GIN fat cats still in cahoots with Kevin Trudeau

If you're ever in a jam, here I am
If you're ever in a mess, S.O.S.
If you ever feel so happy you land in jail, I'm your bail
It's friendship, friendship
Just a perfect blendship
When other friendships have been forgot
Ours will still be hot
~ Cole Porter, 1939

Friendship can be such a wonderful grift -- especially decades-long friendships based on a mutual mission/compulsion to aggressively promote an endless series of frauducts and flopportunities to gullible or vulnerable people. Consider, for example, the decades-long bond between imprisoned serial scammer Kevin Trudeau (aka KT, aka Katie) and three of his bestest buds, Blaine Athorn and the Morter Brothers, "Dr. Ted" and "Dr. Tom."

On February 7, 2020, a message celebrating this enduring friendship was posted to Kevin Trudeau's "official" Facebook fan page. As I've explained in previous recent blog posts, I'm going to assume that this post, like virtually all of the messages on that and related pages, was directed by Kevin himself, and that one of his proxies posted it on his behalf.

Here's the post in its entirety.

Over the last 6 and 1/2 years, thousands of people have asked to be added to my visiting list and be allowed to visit. I have politely said no.

I desire to spend this time in mostly isolation, where I could meditate, read, write and do various mental and spiritual practices.

I did however allow a few people to visit. These included Blaine, Dr. Tom and Dr. Ted.

Over the last 6 years, these three have come to see me regularly. They are very special friends and very special people. For those of you who have the opportunity to spend time with them, or hear them speak, I encourage you to take advantage of those opportunities.

Blaine and Dr. Tom were just here recently and we talked about some extremely exciting things for the future. Get ready to blast off everyone, and to go to places you could never imagine.

I'm excited! How about you?

Much love,
your friend,
Kevin

Now, as it happens, Blaine Athorn and the Morter bros are the current owners of what was once Kevin's biggest scam of all, the Global Information Network (GIN), which I've blogged about many times since 2009. In fact, "Dr. Tom" seems to have pushed himself up to the front and center as the GIN web presence; he's now the one doing the GIN weekly updates. Frankly, I liked the other guy who was doing them before, but nobody asked me.
 
In light of the fact that GIN and Kevin are still in very much in love, even though (on paper) Trudeau no longer has ownership, it's not surprising that he would allow GIN's owners to visit him in the clink. Granted, Blaine and the Morters can't literally be his bail now that he's in jail, so the lyrics to the Cole Porter classic aren't a perfect fit, but they can do the next best thing to posting bail: visit him in jail -- or, more accurately, federal prison camp -- and cook up new ways to pick people's pockets.

And speaking of picking people's pockets, here's the February 7, 2020 GIN update from "Dr. Tom." I tweaked the link to begin it at the 2:32 mark, because that's when Tommy Boy really starts talking about the urgent need to "upgrade" one's GIN membership by a certain date. It all has to do with getting the Level 8 "teachings" for free, direct from "KT."

Is history repeating itself?
Tom says some folks have raised questions about preserving "the integrity of the system" if some members will be rushing through upgrades in order to qualify for Level 8 by December of 2021, which is the deadline for qualifying to receive Level 8 for free and getting to see Katie deliver it. (There's also a deadline of December 2020 to actually join GIN, though something tells me that if someone were to join later than that, they'd still qualify for the big Katie deal as long as they coughed up the money for the first seven levels by the December 2021 presumptive deadline. In fact, I'm willing to bet that if they joined after that deadline, but were still able to come up with what is more than likely tens of thousands of dollars for the prerequisites, GIN would gladly accept their money and deem them worthy of "Level 8" training.)

But Tom assures his audience that members upgrading by several levels quickly will not get access to all of the information at once; they'll still have to go through the process of assimilating the info for each level and passing tests to get to the next level. Presumably, however, they will still have to pay the increasingly costly upgrade fees upfront, for however many levels they wish to purchase. But hey, no worries; Tom adds that the leadership hasn't quite worked out the logistics yet, but they will, in plenty of time for the big event. Addressing the question of preserving "integrity" he says, "Trust me" -- which for several reasons should be a big red flag right there, for anyone paying attention.

I will concede that the current plot does not seem to be as extreme, on the scam-scale, as the schemes a few years ago when Katie was still running things and the GIN MLM was still going strong. I'm thinking of the "Lazy Man" scam, in which members were fraudulently sold expensive leads in order to build their affiliate business (after which both orders and money were reportedly withheld from many of them); and the infamous "Platinum Bonus" swindle in which members were implicitly encouraged to take shortcuts and even cheat the system in order to get to a certain "level" by a certain time, at which time it was promised that they would get a huge bonus that, for the great majority, was never delivered.

This time around, members aren't overtly being promised a big bonus or instant wealth or anything like that -- just a free entry to the as yet nonexistent "Level 8" in GIN, and a chance to maybe see Katie in person (barring any unexpected developments such as Katie being re-arrested or going into hiding on the other side of the world, but the GIN leadership doesn't go into that part). But I think that it's merely a matter of scale, and it's easy to see the flaws in the plan, given past history. While there may not be nearly as much money in the pot as there was a few years ago, the current promotion still appears to be a cynical money grab.

