, as affiliate costs detailed in the sign-up form were absent.

All in all it’s a shame Yoli is let down by information not presented in its compensation plan.

You go through it and there’s no mention of autoship when signing up or a correlation between rank PV and autoship CV – with it not being evident unless you research joining costs.

Yesterday Len Clements commented on the review, suggesting with full sarcasm that I should have contacted Yoli.

Oz, next time I encourage you to use an investigative technique that I’ve developed, and have had great success with over the years. I call it, “ASK!” (patent pending).

A few days ago I sat down to begin researching The Traveling Vineyard, with an intention to publish a reader request review.

On Saturday I realized The Traveling Vineyard failed to provide the public with a copy of their compensation plan.

Now as I explained to Clements, I see the withholding of crucial business information as a massive failure on behalf of an MLM company.

Whereas I normally might obtain compensation plan information elsewhere, in the case of The Traveling Vineyard such information is non-existent.

Purely a co-incidence, in this particular instance I took the initiative to email The Traveling Vineyard and request a copy of their compensation plan.

Hi there, I couldn’t see a copy of your compensation plan on your website. I’ve seen the YouTube summary but was after more detailed information.

Do you have a complete compensation document I can review? Thanks.

This was, bear in mind, before Clements left his comment suggesting I contact MLM companies yesterday.

Today I received a reply from The Traveling Vineyard. They claim they can’t provide me a with a copy of their compensation plan… because apparently it’s “proprietary information”. [Continue reading…]

Following the signing of an $90,000 secret backroom deal, Matthew Nestler’s affiliate membership with Jeunesse was terminated eight months later.

Jeunesse claimed Nestler failed ‘to adequately support the distributors he sponsored’. Nestler’s subsequently filed lawsuit meanwhile detailed a shifty conspiracy to transfer his business to his former immediate downline.

Then Jeunesse president Darren Jensen and Kevin Giguere, the affiliate who inherited Nestler’s Jeunesse business, claimed Nestler made death threats in response to losing his business.

Nestler responded by claiming Jeunesse were trying to “bury him“.

The matter has been slowly playing out in court over the past year, with news that a settlement was reached late last month. [Continue reading…]

There is no information on the MyNetworkOne website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The MyNetworkOne website does have an “about us” page, however it is used only to market the company. No information about MyNetworkOne’s ownership or executive management is provided.

The MyNetworkOne website domain (“mynetworkone.com”) was registered on the 8th of June 2011, however the domain registration is set to private.

Further research reveals MyNetworkOne marketing material citing Rod Wortham as CEO of the company.

On his LinkedIn profile, Wortham (right) credits himself as Founder and CEO of MyNetworkOne LLC.

Why Wortham’s name does not appear anywhere on the MyNetworkOne website is unclear.

Prior to MyNetworkOne Wortham launched ToBizNet. The opportunity is now defunct, with ToBizNet advertising circa 2010-2011 suggesting it was advertising and marketing based.

A ToBizNet marketing video uploaded to YouTube in 2011 explains that ToBizNet affiliates were paid between $150 to $250 to recruit new ToBizNet affiliates.

Read on for a full review of the MyNetworkOne MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]

There is no information on the Google Wallet Cool Million website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Google Wallet Cool Million website is hosted on a subdomain of the Ignite Riches domain (“coolmillion.igniteriches.com”).

There’s no information about the owner of the opportunity on the Ignite Riches website.

The Ignite Riches domain registration lists “Carl Rich”, with a PO Box address in the US state of Illinois also provided.

I wasn’t able to find any additional information on Carl Rich in connection with Google Wallet Cool Million or Ignite Riches.

A YouTube video featured on the Google Wallet Cool Riches website is hosted on a YouTube account bearing the name “Kaschmiere Rich” (right).

In addition to performances that appear to have been filmed inside a church, Rich’s YouTube channel features copious marketing material for MLM underbelly schemes.

Rich’s Facebook page is also full of dubious marketing claims, such as “$100 PER DAY STARTING WITH A BUCK!!”, “$430 Easy in 5 Days” and “IGNITE YOU BUSINESS $200 PER DAY WITH NO PROMOTING”.

Most of these schemes are of the matrix cycler and cash gifting variety, with this likely being the precursor to Rich launching Google Wallet Cool Million.

