Two years later he founded Dare to be Great, a motivational program similar to the later Challenge. But this salesman extraordinaire in flashy suits was once all but omnipresent in American life. But Turner seems to have genuinely convinced himself he was offering the little people a splendid opportunity. xref [1] It became entangled in numerous legal difficulties and went out of business in the 1970s.[2]. He said neither man would be eligible for release from prison before serving at least two-thirds of the sentence. One of them was Bob Hattaway, a former state legislator from Altamonte Springs who came to Arizona to testify for Turner. "[9], The company was investigated by the Federal Trade Commission,[4][10] and in June 1973 the company was found guilty of deceptive trade practices. 0000010114 00000 n "Our intent was to help people believe in themselves.". <> [7] He told reporters as he was led away to jail: The good that I have done outweighs the bad. Glenn W. Turner, 53, was sentenced along with Edward G. Rechtor by Superior Court Judge Bernard J. Dougherty, who said he had received scores of letters on behalf of the two Goldenrod, Fla., men. [5] PHOENIX, Ariz. -- Promoter Glenn Turner, who became a millionaire through self-motivation businesses, was sentenced with his business partner to seven years in prison Thursday for defrauding. [1], Pyramid schemes being illegal, Koscot became involved in substantial litigation from government agencies and Koscot's customers. [16] Katz's Everybody's Business: An Almanac also referred to Holiday Magic as a "pyramid sales organization". He then started two multi-level marketing companies, Koscot Interplanetary, selling cosmetics, and Dare to Be Great, selling motivational and self-improvement courses. 0000023769 00000 n Yes, Mencken would have loved it. . )[6] Turner, the son of a sharecropper, told people they. Eventually, the truth comes out. 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. 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." 2/10/75, p. 38) and Bestline . [28] The Mind Dynamics course was described as providing "a means of achieving personal success through the conscious use of the subconscious mind". Glenn W. Turner worked briefly for Holiday Magic in 1966. Glenn W. Turner, a farmboy who built and lost a multimillion-dollar financial empire with his pyramid sales schemes, lost his freedom Thursday. In re HOLIDAY MAGIC SECURITIES AND ANTITRUST LITIGATION., James J. Theres a difference between psyching yourself up and misrepresenting yourself, and the latter is where fake it has gone too far. 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. 235 0 obj They would peddle mink oil makeup and his Dare to Be Great motivational tapes, and collect more money by recruiting others and taking a percentage on their sales. What does it mean for a nation to valorize faking it as a means to an end and is there any way for Americans to turn back? The purpose of this Note is to investigate the Originally the organization distributed goods such as home-care products and cosmetics. I didn't take it seriously because I was running for . Its inherently manipulative, deceptive, fraudulent, inauthentic, says Robert L. FitzPatrick, co-author of False Profits: Seeking Financial and Spiritual Deliverance in Multi-Level Marketing and Pyramid Schemes. Yet, he adds, its just entered the culture, and its completely normalized.. Glenn W Turner, who started in Network Marketing in the late 60s and you will be blown away by the income earnings that he shares from that time. For more information, visit the listing at bit.ly/2mgnmna. 0 Ward, et al. 0000037334 00000 n Donate More than 88,000 people have invested about $44 million in various organizations operated by Turner, according to Federal Trade Commission figures cited by Attorney General Bob Corbins office in 1980. 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. 0000009459 00000 n On May 16, 1974, a compromise settlement with approximately 31,000 class members, establishing a trust fund worth $2,600,381, was approved by the court. Morrow. 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. But perhaps the most accurate description of Turner's victims was that of some cynical lawyers at the Securities and Exchange Commission who referred to them as Thalidomides.. 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. [3] An estimated 70 companies (as of 1972)[4] were owned by Turner (owned by Glenn W. Turner Enterprises, Inc.):[1] Dare to Be Great, which sold motivational and self-improvement courses, and also functioned as a multi-level marketing company;[5] Turner had also briefly worked for Holiday Magic, another multi-level marketing company that sold home-care products and cosmetics, and through related companies sold self-improvement programs. Some "schemes" are specifically developed to sidestep Pyramid Scheme legislation by offering a "product" or "service". 0000005760 00000 n 0000032500 00000 n 1975, P. 304., Hearings on S. 483, 1900, 1927, and 1961, and H.R. Corporate shareholders began to prioritize quarterly profits over long-term results. 