Calembreloque

Hey, you asked us to do a background check so I did! Turns out the excellent "Behind the Bastards" podcast did an episode on you (& Jacob Wohl), and here are some background things:

• You have been involved in two major websites (TalkGold.com and MoneyMakerGroup.com) promoting HYIP (High-Yield Investment Programs), which the SEC describes as fraudulent investments usually carried by unlicensed individuals. They're essentially Ponzi schemes all but in name.
• That little foray in HYIP has brought the attention of the Feds! There is an official civil forfeiture asset complaint deposited against you. To which your incredible defence was, and I quote, "[according to the FBI], only a large amount [of HYIP] are scams, and that's true".
• Now, you claim that your websites were actually acting as some sort of watchdogs, weeding out the "bad" HYIP from the good. However, several funds known to be fraudulent have been found to be promoted on your website, such as the Leopard Fund, whilst others like CSMFinance were just plain viruses. There's also of course Liberty Reserve, which you promoted, and was shut down in 2013 for being one of the biggest money-laundering schemes in recent years.
• Now, you are right that you have never been accused of a crime. You've "only" seen $450,000 of your fraudulent money seized by the government, and silently disappeared from the finance world.

So it's one of two things. You're either the unluckiest, stupidest money advisors in the world, just stumbling over and over again on fraudulent HYIP without realizing it; or, you're people happy to prey on the ignorant and those in need of advice, until they're bled dry, at which point you ride into the sunset, twirling your mustaches. Which one would you say describes you best?

It's particularly disgusting because it's because of people like you, slimey enough to warrant judicial attention, but not quite evil enough to be straight up sent to jail, that easily-abused mechanisms such as civil asset forfeiture have to be invented and used. I haven't even gotten into that ridiculous children's book of yours that has all the subtlety and intelligence of a chimpanzee scratching its own butt, but in a perfect society you'd be shunned for that as well.

There's little doubt that your #Resistance rebranding is, at best, a shallow attempt at buying yourselves a second-hand soul, and at worst, a long con destined to make money out of people's indignation at the current administration. In both cases, for shame.

Sources: most are derived from the "Behind the Bastards" podcast #38, this Daily Beast article, and this Thinkprogress article. By reading these articles you'll find all the other primary sources, including the ones I haven't necessarily included in my comment.

So, as many people my generation, I'm obviously incredibly worried about the state of our planet and the ramping up of economic inequality in our society. I think it's fair to say that most, if not all, of these "superstar" companies have played (and still play) an important role in the degradation of our social foundations and the general shittiness of our situation - whether it's Goldman Sachs ushering the recession or Walmart dodging health insurance for their workers.

What advice do you have for someone who wants to be able to put food on the table and save for retirement, but would rather work towards improving the state of our society, and not contributing to these companies? In other words, do you think it's possible to "win" if you don't agree with the "game" in question?

I used to work for the company that made that original Grand K, and the BIPM was still one of our customers 200 years later! Glad to know they're taking care of it.

What do you mean? I have lived a completely reasonable amount of time on this Earth, with my friend Keanu Reeves.

If it's done right, though, and both sides have a lawyer review it and negotiate it, it can be a good agreement

I know you're a lawyer and so your view of the topic is a bit skewed, but how many people do you think actually have the money to pay a lawyer only to look over their employment contract?