Why Kaschmiere Rich put Carl Rich in the Ignite Riches domain registration (or vice-versa on his YouTube channel) is unclear.

Read on for a full review of the Google Wallet Cool Million MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]

Damsel In Defense was launched in 2011 and claim their ‘mission is to equip, empower & educate women to protect themselves with our safe and sassy personal protection products‘.

There is no corporate address provided on the Damsel In Defense website, however the company’s Terms and Conditions state:

Your use of this site shall be governed in all respects by the laws of the state of California, U.S.A.

You agree that jurisdiction over and venue in any legal proceeding directly or indirectly arising out of or relating to this site (including but not limited to the purchase of Damsel In Defense products) shall be in the state or federal courts located in Los Angeles County, California.

This conflicts with the Damsel In Defense website domain registration, which lists an address for DID INC. in Idaho.

Heading up Damsel In Defense are co-founders Mandy Lin (Chief Marketing Officer) and Bethany Hughes (Chief Services Officer). Bob Hipple serves as CEO.

Bob Hipple’s direct sales industry experience spans over 30+ years as a distributor, keynote speaker, company executive and business consultant.

He was the Vice President of Sales for two of the largest technology companies in the industry as well as VP of Sales for Scentsy during their early growth period.

Bob has served on the Education Committee for the Direct Selling Association and been a speaker at numerous DSA events.

After a two year consulting relationship, Damsel In Defense was honored to invite Bob on as their Chief Executive Officer in January of 2014.

Read on for a full review of the Damsel In Defense MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]

GCR Coin was first touted when Global Currency Reserve launched back in July 2015. After repeated delays, GCR Coin eventually launched in August.

Following launch the value of GCR plummeted. A rally in late November saw the price rally but go into decline again over the following weeks.

Since mid-December the price of the coin has been relatively stable at around 0.00002 BTC.

Now, in an email sent out by CEO Bob Wood yesterday, it has been announced that Global Currency Reserve is closing. The GCR Coin itself meanwhile is being punted off to ‘new ownership (and) management‘. [Continue reading…]

Atomy launched in the US back in 2010, with the parent Korean company founded by Han-Gill Park in 2004 (sometimes credited as “Han-Kil Park or Han-Gil Park).

From what I’ve been able to suss out, Atomy’s MLM opportunity was launched in 2009. A corporate address in the US state of Washington is provided on the Atomy America website.

Park (right) serves as the CEO of Atomy America, with the company also operating in Japan, Canada, Singapore and Taiwan.

While there’s an abundance of marketing philosophy on the Atomy America website regarding the company, strangely there’s no information about Han-Gill Park himself.

Out of curiosity I jumped onto Atomy’s Korean site but found it to be the same as the American site, in Korean. So that wasn’t much help.

Possible due to language barriers (although it’s strange Atomy themselves don’t provide any information), I was unable to put together an MLM history on Park.

As such Park’s corporate background and MLM history are unknown.

Read on for a full review of the Anomy America MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]

Take Shape For Life was founded in 2003 and is a division of MediFast Inc, a publicly traded company.

MediFast is based out of Maryland in the US and was founded in 1980 by William Vitale.

At that time, Medifast was manufacturing and distributing Medifast Meals to doctors, who in turn prescribed them to their patients and counseled them through the Medifast Program.

With the onset of managed care, Medifast products were no longer covered by insurance, and doctors no longer had time to counsel patients to the degree necessary for sustained weight loss and management.

Retired Marine Colonel Bradley T. MacDonald, CEO of Jason Pharmaceuticals at the time, set out to re-engineer the business model for the company by working with his alma mater, Villanova University, and the Bartlett School of Business, to create a direct-to-consumer model for Medifast.

In 2000, he formed Medifast’s Web and toll-free business, Medifast Direct.

In 2003, the Company changed its name to Medifast, Inc. and was listed on the American Stock Exchange, moving to the New York Stock Exchange in 2006 (NYSE: MED).

Also in 2003, MacDonald teamed up with Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen, a critical care medicine specialist, to create Take Shape For Life, the coaching division of Medifast, Inc.

Jason Pharmaceuticals was originally the parent company MediFast was created under, however today it is a subsidiary of MediFast Inc.