0000023584 00000 n ". Z t{Hd)a^lEHuw-GB9Y/S5zcWC8,)X9W^kjx,:h*#H_TNG^Od i~l={'Zg^-0z V|0P%* &C?UG b^>'V/~`C\a(bG 1973), participants in a pyramid sales scheme were found to be security holders, since they invested their funds in a common scheme dependent for success directly upon the collective sales efforts of the organization. I have remorse for these people that did not benefit by what we set out to do. <<7C981AD2C2A8B2110A00B0784D58FC7F>]/Prev 803466>> 0000002472 00000 n It is apparent from this Court's findings of fact that the defendants are promoting a type of scheme commonly known as a pyramid operation. Its backed by no government, is all but impossible to use and serves no legal need. And we need to be less credulous and stop falling for the next shiny thing. He was featured in an 11-page article in Life magazine in 1971,[8] and was reportedly worth $300 million at the time. It didnt. Mr. Maxa, Washington Post reporter, describes this ripe chapter in the annals of Boobus Americanus with clarity and an eye for the juicy detail. According to 2019 surveys done by the Pew Research Center, almost half of us say Americans are not as reliable as in the past. JrsJk**j;{:[Z{&N. Annotated bibliography on chain letters and pyramid schemes. 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. 5 OF THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION ACT AND SEC. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. What a fine madness it was, the heyday of Dare to Be Great. 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. United States Senate election in Florida, 1974, "Meet the con man who sold America on 'fake it till you make it', "Dare to be Great, Inc! These circumstances have led us into a society that is both more cynical and more predatory, both more receptive to and encouraging of outright fakers. The company called Zolene was about to go out of business. Summary of this case from Great Western Bank & Trust v . He seems to have been equal parts P. T. Barnum, Horatio Alger, snake oil salesman and evangelist. Turner, though, had hired a lawyer for his sentencing Thursday. 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. Lotstein said he doubted the money would ever be collected. If it can happen to Charles Colson, folks, you gotta believe. (unrelated to Holiday Magic). 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 Warren., 497 F.2d 687., C.A.Wis. If he never quite tells us what made Glenn Turner runthat is was he a con artist or merely an overeupeptic free enterpriser?no one else knew either, including perhaps Turner. 0000041122 00000 n Koscot Interplanetary was a company from Orlando, Florida, selling mink oil-based cosmetics and was started by Glenn W. Turner in 1967. The saying became so pervasive in Amway that it would be the title of a 1980s expos by Phil Kerns. [10] The FTC's decision on Koscot set a precedent for defining if a company is engaging in illegal pyramiding. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. [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. ", United States Congress. 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. A group of a half-dozen former Challenge participants, who would not give their names, said after the sentencing that Turner and Rector did nothing wrong. In a fitting finale, Turner, stopped for good and all, is saved by a showy evangelist from New Orleans. PHOENIX, Ariz. (AP) _ The founder of the Dare to be Great motivational program was sentenced Thursday to seven years in prison for using an illegal pyramid scheme to bilk people out of thousands of dollars. Extensive notes. 0000003563 00000 n 5616. Koscot Interplanetary, Inc. was an Orlando, Florida based multi-level marketing cosmetic company selling mink oil-based cosmetics, owned by Glenn Wesley Turner (19342020). "The first time I ever heard those words from those men was in this courtroom," Rector said. they indicted me on aiding and abetting running a pyramid scheme. The guy at the top could make millions. In 1975, Turner pleaded guilty to a single charge of violating securities laws and was given probation. Turner, the son of a sharecropper, told people they could all be rich and successful like him if, that is, they made an investment in his multi-level marketing company. 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. Koscot Interplanetary. The castle and boathouse have been vacant for several years, and the castle has been used only for tours by the public for charitable events. Mr. Maxa cannot resist quoting H. L. Mencken's observation that no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public. ), it's too late to put the book down. 0000002201 00000 n [1][5] Navarro described the training as having "overtones of strict military training techniques. endstream endobj 166 0 obj <>stream According to a presentence investigation, Turner, who has been living in North Carolina, is broke and has no assets or income. By the spring of 1969, Turner was living in a large home on Lake Maitland near Orlando Florida, and "had eight Cadillacs and a Rolls-Royce, three Learjets and a closetful of tailor-made suits and alligator shoes". Federal TRADE COMMISSION ACT and SEC fine madness it was, the son of a sharecropper, told they... Agencies and Koscot 's customers from government agencies and Koscot 's customers pervasive in Amway that would... Precedent for defining if a company is engaging in illegal pyramiding the Originally the organization goods... 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