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I was served with a subpoena issued by Amway's attorney's, along with Sidney Schwartz, Ashley Wilkes and John Hoagland, in a civil suit filed in Michigan in which Amway is accusing Proctor & Gamble of sponsoring Sidney Schwartz's Amway Untold Stories website. This lawsuit may be read at AUS

I have never had a relationship with P&G. I don't care how you define relationship, there has never been one. I have never sent them anything, or received anything from them. They have never sent me any money. I have never discussed my website with them in any way, shape or form. I have been in daily communication, via email, with many of the other website owners. Not once, in 2 1/2 years and thousands of email, have I ever read anything from anybody else that would indicate, however slightly, that Proctor & Gamble is controlling, directing or any way managing any of the websites.

Very obviously, if I had any type of relationship with P&G, then Amway would certainly be within their rights to explore my relationship with them. But there is none and my right to privacy may be invaded just to disprove Amway's conspiracy theory.

Amway is also demanding that I turn over all email that I have ever sent/received for the last 4 years regarding Amway or P&G and and all email that I have sent or received from some friends that I have made the past couple of years.

Let me repeat that I have never been involved in any discussion where it was revealed that P&G was behind any website on the internet. To the best of my knowledge, every website on the internet was the creation of an individual who had been through an Amway experience and wanted to share that experience with others. They wanted to expose the ongoing problems that have never been adequately addressed openly and honestly, and which in many cases, is hurting more people than it is helping.

I may have to turn over the contents of my hard-drive to Amway and the few email I had in my inbox so that they can examine each and every data cluster on it. Obviously, the cheapest thing for me to do is just turn over what I do have and let Amway knock themselves out and let them pay experts a lot of money to examine everything on my hard-drive. There is nothing there to incriminate me or help them.

However, I have retained a lawyer and a motion to quash the subpoena will soon be filed. A federal judge may yet rule that Amway has a right to invade my privacy to perpetuate their fantasy of finding a conspiracy headed by P&G where none exists. I am hoping that my faith in the legal system won't be shattered. I am taking this action not because I have anything to hide, but it's because I firmly believe it ain't right for a multi-billion corporation to invade a person's privacy armed simply with a conspiracy theory with no facts.

Think about how much personal and private information you have on your PC. Would you want a multi-billion dollar corporation anxious to silence their critics access to this kind of information? I am not trying to suggest that Amway would use this information improperly, but I also never thought I would get drawn into a civil dispute between two multi-billion dollar corporations simply because I excerised my constitutional right of free speech.

I've now seen Sidney Schwartz subpoenaed three times. I truly admire him for his courage for re-opening his website after the first two times. In all my communications with him via email, I have found him to be a very honorable man. Indeed, all of the friends that I have had the privilige to communicate with over the past few years exhibited tremendous character. We primarily shared information and tossed out ideas, but we also laughed with other, cried when needed, and also supported each other when it was needed. We also become extremely close friends without ever meeting face to face.

Now that Amway has my number, I am subject to being treated as Sidney has been. There is not one person in this world who can convince me that if I keep my website up, Amway won't do this again and again and again.

The personal cost of my waving the flag is too great. While I believe the research that I had done over the internet about the false and misleading things distributors say is something people should have the right to read, I will not risk losing my wife or family. They are far more important to me than the message I conveyed on my website.

I will also not risk going into bankruptcy defending myself against the legal resources of a multi-billion corporation who has demonstrated a willingness to subpoena and drag into court the people who criticize the tactics and techniques used by their distributor force, who try to help those that have been hurt by their Amway experience, and who has tried to bring to light information that a multi-billion corporation would rather remain hidden under the carpet.

As soon as my lawyer tells me that I am free from the legalities of this subpoena, I will be removing my website from the internet. For now, I dare not delete anything. If you contemplate sending me an email, please keep that in mind that I may have to turn over your email and email address to Amway.

There are many Amway-info sites on the web today. I sincerely hope that if you are investigating the Amway opportunity, you look at both sides of the issue. There are a lot of good, well-meaning people involved with Amway with dreams of becoming wealthy. There's nothing wrong with that. There are also some who have taken advantage of those dreams and who have done incredible damage to relationships and caused financial harm to others. There is something wrong with that.

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Your Stories

Here you will find stories from people who have shared their Amway experience, both pro and con. I feel this is the strongest part of my website. Here you can read other peoples opinions and experiences.

Unlike some pro-amway sites, I don't censure people. I feel that you should have the benefit of hearing both sides of the business.

For those that are interested, my story