The State of Connecticut took action against Extreme Marketing Alliance, Matt Graham, and Orlando Diaz for trying to sell a business opportunity program in the State.
The State claims “Extreme Marketing Alliance LLC (“EMA”) is a limited liability company formed under the laws of the State of Nevada on March 8, 2016. According to records maintained by the State of Nevada, (i) the managing member of EMA is 6A Factory II, LLC, a Nevada entity; and (ii) the principals of 6A Factory II, LLC are Matt Graham (“Graham”) and Orlando Diaz (“Diaz”). The address of EMA’s Nevada registered agent is c/o The Fortune Law Firm, Ltd., 11920 Southern Highlands Parkway, Suite 200, Las Vegas, Nevada 89141, and the address for 6A Factory II, LLC is 2307 Westwood Avenue, Richmond, Virginia 23230. At all times relevant hereto, EMA was in the business of offering business coaching services.”
We’ve all seen magical business service pitches to teach you this or that to make you a quick fortune. But here is a State taking notice of at least this one marketing effort.
According to public documents, the State says they received a complaint from a consumer in Connecticut. It can take just one complaint to start these things rolling.
After the complaint got some attention the State conducted an investigation. Documents say “(a) EMA’s website represented to the public that EMA could help those participating in its program (“EMA Program”) experience financial freedom by starting their own online business; that participants could achieve a revenue stream while learning the program; and that “Coach Matt” would guide participants through the process every step of the way;
(b) in his LinkedIn profile, Graham, as CEO of EMA, represented that prospective purchasers could potentially achieve “[a]n additional 5 figures per month within 60-90 days” and that “[i]f you are coachable and can follow our proven blueprint, you WILL duplicate our success. Our proven processes provide you with the ability to supplement or replace your full time income”;
(c) EMA Program purchasers paid between $3,000 and $21,000 to participate and were told they would receive (i) a mailed physical booklet containing “proprietary information about our marketing systems and products”; (ii) “instant access upon purchase to all of our educational training courses which are inside our membership website”; (iii) “on-boarding session with our On-Boarding expert of choice; (iv) “UNLIMITED access to Matt & Orlando’s Private Facebook Messenger for unlimited one on one support”; (v) “UNLIMITED access to communicate with Matt & Orlando for one on one support using their private booking page”; and (vi) that, upon signing a “Purchase Order” with EMA, purchasers, characterized as licensee/members, received the right to resell the product information provided by EMA;
(d) EMA’s promotional material represented that purchasers could achieve the following profits, depending on the type of package they purchased: (i) Gold Package = $3,000 + $247 admin fee = $3,247. You make $1,500 on every sale; Platinum Package = $7,000 + $447 admin fee = $7,447. You make up to $3,500 per sale; Diamond Package = $14,000 + $647 admin fee = $14,647. You make up to $7,000 per sale; and Royal Package = $21,000 + $847 admin fee = $21,847. You make up to $10,500 per sale;
(e) Respondents did not substantiate their claims of income or earnings potential or disclose any substantiating data to the prospective purchaser-investor at the time the claims were made; and
(f) between April 2019 and August 2020, at least eleven residents of Connecticut paid EMA over $100,000 in total to participate in the EMA Program.” – Source
It appears that all residents identified have received refunds. The aggregate amount refunded to Connecticut purchaser-investors by EMA totaled $116,687.
To help settle this issue the named entity and people agreed to be barred from selling any “business opportunity” in the State. “After three years have elapsed from the entry of this Consent Order by the Commissioner, EMA, Graham or Diaz may apply for business opportunity registration through retained legal counsel, provided that, in considering such application, the Commissioner maintains sole discretion to (a) register such business opportunity, with or without restrictions or conditions; or (b) deny such registration under Section 36b-68 of the Act.”
On top of all of this, “EMA shall remit to the Department of Banking by certified check, cashier’s check or ACH electronic transfer made payable to “Treasurer, State of Connecticut”, the sum of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) as an administrative fine.”
It just goes to show you, if you are approached with some business opportunity, it might not be legal to be offered where you live. These things are worth checking on before you invest.
