v. Robert W. Warren et al. Rector's only asset is his house, and his only income a $200-a-month military pension, the investigation found. We need a reset, and to find a way to once again prioritize and reward diligent, honest effort over faux success. 0000001660 00000 n [6], In February 1973, Holiday Magic was sued for calumny by Avon Products. 0000041306 00000 n Best Match Powered by Whitepages Premium AGE 80+ Glenn Turner Houston, TX (Inner Loop) View Full Report Addresses Yoakum Blvd, Houston, TX 0000006933 00000 n 0000043655 00000 n But this salesman extraordinaire in flashy suits was once all but omnipresent in American life. "Pyramid Sales: Hearing Before the Subcommittee for Consumers of the Committee on Commerce, United States Congress", 1974, United States Congress, Pp. If it can happen to Charles Colson, folks, you gotta believe. 0000032500 00000 n Glenn W. Turner, who was frequently described himself as a harelipped sharecropper's son (leaving some doubt as to which of them was afflicted), built an ephemeral fortune on a pyramid selling scheme in the late 1960's and early 70's. Anyone can read what you share. Anyone can read what you share. Mr. Maxa cannot resist quoting H. L. Mencken's observation that no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public. They were convicted last month on charges of conspiracy, fraud and illegal pyramid sales in connection with their Challenge Inc. motivational program. [5][29], William Penn Patrick bought Mind Dynamics in 1970. Warren., 497 F.2d 687., C.A.Wis. "They have for years.". Glenn Turner was, as he liked to tell anyone within earshot of his pitch, sharecropper's son and a gradeschool dropout and had a harelip (albeit corrected by surgery) who had lifted himself up by his expensive unborncalfskin bootstraps to the leadership of a $100 million business empire. 0000008424 00000 n The guy at the top could make millions. 0000037334 00000 n The $5,000 investment paid for motivational seminars and tapes, but the indictment said the real business of the pyramid operation was to induce more people to invest money to become salespeople who, in turn, were expected to recruit others. [28] The Mind Dynamics course was described as providing "a means of achieving personal success through the conscious use of the subconscious mind". 0000006933 00000 n Dougherty also ordered Turner and Rector to pay $44,000 each in fines to be distributed to victims. The good that I have done outweighs the bad. The main portion of the building is wide and round, while the top features a design that is fort-like in nature. 0000045154 00000 n Mr. Maxa has missed very little about Turner's operations and the soueces of his appeal. Its backed by no government, is all but impossible to use and serves no legal need. However from a technical perspective, there are differences in the way the two types of schemes operate. New York: William Morrow & Co. $8.95. uOf2v]IM{7\~CPWb=sVX\IQ2ec )^y&wM9t>5YO! [10] The FTC's decision on Koscot set a precedent for defining if a company is engaging in illegal pyramiding. In re HOLIDAY MAGIC SECURITIES AND ANTITRUST LITIGATION., James J. In 1964, after a bankruptcy and several business failures, Patrick (age 33) was walking by a garage in San Rafael, California, and noted that fruit-scented cosmetics were being sold. The Dream, a podcast about multi-level marketing, discussed Holiday Magic and William Penn Patrick. Eventually, the truth comes out. Citation Needed, a podcast, has an episode about William Penn Patrick (and Holiday Magic). Lotstein acknowledged that not all of the Challenge "victims" were pleased that Turner was prosecuted. 0000003018 00000 n A few months later, another seller would tell a Florida courtroom that he, too, had been instructed to fake it till you make it. When the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against Turners company, a judge cited the phrase as evidence of malfeasance. 0000031956 00000 n Targets for citations in Chain Letter Evolution. 6, 19, 24., Library of Congress. [3], The company was termed as part of the "big three" scams, in a 1974 United States Senate hearing before the Consumers of the Committee on Commerce that dealt with pyramid sales. Pyramid Schemes Versus Ponzi Schemes The labels Ponzi scheme and pyramid scheme are often used interchangeably to describe specific forms of investment fraud where sustainability depends on the influx of new "investors" to the scheme. . 0000045154 00000 n "I think the court's ruling today put the final period in the final chapter of the book on Glenn Turner.". 