My guess is that if the leadership actually does try to pull this off, it will be an administrative nightmare for the few employees who are probably left at GIN and who most likely do the real work, and that if it all goes wrong, which has been known to happen in GIN, Blaine and the Morters and possibly "Lee" (that would be another Katie cohort, Lee Kenny, whom Tom mentioned in his update a few times) will still be able to pocket a lotta moolah, leaving pretty much everyone else in the lurch.

It's the same old circle jerk (and you're not invited)
On the PS to the February 7 Facebook post, there's a link to two videos of what Kevin-through-his-proxy describes as "me and my friends." Years ago I linked to the first one, which features the Morters, but here it is again. In this 2011 offering, produced during GIN's heyday as a super-scam, Katie and his well-fed buddies waxed profound about "Energy, GIN, and Fishing." Given the fact that they were, at the time, at the very apex of their scheme to scam hundreds of people out of many thousands of dollars, the vid kind of rubs me the wrong way.

Although Kevin himself does not appear in the second video, posted in 2018 but dating from 2011, he is very much a presence in it nevertheless. This video features Blaine "interviewing" Chris McGarahan Jr. (son of Voldemort, who as you may recall was one of GIN's top hucksters a few years back). In the guise of a frank discussion on Scamworld's youth movement, Chris Jr., sounding much more like a California stoner than an ambitious go-getter, shamelessly touts Kevin Trudeau as one of his most important mentors. And with Blaine's encouragement, he also flogs the 14-volume scamfomercial CD set, Your Wish Is Your Command (originally created to be a come-on for GIN), claiming that it's one of the essential self-help classics, on a par with Napoleon Hill's works and The Magic of Thinking Big.

But I wouldn't trust Chris the Younger or Chris the Elder as far as I could throw 'em. There's a substantial bit about both McGarahans in this June 2014 Whirled post. That was back when Chris Jr., still apparently masquerading as a leading member of the younger generation of go-getters, was pushing an MLM flopportunity called Vemma, about which my friend Jason "Salty Droid" Jones had a few things to say.

Nor would I trust Blaine Athorn or the Morters, and as indicated in the links in the first paragraph of this post, I've blogged about these guys several times over the years.

I first discussed Blaine at length in this April 2013 post about one of Kevin Trudeau's bankruptcies (particularly under the sub-head, "MLM fever"). In that same post I also cited a December 2004 piece (which for several reasons you really need to read if you haven't already), which references Katie and Blaine's Amway days. The piece claims that Blaine fired Kevin after the latter's 1989 credit card fraud, but apparently there was no bad blood between the two, because they're still buddies.

And I wrote at length about the Morters as well in this August 2015 post, mostly under the sub-head, "Trick and Morter." These guys have a real family scampire, which began with their late daddy and which they show every sign of continuing and expanding as long as they can get away with it.

Included on the February 7 Facebook post I referenced above are several photos of Katie and his fat-cat buds taken over a period of years. There's one of him and the Morters in a private jet; a pic of Katie and the Morters on stage jawing about GIN; a couple of pics of them at one of their "exclusive" fishing trips (paid for by GIN members, many of whom were vainly expecting their own lives to get better as a result of pouring money into Kevin's piggy bank); and an old pic of a pudgy Kevin and two guys whom I assume are either a couple of Morters or a Morter and an Athorn.

And below, you'll see a bonus photo that's not on the Facebook post. Appearing on this Flickr album, it was taken at a GIN event in the Bahamas on New Year's Eve of 2010, which was when the GIN scam was really hitting its stride, raking in lots of money by making all sorts of wild promises to the rank and file. The pic shows Kevin Trudeau and the Doctors T gabbing excitedly about something.

If you follow the link in the paragraph above the pic, you'll see several other pics of Katie and Blaine and the Morters and a few others lounging on a boat, clowning it up in a limo, dining scrumptiously, and just generally having a good old time at the expense of hundreds of GIN members who apparently didn't have what it took to be invited to the private parties held at GIN events, but whose money was certainly good enough to subsidize those parties.

Well, I guess that's understandable. The elite leadership has to escape from the riff-raff once in a while, don't they? There are several other albums on Kevin Trudeau's old Flickr collection that you might find interesting as well.

Every picture tells a story, and truly, it's the same old story: turds of a feather clump together. Or more specifically these days, they huddle together during visiting hours at a federal prison camp to plot and plan their next grift(s). As Kevin wrote, "I'm excited! How about you?"

As for everyone else, the writing has been on the wall for years, for those who are willing to read it: The only people who will significantly benefit from any project that even marginally involves Kevin Trudeau will be Kevin himself and a select few of his closest buddies. Everyone else is disposable and interchangeable, as long as that money keeps coming in. It has been this way for years and it will most likely always be this way.

In the future the big hook to catch all the little fishies may not be GIN specifically; it may be another big "exclusive" club or group of "like-minded" individuals. But I'd say that at this point, if you're not Blaine or a Morter, or possibly another one of a small group of long-time cronies, you are probably never truly going to get any tangible or lasting benefits from even the most worshipful treatment of Kevin Trudeau, no matter how much of your hard-earned money you give him. It's something to keep in mind.

