0000023584 00000 n vlyiJ)pd*n\[PN>8Yl^1cyO"`CC\=bu3hB 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. Annotated bibliography on chain letters and pyramid schemes. 235 0 obj Glenn W. Turner is now all but forgotten. 235 0 obj Turner's fame and wealth was to be an inspiration for others to buy franchises so that "they could all be rich and successful like him". 271 0 obj Targets for citations in Chain Letter Evolution. I have remorse for these people that did not benefit by what we set out to do. But faking it in matters of money is another matter entirely. 0000005276 00000 n 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. Glenn W. Turner worked briefly for Holiday Magic in 1966. Turner, 53, created a $300 million empire in the 1970s by selling distributorships in his Dare to be Great and Koscot International companies. Holiday Magic Inc. et al. See the article in its original context from. Attorneys for the two said their convictions would be appealed and asked that they be freed on bond until their appeals are heard. [1][5] Navarro described the training as having "overtones of strict military training techniques. Although Turner was never convicted of a criminal charge, he received probation in a mailfraud case after arranging with the prosecution to plead no contest to a lesser charge. Yes, the ethos can lead to success, as long as you actually have the goods and the skills. This book may be edifying but, having long believed, considerable evidence to the contrary notwithstanding, that The People Is Not Dumb, I found it depressing. 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. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. [1] To form the pyramids of success, many directors, larger numbers of supervisors, salespeople and still more customers were needed. (Javice has denied the banks claims.) Its backed by no government, is all but impossible to use and serves no legal need. 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. 0000041306 00000 n "Pyramid Sales: Hearing Before the Subcommittee for Consumers of the Committee on Commerce, United States Congress", 1974, United States Congress, Pp. Dougherty then passed sentence, despite receiving hundreds of letters in support of Turner. deal). "[7], According to one report target of prosecutors "in more than 30 states" targeted him. [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. The judge refused and the men were led away to jail by deputy sheriffs after they gave their wallets, watches and jewelry to friends in the courtroom. they indicted me on aiding and abetting running a pyramid scheme. Turner himself offers one cautionary tale. [3] 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. As Mr, Maxa notes, Americans have always had a weakness for successful rogues. 748 as an example of pyramid schemes. Civ. PHOENIX Glenn W. Turner, creator of the "Dare to Be Great" motivational plan, surrendered to Arizona authorities today to face 126 counts of fraud and other charges after waiving extradition. 1975, P. 304., Hearings on S. 483, 1900, 1927, and 1961, and H.R. According to a presentence investigation, Turner, who has been living in North Carolina, is broke and has no assets or income. 0000002742 00000 n Holiday Magic was a multi-level marketing organization, founded in 1964, by William Penn Patrick (19301973) in the United States. Turner, 57, served nearly two-thirds of a seven-year term in Arizona for fleecing investors in a scheme for distributing motivational tapes. [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. 6, 19, 24., Library of Congress. [7] (In 1972 he built a "$3.5 million white stone castle with a helicopter landing pad" on Bear Gulley Lake, also near Orlando. 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. In the low-interest-rate environment of the past decade, investors put up money with little diligence, and fake it till you make it turned toxic. Ward, et al. 0000003297 00000 n DeMuro, RG. ", Dougherty said he also took into account that Turner "has on a consistent basis and a generous basis contributed large sums of money . the Glenn Turner modification is a good one. 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. I have often wondered if Amway distributors borrowed this terminology from Turners group, or was it Turner who confiscated these words and phrases from some Amway distributors? Kerns wrote. But this salesman extraordinaire in flashy suits was once all but omnipresent in American life. 0000001036 00000 n C-74-1067-LHB., No. %PDF-1.7 % But Dougherty denied bond and ordered both men to begin serving their sentences immediately. He then started two multi-level marketing companies, Koscot Interplanetary, selling cosmetics, and Dare to Be Great, selling motivational and self-improvement courses. 0000004278 00000 n [5], The State of California filed suit against Holiday Magic in December, 1972. No surprise, trust is cratering. 0000037334 00000 n By Rudy Maxa. Rector said the men -- Douglas Beekman of Apopka and Richard Mailman of Altamonte Springs -- never voiced such a concern to him. 271 0 obj Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. A few of their supporters cried as the sentences were read. 124., July 6, 1977. 