After making the #1 spot on the 1996 Inc. 500, multilevel marketer Bill Gouldd slid and folded in a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission.
Legacies
Equinox: Class of 1996
Multilevel marketer slides from top rank and folds in a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission...
...It also prompted Gouldd to file a $10-million lawsuit against the 19 former Equinox distributors and the company they joined, Trek Alliance.
A 10-month investigation by the Federal Trade Commission culminated in a trial that began six months ago in federal district court, in which prosecutors accused Gouldd of operating a fraudulent "pyramid" scheme. As part of the settlement, Gouldd (who never admitted to any wrongdoing) agreed to close Equinox permanently and refrain from working in the multilevel-marketing industry again. The settlement also called for liquidating an estimated $40 million in assets from Equinox and two of its sister companies and from Gouldd himself, with the proceeds earmarked for former Equinox distributors...
...The central charge was that Equinox was operating a pyramid scheme, meaning that it was selling distributors the right to recruit other distributors and rewarding them in ways unrelated to the sale of products to the ultimate users...
April 25, 2000 Equinox International Settles Case with FTC, Eight States Nearly $40 Million in Restitution for Alleged Pyramid Victims - Federal Trade Commission Consumers who lost money investing in a pyramid scheme they thought was a legitimate multi-level marketing business, will share in as much as $40 million dollars under the terms of a settlement between the Federal Trade Commission and law enforcement authorities from eight states, and William Gouldd and Equinox International of Las Vegas, Nevada. The settlement also will bar Gouldd from any future involvement in any multi-level marketing scheme, for life, and requires dissolution of Equinox, Advanced Marketing Seminars, Inc. and BG Management, Inc. Gouldd and Equinox faced charges by the FTC and law enforcement authorities from Hawaii, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Virginia...