Complaint Review: World Traders Association - Las Vegas Nevada

I have been rip off by IMG. I am a foreign guy who dream to own a business in the USA and achieve my goal and to make my family back in Asia be so proud of me. Instead, IMG took my whole life saving investment and ran away with it. When they call me, they painted a perfect nice scenario about sell the merchandise and how easy to earn commission. When they took $7,450.00 of my whole live saving investment, they sent me the bullcraps binder, and worthless books. The package that IMG sent to me with all the books with names of companies was so old, they had addresses from the World Trade Center in them. Some had no web sites or anyway to contact them. The list of qualified suppliers not worth the paper they were written on. The entire list of suppliers were either disconnects, wrong numbers, or people who politely told me to piss right off. I do share with all of you, the frustration and mental distress that all of us went thru. I would like to pursue this matter further to get my investment back under the Virginia law, however I am not very familliar with the United States Law. Please any help would be greatly appreciated. What kind of research or where do I go to file complaint? Best regards and best of to luck to all of you to get the money back.

I have been rip off by IMG. I am a foreign guy who dream to own a business in the USA and achieve my goal and to make my family back in Asia be so proud of me. Instead, IMG took my whole life saving investment and ran away with it. When they call me, they painted a perfect nice scenario about sell the merchandise and how easy to earn commission. When they took $7,450.00 of my whole live saving investment, they sent me the bullcraps binder, and worthless books. The package that IMG sent to me with all the books with names of companies was so old, they had addresses from the World Trade Center in them. Some had no web sites or anyway to contact them. The list of qualified suppliers not worth the paper they were written on. The entire list of suppliers were either disconnects, wrong numbers, or people who politely told me to piss right off. I do share with all of you, the frustration and mental distress that all of us went thru. I would like to pursue this matter further to get my investment back under the Virginia law, however I am not very familliar with the United States Law. Please any help would be greatly appreciated. What kind of research or where do I go to file complaint? Best regards and best of to luck to all of you to get the money back. Emile

To: World Traders Association, via Shannon Holden, et. al., I demand the refund of my $6,900 to which I am entitled under California Law, among a million other legal reasons. I've complained to the FTC so far, and posted at RipOffReport.com, but I want my money back more than mere moral vindication. In the following forum, which I know you people follow, I was essentially told by WTA's "Richard" that refunds were generously offered to those "few" affiliates who were "unhappy". I thus posted a request for such a refund and sent a copy thereof to WTA by e-mail. I was ignored. You can see this exchange here: http://w3.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff65780.htm Incidentally, tomorrow (it's too late tonight) I'm posting this e-mail as an update to that RipOffReport post, and also as my first post at www.business-opportunities.biz. I won't be ignored again. You think I should post it to bizwatch-dog??? The following is just some of the information I've collected SO FAR in support of my legal action against WTA/IMG/Musketeer/Global/Fullfillment and the principals of each organization. According to the Nevada Secretary of State in June 2004, Scott Rinaldo, President of World Traders Association, had an address of 4185 South Paradise Rd #1115, Las Vegas, NV 89109. The Global Connection, according to the Arizona Secretary of State, has a foreign address of--bada bing!-- 4185 South Paradise Rd #1115, Las Vegas, NV 89109. The Vegas address is an apartment at the Paradise Bay apartment complex, is it not? Does Scott still live with you, Shannon? I note that: American Association of Exporters and Importers, International Franchise Bureau, Small Business Exporters Association, American Wholesale Marketers Association, National Association of Foreign Trade Zones, Business Marketing Association, National Business Opportunity Bureau, The International Customer Service Association, National Association of Wholesale Distributors, National Custom Brokers & Forwarders of America, Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce, National Sporting Goods Association, United States Chamber of Commerce, US - Mexico Chamber of Commerce, Canadian Chamber of Commerce, and The International Import/Export Institute. If this is true (you'll forgive my lack of trust), it won't be for long. Thanks for providing me with a lot more organizations to warn about affiliating with a fraud like you. WTA was shutdown by the California Attorney General's office, which revoked WTA's registeration after numerous complaints, from defrauded affiliates such as I, for fraud and violation of state laws and policy. WTA then re-opened with a different name-- International Merchandise Group. To comply with the Attorney General, WTA took down their website www.wtraders.com, but the other website, www.wtaaffiliates.org, still exists. But you re-emerged as a new company, International Merchandise Group, then a newer company, TGC. When WTA registration was revoked on May 2003, by law, WTA was required to notify all members and offer to settle with each and every one. But you didn't, did you? Related Facts: The President of IMG, Mike Morgan, used to be with WTA. You, Shannon Holden, President of TGC, used to be with WTA. IMG, TGC, and WTA all offer the same sales pitch for their "business offer". They all have the same phone extentions and the same trainers & recruiters. WTA & IMG have no offices or warehouses. They work out of their homes. IMG's Denver address is a mere "store front". IMG products are listed on WTA's product list. Harry Fisher (WTA) and d**k Wells (IMG) like to call defrauded affiliates and threaten their lives, in spite of the ever-present possiblity of being tape-recorded (as a legal strategy, of course). IMG's corporate status is deliquent in Colorado. Musketeer Partners' corporate status is delinquent in Nevada. TGC's corporate status is delinquent in Arizona. IMG has links to Musketeer Partners. The Denver address at 1600 Broadway, Ste. 2400 is nothing more than a storefront. It forwards all mail to Brenda at IMG in Nevada. IMG doesn't lease an inch of office space in Denver. The same IMG Brenda can also be reached by phone at Musketeer Partners. The forwarding service at 1600 Broadway takes care of mail for both entities--ta da!--and Brenda is the contact for both. IMG, WTA, TGC, & Musketeer Partners are all located at 3083 N. Lima St. Burbank, CA. When one IMG affiliate recieved his first leads list he right-clicked on the file to open up its Properties, then clicked on Summary, then on the Advanced button, and saw, under the Origin heading, "WTA" identified as the company that created the document. Don't you people know that Microsoft Word stores miscellaneous "meta data" associated with all files? Wade World Traders (the publisher that IMG manuals are plagiarized from) is located at 1800 E. Sahara #107 Las Vegas, NV. Plagiarism can pierce the corporate veil and take on the corporate officers personally! Scott Rinaldo aka Jim Reed, etc. used Judy Fidler's credit card to purchase import/export training manuals, which he copied and sold as original material for $7500.00, a 1,500% markup from the cost of the plagiarized originals. Fullfilment Options is the comapny located in Burbank, CA, that houses IMG, WTA, TGC, & Musketeer Partners. All these companies utilize Fulfillment Options' internet account. Bizwatch-dog sends e-mail from the building in which IMG, WTA, TGC, & Musketeer Partners are located. Biz-watchdog is part of the WTA family of schemes. This type of "advertising" where you hide your identity, defame your competition, and build yourself up is illegal. At one time, if you went to Google and searched for "musketeer partners", a bizwatchdog.com advertisement would appear on the sponored links section. Now that bizwatchdog has been exposed as a fraudulent site linked to IMG/WTA, etc., they've taken their Google sponsorships down, but still have advertisments running on multiple franchise information sites: "Get the real facts for free about franchises and business opportunities. The BizWatchDog is on your side." You may have decreased your efforts to post positive, enticing information regarding Musketeer Partners/IMG/TGC/WTA, etc., but copies still exist showing what that site contained, what's been changed, and what's been deleted due to "defamatory statements". Altogether, this family of companies, inter alia, defrauds, plagiaraizes, lies, falsly advertises, commits mail fraud, and uses false & misleading statements and deceptive business practices. You can play stupid and have domesticsupport@thegconline screen your e-mail all you want--it won't stop me from getting my lawful refund. As long as it takes. Mail my refund to ****. Robert J. Donahue Attorney-at-Law ****