72-390. Patrick bought all of the cosmetics supplies for $16,250, and founded Holiday Magic, Inc. After the purchase, Patrick began selling distributorships in his new company. I didn't take it seriously because I was running for . 0000006496 00000 n [16] Katz's Everybody's Business: An Almanac also referred to Holiday Magic as a "pyramid sales organization". Turner pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor fraud charge in return for a probation sentence. Traditionally, businesses have had to state their returns using metrics that can only be faked by lying. Marjoe knew, Clifford Irving knew, but Mr. Maxa, who doesn't seem to be just anybody's fool, honestly believes that Turner honestly believed that he was honest. <>stream 2/10/75, p. 38) and Bestline . "The Role of Small Business in Franchising, Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Minority Small Business. He first pushed cosmetics and later a motivation course called Dare to Be Great. 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? "[7] Turner, attorney F. Lee Bailey, and eight others were also indicted by a federal grand jury on conspiracy and mail fraud charges. 0000003839 00000 n 11106 (1975). L|B@9`CwX}LKC [9] The FTC found that Holiday Magic was in violation of section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, and section 2 (a) of the Clayton Antitrust Act. See the article in its original context from. 0000005760 00000 n When a federal judge lumped together 1,000 of those lawsuits into a single class-action suit seeking nearly $1 billion, Turner went bankrupt. Morrow. In 1979, his fortune gone, he attempted a comeback with another motivational company called Challenge, Inc.,[6] which led to more legal difficulties. 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. [1], In 1974, after almost 10 years in operation and tied to pyramid schemes and controversy, both Leadership Dynamics and Mind Dynamics ceased operations. Turner and a partner, Edward Rector, 57, were sentenced to seven years in prison in Arizona in August on charges of operating a pyramid scheme there and defrauding investors through a self-motivational company called Challenge Inc. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. Today, fake it till you make it has come to represent the scrappy, optimistic mind-set of American hustle culture. 0000004799 00000 n 0000000016 00000 n "[23] One of the Holiday Magic Inc. cases was also cited by The University of Chicago Law Review[24] and the Columbia Law Review. One bought a cosmetics distributorship for $4,500 and became entitled to sell distributorships to others, pocketing a fat commission. He was paroled in November but must be supervised by. Originally the organization distributed goods such as home-care products and cosmetics. 5616. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. This is a good little book about an earnest con artist who ripped off the American public for $75 million. 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. As he was led off to jail, he told reporters: The good that I have done outweighs the bad. No. Oaks pleaded guilty last year to one felony count of operating an illegal pyramid scheme and agreed to testify against Turner and Rechtor. One representative pyramid venture, Dare to be Great, Inc., is de-scribed in SEC v. Glenn W Turner Enterprises, Inc. 8 . 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. "Challenge had a positive effect on all of our lives," said one woman who was crying in the hallway outside the courtroom. Mr. Maxa has the newspaper reporter's habit of cramming in information wherever it will fit, whether apposite or no. Illustrated. [28] The Mind Dynamics course was described as providing "a means of achieving personal success through the conscious use of the subconscious mind". But what he is actually selling, he . [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. 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. 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.. The con artist became a business model, says Micki McGee, author of Self-Help, Inc. Its only in a market-worshiping economy that you can say defrauding people in the interest of profit would somehow be okay.. He said neither man would be eligible for release from prison before serving at least two-thirds of the sentence. Mr. Turner and Mr. Rechtor, who also received seven years, were. [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". On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [7] As one news story put it: .mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}, Think about it: One person could sell 10 distributorships, and each of the 10 could sell 10 more, and so on. A technicality of the law is what got me. By the time he died in 2020, it took more than a year for a newspaper reporter to stumble across his Legacy.com obituary and make note of his death. 