Quatloos!

Now we turn our attention to Frank L. VanderSloot, the billionaire businessman whose privately-held company, Idaho Falls-based Melaleuca, is one of the biggest donors to the super PAC backing Mitt Romney (Restore Our Future). He's also national finance co-chair of the former Massachusetts governor's campaign (somehow avoiding the legal barriers that are intended to keep super PACs separate from candidates' campaigns).

Melaleuca is essentially a pyramid scheme -- or, more politely, a "multilevel marketing firm," like Amway or Herbalife (HLF) -- in which so-called independent marketing executives make money by peddling the company's dietary supplements and cleaning products, as well as recruiting more salespeople (the newer recruits being on the lower levels of the pyramid).

Writing about VanderSloot is a riskier endeavor than covering Adelson or Friess: As Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com has explained, VanderSloot is in the habit of threatening to sue just about anyone who puts his name in print, from local bloggers to Forbes magazine.

WASHINGTON, DC – Former Speaker of the House and General Chairman of American Solutions, Newt Gingrich, recently honored Mr. Frank L. Vandersloot, CEO of Melaleuca, Inc., as American Solutions’ 2009 Entrepreneur of the Year from Idaho. Speaker Gingrich recognized Mr. Frank Vandersloot at an American Solutions awards dinner on September 23, 2009 at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington, DC.