Elite Activity Resurrected (Connecting Us All)!

"Buy 1 for yourself and get the chance to sell your friends and family 5 and get your downline started!" We examine the multi-level marketing industry, where only the people who come up with the ideas make any money, and everybody else is left unhappy, broke, and tired of reading scripts and selling overpriced vitamins and similarly worthless products. Includes Global Prosperity, Pinnacle Quest International, IRS Codebusters, Stratia, and other new Global Prosperity scams.

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wserra
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Re: Elite Activity Resurrected (Connecting Us All)!

Post by wserra »

Valerie Lambert wrote:I was not aware at the time of that writing, that the American Red Cross was looking for donations.
Even though you live in Colorado? Well, OK - so I guess that, once you found out, Connecting Us All sprang into action and contributed. You claim to have over 500,000 members. I'm sure that all of your generous members were on board for a measly $1 apiece. So please post the Red Cross receipt/acknowledgement for your $500,000 gift. Now that you know.

Oh, you seem to have forgotten:

Why an important difference in the Gifting, er, Giving Pool? If you really don't need to give, why are those who do give signed up immediately and those who don't told to send a "written request"?

I'll rephrase this one slightly in view of your posts: what does a "subscription payment" pay for? You post that it keeps the organization in business - for what purpose? Why do your members want to do that? I've proposed an experiment to test my theory before: close down the Giving Pool for a month. See how many new members you get.

Why don't you post one official response you guys received from one AG? Just one.

Speaking of courts, Ulrich has been posting for the better part of a year how he sought a declaratory judgment as to CUA's legality. How's that going? Court? Docket number?

[Silence.]
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ProfHenryHiggins
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Re: Elite Activity Resurrected (Connecting Us All)!

Post by ProfHenryHiggins »

wserra wrote:HH - Thanks for your contributions to the forum. We have a rule about posting people's personal info, though, unless they put it up in public themselves first. If Gerlach has done that, feel free to edit it back into your post, with a link to where she has made it public.

Thanks.

She did. It's on the order form for J Gerlach Studios, at jgerlach.com, the legitimate business she runs from home.
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Re: Elite Activity Resurrected (Connecting Us All)!

Post by ProfHenryHiggins »

Oh, and I nearly forgot... the latest insanity from Belinda Grandberry: accusing Michelle & Barack Obama of being "sovereign" members of the Washitaw. Read all about it
http://www.giftingislegal.org/aborigina ... nation.htm


Do you really still want this lunatic as a "team leader" in your organization, Val? Think hard about that.
Valerie Lambert

Re: Elite Activity Resurrected (Connecting Us All)!

Post by Valerie Lambert »

Dear Connecting Us All Honest Critics,

Connecting Us All International is celebrating our first year anniversary! Take a moment and review our NEWS Flash to see whats going on https://mail.google.com/a/connectingusa ... 0a2919af6e and if you would like to view the video circling the globe about this organization checkout connectingusall.org

Thank you all and have a blessed day!

Valerie Lambert
Member Compliance Director
Connecting Us All
Last edited by Valerie Lambert on Mon Oct 04, 2010 7:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ProfHenryHiggins
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Re: Elite Activity Resurrected (Connecting Us All)!

Post by ProfHenryHiggins »

:?:

Val... why is one of those links pointing into your personal email account?
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Re: Elite Activity Resurrected (Connecting Us All)!

Post by littleroundman »

Valerie Lambert wrote:Dear Connecting Us All Honest Critics,

Connecting Us All International is celebrating our first year anniversary! Take a moment and review our NEWS Flash to see whats going on https://mail.google.com/a/connectingusa ... 0a2919af6e and if you would like to view the video circling the globe about this organization checkout http://www.giving.connectingusall.org.

Thank you all and have a blessed day!

Valerie Lambert
Member Compliance Director
Connecting Us All
Not bad going.

Just think, only another 18 months and you'll have lasted as long as AdSurf Daily.

There's still another 25 or so years until you catch up with Madoff Securities, though.
Valerie Lambert

Re: Elite Activity Resurrected (Connecting Us All)!

Post by Valerie Lambert »

Not sure Professor why that goes to my account. Oops. Guess I better fix that huh? It should just go to the cua website.

Thank you
Val
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Re: Elite Activity Resurrected (Connecting Us All)!