But hey, no worries. As Eric Idle's character demonstrated at the close of the 1979 Monty Python movie, Life of Brian, just about everything looks more cheerful if you can turn it into a song. So go ahead and celebrate Katie's friendship with his nearly lifelong buds; Cole Porter and I will get you started.

If you ever need a scam, here I am
If you need to sell a lie, I'm your guy
If you ever feel you need to hide your cash, I'll help stash
It's friendship, friendship
Grab the gold and spendship
When the marks are bitching 'bout our latest breach
We'll be on the beach!

~Cosmic Connie, 2020

 Just purse your lips and whistle!

PS ~ Bernie at GINtruth is blogging again. And he's on Kevin's case too. I'm glad he's back, because it was getting a little lonely in this part of the blogosphere.
 
Related on this Whirled:

• 31 January, 2020: Kevin Trudeau asks Judge Robert Gettleman for post-prison scam guidance
  Kevin Trudeau and his buddies seem to be actively plotting his post-prison career. But is all of this moot? Realistically, what will Kevin himself actually be able to do, especially since he'll presumbably be on "supervised release" for five years? Anything could happen, and at this point we can only speculate, but Trudeau himself did reach out early in January 2020 to Judge Robert Gettleman, with an inquiry about these very matters.
•  27 January, 2020: Eight misbehavin'? GIN is using imprisoned founder Kevin Trudeau to promote their Level 8 "training"
  Quid pro Trudeau: You scratch my scaly back, I'll scratch yours (and possibly stab you in it if I need to). GIN needs KT as much as (or more than) he needs them, and it shows. But that dynamic could change when Katie gets sprung from the clink.
• 18 December, 2019: Saint Kevin Trudeau becomes GuruKev as Facebook clamps down on his "celebrity" page
  There's nothing like throwing in a heapin' helpin' of McSpirituality to the scamcake mix you're making in preparation for your release from prison. Kevin Trudeau will probably never abandon the conservative Christian part of his base, but his rebranding as "Guru Kev" is blatant pandering to the more "sophisticated" marks who have a more worldly view of "spirituality." But don't be fooled. All of that holy talk is just another hustle.

Kevin Trudeau: Katie's at Camp Cupcake, GIN parties on, and all's right with the Whirled

I have a ton of work but am determined not to let September slip away without at least one more post, and one that is about something besides the stupidest man in Scamworld. I've said my piece about that for the time being, and even though I'm not going to give up on this subject, there are so many other more interesting and more important topics to blog about. So. Even though it has been a busy month, work-wise, I am going to make good on my promise to post updates about the saga of imprisoned serial scammer Kevin Trudeau, aka KT, aka Katie, as well as some of the folks who are struggling to keep his legacy alive while he cools his heels at Club Fed. Or Camp Cupcake, as he calls his new home at Federal Prison Camp in Montgomery, Alabama.

The gushing (and eye-rolling) posts on Katie's Facebook fan page continue, most of them first-person homilies that lately seem to be seriously pandering to the New-Agey Law of Attraction crowd. Trudeau seems to be sounding more and more like a New-Age ninny, as opposed to some of the earlier Facebook posts when he appeared to be pandering to the more traditionally religious believers in miracles and such. The messages for the posts are still presumably being sent via email to, and then posted by, Katie proxies such as his long-time business associate and ex-girlfriend Janine. Occasionally, however, one of his cronies will pop on and talk about going to visit Katie in the clink, marveling at the fact that he is in such good spirits and is An Inspiration to All of Us, and is really Walking the Talk and Living the Training and so forth.

For instance, Earlene Vining, cohort of staunch Trudeau loyalist Ed Foreman, recently posted this, which looks like an attempt at free-verse poetry but may just be an unfortunate line-break glitch (as usual, click to enlarge):

"Kevin is a bright
Star in all of our lives..."

Do I hear the sound of some of you gagging?

And every few days there's a blurb about an upcoming legal fundraiser for Katie that will take place in Colorado on October 23, 2014. (Here's a link to a September 24 promo post on Facebook.) If you make a contribution of "only $200" to the Defense Fund, you'll get a complimentary ticket to the big rally that will be hosted by Katie's pal Coach Coral (Grant, formerly Thomas). Coral is currently being flogged as Trudeau's "protege," who "does not do public speaking engagements so this is a very rare opportunity to spend time with Coral live and in person." Which is utter bull crap. Coral, whom I've mentioned a few times on my blog (particularly here) reportedly has a deal with Katie that she gets to milk his brand for all it's worth (and it's still worth quite a lot, apparently) if she contributes an agreed-upon amount to his defense fund.

Kevin himself, through his proxy/proxies, continues to pile it on thick, as indicated by this September 16 bit of inspiration:

Everyone likes/desires/wants different things. That is why there are menus at restaurants! LOL

Some people LOVE to skydive, or ski, or scuba dive, or garden, or paint, or play tennis, or watch horror films, or read terrifying novels. I personally do not LOVE any of those and might even HATE some of those. I like/love challenging my physical/mental/and emotional limits be it hiking for days with limited food and no shelter! Or being attacked by the US Government and having all my possessions taken away! Or being thrown in a jail cell for 23 hours a day for months not knowing when or if you will ever be let out! [Apparently this is a reference to his experiences at MCC, not Camp Cupcake. ~CC] Or do mental exercises for days straight without food or sleep to access spiritual dimensions few have ever been! The list could go on and on. These are MY desires.

