Some would have you believe that only unsophisticated people with no business background would become involved in a “Pyramid Scheme”.
But that’s not always so. The biggest losses to pyramid schemes come from government and charitable organizations who invest heavily in deals that are “too good to be true”.
The promise of extraordinary returns and the illusions of “proven results” make them hard to resist even for folks you’d believe to be discerning…like Educators.
Evidently they forgot to learn the first lesson of business “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”
The Pittsburgh Business Times reports that “Pa. schools caught in pyramid scheme, auditor general says”
Four schools districts in Western Pennsylvania, including two in Allegheny County, borrowed more than $1 million to buy exercise equipment from a nonprofit company that was allegedly a front for a pyramid scheme, Pennsylvania’s auditor general said Monday.
The nonprofit is the National School Fitness Foundation, based in Utah, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2004.
The foundation claimed to have corporate, government and philanthropic backing. The schools would buy gym equipment from a related company, School Fitness Systems. The Fitness Foundation would then reimburse the schools in exchange for fitness-related data generated from students using the equipment.
But in July 2004, the Minnesota attorney general’s office accused the foundation of operating a “pyramid scheme,” according to a news release issued by the Pennsylvania auditor general’s office. When new schools enrolled, the foundation would use that money to reimburse those already in the program, Minnesota officials alleged.
The foundation has denied the claims, but representatives could not be reached for comment.
Pennsylvania auditor general Jack Wagner said at least 13 Pennsylvania school districts and a career center have done business with NSFF, which is being investigated by federal and state authorities in Minnesota and several other states.
100 Abdominal Exercises on January 26th, 2006 at 10:55 am
You have really done a good job on this. Keep it up!