Post by Valerie Lambert »

Professor and wserra,

I have been reading and studying the laws from all of the states regarding pyramids, gifting clubs etc. I understand why you vehemently call CUA an illegal pyramid. There are so many ways of interpreting that law that it gets a bit confusing at times. The one issue that all states have is that people join with consideration. Connecting Us All has no consideration. People are free to make their own choices and this is explained on every invitation call. No, you don't have to give anyone any money to join, no you don't have to gift anyone anything if you choose not to and the subscription is and has always been by choice only. Please, I am not a lawyer and I don't understand legal wording, but will you please explain exactly what you are against with Connecting Us All? I really am trying to understand.

Thanks and God bless
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Re: Elite Activity Resurrected (Connecting Us All)!

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Valerie Lambert wrote:will you please explain exactly what you are against with Connecting Us All? I really am trying to understand.
OK, sure. I won't have time before the weekend, but I'll be glad to answer.
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Re: Elite Activity Resurrected (Connecting Us All)!

Post by ProfHenryHiggins »

Valarie... yes, CUA does have a consideration if someone participates in the Giving Pool. Not only the subscription fee can be considered to be one, but also, the moment a gift is sent using money received from other gifts, that too is a consideration, even if the original entry into the pool was subsidized by CUA themselves.

Furthermore, let me remind you of a certain law that I mentioned to J.J. several times early on. Gambling Act 2005. This is the applicable section:
43Chain-gift schemes

(1)A person commits an offence if he—

(a)invites another to join a chain-gift scheme, or

(b)knowingly participates in the promotion, administration or management of a chain-gift scheme.

(2)An arrangement is a “chain-gift” scheme if—

(a)in order to participate in the arrangement a person must make a payment to one or more other participants (a “joining fee”), and

(b)each person who participates in the arrangement—

(i)is required or invited to invite others to participate, and

(ii)is encouraged to believe that he will receive the joining fees, or part of the joining fees, of other participants, to an amount in excess of the joining fee paid by him.

(3)For the purposes of subsection (2)—

(a)“payment” means a payment of money or money's worth, but does not include the provision of goods or services, and

(b)it is immaterial whether a payment is made directly or through a person responsible for managing or administering the scheme.

(4)A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on summary conviction to—

(a)imprisonment for a period not exceeding 51 weeks,

(b)a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, or

(c)both.

(5)In the application of subsection (4) to Scotland or Northern Ireland the reference to 51 weeks shall have effect as a reference to six months.

While that law isn't from the United States, it is an excellent example of the kind of hazards that an international company will encounter. A law that criminalizes what you do under terms other than "pyramid," directly naming gifting itself as a crime.

Likewise, as I've also pointed out in past discussions, a number of claims being made by CUA's members are red flags that the Attorney Generals warn that pyramid schemes use to mislead their victims. I'm still seeing Michelle Tucker, for example, boasting about portions of money going to various charities. I'm still seeing Belinda Grandberry's downline proclaiming that the gifts are tax free, as if it wasn't questionable. I'm also still seeing plenty of other abuses, such as the E1B1 teams with multiple accounts being run by single head individuals, Derek Duncan putting "CUA Team Leader" in his Yahoo Group ads for all sorts of other programs, Robert Howard and Carla Michele spinning off their own gifting scheme after a chat on CUA's own pages (with a terms and conditions agreement that threatens police with perjury for merely trying to investigate them), Archie Pollard ("Cash Gifting sent me $65,000 in a box!" was one of his ads a while back) the "Senior Partner" treating CUA just like any other program he's joined, and many more.

As I believe I told you directly some time ago, no one has any issues with the social network or the Giving Tree elements of CUA (possible single exception: Alex Reid of Save Nature Free, but that's because he didn't read the rules); all the trouble is at the Giving Pool element of the company.
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Re: Elite Activity Resurrected (Connecting Us All)!

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HH beat me to a comprehensive answer (the limited time I have to devote to this board was occupied with certain "sovereign" scammers in the forum of that name, above). But you ask an important question, you sound sincere, and I want to answer.

In a nutshell, you are attempting to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. Doing so may mean that it will take you longer to go under than those at the other end of the ship. But you'll still go under. You can't survive without constant infusions of cash from new people. Since the reason people join you is to get paid - I'll discuss that more below - your recruiting is inherently deceptive. You cannot fulfil the expectations of your members without endless recruiting, and that's the deception of a pyramid scheme.

You list specific reasons you believe that CUA is not a pyramid:

(1) "Connecting Us All has no consideration." Well, yes, it does. There are the "subscription payments" which we've already discussed. In addition - as I tried to discuss but you didn't respond - there is the difference between those who give immediately upon joining and those who don't. The former group are immediately entered in the gifting program, and the fate of the latter is unclear, as is the reason for the difference. Finally, the members of the gifting program receive gifts. Unless you and Ulrich put up the money out of your pockets, it comes from other members. How is that not "consideration"?

