An Employment Scam in the Financial Services Industry
A Warning for Recent College Grads and Others New to the Financial Services Industry

[Financial Scam Home]

CONTENTS:

Introduction

How The Scam Works

Fighting Back

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MLM

Contact Author


 

 

CONTACTING THE AUTHOR

CONTENTS:

  1. What the Author will respond to
  2. What the Author will not respond to
  3. The address
  4. About the Author
  5. DONATIONS for PSA's Legal Defense Fund

 

1. The author WILL NOT respond to the following:

  • Questions about whether a particular firm is running the scam mentioned in this site.
    When a court or regulatory agency determines that the company is running a scam, then it's a scam. I am not equipped to make such a determination and will not open myself up to legal liability with mere suspicions. This is why it's so important for those who have been defrauded to take action!
  • Requests for sources.
    Many are already sourced. All are public. Look them up. Quote them as you please.
  • Requests to mirror this site.
    I grant my permission in advance and appreciate it. Feel free to notify me of the mirror url.
  • SPAM.
    This will get you reported to your ISP and regulatory authorities. Don't even try it.
  • Complaints from pro-MLM writers.
    I am against MLMs that misrepresent their opportunities to their participants. I've done my best to make it clear where I stand and why. I guarantee I've heard your defense before. If you disagree, put up your own website AND DON'T BOTHER ME. If you still can't read and want to write to complain, you are agreeing that I may post your message in a future "Hall of Shame", no exceptions. (Bill & Janet Orr of Primerica Financial Services, please get reading lessons.)

2. The author WILL respond to the following:

  • News about lawsuits.
    If it's public record, I may post it to the site.
  • Requests for updates, corrections, suggestions.
    If something needs fixing, I'll fix it. Nobody's perfect.
  • General comments, questions.
    Feedback regarding the site is appreciated.
  • Offers of legal help for readers.
    I'll post your contact information for readers. Note that under no circumstances do I accept any sort of referral fees from attorneys.
  • "You're talking about my company! I'm going to sue!"
    Don't be paranoid. I'll negotiate removing specific information if you can prove how it hurts your specific business, but this site targets no specific company. There's no excuse for not contacting me about concerns, but don't waste my time.

3. Now, IF YOU HAVE READ ALL OF THE ABOVE and STILL WANT TO EMAIL ME... click below. A Javascript-enabled browser (such as Internet Explorer) is required to email me.


I have read ALL of the above and still want to contact the author.

4. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I don't identify myself by name on this subsite because my identity doesn't lend a shred of credibility to any of the information I am imparting and would only open the door to idiot scammers making ad-hominem attacks to distract from the content imparted; THIS SUBSITE IS ABOUT ITS CONTENT, NOT ME. The main site is all about me me me but I don't link back to it because it's got commercial elements, and I won't be accused of using this subsite's content to generate profit for the main site. It's the other way around, folks; my commercial endeavors on the main site make it possible for me to provide this subsite (and others). You're free to find your way to the main site, but it's completely unrelated.
I'm no longer in any MLM nor the financial services industry and can't be accused of being a competitor out for financial gain. I'm not part of any "conspiracy" out to get any particular company; nobody has paid me a dime to put this site up. In short, I do not profit in any way from this subsite; it is a labor of love for those who might otherwise be victimized.


5. DONATIONS:

IF you find the information imparted by this site helpful and feel compelled to help or donate, remember that many consumer advocates have been victims of frivolous lawsuits by those they've exposed and some still need the help in paying down the legal fees. Attorneys who wish to donate legal services are surely also appreciated. I do not accept donations myself and benefit in no way from these referrals; I have been a victim of such a lawsuit in the past and could be yet again*, so I merely sympathize with their plights. Robert Fitzpatrick's Pyramid Scheme Alert website maintains a Legal Defense Fund whose aim is helping consumer advocates who have been victimized by frivolous lawsuits by companies attempting to financially pressure them into silence. You may donate to PSA for general defense of people needing it, or on behalf of Eric Scheibeler, whose book "Merchants of Deception" exposed high profile MLM Amway's "business opportunity", and who still needs to pay down $30,000 in legal fees.

Click here to donate to PSA's Consumer Advocate Defense Fund
.

*Oct./Nov. 2009: Well, speak of the Devil! After being on the Internet for years, this site has suddenly been threatened with two lawsuits courtesy of two loosely related companies within one month of each other. The first company, Trilogy Financial Services (TFS)**, claims I called them a scammer when I haven't (see the Cease & Desist letter for yourself), and I am forced to once again retain a lawyer to defend myself against utterly frivolous and untrue allegations. I'm curious if Judge Andrew P. Banks noticed the missing page 17/28, which contained the very clear disclaimer above the list of companies. Page 27/28 is likewise missing. All Trilogy's 2003 lawsuit did was forbid me from speaking their name for two years and slap a permanent injunction (included in the aforementioned C&D letter) on me against doing things that are already illegal to begin with, none of which I ever did, but I agreed to the injunction because it was the cheapest way out and I had never heard of SLAPPs before; in fact all it could accomplish was draining me financially. I don't control what people search for on the Internet, and some 200 people per month type "Trilogy Financial Services SCAM" into Google (a few stats: Aug, Sept, Oct) such that my Alexa.com "keywords" showed it was the top search term that hit this entire website as of November 11, 2009. I didn't even know about it until I received their Cease & Desist letter and wondered why they were the only company who (up to that time) had bothered. Removing their name as requested did not work, and they opted to sue anyway, so I've restored their name to this site and the judge can sort it out. The second company***, whom I and the president of Trilogy worked for in 1995 IIRC and who I shall currently identify only as [REMOVED2]***, emailed me: "I am suggesting you take this site down immediately. You are breaking the law and we will be using our resources to go after you if you don’t voluntarily take this site down within 10 days. I am sure you can not survive a legal battle so I do not recommend starting one. I have notified our lawyers of your site and we intend to pursue our rights under the law." The subsequent C&D letter sent by what appears to be that company's president's lawyer brother cited their reasons as words that were never spoken by me to begin with and that came with clear disclaimers (green) that only the utterly illiterate could misread. In fact this second [illiterate] company actually had the gall to accuse me of soliciting donations to personally profit on this site! I personally have accused neither of running the scam detailed on this site, nor ANY companies, as I learned in 2003 the price of financially defending specific truths. However, there is no crime in pointing out how their own behavior of protesting far too loudly brings far greater suspicion upon themselves, and in letting readers decide for themselves what their motivations really are. Face it, companies who are not running the scam have nothing to fear from this site.


[HOME]