Amway's advocates are a frightened lot

Amway's advocates are a frightened lot
Amway India has not yet filed its answer to the show cause noticed served by the Andhra Pradesh High Court following a writ of Mandamus No. 11381 of 2009 filed by Corporate Frauds Watch.
Here is the ORDER of the Andhra Pradesh High Court.


"Whereas the petitioner above named through his advocate Sri Sk Mastan Vali, presented this writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court may be pleased to issue the Writ of Mandamus to direct the official respondents to act U/s 7 of the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978 to stop the business transactions as well as seize all its business operations of Amway since the business model and its transactions are perpetuating the criminal offences fall within the mischief of the above Act and in terms of the judgment of this Hon'ble Court in W P No 20470 and 20471 of 2006 dated 19.07.2007.
And whereas the High Court upon perusing the petition and affidavit filed herein and upon hearing the arguments of Sri Sk Mastan Vali, Advocate for the Petitioner and of GP of GAD for the respondent No. 1 and of GP for Home for the respondents 2,3 and 4 directed issue of notice to the Respondent Nos. 2,4 and 27 returnable on 23-7-2009 herein to show cause why this writ petition should not be admitted in the circumstances set out in the petition and the affidavit filed in Writ Petition. And the Court also permitted the learned advocate for the petitioner to take out personal notice to respondent Nos. 2,4 and 27 by Speed Post with acknowledgement due and file proof of service.
You Viz:
1. The Principal Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Home Department, AP, Secretariat, Hyderabad.
2. The Additional Director General of Police, Crime Investigation Department, Hyderabad.
3. Amway India Enterprises Pvt Ltd No. 6-3-563/26/A, Flat No. 1&2, Somavarapu Heights, Hill Top Colony, Erramanzil, Hyderabad.
are directed to show cause as to why in the circumstances set out in the petition and the affidavit filed therewith this writ petition should not be admitted."
The counsels of the Amway India are tongue-tied and shudder to file answer to the show cause notice. They are afraid that the Hon'ble High Court would take a decision and close down Amway's operations in the country if they file their answer. That is why they are dilly-dallying.


Many reasons for Amway-like companies to flourish
It is an important issue why there have been very few, if not none, criminal cases against the companies like Amway, Herbalife, Forever Living Products. It has been mentioned several times that people who are introduced into the scheme of these cheating companies by their friends and relatives never prefer to file a criminal case against their own people. That has been the forte of these companies.
Many people ask why people remain mute spectators to the outright cheating. First and foremost thing is people are not aware that the business model is an illegal money circulation scheme. Secondly, very few people take initiative to approach police to file criminal cases. Thirdly, people believe that it is their fate that they lost money in the scheme but never realise they were duped. Finally, these companies blame them if they did not rope in more members to make money.


Indian Govt is no different from any democratic govt
Shyam
I detect that, as a result of his reading your Blog, your (previously) naive young friend, Trivedi, might have found the strength of character and intellect to come out of his 'Amway' delusion and face up to the fact that he's been deceived by foreign-based thieves and betrayed by his own government. There is no shame in admitting that one has made a mistake. Indeed, I would immediately have respect for Trivedi if he did so. However, Trivedi is essentially no different to the many Indian politicians and civil servants who have also been fooled (and possibly corrupted) by the 'commercial' front of 'Amway' and its 'MLM' clones, and who have refused to face up to their mistake and pursue a rigorous enquiry. That said, the Indian government is no different to any other democratic government. It is made up of paid, but elected, representatives who make policy and legislate, and employees who (in theory) carry out the policy and enforce the legislation on behalf of the people. Self-evidently, a government is no better and no worse than the individuals who form it or the people who elected it.
It must not be forgotten that the phenomenon of major organized crime is damned difficult to fathom. The USA didn't enact effective legislation to identify the problem until 1970. Even then, this legislation was not enforced until 1980. The mystifying economic pseudo-science commonly referred to as 'Multilevel Marketing' was maliciously created in the USA in the late 1940s by racketeers in order to dodge federal and State anti-pyramid scam/money circulation scheme legislation. Similarly the mystifying corporate labyrinths ('Amway', 'Herbalife' etc.) were maliciously set up by organized crime groups in order to prevent and divert investigation of their closed-market swindles and related advanced fee frauds, and isolate their wealthy bosses from liability.
There are politicians and civil servants in the USA who are aware of these embarrassing facts; the question is: whether they have the will and intregrity to take the appropriate action. If only all the Trivedis of this world had the courage to stand up and complain loudly to their own governments about 'Amway' and its 'MLM' clones, then the US federal authorities would be forced to deal with the problem at its source.


Amway bosses paid millions to keep Amway myth alive
Shyam
Judging by his latest '100% Positive' squawk from the 'Amway' script, your young friend, Trivedi, has sunk back into the same old ego-protecting delusion.
The poor fellow has cut and posted pretty propaganda from the 'Amway' Ministry of Truth which, ignoring all the ugly background detail, simply insists that the US Federal Trade Commission found 'Amway's' scheme to be perfectly legal back in 1979. However, prior to the FTC ruling to which young Trivedi refers, federal agents and lawyers had taken the extraordinary step of investigating 'Amway' for almost a decade. In fact, US government agencies had been monitoring and prosecuting the dubious activities of so-called 'MLM' companies since the late 1940s. This was a result of complaints being filed concerning exorbitantly priced, but (effectively) valueless, pseudo-scientific pills and potions which were then being illegally peddled by these companies as 'universal cures for all ailments, including cancer and the common cold. ' In brief, 'MLM' companies were merely the updated version of snake-oil selling.
When, in the late 1950s, the original 'MLM' company 'Nutrilite Products Inc.' was facing closure under criminal misbranding of medicines law rather than anti-pyramid scams legislation, two of the 'Nutrilite' schills, Richard De Vos and Jay Van Andel, created 'Amway' and started peddling exorbitantly priced, but (effectively) valueless, pseudo-scientific washing powder. This dodge prevented prosecution, because household products did not fall under the scope of the Federal Drug Administration.
When, after receiving complaints, FTC economists and lawyers finally started to look closely at 'Amway' as a form of heavily camouflaged pyramid scam or money circulation scheme, they deduced that the 'Amway' scheme was mathematically impossible, because it had virtually no external customers due to the quality and price of the products. After 10 years of investigations and hearings, 'Amway' was found guilty of price-fixing, but the company avoided closure by making a stack of empty promises to the US federal authorities. 'Distributor Rules' were introduced at this time to make it appear that a majority of authentic retail sales would have to be conducted by 'Amway' commission agents before they could receive any commission. However, these rules have never been enforced. Tellingly, it was at this time, when they were facing closure, that the 'Amway' bosses were obliged to move their criminal activities outside of the USA. They first set up their organization in Canada, where, a few years later Richard DeVos and Jay Van Andel were charged with perpetrating the largest tax fraud in Canadian history. Facing extradition and lengthy prison sentences, they made an agreement with the Canadian courts in which the 'Amway' company in Canada was (alone) found guilty of tax fraud and forced to pay enormous fines. However, the money to pay these fines was supplied by De Vos and Van Andel themselves.
In other words, the 'Amway' bosses have a history of paying out millions of their stolen dollars to keep themselves out of prison and the 'Amway' myth alive.