Today Take Shape For Life is headed up by CEO Margaret Sheetz (right), who also serves as President and COO of Medifast.

As per Sheetz’s Take Shape For Life corporate bio;

Prior to joining the Company in 2000, she was a legal assistant with the firm of Carrington, Coleman, Sloman and Blumenthal in Dallas, Texas.

Ms. Sheetz was first selected as a Management Director in 2008 after she had assumed the positions of President and Chief Operating Officer of Medifast, Inc.

She is the senior experienced operations executive who has built the operational structure of the company.

On the regulatory front, 2012 saw the FTC and DOJ hit Jason Pharmaceuticals with a $3.7 million dollar civil penalty for false advertising.

Under the new settlement order announced today, Jason Pharmaceuticals is prohibited from misrepresenting that consumers who use any low-calorie meal replacement program, including the Medifast “5 and 1” plan, can expect to achieve the same results that an endorser does, or can lose a particular amount of weight or maintain the weight loss.

Such representations must be non-misleading and backed by competent and reliable scientific evidence that consists of at least one adequate and well-controlled human clinical study of the low-calorie meal replacement program, or a study that follows a protocol detailed in the settlement order.

Under the settlement order, the company also is prohibited from making any other representation about the health benefits, safety, or side effects of any low-calorie meal replacement program, unless the representation is non-misleading and backed by competent and reliable scientific evidence that is generally accepted in the profession to yield accurate results.

The company also is prohibited from misrepresenting that any doctor, health professional, or endorser recommends a weight-loss product, program, service, drug, or dietary supplement.

Also of note is a 2010 defamation lawsuit filed by MediFast against Tracy Coenen.

Coenen, who works as a forensic accountant and fraud investigator with Sequence Inc., found herself a named defendant in the suit for covering a report critical of MediFast and Take Shape For Life.

In May 2009, Barry Minkow and his Fraud Discovery Institute released a report about Medifast Inc. and its multi-level marketing arm called Take Shape For Life (TSFL).

In September 2009, I wrote an article on this blog about Medifast and TSFL, exposing the fraud behind multi-level marketing (MLM).

In February 2010, Medifast sued Barry Minkow, Robert Fitzpatrick, me, and others with claims of defamation, violations of California Corporations Code and Unfair Business Practices.

Approximately two months later, my attorneys filed an anti-SLAPP motion.

In March 2011, the judge dismissed me from the case. Medifast immediately appealed.

In June 2014 the Court of Appeals upheld my dismissal. (Yes, the appeals process took more than 3 years.)

By that stage Coenen had racked up almost $200,000 in legal fees, which MediFast were eventually ordered to pay.

The other defendants were not fully dismissed. The appeals court allowed some issues against them to proceed.

Yet after it was assured that I was out of the case and Medifast would be paying my fees, Medifast settled with the other defendants.

The settlement included the defendants giving up nothing. There will be no retraction of anything that was said about Medifast.

The future speech of the defendants will not be restricted. And Medifast paid a large portion of the defendants’ legal fees.

This might be amusing if it hadn’t taken five years of my life to resolve. At every step of the case, Medifast and its attorneys acted unethically.

For sure, the attorneys will tell you that they were litigating in the best interest of their client. In fact, they lied to the court repeatedly, ran up our legal fees, ran up their own legal fees, and unnecessarily prolonged a meritless case.

Read on for a full review of the Take Shape For Life MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]

Is it too much to expect basic security from MLM underbelly schemes?

From the anonymous owner(s) of Inovatyon, apparently so. [Continue reading…]

There is no information on the MGlobally website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The MGlobally website domain (“mglobally.com”) was registered on the 6th of May 2015, however the domain registration is set to private.

Two “legal documents” are provided on the MGlobally website, purportedly evidence of corporate registration of “MGlobally Solutions LTD” in both Belize and the United Kingdom.

Alexa currently estimate around 67% of all traffic to the MGlobally website originates out of India.

This matches up with the UK company registration which, coupled with anonymous ownership details, is a calling card of less than credible Indian-based admins.

As always, if an MLM company is not openly upfront about who is running or owns it, think long and hard about joining and/or handing over any money. [Continue reading…]