All these characters in bright red polyester doubleknits, with rhinestone flag lapel pins, dashing around the country making people hum, MMMMMMMM MONEY!. But this salesman extraordinaire in flashy suits was once all but omnipresent in American life. of plan, which will be referred to as the Glenn Turner or multi-level distributorship scheme, the promoters offer to the public a series of contracts called "Adventures." Warren., 497 F.2d 687., C.A.Wis. 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. Our intent was never to go out and commit a criminal act., Later, as he was leaving the courtroom in handcuffs, Turner told reporters, I think history will tell what I really was. 0000000016 00000 n Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. However, the focus of the company was more about selling distributorships than cosmetics. SAN DIEGOGlenn Arcaro of Los Angeles pleaded guilty today in federal court for his participation in a massive conspiracy involving BitConnect, a cryptocurrency investment scheme, which defrauded investors from the United States and abroad of over $2 billion. Dougherty also ordered Turner and Rector to pay $44,000 each in fines to be distributed to victims. 0000004119 00000 n Glenn W. Turner worked briefly for Holiday Magic in 1966. Its not clear who originated the exact wording of fake it till you make it, or how Turner and his followers adopted it. startxref One report has him convicted of running a pyramid scheme in Arizona in 1985 and released after five years in prison. 256 pp. Yes, Mencken would have loved it. Turner and Rechtor, who also received seven years, were convicted in July of 19 counts of conspiracy, fraud and promoting a pyramid scheme. . Generally, the product or service is of poor quality, overpriced, or has no purpose other than as a ploy to give the company the appearance of legality. JrsJk**j;{:[Z{&N. 0000031782 00000 n ", Nevertheless, Dougherty said, the men deserved prison terms because "some of these victims suffered great emotional and financial harm by your actions.". <<7C981AD2C2A8B2110A00B0784D58FC7F>]/Prev 803466>> As far as Ive been able to discover, these are among the first times that this now commonplace phrase received prominent mention in the media. Both stood with their hands folded behind their backs as Dougherty announced the prison terms. Abe F. March held several executive positions for Holiday Magic and parent company U.S. Universal; Regional Vice President, Canada (19711972), Vice President, Greece (19721973) and Managing Director for Sta-Power, Germany (1973). "If anyone was hurt in our program, I am extremely sorry. The purpose of this Note is to investigate the The empire collapsed in the early 1970s when authorities accused Turner of violating laws against pyramid sales, in which investors at the top make a fortune and those who get in later lose money. What happened? Koscot and Dare to be Great grew rapidly and Turner became famous. 0000041122 00000 n Holiday Magic Inc. et al. Turner ran in the Democratic primary for the United States Senate election in Florida, 1974, but lost. Assistant U. S. Attorneys Daniel C. Silva, Mark W. Pletcher, Lisa Sanniti and Carl Brooker. The Glenn Turner court was confronted with the pyramid sales scheme of Dare to Be Great, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Glenn W. Turner Enterprises, Inc. Ostensibly Dare sold through four "adven-tures" and one "plan" a motivation training course consisting of printed We found 28 records for Glenn Turner in Houston, Royse City and 15 other cities in Texas. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. A list of over 350 print sources on paper chain letters and pyramid schemes. Glenn W. Turner is now all but forgotten. The good that I have done outweighs the bad. 0000002201 00000 n The history of fake it till you make it offers a lesson here, if we want to heed it. Stewart was behind the societal curve. This is a good little book about an earnest con artist who ripped off the American public for $75 million. 0000041122 00000 n We are forever suspicious, convinced someone else wants to profit at our expense. But nowhere has the ethos of fake it found more fertile soil than in Silicon Valley, where the line between optimism and deceit can admittedly be a fine one. 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. 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. But what made him "really rich" was reportedly Koscot Interplanetary[6] (Koscot stood for "Kosmetics for the Communities of Tomorrow"). 0000007360 00000 n If anybody was hurt by our program or suffered because of it, I am sure sorry, Rechtor said. It all carne tumbling down eventually. Even as she spoke, the housing bubble riven with fraud committed (and invited) by banks, ratings agencies, mortgage brokers and appraisers was growing bigger. In a fitting finale, Turner, stopped for good and all, is saved by a showy evangelist from New Orleans. /b+;*R2VL5 WC^ ;_>[AM "su`/d_w$3qhTGS;#m!bytBefF~s*GB9z\eBUK,nrEYXn u.$leJrk5@ (As for The Apprentices more famous host Donald Trump, a nepo baby who cosplayed a successful mogul on the show we all know how that turned out.). 0000004278 00000 n 0000003839 00000 n We dont trust the government, media or big business. 271 0 obj But as Turners saga shows, theres a dark side baked into the fake it mentality: the fakers who attempt to win success through fraud, then never make good on their promises. That spirit is everywhere. 