"They come from preachers, lawyers, housewives, plumbers, carpenters," Dougherty said. [15] Larry Stephen Huff, another key individual in the company, served two years in a Federal Prison, for charges related to a Ponzi scam (unrelated to Holiday Magic).[21]. In 1979, his fortune gone, he attempted a comeback with another motivational company called Challenge, Inc.,[6] which led to more legal difficulties. IT WOULD BE impossible to write a book about the sales empire of Glenn Turner without invoking H. L. Mencken's familiar remark that no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people. Glenn W. Turner, a farmboy who built and lost a multimillion-dollar financial empire with his pyramid sales schemes, lost his freedom Thursday. Holiday Magic Inc. et al. Yes, Mencken would have loved it. New York: William Morrow & Co. $8.95. GLENN W. TURNER ENTERPRISES, INC., a Florida corporation, et al., Defendants. [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". JPMorgan Chase fell for Frank, a college financial planning outfit whose customer base it later (allegedly) discovered was mostly made up of fake email addresses created at the behest of founder Charlie Javice. [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. [16] Katz's Everybody's Business: An Almanac also referred to Holiday Magic as a "pyramid sales organization". Glenn Turner's Koscot charges $2,000 for the right to distribute "kosmetics." Holiday Magic (Bus. Turner packaged this dubious enterprise with a religious fervor that would make Billy Sunday look like the Archbishop of Canterbury. 0000002742 00000 n 0000001769 00000 n At the same time, the federal government became less likely to prosecute obvious malfeasance. [1], Pyramid schemes being illegal, Koscot became involved in substantial litigation from government agencies and Koscot's customers. 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. 124., July 6, 1977. 0000003563 00000 n startxref . mid plans has focused on a single organization, Glenn W. Turner Enter-prises, Inc., a holding company with 68 subsidiaries3 including the two most successful and most maligned pyramid schemes, DG and its sister company Koscot Interplanetary, Inc. <>stream 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. We found 28 records for Glenn Turner in Houston, Royse City and 15 other cities in Texas. The Arizona case marked the first felony conviction for Turner, who built a fortune around his Orlando-based pyramid sales 20 years ago. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge. 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). The main portion of the building is wide and round, while the top features a design that is fort-like in nature. "[23] One of the Holiday Magic Inc. cases was also cited by The University of Chicago Law Review[24] and the Columbia Law Review. The two men told Dougherty before sentencing that they never intended to break the law. A nine-month trial ended in a hung jury. See the article in its original context from. Within a few years Turner's enterprises had made an estimated $300 million. 0000031956 00000 n One report has him convicted of running a pyramid scheme in Arizona in 1985 and released after five years in prison. A lot of books have been written about Mr. Turner and today weve put the final period in the final chapter of the saga of Glenn Turner, Lotstein said. v. Holiday Magic, Inc., et al., N.D. California, Civil Action No. [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. If anybody was hurt by our program or suffered because of it, I am sure sorry, Rechtor said. He was featured in an 11-page article in Life magazine in 1971,[8] and was reportedly worth $300 million at the time. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. We dont trust the government, media or big business. [4], Patrick, a student of Alexander Everett (founder of Mind Dynamics), used Mind Dynamics techniques as well as the Silva Method in the Holiday Magic organization. In 1975, Turner pleaded guilty to a single charge of violating securities laws and was given probation. endstream endobj 166 0 obj <>stream There, it appeared as a way for people in recovery to project themselves forward into a more sober future. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. "They have for years.". "They conspired to get Mr. Turner," said another woman. It's easy and secure. 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. Koscot and Dare to be Great grew rapidly and Turner became famous. 0 Dougherty said he had received "hundreds" of letters in support of Turner. 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. Even then, he never stopped explaining. Rector's only asset is his house, and his only income a $200-a-month military pension, the investigation found. 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. The election of Ronald Reagan marked the beginning of an era of worshiping wealth, one in which more and more people came to believe that anything that made money was by definition a success. Today, the phrase is also a way to push back on the feelings of self-doubt we call impostor syndrome, or to put forward an advantageous personal or professional confidence we might not entirely feel. 0000003563 00000 n (Free Speech issue - dismissed), Juice Plus AKA National Safety Associates, European Grouping of Marketing Professionals, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Holiday_Magic&oldid=1140202664, Companies based in San Rafael, California, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles needing clarification, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from March 2009, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Holiday Magic, Inc. v. Turner himself offers one cautionary tale. 0000041306 00000 n . Glenn W. Turner is now all but forgotten. He subsequently bought exclusive rights for Middle East distribution of Holiday Magic cosmetics and formed his own company, Beauty Magic, in Beirut, Lebanon. 0000001660 00000 n %PDF-1.7 % "Challenge had a positive effect on all of our lives," said one woman who was crying in the hallway outside the courtroom. 72-390. Mr. Maxa, Washington Post reporter, describes this ripe chapter in the annals of Boobus Americanus with clarity and an eye for the juicy detail. "All you have to do is believe it."[7]. But Turner seems to have genuinely convinced himself he was offering the little people a splendid opportunity. Pyramid Schemes Versus Ponzi Schemes The labels Ponzi scheme and pyramid scheme are often used interchangeably to describe specific forms of investment fraud where sustainability depends on the influx of new "investors" to the scheme. 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. 0000005276 00000 n 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." 0000037334 00000 n [1], In 1974, after almost 10 years in operation and tied to pyramid schemes and controversy, both Leadership Dynamics and Mind Dynamics ceased operations. 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. By Rudy ???trated. 0000032500 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. Illustrated. The purpose of this Note is to investigate the In the lawsuit, Avon Products' claimed that "Holiday Magic employees distributed leaflets accusing Avon of goon squads, paying off The District attorney's office.."[7], In June 1973, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against Holiday Magic,[8] charging Patrick with "bilking some 80,000 people out of more than $250 million through his Holiday Magic cosmetics and soap empire. But the real bait was the right to sell the righttosell to other suckers on the principle of a chain letter. Glenn W. Turner is now all but forgotten. 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