(2) "you don't have to gift anyone anything if you choose not to". But that's the only reason people join. There are hundreds (or thousands) of perfectly legitimate charities out there. The only reason people join you is not to give - they can do that anywhere, and to organizations far more organized than you to deliver aid where it is needed the most - but to receive. As I've suggested before, close down the gifting program for a couple of months and see how many people join. Go ahead, prove me wrong.

Moreover, as HH and I (especially HH) have been pointing out, your members emphasize receiving in their recruiting pitches. If the hammer ever comes down on you, your protestations that they do it on their own are going to ring quite hollow. When you combine their continued sales pitches with the undisputed fact that CUA's only activity is distributing money, the conclusion that you are an unlawful gifting scheme is an easy one to reach.

As I'm sure you are aware, Dockstader made similar pleas - that it was voluntary, no one had to participate, and so forth. The court had no problem affirming his conviction. It was later thrown out because his lawyer was ineffective and had a blatant conflict of interest, not because he was innocent of running a pyramid scheme. As the FTC says,
Avoid being misled into thinking a gifting club is legitimate because the ads say that members consider their payments a gift and expect nothing in return. This is an attempt to make an illegal transaction look legal.
What agency has primary responsibility in the US for enforcement of federal laws against pyramids?

The "Women Helping Women" scam from California a few years ago went one better - they had their members sign agreements that they had no expectation of receiving anything, that joining guaranteed nothing, and so forth. It didn't matter. Shut down, leaders indicted.

General legal principle: the law will look at the substance of conduct, not the form. There is no reason to join Connecting Us All without the possibility of receiving. It is widely advertised as a painless way to make money. People pay, one way or another, to belong. The only product is money, which must keep coming in from new recruits or you collapse.

"If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks" is perfectly good law.
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Re: Elite Activity Resurrected (Connecting Us All)!

Post by ProfHenryHiggins »

Here's something to chew on.

After seeing a former Elite Activity member posting on Craigslist about how good CUA was (and she's a notary, no less), I tried sending her an email asking where I could send a gift to her at without going through Connecting Us All.

It's been weeks and she hasn't even bothered to respond.
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Re: Elite Activity Resurrected (Connecting Us All)!

Post by ProfHenryHiggins »

I can't believe the stupidity of these folks.

The latest change that J.J. has made in his program , "Flip'n" as they call it, looks a great deal like the ladder matrix that the Cow Frinzi Club used.

Here's my dissection of that scam:
http://www.scam.com/showthread.php?t=124883


I will note that Kala Jean Taylor, who handled the monies in the "Cow-Op" portion of Cow Frinzi, is also a CUA member. Hmm. I wonder if she suggested this method to Dockstader and Ulrich?
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Re: Elite Activity Resurrected (Connecting Us All)!

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I wonder where Val is. She asks a question a month ago, you and I take the time to make non-snarky answers, and she disappears.
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Re: Elite Activity Resurrected (Connecting Us All)!

Post by ProfHenryHiggins »

I'm not sure where she is. But after learning about "imprision of felony" I'm starting to wonder if that's going to be leveled against the Lamberts (Val and David) for Val's arguments both here and on Scam.com.

In the meantime, the smaller scammers within CUA continue their own activities. Grandberry is hitting imfaceplate and hubpages with her "gifting is legal" garbage, John Hardwick is running his Teamworx International gifting program, Carla Michele sends out newsletters for her FastFunds4All pyramid, Derek Duncan continues to promote anything that remotely claims to be paying out, Patricia Stewart is begging for $15,000 to keep her phony non-profit Each1Bless1.com afloat, Ken Belton is teaming up with Keith "profiteasy" Jones to run their own gifting scheme, etc.

Edit: Let me add Sandy Garland & Tommy Dollar, with their "helpourfriends" so-called "Free Finance Boards. Serial Ponzi promoter Steve Whitehead was seen pushing this one, and after little investigation I found the ties to Patricia Stewart that led me to her members running it.

Speaking of Hardwick, I heard a rumor that involvement with him hurt a noted gospel singing group, the Florida Boys Quartet. Allegedly, their bass singer Chip Cooper was fired for being part of Hardwick's gifting scam, among other "tax free income" frauds.
When I checked Hardwick's site, I found a member with Chip's real name, Miles Cooper, Jr., so that may have had some truth behind the rumor.
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Re: Elite Activity Resurrected (Connecting Us All)!

Post by ProfHenryHiggins »

Belinda Grandberry's latest spew of madness...