The point is we all want/love/desire different things, experiences and conditions. There is no right and wrong, or good, better and best when it comes to desires/wants or things you love. You love and get pleasure from certain things, and I love and get pleasure from perhaps the things YOU hate, or scare you the most. Many people however, are not deliberate creators of their life's experiences. Most people do not consciously choose what they experience in their life. Most people are not focusing on their preferences or what they decided they love/want/desire. And most people are not focusing on WHY they want these things/experiences in their lives. When you focus on what you want and WHY you want it, (instead of HOW you are going to get it), you will be happier and you WILL manifest what you want. Many people ask WHY I would want to experience what I am experiencing. The answer is simple. I LOVE this! You see, my desire is to teach, to share. (this is my destiny as decided on by ME long ago...longer than you realize) In order to teach and share with complete effectiveness, I must KNOW, not just KNOW ABOUT. I must have DONE what I am to teach. And I must first HAVE what it is I want to share. VERY few people will ever feel the desire or have the joy I (and others throughout history) have for living these type of experiences. When you are taught by someone who KNOWS (experienced it firsthand) you can then truly learn because YOU then experience it vicariously through that teacher. You virtually learn via osmosis. This is why throughout history, Guru's, Sages, Enlightened Ones, Saints, Masters etc have had such a profound impact on those who were READY, and physically close to the one who KNOWS. I am doing my part. I am going "places" you will never want to go, and experiencing things you will never want to experience first hand. I am increasing that which I KNOW. I will be out and among you sometime between mid next year and 2022! LOL The Universe KNOWS the best and perfect HOW and WHEN. If you are ready, the sky is the limit for you, and the best is yet to come!
Much love

LOL, LOL, LOL.

In other words (if I'm reading this right), Katie's time in the clink is turning him into a gen-yoo-ine spiritual guru. All the better to reach his hand into your wallet teach you stuff when he gets out -- that is, if you're ready to be taught. When the mark student is ready, the con man master will appear. To date that post has 763 likes, 112 shares, and 118 comments. A woman who calls herself "Lena Lemurian" (I sense that is not her real name) responded to Kev's message with a magickal incantation:

I intend for Kevin Trudeau to be released and I see him released within the year and so it is.

I'm not so sure those intentions and whatnot are very effective. Remember that group mediation for Katie that took place about a year ago? Not so effective in getting him cleared of all charges, was it?

In response to the September 16 post a man wrote:

How do you go for days without food or sleep and still feel good? What discipline! Your NATURAL CURES books ,Your wish is my command and GIN Has greatly improved my health and thinking . They have made me signifantly [sic] more positive and improved my relationship with my friends and family and made dream again. I thank you Kevin from the bottom of my heart , you saved my life! I am glade [sic] you are feeling good and getting gooder [sic] every day. You are one of my greatest hero's. Love you!

Well, I too am glade for Kevin that he's good and getting gooder. Speaking of Glade, they've come out with their fall collection and holiday scents, and even though that stuff is probably really bad for you, I fall for the marketing every year. It makes Ron roll his eyes, but it sure beats litter box odor.

But I digress. Katie also had this September 26 message for the troops:

Thank you for all your continued love and support. Please know I am more than good here at Federal Prison Camp Montgomery. I am the best I have ever been. And getting better. My appeal has been filed. I should get the decision sometime next year.

As my dear friend Sam points out, I am not attached to any outcome, so I yield to the Universe and am allowing the perfect manifestation of my personal goals/dreams/desires in the WAY Source knows is best. My desires are not about myself, they are about you, society, the planet, and the universe. Peace, harmony, love, and all people feeling the deepest contentment and appreciation for all experiences is one of my visions. My desires are my desires. They are not your desires. Mine are right for me alone. Yours are right for you alone. All our choices, preferences, desires/dreams/goals are always right for each of us. Do not try to force YOUR desires, or your ways of living on others. You will just live with frustration and never be truly at peace/contentment or experience true inner total bliss. Many wonder about my situation and make all kinds of assumptions. Consider stop looking at others and judging, condemning, assuming things, and criticizing their conditions and they way they choose to go through this game we call life and the situations/events they create. Wanting to make oneself right and others wrong is a motivation that will keep you from experiencing all your desires and feeling true bliss.

Know at the deepest levels, we create circumstances in life (that in fact just games we create), to experience a full range of emotions as well as conditions to allow us to exercise our invisible power!

I have a request. IF you feel moved to do so, could some of you send me pictures of Zurich, and of beautiful things/scenes/mountains/etc for MY dream board! Guess what I may want to look at each day and vibrate into physical manifestation! Know all the well. I will be out and with you as soon as is perfect! Much love

Well, Katie, I have some ideas for your vision board. You say you want some pics of Zurich?


I grabbed that still from a vid on this page, Katie. I thought you might appreciate revisiting that glorious day in Zurich when the "ambush" journos from ABC caught up with you.

