John Peterson, a Herbalife Millionaire who climbed his way (some say over his downlines' backs) to Herbalife "Founder's Cicle", the highest grade of salesperson rank possible, has just put a bullet in his own brain. Herbalife put out a press release calling it a tragic accident, but clearly, putting a bullet in one's brain while sitting in an old pickup is not an accident at all.
So who is John Peterson? As mentioned before, he's one of the top salesperson in Herbalife, claims to earn 3 million a year from commission, apparently brought Herbalife to Mexico (and from there backfilled into US Latino communities), and has properties in Brazil, Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. He's so rich, he had 3 kids, divorced his blonde trophy wife, and traded up to a Mexican bonita by the name of Fernanda.
His rise to top of Herbalife is a bit controversial, as he rose through one of this schemes called "Work from Home Inc." Basically, it's the same model that another Founder's Circle member "Shawn Dahl" used: create a recruiting firm, that sends out these "business opportunity kits" that is basically a teaser DVD for $50 (though you'll advertise it as $10, but only if you return it in 14 days). The DVD comes with a form you can fill out and send back and someone will call you to enroll you with their support system and take your money, which is usually DOUBLE what it normally costs to join Herbalife (the extra goes into his pocket for some lame webpage and some brochures), but that's only if you're really enthusiastic. If you're a bit hesitant or did not actually mail back the form yet, your name will be sold to someone who already joined and is eager to "buy leads".
Through this sort of borderline scheme (not quite a scam, but shady as heck) Peterson and Dahl and others clawed their way up the Herbalife affiliate human ladder to the very top, over other affiliates' backs, and is raking in the money to the tunes of millions per year, while the average Herbalife affiliate earns HUNDREDS per year (not counting expenses).
One then speculates what was would cause him to take his own life, and what effect would this have on Herbalife?
Herbalife, in an attempt to dodge the spotlight shined on it by Ackman and the FTC, has announced in April that it is banning all of the lead generation companies... which would include Peterson's firm and Dahl's firm. It is also reforming quite a few of its marketing practices to ensure it will comply with whatever FTC may throw at them.
This has created some severe backlash at the highest levels of affiliateship, esp. in Founder's Circle's elites. Shawn Dahl switched his company to recruit for Vemma instead, and Dahl took his downlines to a new company called Nutrie, which is basically a clone of Herbalife. Another top affiliate, Anthony Powell, and Tonya MacDowall, took their downlines to Vemma. MacDowall publicly stated that Herbalife's new marketing policy had "handcuffed" her and her affiliates, and they re going to a company that has no such restrictions.
While it would be too much to state outright that Herbalife's decision to cut off Peterson's moneytree at the root (banning the lead selling business) is the cause of Peterson's suicide, it is very obviously a factor that would have some weight in whatever decision process that he used to arrive at the fateful action.
So how will this affect Herbalife? Will Peterson's "sacrifice" redeem Herbalife, or doom it to hell?
My vote is on redemption, but not a total redemption. There are still sins to be repaid.
----
One of the little known facts is Shawn Dahl's business model is NOT unique. In fact, his mother in law had operated the exact same model (with minor differences) in Canada, and was closed by Canadian authorities as a pyramid scheme. This was revealed by "The Verge". Dahl simply took the same thing south and replicated it.
Thus, one must wonder if Peterson had received word that he is the one getting investigated by the FTC as a pyramid scheme, not Herbalife. The fact that Herbalife is "cleaning house" should tell you that it considers itself vulnerable to FTC investigations should it continue to associate (or allowed to operate) such lead generation companies, which are essentially recruitment driven scam.
One must now wonder why didn't Peterson choose to adopt a wait-and-see attitude, spend the money on lawyers if need be, and basically fight until the bitter end, if there is one? It may not be that bad. It may just be an investigation.
Here's something for conspiracy theorists to chew on... Did Herbalife throw Peterson to the (FTC) wolves to save itself?
And if there's nothing to investigated on Peterson's end, and Dahl can easily run north of the border (and most of this marketing company is paperworked out of Barbados) that would leave FTC not much to work on. With the changes Herbalife already impelmented, it may be enough for the FTC to claim they did an investigation and didn't find enough to prosecute,
Herbalife did lose some affiliates but those can be regained. It will lose far more if FTC hit it with any sort of sanction.
So in essence, Peterson's death will "redeem" Herbalife somewhat / a lot.
Of course, it is also possible that Peterson had implemented some sort of failsafe MAD plan where his death will take down Herbalife by revealing some insider secrets that prove Herbalife had endorsed the lead generation companies and encouraged growth of such to fuel corporate growth and stock prices, thus proving a conspiracy to operate a pyramid scheme.