0000006135 00000 n Attorneys for the two said their convictions would be appealed and asked that they be freed on bond until their appeals are heard. [22] According to the Duke Law Journal: "Illegality permeated every facet of the promotion of the Holiday Magic marketing program. Corbins office won a civil case against Turner over Challenge in 1983, ordering him to pay $1.5 million in restitution and $1 million in penalties. 0000009459 00000 n [3], In 1973, Holiday Magic's proceedings were prohibited by the Market Court of Sweden, and a fine of 2 million Swedish kronor was imposed. And the Wells Fargo C-suite was looking the other way as employees, desperate to meet unrealistic sales quotas, opened millions of fake bank and credit card accounts. Turner, the son of a South Carolina sharecropper and a self-styled country boy, rose to fame in the early 1970s through inspirational speeches that promised great wealth if people bought distributorships in his operations. Some "schemes" are specifically developed to sidestep Pyramid Scheme legislation by offering a "product" or "service". Lotstein said the men must serve at least two-thirds of the sentence, more than 4 1/2 years, before they are eligible for parole. Since many of them were enmeshed as much by greed as by hope, one's sympathy is tempered. 271 0 obj A nine-month trial ended in a hung jury. Thus one gets sentences such as Meanwhile, in a downtown Frankfurt prison, thirtyeightyearold Turner astounded a U.S. State Department official who visited his cell to explain that the British had requested his arrest on possible charges of fraud in England. Fine time to find out Turner's age. We dont trust the government, media or big business. (unrelated to Holiday Magic). <>stream "They come from all over this country and abroad. [7] He told reporters as he was led away to jail: The good that I have done outweighs the bad. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Donate The purpose of this Note is to investigate the Martha Stewart sparked headlines in 2005 when she fired a contestant on The Apprentice who embraced the phrase. "It is hard for me to believe . This is a good little book about an earnest con artist who ripped off the American public for $75 million. 2(a) OF THE CLAYTON ACT Docket 8834 (1974), MLM Law - Lawyer Grimes & Reese PLLC - Attorney Specializing in Multilevel Marketing - Marshall v. Holiday Magic, Inc. (1977) 550 F.2d 1173, Door to Door Selling, Pyramid Selling, Multilevel Marketing, "L.A. Con Artist Behind Alleged Electricity Scam: Pyramid scheme linked to coming deregulation", "First Amendment Protection for Commercial Advertising: The New Constitutional Doctrine", "The Chaos of Multilevel Marketing and Pyramid Sales Laws: A Federal Remedy", In Re Koscot Interplanetary Inc., 86 F.T.C. "Our intent was to help people believe in themselves.". /b+;*R2VL5 WC^ ;_>[AM "su`/d_w$3qhTGS;#m!bytBefF~s*GB9z\eBUK,nrEYXn u.$leJrk5@ C-74-1067-LHB., No. By the time one arrives at the scene with the Washington lawyers who helped keep Dita Beard under wraps and the description of an old O.S.S. Dropping the creator of Dilbert is free speech at work, Ron DeSantis shows how not to run an education system, False Profits: Seeking Financial and Spiritual Deliverance in Multi-Level Marketing and Pyramid Schemes. Mencken, Mr. Maxa says, would have loved Glenn Turner as one of those colorful rogues who enliven the American scene, a sort of cross between Elmer Gantry and Charles Ponzi, whose name is to financial pyramids what Tutankhamen's is to the original. "They come from preachers, lawyers, housewives, plumbers, carpenters," Dougherty said. 72-390. [7] Disillusioned recruits testified against Turner or his companies, and one judge cited the phrase ('fake it until you make it') as evidence of malfeasance. 0000002201 00000 n ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) _ A three-story, 16-room castle owned by onetime motivational entrepreneur Glenn Turner is going on the auction block, with the Internal Revenue Service and other creditors splitting the proceeds. Its not clear who originated the exact wording of fake it till you make it, or how Turner and his followers adopted it. Referring to Charles Ponzi, who earlier this century put together a huge investment swindle that still bears his name, Lotstein said, "I imagine there are still people that feel that Mr. Ponzi was doing good for the world. 