Or I could send you some screen shots of some of the horrid things written by a little Teutonic twerp you unleashed on the world through the Global Information Network (GIN) -- not just the stuff about me and about some of the other critical bloggers, but the hate-filled, anti-Semitic rants as well. Since you have been playing at being Jewish, Kevin (at least you mentioned to Judge Gettleman that you have a rabbi), I'm thinking these rants might not look so good on your vision board. But they are part of what you helped to create.

For now, please accept the vision board, or dream board, that I made for you my own self, with the help of Google images. It's up there at the top of this post. I know that vision and dream boards are supposed to be about the future, but I think you need to ruminate on your present and recent past as well.

For the rest of you, here's something to consider: no matter how cynical one may be about all of this, Katie's fans continue to look upon him as a hero. Every one of those Facebook posts gets hundreds of likes and at least dozens of comments. One woman, who apparently just got back from the 2014 Global Information Network (GIN) Family Reunion in Phoenix (more about that below), wrote:

FAMILY REUNION was Exceptional! You can be proud of the "Magic 5" and all the "Maple Syrup" who were there (ask someone who was) [One] man birthed the dream (ThU KT), AND we would have proven the Training untrue, if we hadn't Re-Birth bigger & stronger than before. Mission Accomplished! Onward!

Nice to know that the GINtanic is sailing on even without Katie at the helm, isn't it?

Another woman had this to say:

I'm living two hour away from Zurich and I'm watching the mountains right now while listening to your cd's. the world needs people like you Kevin... the important is who you become, not what you have. .... time goes on, get out of there, we have so many wonderfull [sic] things to do ! don't wayste [sic] your time...

There are no two ways about it: Trudeau still has a large and loyal fan base -- from all appearances a much larger and more loyal base than that bitter little German gnome who used to be his sidekick. And while the posts on Katie's Facebook fan page are truly eye-rolling, other sources besides Trudeau and his proxies and long-time loyalists say he really is in good spirits at Camp Cupcake. (You'll read more about that soon; I'll be sure to provide a link when it's available.)

I suppose it's possible that Kevin truly has accepted his fate and is cool with it no matter what. But I'm thinking that more likely he is just a really good actor, as many sociopaths are, or he could be basing his seeming tranquility and optimism largely on his belief that his appeal will actually be successful. At this point I'm still thinking it won't be, but we'll know in a few months, and we'll also see if he continues the Facebook shtick if the appeals process fails him. And speaking of the appeal (and the case that made the appeal necessary in the first place)...

Camp may be fun, but Katie wants out: the appeals process continues
It's been quite a while since I did an update here about Trudeau's court cases; the last post was on July 22, 2014. I've been remiss on my Katie reporting duties for sure. At any rate, the appeals process for his criminal contempt conviction is still ongoing and there probably will not be a decision until some time in 2015. I know you're probably thinking the same thing I'm thinking: if he's so happy at Camp Cupcake, why waste any more lawyer money trying to get out sooner? I guess that's just one of those mysteries of the Universe that only Kevin knows, and will be glad to share with you if you pay him or his cronies.

So what's going on, court-wise? Let's take a look...

1. Opening appeals brief and supporting documents: On August 27, 2014, I shared the initial appeals documents on the GIN Network Truth page (a public forum) on Facebook -- here is that link. And here is a Scribd link, for the benefit of those who cannot access the Facebook file.
2. Criminal trial transcript: I also finally downloaded some court transcripts, although I will have to keep such activities to a minimum because with actual transcripts, PACER apparently does not place a 30-page cap on download fees as they do on other court documents. At ten cents a page, it can get pretty pricey. I was able to nab this transcript of Trudeau's criminal trial, which took place in early November 2013 in Judge Guzman's court. It's a big'un. Here is a Scribd link.
3. Sentencing hearing transcript: And here is a Scribd link to the transcript from Trudeau's March 17, 2014 sentencing hearing.

One more thing: My PACER connection is having some glitches so I haven't been able to download any court documents since late August. As soon as I get those glitches straightened out I will pop onto PACER again and check for any newer activity. Or you can do it yourself if you are so inclined. Why should I get to have all the fun?

GIN rolls on, tries to lure big spenders back into the fold
Anybody who thinks that Katie's biggest scheme to date -- GIN -- is dead, has simply not been paying attention. Granted, it may be a shadow of its former self, but it's still definitely hanging on, as indicated by the pics from the big wingding that took place this past weekend: the 2014 Family Reunion in Phoenix, Arizona. You can see some of the festivities on one of the GIN Facebook pages.

Troy McClain, CEO of AXS Investment/Management etc., the group that bought GIN, hosted the promo video. And the first thing I noticed was that it was branding for AXS as much as it was for GIN. No big surprise there.



And Jeff Devine's Hybrid Group was also very much involved, judging from this little event blurb on etouches. 

As noted on this blog previously, the new owners of GIN reportedly consist of Troy McClain, Chris "Voldemort" McGarahan, Blaine Athorn, Jeff Devine and Greg Kramer.