Unlikely though. :)
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So who is John Peterson? As mentioned before, he's one of the top salesperson in Herbalife, claims to earn 3 million a year from commission, apparently brought Herbalife to Mexico (and from there backfilled into US Latino communities), and has properties in Brazil, Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. He's so rich, he had 3 kids, divorced his blonde trophy wife, and traded up to a Mexican bonita by the name of Fernanda.
His rise to top of Herbalife is a bit controversial, as he rose through one of this schemes called "Work from Home Inc." Basically, it's the same model that another Founder's Circle member "Shawn Dahl" used: create a recruiting firm, that sends out these "business opportunity kits" that is basically a teaser DVD for $50 (though you'll advertise it as $10, but only if you return it in 14 days). The DVD comes with a form you can fill out and send back and someone will call you to enroll you with their support system and take your money, which is usually DOUBLE what it normally costs to join Herbalife (the extra goes into his pocket for some lame webpage and some brochures), but that's only if you're really enthusiastic. If you're a bit hesitant or did not actually mail back the form yet, your name will be sold to someone who already joined and is eager to "buy leads".
Through this sort of borderline scheme (not quite a scam, but shady as heck) Peterson and Dahl and others clawed their way up the Herbalife affiliate human ladder to the very top, over other affiliates' backs, and is raking in the money to the tunes of millions per year, while the average Herbalife affiliate earns HUNDREDS per year (not counting expenses).
One then speculates what was would cause him to take his own life, and what effect would this have on Herbalife?
Herbalife, in an attempt to dodge the spotlight shined on it by Ackman and the FTC, has announced in April that it is banning all of the lead generation companies... which would include Peterson's firm and Dahl's firm. It is also reforming quite a few of its marketing practices to ensure it will comply with whatever FTC may throw at them.
This has created some severe backlash at the highest levels of affiliateship, esp. in Founder's Circle's elites. Shawn Dahl switched his company to recruit for Vemma instead, and Dahl took his downlines to a new company called Nutrie, which is basically a clone of Herbalife. Another top affiliate, Anthony Powell, and Tonya MacDowall, took their downlines to Vemma. MacDowall publicly stated that Herbalife's new marketing policy had "handcuffed" her and her affiliates, and they re going to a company that has no such restrictions.
While it would be too much to state outright that Herbalife's decision to cut off Peterson's moneytree at the root (banning the lead selling business) is the cause of Peterson's suicide, it is very obviously a factor that would have some weight in whatever decision process that he used to arrive at the fateful action.
So how will this affect Herbalife? Will Peterson's "sacrifice" redeem Herbalife, or doom it to hell?
My vote is on redemption, but not a total redemption. There are still sins to be repaid.
----
One of the little known facts is Shawn Dahl's business model is NOT unique. In fact, his mother in law had operated the exact same model (with minor differences) in Canada, and was closed by Canadian authorities as a pyramid scheme. This was revealed by "The Verge". Dahl simply took the same thing south and replicated it.
Thus, one must wonder if Peterson had received word that he is the one getting investigated by the FTC as a pyramid scheme, not Herbalife. The fact that Herbalife is "cleaning house" should tell you that it considers itself vulnerable to FTC investigations should it continue to associate (or allowed to operate) such lead generation companies, which are essentially recruitment driven scam.
One must now wonder why didn't Peterson choose to adopt a wait-and-see attitude, spend the money on lawyers if need be, and basically fight until the bitter end, if there is one? It may not be that bad. It may just be an investigation.
Here's something for conspiracy theorists to chew on... Did Herbalife throw Peterson to the (FTC) wolves to save itself?
And if there's nothing to investigated on Peterson's end, and Dahl can easily run north of the border (and most of this marketing company is paperworked out of Barbados) that would leave FTC not much to work on. With the changes Herbalife already impelmented, it may be enough for the FTC to claim they did an investigation and didn't find enough to prosecute,
Herbalife did lose some affiliates but those can be regained. It will lose far more if FTC hit it with any sort of sanction.
So in essence, Peterson's death will "redeem" Herbalife somewhat / a lot.
Of course, it is also possible that Peterson had implemented some sort of failsafe MAD plan where his death will take down Herbalife by revealing some insider secrets that prove Herbalife had endorsed the lead generation companies and encouraged growth of such to fuel corporate growth and stock prices, thus proving a conspiracy to operate a pyramid scheme.
Unlikely though. :)