5 OF THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION ACT AND SEC. But faking it in matters of money is another matter entirely. Turner was a former sewing machine salesman and son of a South Carolina sharecropper and an unwed mother, born with a cleft palate and a hair lip, who dropped out in the eighth grade, did a short stint in the U.S. Air Force before successfully finishing a school for those who had dropped out of high school. Turner, 53, created a $300 million empire in the 1970s by selling distributorships in his Dare to be Great and Koscot International companies. Summary of this case from Great Western Bank & Trust v . [28] Holiday Magic distributors were invited, though not required, to attend the Leadership Dynamics Institute self-improvement sessions at a cost of $1000 each. 0000005760 00000 n The promised El Dorado, however, was reserved for those who put up the requisite amount for becoming distributors; this gave them the right to sell distributorships to others, retaining a healthy percentage of the fee. It's easy and secure. "There have been a lot of books written about Mr. Turner," said Barnett Lotstein, the assistant attorney general who prosecuted the case. 0000037159 00000 n v. Holiday Magic, Inc., et al., N.D. California, Civil Action No. 0000001769 00000 n Turner, though, had hired a lawyer for his sentencing Thursday. [16] Katz's Everybody's Business: An Almanac also referred to Holiday Magic as a "pyramid sales organization". "The first time I ever heard those words from those men was in this courtroom," Rector said. NEWS RELEASE SUMMARYSeptember 1, 2021. [5] Though he claimed Leadership Dynamics was a separate company, "..in no way related to Holiday Magic, Inc.", Gene Church pointed out many inconsistencies in this statement, in his book The Pit: A Group Encounter Defiled. Mr. Turner and Mr. Rechtor, who also received seven years, were. "[7] Turner, attorney F. Lee Bailey, and eight others were also indicted by a federal grand jury on conspiracy and mail fraud charges. The company called Zolene was about to go out of business. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. As he was led off to jail, he told reporters: The good that I have done outweighs the bad. U.S. District Court documents in Orlando indicate there are dozens of other Turner creditors, but it is unlikely they will be paid from any proceeds from the Castles sale, officials said. Turner was a former sewing machine salesman and son of a South Carolina sharecropper and an unwed mother, born with a cleft palate and a hair lip, who dropped out in the eighth grade, did a short stint in the U.S. Air Force before successfully finishing a school for those who had dropped out of high school. PHOENIX, ARIZ. Glenn W. Turner, a farmboy who built and lost a multimillion-dollar financial empire with his pyramid sales schemes, lost his freedom Thursday. %PDF-1.7 % All these characters in bright red polyester doubleknits, with rhinestone flag lapel pins, dashing around the country making people hum, MMMMMMMM MONEY!. Holiday Magic Inc. et al. <<7C981AD2C2A8B2110A00B0784D58FC7F>]/Prev 803466>> After more than a decade of court cases, Turner was convicted in 1987 for running a Ponzi scheme. 0000004278 00000 n [28], Ben Gay, a high-level instructor at Leadership Dynamics, was President of Holiday Magic in the United States. In August 1972, he was charged with "86 counts of sale of unregistered securities and failing to register as a dealer". Illustrated. [1] In 1971, the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Koscot, charging restraint of trade. Turner and Rechtor, who also received seven years, were convicted in July of 19 counts of conspiracy, fraud and promoting a pyramid scheme. Since his victims were usually the little people, the guys who are always getting it in the neck from the system anyway, it was a matter of hitting cripples. 0000003297 00000 n In 1979, his fortune gone, he attempted a comeback with another motivational company called Challenge, Inc.,[6] which led to more legal difficulties. [9] "The end began in October 1969, when 14 Koscot distributors in Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana sued Turner for failing to pay promised dividends. Turner would emerge under a banner reading "Dare to Be Great" and vacuum up money through a pyramid marketing scheme based on selling motivational tapes containing the secret of getting rich. One of them was Bob Hattaway, a former state legislator from Altamonte Springs who came to Arizona to testify for Turner. Dougherty said he had received "hundreds" of letters in support of Turner. Glenn W. Turner, who was frequently described himself as a "harelipped sharecropper's son" (leaving some doubt as to which of them was afflicted), built an ephemeral fortune on a pyramid. 0000003297 00000 n [4], The Securities and Exchange Commission also filed a lawsuit in 1972 charging that Koscot's program should be considered a security and comply with securities laws and regulations. Koscot was founded in 1967. 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