In case you can't get to the GIN Facebook page I linked to above, here are some highlights from the weekend:

Looks like fun, huh? And oh, goody, there's going to be a cruise in 2015. And, not to belabor a point, but even without Kevin, and even though GIN membership is way down, it still appears that the Family Reunion drew a far larger crowd than the events put on by certain GIN ripoff clubs. (Unless, that is, GIN hired a bunch of folks to make it look like a crowd, or used CGI like they do in the movies sometimes.) Just saying.

A reliable source let me know that Troy McClain and Chris McGarahan have been making serious efforts to get Inner Circle and upper level members back into the GIN fold; in other words, they're trying to woo back the big spenders. As you may recall, Inner Circle members paid either $50k or $75k for that dubious privilege, with the promise that they would receive a percentage of the GIN proceeds and other perks. Some of these people's GIN "investments" were six figures (one former Inner Circle member and Founding Member insists GIN owes him a million dollars). When GIN nearly collapsed due to Katie's legal troubles, those folks were out all of that money, and reportedly many quit. Now Troy and Chris are trying to woo them back, with the promise that GIN will make it a point to get them the moneys owed to them asap.
 
Word is that some of these people asked that their "initiation" and monthly fees be waived for the appropriate amount of time in lieu of as much of the money owed as was applicable and GIN said no. Now, it's possible that something in the court order forbade such an arrangement (after all, GIN is beholden to the receiver and the court for the first year under the new ownership), but whether or not that is the case, it sounds pretty sleazy to me.

Troy and Chris are also reportedly pandering to the Christian demographic to get them to join or re-join GIN, and some who know Chris find this disgusting, saying that he is about as far from being a Christian as anyone they know.

At any rate GIN seems poised to grow, and may very possibly restore the MLM program at some point, though it was discontinued last November (2013). They haven't removed mentions of it from their online legal documents. For that matter, they haven't removed the statement that GIN is a multi-level foundation based in Nevis. Maybe they just need to finish updating their web site.

The moral of the story, once again, is that in Scamworld there are no neat and tidy endings. But I bet you knew I was going to say that.

That's it for now, but rest assured that I'll be back soon with more.

The "new" GIN: as summer tunes up, Scamworld hums on

Tempus fugit, y'all! I just noticed that June is more than halfway over, and I've yet to make a June entry on the Whirled, except for a June 5 update on my May 29 post about imprisoned serial scammer Kevin Trudeau (plus a few remarks in the comments section on various posts). It's not that there's nothing to write about, because there is. There always is. I blame my lack of activity on a heat-induced torpor caused by summer bearing down upon my part of the planet. But a blogger's work is never done, so let's get busy.

Voldemort holds court
As reported earlier today by my friend Bernie at GINtruth.com, Kevin Trudeau's largest and arguably most successful scam, the Global Information Network, or GIN, has hit the ground running with its first pow-wow since the new owners took over. "And," Bernie writes, "it all starts with Chris McGarahan."

Ah, yes. Chris "Voldemort" McGarahan, long-time MLM huckster and one of the new co-owners of GIN (the others reportedly are Blaine Athorn, Troy McClain, Jeff Devine, and Greg Kramer). Chris is a loyal Trudeau buddy and was always one of the hard-sell spokes-thugs in GIN. (Here's an older "new" GIN page listing Chris as a "faculty member" -- it still lists Katie too, so is obviously not updated.) Numerous ex-GIN members have said they think that Chris is just as culpable in the GIN scam as Katie. But so far, everyone except Katie has gotten away with it.

Good for Bernie for providing this GINtruth update. I confess, though, that when I first started reading his post, I thought he was being far too kind to Chris just because he'd met him on a GIN cruise and Chris seemed to be a likeable bloke. Bernie called Chris' efforts to talk to the GIN members "commendable." I suppose that in light of the elitism of some of the New-Wage scalawags who were shining stars in GIN -- including Katie himself -- that sociability was somewhat noteworthy. But Bernie also noted that McGarahan practices what he preaches, and sticks with what works. From my perspective, what this really means is that McGarahan sticks with what works to extract money from people's pockets.
 
Indeed, numerous ex-GIN members have said that Chris was always one of the most aggressive pushers of the GIN Kool-Aid and was sometimes abrasive, nearly to the point of being abusive. And his being nice? Another one of my Facebook friends who has seen him in action said that making the rounds at tables was done begrudgingly; he was just working the room. My friend said, "At the first 5-star he even said that Kevin sent him to the bar to check up on people to see who was following Kevin's instructions to mingle and stay up late to network, and he was going to report back to him...I have seen Chris be very rude to people who didn't deserve it. He was always nice to members who followed his orders and upgraded, bought packages, and went to major events."

My friend added that Chris' "How To Go Platinum in 90 Days Seminar" was torture, "especially if you witnessed the aftermath." Yon Cole, Former dedicated GIN member, Scientology enthusiast, and current member of retired safecracker Perry Kiraly's GIN ripoff WIN, took notes at one of those Platinum seminars, and shared it on his mygin web site.
Other friends, correspondents, and ex-GINthusiasts have had encounters with Chris where he was extremely rude and/or even verbally abusive.

