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David Brear about Amway UK |
Now why would any honest person(s) want to continue to waste millions of dollars of legal fees in preserving a perpetually insolvent, private company that has secretly incurred trading losses totalling in excess of $50 millions over the past 8 years?
‘To pass a law and not to have it enforced is to authorize the very thing you wish to prohibit.’ Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642)
On June 9th 2008, Mr. Justice Norris (London High Court Chancery Division) granted the UK Secretary of State for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, John Hutton, leave to appeal a controversial ruling which he’d made in case No. 2651, 2652 and 2653 (2007). After almost 6 months of deliberation, Judge Norris had previously decided (in a 69 page document) to dismiss Mr. Hutton’s public interest petition to have ‘Amway UK Ltd.’ (a privately-controlled, limited-liability, commercial company first registered in 1973), ‘compulsorily wound up in bankruptcy’ - provided ‘Amway UK’ gives ‘voluntary undertakings handed up during the course of the hearing…’ Mark Cunningham Q.C., instructed by the Treasury Solicitor and acting for Mr. Hutton, had claimed that ‘Amway’s’ so-called ‘Multilevel Marketing Business Model’ is ‘inherently objectionable’ in that it is actually ‘an unlawful lottery contrary to Section 1. of the Lotteries and Amusements Act 1976,’ and ‘an unlawful trading scheme contrary to Section 120. of the Fair Trading Act 1973.’ In support of these claims, Mr. Cunningham produced irrefutable documentary evidence (recovered by qualified accountants working for the Companies Investigations Branch of BERR) proving that, although an Opportunity of Unlimited Financial Reward was dangled in front of all potential participants by ‘Amway UK’ in its own recruitment presentations and publicity, during the period 2006-2007, out of approximately 35000 non-salaried commission agencies under contract to the company, the majority had received no payments whatsoever whilst only one had achieved the highest level of commission payment (arbitrarily defined as ‘Diamond Distributor’). ‘Amway’ products were found to be so ordinary, yet exorbitantly priced, that less than 5% (by value) of ‘Amway UK’s’ final transactions could be considered genuine, external, retail sales (i.e. to persons who were not agents of the company). Consequently, Mr. Cunningham described ‘Amway’ as ‘dream selling.’ Mysteriously, Judge Norris ruled that the ‘Amway Opportunity’ was not an illegal lottery, because the Unlimited Financial Rewards it offered were not wholly illusory. On May 14th 2008, it was reported in the ‘Times’ that the ‘High Court dismissed all claims against Amway.’ However, this was a gross misrepresentation of the facts. According to the detail of the ruling, Mr. Justice Norris found that ‘Amway UK Ltd.’ had, indeed, been in breach UK trading schemes law. Yet, because ‘Amway’s’ barristers, David Chivers Q.C. and Phillip Gillyon instructed by Eversheds LLP, solemnly promised the High Court that everything has now been changed, the Judge inexplicably broke legal precedent and refused to order the company’s immediate closure on the grounds that (as a technically-insolvent corporate structure) it is incapable of honouring all its liabilities. It was on this possible error of jurisprudence that Judge Norris was himself obliged to grant the BERR Minister leave to appeal his previous ruling. In reality, Judge Norris (without access to any wider evidence as to who, or what, actually lurks behind the apparently laughable front of ‘Amway UK,’ or recourse to any independent instrument of law enforcement), accepted the word of the de facto agents of some of the wealthiest, and most devious, American-based racketeers in history (who, significantly, could not be named in a civil bankruptcy petition against a UK-registered company) that: - All ‘Amway UK’s’ non-salaried commission agents (arbitrarily and falsely defined in all ‘Amway UK’s’ own contracts for the previous 35 years as, ‘Independent Business Owners’ or ‘IBOs’), would, henceforth, be arbitrarily redefined in all ‘Amway UK’s’ own contracts as, ‘Amway Business Owners’ or ‘ABOs.’ - All ‘Amway UK’s’ non-salaried commission agents (who, for the previous 35 years have been virtually the only customers of their own so-called ‘Independent Businesses’) would, henceforth, each have to sell ‘Amway’ products to a minimum number of 5 genuine retail customers in order to qualify to receive commission payments. - The actual, average gross-commission payments to ‘Amway UK’s’ non-salaried agents (the largely nonexistent, and/or derisory, nature of which has been deliberately occulted, and/or hugely exaggerated, for the previous 35 years by the corporate officers of ‘Amway UK’ and of those of another privately-controlled, limited-liability, commercial-company, the ‘UK Direct Selling Association’) would, henceforth, have to be openly-declared in the UK. - The sale to ‘Amway UK’s’ non-salaried commission agents of tickets to ‘non-Amway-approved Business Meetings’ and of merchandise arbitrarily defined as ‘non-Amway-approved Business Support Materials’ (which for the previous 35 years has comprised well over 90% of all financial activity within the UK organization, controlled by a handful of individuals in the USA and which has deliberately been occulted, and/or down-played, by the corporate officers of ‘Amway UK’ and those of the ‘UK DSA’) would, henceforth, be