0000007360 00000 n Private investors also have claims against the property for $200,000 in tax certificates, under which they paid the taxes and earn 18 percent interest until the property is sold and the tax amounts are paid back to them.. Turner and his family havent paid property taxes since 1979, but investors bought tax certificates equal to the back taxes each year. [9] "The end began in October 1969, when 14 Koscot distributors in Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana sued Turner for failing to pay promised dividends. . The Dream, a podcast about multi-level marketing, discussed Holiday Magic and William Penn Patrick. Employing a pyramid selling scheme and an evangelical, downhome platform style, Turner cajoled thousands of ordinary folks into putting up varying amounts, in return for which they would sell Turner's beauty products. Unsatisfied investors also filed lawsuits. 0000032500 00000 n 0000031782 00000 n Glenn W. Turner worked briefly for Holiday Magic in 1966. Turner packaged this dubious enterprise with a religious fervor that would make Billy Sunday look like the Archbishop of Canterbury. Lotstein said he doubted the money would ever be collected. (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.). 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 %PDF-1.7 % House Permanent Select Committee on Small Business., 1973, P. 127, 137, 157, 203. 0000002201 00000 n 0000001791 00000 n 0000032500 00000 n But it draws on older strains in American life, marrying psychological concepts on how to change human behavior with the positive-thinking self-help culture that might as well be Americas unofficial state religion. "They conspired to get Mr. Turner," said another woman. 0000003839 00000 n Select the best result to find their address, phone number, relatives, and public records. Those in the positions of Instructor General, Trainer General, and Senior General were required to take the training. Last month Turner, who turned 53 on Wednesday, and Rector, 57, were convicted on one count of conspiracy, nine counts of fraud, and nine counts of running an illegal pyramid sales scheme. The book has its lighter moments. If it can happen to Charles Colson, folks, you gotta believe. hb```e`` /`"\}!5|Z1O(s@Tu4t5UL- M-\\mm||=C#cbC"R32S But the real bait was the right to sell the righttosell to other suckers on the principle of a chain letter. https://www.nytimes.com/1977/02/20/archives/dare-to-be-great-a-sincere-con-man.html. 0000002472 00000 n However from a technical perspective, there are differences in the way the two types of schemes operate. Koscot Interplanetary, Inc. was an Orlando, Florida based multi-level marketing cosmetic company selling mink oil-based cosmetics, owned by Glenn Wesley Turner (19342020). A nine-month trial ended in a hung jury. 0000008424 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. Corporate shareholders began to prioritize quarterly profits over long-term results. The purpose of this Note is to investigate the But Turner seems to have genuinely convinced himself he was offering the little people a splendid opportunity. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. 0000005276 00000 n %%EOF 0000007782 00000 n As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. However, the focus of the company was more about selling distributorships than cosmetics. Within a few years Turner's enterprises had made an estimated $300 million. 0000007782 00000 n TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. The main portion of the building is wide and round, while the top features a design that is fort-like in nature. [26] Faltinsky described Holiday Magic as "..the largest pyramid scam of all time.."[27], In 1967, William Penn Patrick wrote a booklet, entitled Happiness and Success through Principle, and founded Leadership Dynamics based on those principles. 0000041122 00000 n "Our intent was to help people believe in themselves.". 0000002201 00000 n The company called Zolene was about to go out of business. What happened? startxref 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". Lets fix that. Eventually, the truth comes out. It didnt. Our intent was to help people. 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. hb```e`` /`"\}!5|Z1O(s@Tu4t5UL- M-\\mm||=C#cbC"R32S "Holiday Magic Inc.: An Anatomy of a Scam", United States Securities and Exchange Commission, MLM Law - Lawyer Grimes & Reese PLLC - Attorney Specializing in Multilevel Marketing - HOLIDAY MAGIC, INC., ORDER, ETC., IN REGARD TO ALLEGED VIOLATION OF SEC. 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. Even as Turner attracted increasingly negative attention in 1972, he was arrested on 86 counts of violating securities laws the phrase gained popularity in a more earnest context within Alcoholics Anonymous. torture involving a mouse that was supposed to eat a recalcitrant witness's heart (Good Lord! Charges were then dropped against Bailey. "If anyone was hurt in our program, I am extremely sorry. Psychiatrist Alfred Adler, writing in the early 20th century, argued people could change habits by embracing an act as if strategy: assume a behavior and, eventually, it will become real. Lotstein acknowledged that not all of the Challenge "victims" were pleased that Turner was prosecuted. Glenn Turner's Koscot charges $2,000 for the right to distribute "kosmetics." Holiday Magic (Bus. Stewart was behind the societal curve. Citation Needed, a podcast, has an episode about William Penn Patrick (and Holiday Magic). 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