Yet Chris apparently had his charms, and what he did was quite effective. He drew them in with his own personal story, even though like many scam artists his backstory wasn't always consistent -- he reportedly told GIN members back in the day that he made his first fortune with Trudeau in the MLM scheme Nutrition for Life back in 1996, but his own web site indicates that his first huge gains were in Rexall Showcase, now Unicity. (Oddly enough, there's no mention of Katie or GIN on that page, which features a pic of Chris in pre-Voldemort days). Chris' bio, shared often at live events, also includes the common narrative of coming up on "mean streets" and whatnot. Yawn. As another friend of mine said, he had a scammer's personality long before GIN. 



Here is what a former GIN Level 6 candidate wrote to me recently:

The more I’ve thought of it, the more I see Chris as incredibly dangerous. He was always the one to sell at events, the one on stage who could get more people to buy more crap than you can imagine. And he was always called The Bearer of Good News because his offers came as 'deals.' He has a gift with crowds and bragged about that to us, as if we were part of the inner circle.

Lesson: Beware of nice blokes bearing gifts.

This person had also spoken with some GIN folks who had been persuaded to join MLM scam Vemma under Chris' son, Chris Jr., who seems to be one of the poster children for Vemma "success" (and, I'm told, drives a Vemma Mercedes). Chris Sr. has also been pushing Vemma, using his and some of Katie's other close buddies' "success" with the scam to lure people in. This screen shot (which coyly fails to mention the name of the scam) was taken on November 27, 2013, a few days before the GIN MLM ended:


Anyway, just after the GIN Leadership Cruise in January 2013, Chris Sr. reportedly told select people to stop upgrading in GIN. Yet Chris -- and the rest of the GIN leadership, such as it was -- apparently continued to urge others to join and upgrade, as if nothing were amiss.

According to reports, at one of his exclusive, invitation-only, $5,000.00 (excluding airfare and hotel costs) scam-shows in spring of 2013, Chris Sr. boasted that he had purchased an island in Belize with another, much bigger Scamworld player, Jack Canfield. Canfield, as you may know, is co-creator of the Chicken Soup series, star of the New-Wage moviemercial The Secret, and founder of the Trained Liars Cartel... oops, I mean, the Transformational Leadership Council (also known as the Transformational Leadership Council of Death).

I'll say one thing for the TLC, as they sometimes call themselves: at least they had the good business sense to kick founding member James Arthur "Death" Ray out of their org after the sweat lodge thing happened. But who knows, they might let him back in again now that he's out of the clink.

In case you're interested, according to the TLC official web site, Chris Sr. is not currently on the membership list. But I digress.

Chris Sr. reportedly told the attendees of his 2013 flimflamboree that in 2014, exactly a year from then, he was going to fly all of them down to Belize to "change their lives." Well, last month he sent out emails inviting attendees to a follow-up seminar taking place from "Friday July 25 through Sunday July 28." (Never mind that Sunday is the 27th.) This follow-up event is only $495 plus an extra $100 if you want to have dinner with Chris on Saturday night, "which you will," he assured his recipients.

There was apparently no mention in the email of Belize; only if you RSVP "yes" will you get directions to the wingding. Some of the invitees suspect that it's just going to be a three-day Vemma pitch. If anyone has any other details about this, or about Chris' supposed co-purchase of an isle in Belize with Chicken Soup Jack, drop me a line, okay?

Incidentally, the Voldemort wallet-drainer overlaps with the time that the Trained Liars Cartel will be holding its summer meeting, July 23-27 (location not announced on the TLC web site; for some reason they never announce the location publicly in advance). There's also a Death Ray "Live Group Mentoring" event in Seattle on July 25 & 26. And July 25 is the five-year anniversary of the day that Colleen Conaway, another James Ray vic, died at a Ray event in San Diego.

But, once again, I digress.

The Yellow Brick Road to nowhere
Speaking of Chris M the Elder, it seems appropriate to mention again that he's one of the folks who just last month was gloating over the claim that some GIN members "used their GIN training" to help raise $100 million dollars for the animated box-office bomb, Legends of Oz, Dorothy's Return. As you may recall, I wrote about this at length on my May 12 post (see "Good buy Yellow Brick Road? Well, not so much," as well as the various updates that follow, and several of the comments following the post).

Though some GIN members, most notably "co-executive producer" John A. King (a venture capitalist type who reportedly lives in luxurious digs in Florida; one visitor to his home said he served dinner on plates made of gold) were laying claim to raising the $100 mil, executive producer Greg Centineo, a non-GIN member, claims that he was the one who orchestrated the big raise. King was reportedly working under Centineo and was able to sucker several other GIN members into coughing up some bucks. Long before the movie's release, Centineo was boasting about the big money he'd raised; here's a mention on the bio page on his main site. And yes, I know I've mentioned and quoted this before, but it is so deeply worthy of revisiting and quoting once again:

In 2008, as the funds for Legends were coming in, his role in the operation grew. The investment presented multiple ancillary opportunities due to its being a multi-industry franchise, and people could see the potential that a typical live-action movie didn’t offer. Captivated and undaunted by Greg’s honest approach (“This is the greatest opportunity of a lifetime in which you will lose all your money.”), client after client bought in—and eventually bought in big—to what has now become a $110 million unprecedented global phenomenon.