1974., May 20, 1974. 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. Our intent was to help people. . [3] Another has him convicted in 1987 along with Edward Rector, on charges of conspiracy, fraud and operating a pyramid scheme, and sentenced to seven years in prison. 0000008799 00000 n But his empire collapsed after state and federal investigators accused him of operating pyramid schemes that bilked thousands of investors. Today, fake it till you make it has come to represent the scrappy, optimistic mind-set of American hustle culture. %PDF-1.7 % At the meeting Turner's proteges would run to the stage in their flashy suits and fancy shoes, with $100 or even $1,000 bills pinned to their lapels. [28], Ben Gay, a high-level instructor at Leadership Dynamics, was President of Holiday Magic in the United States. [30] In popular culture [ edit] Turner packaged this dubious enterprise with a religious fervor that would make Billy Sunday look like the Archbishop of Canterbury. 0000006933 00000 n 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. 0000005760 00000 n Although Turner did eventually get some cosmetics on the market, the pyramid idea was always at the heart of his operation, accounting for $75 million of its total $115 million in sales; and he started a second company, merchandising a howtobeasuccess course called Dare to Be Great on the same principle. Turner and his best. Glenn W. Turner, 53 years old, was sentenced along with Edward G. Rechtor by Superior Court Judge Bernard J. Dougherty. Attached to the side stands connected a lone, cylindrical tower that contains a stairwell on the inside. endobj endstream endobj 166 0 obj <>stream "The first time I ever heard those words from those men was in this courtroom," Rector said. But this salesman extraordinaire in flashy suits was once all but omnipresent in American life. torture involving a mouse that was supposed to eat a recalcitrant witness's heart (Good Lord! [12] The indictment said that Bailey had appeared in a film made for Turner's organization and had appeared with Turner at several rallies. DARE TO BE GREAT. 0000007782 00000 n "The Role of Small Business in Franchising, Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Minority Small Business. He then started two multi-level marketing companies, Koscot Interplanetary, selling cosmetics, and Dare to Be Great, selling motivational and self-improvement courses. USA vs Glenn W. Turner, Nash Publications, New York, 1976 Rudy Maxa . The company had been investigated by the Market Court of Sweden,[3] United States Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and the State of California. "They come from all over this country and abroad. [11] 1974 hearings before the Congressional Oversight panel of the Federal Trade Commission described Holiday Magic as a "Multi-level marketer of cosmetics", that used an "unfair and deceptive pyramid distribution scheme". And as Turner understood, making lots of money will get you almost anything, including an invitation to lecture at the Harvard Business School. A nine-month trial ended in a hung jury. [1] In 1971, the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Koscot, charging restraint of trade. But when the claim has little to no basis in reality, it will almost certainly lead to failure and, as Turner discovered, to oblivion. 0000009459 00000 n In SEC v. Glenn W. Turner Enterprises, Inc., 474 F.2d 476, 482 (9th Cir. 0000003297 00000 n He was featured in an 11-page article in Life magazine in 1971,[8] and was reportedly worth $300 million at the time. Glenn W. Turner worked briefly for Holiday Magic in 1966. It is here that Mr. Maxa shows unusual ability to compress tedious and protracted legal wrangles (one trial lasted nine months) into an absorbing account. 0000001660 00000 n trailer Summary of this case from Great Western Bank & Trust v . Two dwarfs would hop out and unroll a red carpet. Koscot Interplanetary was a company from Orlando, Florida, selling mink oil-based cosmetics and was started by Glenn W. Turner in 1967. Glenn Turner's Koscot charges $2,000 for the right to distribute "kosmetics." Holiday Magic (Bus. [22] According to the Duke Law Journal: "Illegality permeated every facet of the promotion of the Holiday Magic marketing program. Select the best result to find their address, phone number, relatives, and public records. Koscot Interplanetary, Inc. was an Orlando, Florida based multi-level marketing cosmetic company selling mink oil-based cosmetics, owned by Glenn Wesley Turner (19342020). There being no provision in either law or morality for fraud without intent, it's hard to figure out what that makes Glenn Turner. 0000001769 00000 n Annotated bibliography on chain letters and pyramid schemes. 0000043655 00000 n xref 0000037159 00000 n [1], Pyramid schemes being illegal, Koscot became involved in substantial litigation from government agencies and Koscot's customers. the Glenn Turner modification is a good one. 0000003563 00000 n [17] Turner described it as one of the first "pyramid marketing" companies in America. "They have for years.". vlyiJ)pd*n\[PN>8Yl^1cyO"`CC\=bu3hB House Permanent Select Committee on Small Business., 1973, P. 127, 137, 157, 203. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. 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