From http://www.imfaceplate.com/legalgifting ... g-programs
AlertPay Freezing Accounts of Illegal Gifting Programs
Nov 11th 2010 at 10:32 PM

As many of you may have heard, there is a change in Alert Pay's Policy Regarding illegal gifting programs: Alert Pay will no longer allow any gifts to be sent by any account holder involved in a gifting program except Connecting Us All. This is a new policy that Alert Pay implemented as of this week. This effects all cash gifting activities that are not in compliance and there is a long list of them. Banks and credit card vendors at the request of the Feds asked Alert Pay to remove this option for illegal cash gifting activities and to freeze all accounts. If your account is associated with Connecting Us All, your account will not be affected. Connecting Us All works closely with Alert Pay developers who have integrated Alert Pay into their system with payment buttons for each gift sent and will soon be issued an Alert Pay debit card because of their compliance to the gifting statutes. So a rule of thumb is, if your gifting program cannot use Alert Pay, you cannot achieve longevity because it is just a matter of time before it folds or be shut down by the SEC. Most likely this will soon start to affect other on line payment processors, the writing is on the wall.

While I have heard from other gifting programs that Alertpay was finally taking steps against them, none had the raw chutzpah to claim that only their program was exempt from that.

And for comparison, here's what Belinda told her mailing list in a recent email.
Connecting Us All The Worldwide Giving Network

As many of you may have heard, there is a change in Alert Pay's Policy Regarding illegal gifting programs: AlertPay will no longer allow any gifts to be sent by any account holder involved in a gifting program except Connecting Us All. This is a new policy that Alert Pay implemented as of this week. This effects all cash gifting activities that are not in compliance and there is a long list of them. Banks and credit card vendors at the request of the Feds asked Alert Pay to remove this option for illegal cash gifting activities and to freeze all accounts. If your account is associated with Connecting Us All, your account will not be affected. Connecting Us All works closely with Alert Pay developers who have integrated Alert Pay into their system with payment buttons for each gift sent and will soon be issued an Alert Pay debit card because of their compliance to the gifting statutes. So a rule of thumb is, if you gifting program cannot use Alert Pay, you cannot achieve longevity because it is just a matter of time before it folds or be shut down by the SEC. Most likely this will soon start to affect other on line payment processors, the writing is on the wall. Some members who were promoting others programs had their account frozen even though they are in CUA. If this happens to you just contact info@connectingusall.org, it took J.J. to get this resolved for them. Also it is best to associate your AlertPay account with CUA membership. Just login and click on Business Tools, Personal Pro, Website and enter http://www.connectingusall.org.

-Belinda
The differences are small, but may be important.
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Re: Elite Activity Resurrected (Connecting Us All)!

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ProfHenryHiggins wrote:I'm not sure where she is. But after learning about "imprision of felony" I'm starting to wonder if that's going to be leveled against the Lamberts (Val and David) for Val's arguments both here and on Scam.com.
I think you mean "misprision".

In any event, though, there would be no need to resort to accessory after the fact liability should law enforcement decide to move against Connecting Us All. People promoting it are liable as principals.
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Valerie Lambert

Re: Elite Activity Resurrected (Connecting Us All)!

Post by Valerie Lambert »

I am here wserra and Professor. I am interested in the remark about charges leveled against David and me. We have been very busy with an update to Connecting Us All and that is why I have not been here to answer. My world has been in a whirlwind for the last few weeks both employment wise and personally. I have studied and studied the laws from each state and I am still trying to figure this word "consideration" out and how our subscription fee can be construed as such. People don't have to pay, they choose to and I am having a hard time getting around that. I do appreciate you not making "snarky" remarks to me. I am new still to all of this and I am still trying to learn things. I have never been associated with a Gifting Program and I have never been a Compliance person before. I am studying when I am not helping JJ.

Please feel free to keep teaching me. I do appreciate it. The more I know the better.

Thanks guys!
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Re: Elite Activity Resurrected (Connecting Us All)!

Post by notorial dissent »

You don't understand "consideration", you really don't understand "consideration"!!!!

Have you not read any of the postings previous to your return?

Your problem is that you are "choosing" to ignore things you do not want to see or hear, and you "choose" to interpret things to suit your own determination of things, and that is going to end very badly for you. Please pay close attention to what has been written above, they are giving you the straight information.
The fact that you sincerely and wholeheartedly believe that the “Law of Gravity” is unconstitutional and a violation of your sovereign rights, does not absolve you of adherence to it.
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Re: Elite Activity Resurrected (Connecting Us All)!

Post by Cathulhu »

Nah, she's just fishing for what the prosecution is gonna do to her and how she can attempt to counter it.
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