As the first phase of the Legends project draws to a close, the Brooklyn, N.Y.-raised father of two reflects on what he calls his greatest accomplishment of his lifetime by far and his multi-faceted career. “As a leader, I was looked to for answers, and then as I matured, I came to understand that true leadership is about helping people ask better questions and letting them lead themselves,” he says. “I approached this project, building a serious community of investors the way I built everything else. Whether it was leading large constituencies, opening the coffee shops or educating people on money, I have learned to apply the same universal assumptions.

“In everything I have done in my life, I had the privilege of creating it with others and giving them a different paradigm of the world we live in.”

Uh-huh.

Alas, a week after the movie was released, Centineo was making excuses for its failure. It was, he 'splained, a conspiracy by the mainstream movie industry. Why, of course. A couple of days later, some of the "investors" who were required to contribute a minimum of $100k shared their take on the "conspiracy." 

But I guess that the Global Information Network's May issue of the GIN Report had already been published and distributed before it became known that the movie was such a stinker. A friend of mine shared this the other day:

Nice work, GIN!

I am still wondering how much Katie's asset protection lawyer and co-creator of GIN, Marc Lane, was/is involved in the Oz project. He certainly came to the defense of the movie's producers, his Chicago home boys the Carroll Brothers, on the discussion about this "investment" op on the 800notes.com site -- which has now expanded to 24 pages. People are royally pissed off about this thing. A couple of examples...

According to one participant who wrote in on June 15, the large entertainment site The Wrap is working on a story about the Oz investment scam and and wants to talk to investors. If you have information, contact Jordan.Zakarin@TheWrap.com.

New chapter, same old story
I think we already know where the GIN story is going: it's the same old scam under new ownership -- all of whom just happen to be Katie buddies. And I think Bernie made that pretty clear in his GINtruth post.

But at least now that GIN has been liberated from the receiver, they've taken down that disclaimer they had about the non-existence of Trudeau's big marketing lie, the fabled "GIN Council."

Speaking of which, in case you haven't visited the GIN site lately, you haven't missed too much. The MLM is still dormant -- for now, anyway -- even though the Legal Member Agreement has yet to reflect its absence. 

And... oops... I think GIN forgot to take this page down when the Affiliate program was discontinued.
https://www.globalinformationnetwork.com/Affiliates-Program/
Here is another page, which is more noncommittal...
https://www.globalinformationnetwork.com/Membership-Rewards/

Prior to the sale, the leadership had been talking about the possibility of restoring the MLM once the company was out of receivership; I wrote about that on this January 2014 post. And the "GIN United" group is still up on the Web. This was a group of GIN members interested in purchasing GIN, headed by members of GIN's Leadership Round Table (including Greg Kramer, who, as noted, is reported to be one of the members of the group who actually purchased GIN).
http://www.ginunited.com/our-plan.html
http://www.ginunited.com/endorsements.html

Moreover, as many are aware, the "initiation" fee has been even more deeply discounted from the old days; it used to be $1,500 if paid over time, but it was $1,000 if paid all at once, then it went down to $600, and now, "for a limited time only," it's $500. But if you're poor like Katie-in-a-cage* and can't even cough up half a grand...

...you may choose to pay the initial fee over time. We are currently offering a $250 payment plan for 6 months. This includes $100 towards the initial fee along with the $150 monthly Membership dues. After 6 successful payments, you will only be charged $150 per month for Membership dues. A credit card is required for this payment option.

Or, you can sign up as a free Associate Member (a membership that is only good for twelve months and will be automatically cancelled when your time is up). If you successfully sucker four paying members into joining under your personal Invitation Code, you will have enough Reward points to join GIN for free. Heck of a deal.

Most notably, after the receiver took over in August 2013 the site was pretty well wiped clean of its Trudeau presence, although the current descriptions of "benefits" -- particularly the "Lifestyle Experiences" -- are rife with mentions of events that took place while Katie was still at the helm.

As for the rest, it's the same old "you have to be there to understand it" b.s., promising exclusive, confidential, never-before-released information.

Some of the Member benefits are described on the Global Information Network website. Most Member benefits, however, are confidential and revealed only to Members in good standing. When you understand all the privileges and benefits you receive by being a Member, you will grasp that this invitation is truly the opportunity of a lifetime. If you have goals and dreams, if you imagine being financially secure, maybe you would like to start a business of your own, maybe you have a dream car you've always wanted, or you've dreamed of traveling first class to exotic locations all around the world...

we believe you could make more of your dreams come true with the Global Information Network than you could ever imagine. Imagine being your own boss and having total freedom and time to do what you want and when you want. Imagine being able to associate personally with almost anyone from around the world. Imagine having access to experts in various fields, VIP events, and knowledge and information that is not available anywhere else. You can now join a worldwide private group that can help build your success in life.

Yes. Just imagine. And the GIN "leadership" hopes you will keep on imagining, because apart from greed, envy, fear, desperation, longing, boredom, and a lot of hot air, imagination is one of the forces that keeps the Scamworld balloon aloft.

* Note: After months of vainly pleading pauper status, Kevin did finally come up with the $505 filing fee for his appeal; deets are on the June 18 update on this post.