prohibited. - The unlawful registration, and re-registration, fees (collected by ‘Amway UK’ for the previous 35 years from its non-salaried commission agents) would, henceforth, be scrapped. - Radical price cuts would, henceforth, be maintained on (what the corporate officers of ‘Amway UK’, and those of the ‘UK DSA,’ have for the previous 35 years steadfastly pretended to be ‘good value exclusive’) ‘Amway’ products. Unfortunately, it was not clearly explained to the High Court that: - For the previous 35 years, there has, in fact, effectively been a 100% insolvency rate for average participants in the ‘Amway’ scheme in the UK. - According to ‘Amway UK’s’ own declared, annual numbers of active commission agents (which once approached 100 000 in the 1980s, but since the BERR investigation has slumped to less than 5 000) combined with its declared, average, annual drop-out rate (approximately 50%), it is possible to extrapolate that at least 1 million insolvent ‘Amway Businesses’ have, in fact, vanished in the UK alone since 1973. On a global scale, this undisputed figure runs in the tens of millions over a period of almost 50 years. The shocking reality of what has been accurately described as the ‘Amway financial holocaust,’ has been deliberately occulted by the corporate officers of ‘Amway UK’ and those of the ‘UK DSA’ for the previous 35 years. Indeed, given access to the wider evidence, no sane person would have signed a contract with ‘Amway UK’ and, therefore, no one can have done so as the result of a fully-informed choice. - For the previous 35 years, virtually no ‘Amway’ products have been sold to genuine retail customers in the UK, due to their deliberately banal quality and outrageously high prices (controlled by ‘Amway’s’ instigators in the USA). Therefore, it has been a mathematical impossibility for the overwhelming majority of ‘Amway UK’s’ contributing participants to receive an overall financial benefit, because there has been insufficient external revenue to make the ‘Amway’ scheme economically viable. - For the previous 35 years, the terms: ‘Amway UK’ and ‘Multilevel Marketing Business Model,’ have, in fact, been part of an extensive, thought-stopping vocabulary, designed to shield a premeditated closed-market swindle (a.k.a. a pyramid scam, a.k.a. ‘Ponzi scheme’) camouflaged by banal products and mystifying mathematical presentations, and deliberately occulted by the de facto agents of ‘Amway’s’ instigators; including the corporate officers of ‘Amway UK’, those of the ‘UK DSA.’ In reality, victims of this mind-numbing deception have merely being buying infinite shares in a finite quantity of their own money. - For the previous 35 years, ‘Amway UK Ltd.’ has secretly been an insolvent corporate structure, losing over $50 millions in the period 1999-2007. As a privately-controlled, limited-liability, commercial company, the officers of ‘Amway UK’ were not obliged to declare this key information publicly. In recent years, ‘Amway UK Ltd.’ has, in fact, been kept afloat by cash declared to the High Court to have come from ‘Amway S. Korea.’ - During the previous 35 years, hundreds of millions of dollars have, in fact, been illegally removed from an endless chain of hundreds of thousands of insolvent, but temporarily deluded, UK ‘Amway’ adherents, who have purchased books, recordings and tickets to meetings, etc., on the pretext that these materials contain exclusive secrets vital to receiving Unlimited Financial Reward from the operation of an ‘Amway Business.’ - During the previous 35 years, ‘Amway UK Ltd.’ has, in fact, been a counterfeit direct selling company – just one piece of convincing bait in an outrageous ‘advanced fee fraud’ of global proportions. The take from this immense racket has comprised well over 90% of all financial activity occurring within the ‘Amway’ organization in the UK. The money (which has mostly been collected in cash) has been passed (without any payment of UK tax) to a handful of individuals in the USA, principally, the self-styled ‘pastor’, Dexter Yager, via various corporate structures; principally, ‘International Business Systems Ltd.’ – a now-defunct, UK-registered, privately-controlled, limited liability, commercial company which was owned and run by two UK citizens, Jerry Scriven and Patrick Gregory, and their respective spouses. - The corporate officers of ‘Amway UK’ and those of the ‘UK DSA’ have conspired to infiltrate traditional culture (and, thus, avoid investigation) via: gifts to charity (particularly UNICEF), association with celebrities, politicians, government departments and agents, etc. During the 1980s and 1990s, two popular, former BBC television personalities, Valerie Singleton and Michael Aspel, were deceived into presenting recruitment videos for ‘Amway UK.’ During the 1990s at least two Conservative members of parliament, Andrew Rowe and Sir James Lester, were paid to act as ‘consultants’ by ‘Amway UK.’ In 1997, the UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair MP, was deceived into recording a video ‘message of support for the UK DSA’ in which he recited misleading statistics fed to him by the director of the UK DSA, Richard Berry. In the early years of the 21st. century, agents of the UK Office of Fair Trading were deceived into allowing ‘Amway UK,’ via the ‘UK DSA,’ to acquire the use of the OFT name and logo. - The structure of the ‘Amway’ movement corresponds to that of a destructive or criminogenic cultic group, in that it comprises a constantly expanding, and changing, labyrinth of (apparently independent) corporate structures, pursuing lawful, and/or unlawful activities, which have been maliciously created, and/or subverted, and/or dissolved, to prevent, and/or divert, investigation and isolate the ultimate beneficiaries from liability. Furthermore, a significant number of the corporate officers of these constituent structures seem to have had little, or no, idea of what actually lurks behind ‘Amway’ themselves. Those who have begun to face reality, have been swiftly replaced. - For the previous 35 years, victims of the ‘Amway’ swindle in the UK have, in fact, been exposed to co-ordinated, devious techniques of social, psychological and physical persuasion, designed to shut down their individual critical and evaluative faculties and provoke the self-gratifying, group-delusion that it is possible for anyone to receive Unlimited Financial Reward from the ‘Amway Business Model’ (provided they never question the authenticity of ‘Amway’ or challenge the moral and intellectual authority of its leaders). - Although the vast majority of victims of the ‘Amway’ swindle in the UK have quit (without complaint) when they failed to receive any benefit (falsely blaming themselves), a significant minority (with access to independent funds) have undergone a nightmarish personality transformation and recklessly dissipated all their mental, physical and financial resources to the benefit of hitherto unknown persons whom they continued to trust and follow no matter what suffering this entailed. Core-‘Amway’ adherents have often been compared to gambling addicts. However, they should more accurately be described as psychotic (i.e. suffering from a severe mental derangement especially when resulting in delusions and loss of contact with external reality). Core-‘Amway’ adherents who manage to break with their group and confront the ego-destroying reality that they have been systematically deceived and exploited, are invariably destitute and dissociated from all their previous social contacts. They do not possess an accurate vocabulary to explain what they have been subjected to, and they often unconsciously continue to use ‘Amway’s’ own thought-stopping terminology. The number of individuals who have committed suicide as a result of being driven into a psychotic state by the ‘Amway’ myth, is yet to be determined - One of the most courageous witnesses to the ‘Amway’ fraud, who supplied evidence to BERR investigators (but who was not produced in court), is Eric Scheibeler (a former federal auditor from Pennsylvania). Eric spent 10 years as the de facto slave of ‘Amway’s’ instigators, rising to a level in the organization known as ‘Emerald Distributor.’ During this period, despite recruiting thousands more adherents, Eric lost approximately $100 000, but he passed at least $4 millions to persons above him in the hierarchy of the organization, including the self-styled ‘pastor,’ Dexter Yager. Most of this cash came from the sale of books, recordings and tickets to meetings. When Eric finally confronted external reality, he was physically exhausted, suffering from chronic psychological deterioration symptoms and contemplating suicide. Eric has subsequently been the victim of calumny and various malicious prosecutions (in which the ‘Amway Corporation’ has posed as the victim). In reality, Eric has had his life, and the lives of his wife and children, threatened for trying to expose the ‘Amway’ fraud. - The directors of two (apparently independent) UK registered charities - Ian Howarth (‘Cult Information Centre’) and Graham Baldwin (‘Catalyst’ ) who steadfastly pretend to be honest specialists offering advice and information to members of the public, journalists, academics, etc., about movements known as ‘cults,’ - have, in fact, been secretly under contract to ‘Amway UK’ as ‘consultants.’ During the previous 15 years (but prior to the BERR petition), any former ‘Amway’ adherent approaching Messrs. Howarth or Baldwin falsely believing them to be independent and seeking information about ‘Amway’ in the UK, has not been directed to law enforcement agents, journalists or legislators. On the contrary, many key UK witnesses to the ‘Amway’ racket (whose testimony might have triggered an earlier enquiry) have been directed back to ‘Amway UK’ for what has been arbitrarily defined as ‘internal arbitration’ (i.e. victims have been given limited compensation in return for their silence). Although the ‘Amway’ fraud has been effectively shut down in the UK, any decision by the Appeal Court, other than the immediate compulsory closure of ‘Amway UK Ltd.,’ will be exploited by US-based racketeers as a license to continue to steal from the citizens of other countries. On December 5th 2008, the same public interest petition to have ‘Amway UK Ltd.’ compulsorily wound up on technical grounds was heard by the three Appeal Court Judges: Lord Justice Bernard Anthony Rix (b. 1944), Lord Justice Colin Percy Farquharson Rimer (b. 1944) and Lord Justice Roger Grenfell Toulson (b. 1946). The same damning evidence recovered by UK government agents (working for the Company Investigations Branch of BERR) and the same, less-than-intellectually-rigorous analysis by the government’s lawyers was presented to the Appeal Court. The same empty promises were made by the de facto agents of unnamed, US-based racketeers. If it wasn’t for the serious consequences of ‘Amway’, then this costly, legal charade would be almost absurd. Copyright David Brear December 2008
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