By Scott Johnson
A commenter calling itself Truth Seeker[?] wrote:
The Barbara Bouchey situation is almost a mirror of the Scott Johnson situation.
1) Both up to their necks in nefarious activities for many years
2) Both recruited and exploited people
3) Only AFTER losing everything did they decide to turn whistleblower. (That’s the key: had they continued to benefit financially, both would still be involved)
4) Both now try and court the media (Scott runs a radio show)
5) Neither express ANY remorse towards their victims. The whistleblower act is really just to feed the ego)
Let’s deconstruct these specious arguments, point by point.
It is not even close.
“TruthSeeker[?] You need to define the word “nefarious.”
We don’t know what Barbara Bouchey [BB] was involved in, or aware of, when it comes to NXIVM.
She left Nxivm before DOS, so you can throw out the cauterizing of Keith Raniere’s initials into pubic area flesh, as well as the associated master/slave relationships and collateral/blackmail.
Did she know about tax evasion? We don’t know. She claims she never got involved in NXIVM financials.
Did she hear the training on not paying taxes? We don’t know. If she did and didn’t leave immediately and report this to law enforcement, that’s an issue, especially given her career role as a certified financial advisor.
I told Bouchey, when we spoke about a year ago, that it was “weird” that Raniere had multiple sex partners. She pushed back, saying there are many places around the world where this is normal.
I thought her response was equally weird and felt that she lived in the United States, and that is not the usual, acceptable behavior. I asked her to come on my radio show to discuss it. She declined.
On the other hand, NXIVM is a relatively tiny organization compared to Amway and many other MLM scams. What I was involved in was relatively mainstream.
I learned how critical it is later to have retail sales of a product comprise a major portion of the income of a company, and developed a theory to explain why retail sales are required to demonstrate an MLM is not an illegal pyramid.
This is something, I believe, nobody had done before in as thorough and bullet-proof manner.
When I spoke to the then FTC lead attorney in the lawsuit against Herbalife, her answer was “precedent.”
The explanation can be found in this link [look for the paragraph titled “Why Is Having All/Mostly Internal Sales An Illegal Pyramid?”]: http://allmlmfacts.org/2016/05/h-r-5230-and-the-fallacy-of-mlm/
If the FTC regulated all MLMs using the same criteria as the recent Vemma and Herbalife cases, there would be virtually no MLMs around.
The RICO fraud tool scam is described on virtually all of my radio shows: http://www.buildingfortunesradio.com/scott-johnson-peter-mingils/
RICO is an even larger problem than lack of retail sales, in my opinion.
However, to date the FTC has ignored this issue.
2) Both recruited and exploited people
Recruiting is not illegal. The military does it. All kinds of companies, churches, and other organizations do it. I don’t know what BB’s intent was, whether she honestly thought she was helping people or exploiting them.
What I do know is I felt Amway was a legitimate business at the time I was participating in it.
There was no intent to exploit anyone. Unknown to me at the time, Amway and other MLMs are illegal pyramids and RICO frauds, [as described above.]
3) Only AFTER losing everything did they decide to turn whistleblower. (That’s the key: had they continue to benefit financially, both would still be involved)
I lost both time and money, but I didn’t lose everything. I found out about Amway’s tool scam and instantly stopped recruiting and started educating others. I am not interested in benefiting financially if it involves an illegal pyramid and/or RICO fraud. TruthSeeker[??] You are simply an anonymous [cowardly] liar who does not know me.
You are almost certainly too much of a coward to come on my radio show and debate these issues.
4) Both now try and court the media (Scott runs a radio show)
I do try to court the media, in order to get more attention focused on MLM scams to get them to make drastic changes [which would probably result in them collapsing.]
I also court the general public with my websites.
I also court executive and legislative branches of government, business organizations, etc.
I also look for others who are willing to help in that effort.
I was even willing to be sued by Amway and won a settlement agreement, which you can read on my website: https://stoptheamwaytoolscam.wordpress.com/about/ and I continue to educate others.
Why do you consider all of that a problem? I am willing to help others with no financial benefit to myself.
5) Neither express ANY remorse towards their victims.. the whistleblower act is really just to feed the ego)
According to the dictionary “remorse” means “guilt, shameful, hurtful, or violent,” among other things.
I was unknowingly scammed, as were any person I recruited. As soon as I learned it was a scam I got out and began to inform others.
The productive thing to do is to educate others, not to cry about it, or claim that I am guilty when I’m not, fall on my “remorse sword,” etc.
How is helping others not get scammed by Amway and other MLM scams feeding my ego?
If you are trying to make me feel guilty, it simply won’t work.