FTC Charges Michigan Company in $213 Million Pyramid Scheme

The Federal Trade Commission headquarters in Washington on Sept. 19, 2006. Paul J. Richards/AFP via Getty Images

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has reached a $12 million settlement with a business accused of running a nationwide pyramid scheme that defrauded people of hundreds of millions of dollars.

The settlement is related to a lawsuit filed by the FTC against Michigan-based Financial Education Services (FES) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in 2022, which issued a temporary restraining order.

FES told customers that they could remove negative information from people’s credit reports and increase credit scores by hundreds of points, according to the complaint. For this, they charged as much as $89 per month.

FES also operated a pyramid scheme in which customers were encouraged to sell company services to other people. The business is estimated to have made more than $213 million through these fraudulent practices.

On Aug. 5, the FTC announced that FES agreed to settle the lawsuit by paying more than $12 million to the agency, which will be used to offer refunds to affected customers. The company agreed to end its pyramid-scheme marketing and practices, which the FTC said violated the Credit Repair Organizations Act.

Charging upfront for credit repair services is illegal in the United States under the Credit Repair Organizations Act.

The firm is also required to put in place a compliance monitoring system to ensure that neither its employees nor contractors violate the terms of the settlement.

“FES and its owners, operators, and associated companies deceived consumers about their credit repair products and charged them upfront for the service,” the FTC stated.

Moreover, the company’s credit repair services “failed to deliver,” according to Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

These services were “rarely effective” and in many cases ended up hurting people’s credit scores, the FTC stated.

“In addition, the pyramid scheme made overinflated income claims that consumers could make tens of thousands of dollars recruiting others into FES,” the agency stated.

Recruiters of the pyramid scheme made “outlandish” income claims that people could earn $1,000 per week, according to the FTC.

To join the scheme, customers had to pay hundreds of dollars and remain subscribed to the “bogus credit repair services” every month, even if they did not need them, the agency stated.

This business structure is a pyramid scheme in which compensation to members increases based on the number of new members they recruit, according to the FTC.

“Few, if any, consumers make the income promised, and many consumers lose money as agents,” the agency stated.

On Aug. 6, the company’s internet sites, including its website, were inactive.

Crackdown on Pyramid Schemes

Authorities have cracked down on several other pyramid schemes. In July 2023, the Texas Office of the Attorney General secured a $10.76 million judgment against a couple from North Texas who cheated people out of millions of dollars during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The couple ran a business called Blessings in No Time, positioning it as a faith-based wealth-building program solely for black people. People who joined by paying $1,400 were promised a “blessing” in the form of eight times the investment.

Some people invested up to $50,000. In total, the couple scammed more than $40 million from almost 8,000 black Americans.

Those who wished to leave the organization were promised full refunds under the condition that they concealed the truth about the business on the internet.

In another case, three people were charged in January for running a multimillion-dollar pyramid scheme under the name of 8 Figure Dream Lifestyle LLC (8FDL).

The defendants claimed that their business was legitimate and that members who joined the program could make from $5,000 to $10,000 within 10 to 14 days after joining, even if they had no prior skills or experience.

“The vast majority of people who joined 8FDL never made any money,” the Department of Justice said in a statement.

The FTC warns that pyramid schemes can look like multilevel marketing businesses and often do sell products. Promoters usually entice people to join by talking about how much money can be made.

“They may say you can change your life—quit your job and even get rich—by selling the company’s products. That’s a lie. Your income would be based mostly on how many people you recruit, not how much product you sell,” the agency stated.

“Pyramid schemes are set up to encourage everyone to keep recruiting people to keep a constant stream of new distributors—and their money—flowing into the business.”