You say my story is not true? You voluntarily withdrew your registration under California's SAMP Act, and it was not revoked, you say? According to a Reliability Report, dated 11/16/03, issued by the Better Business Bureau that serves Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernadino Counties in Southern California (www.bbbsouthland.org), the falsehoods put forth in this matter are yours, not mine. To quote such report, in pertinent parts: "We rate this company as having an unsatisfactory business performance record based on a pattern of serious complaint allegations. Complainants allege dissatisfaction with the training provided, inadequate training materials, poor business leads, and misrepresentation of the quality of the materials and the potential for success. One complainant alleges the company does not provide clients; instead the customer received a lead list to call." "On May 27, 2003, we verified hat this company is not registered with the California Attorney General as a Seller Assisted Marketing Plan. The company's registration was revoked for allegedly violating the SAMP Act." "In California, a business opportunity offer must include written disclosures, cancellation notices and certain contract provisions. .... A contract may be voided within one year from the date the contract if any misleading statements are used or the company fails to provide proper documentation of the offer." I have evidence. Where's yours? Given the misleading statements used to induce my entry into the contract, and given your very significant silence regarding the same (why dispute what you know to be true?), I declare the contract void under the SAMP Act and seek an immediate refund of my $6,900.00, as I am sending this update to WTA via e-mail. Resolutely,

You say my story is not true? You voluntarily withdrew your registration under California's SAMP Act, and it was not revoked, you say? According to a Reliability Report, dated 11/16/03, issued by the Better Business Bureau that serves Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernadino Counties in Southern California (www.bbbsouthland.org), the falsehoods put forth in this matter are yours, not mine. To quote such report, in pertinent parts: "We rate this company as having an unsatisfactory business performance record based on a pattern of serious complaint allegations. Complainants allege dissatisfaction with the training provided, inadequate training materials, poor business leads, and misrepresentation of the quality of the materials and the potential for success. One complainant alleges the company does not provide clients; instead the customer received a lead list to call." "On May 27, 2003, we verified hat this company is not registered with the California Attorney General as a Seller Assisted Marketing Plan. The company's registration was revoked for allegedly violating the SAMP Act." "In California, a business opportunity offer must include written disclosures, cancellation notices and certain contract provisions. .... A contract may be voided within one year from the date the contract if any misleading statements are used or the company fails to provide proper documentation of the offer." I have evidence. Where's yours? Given the misleading statements used to induce my entry into the contract, and given your very significant silence regarding the same (why dispute what you know to be true?), I declare the contract void under the SAMP Act and seek an immediate refund of my $6,900.00, as I am sending this update to WTA via e-mail. Resolutely,

You say my story is not true? You voluntarily withdrew your registration under California's SAMP Act, and it was not revoked, you say? According to a Reliability Report, dated 11/16/03, issued by the Better Business Bureau that serves Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernadino Counties in Southern California (www.bbbsouthland.org), the falsehoods put forth in this matter are yours, not mine. To quote such report, in pertinent parts: "We rate this company as having an unsatisfactory business performance record based on a pattern of serious complaint allegations. Complainants allege dissatisfaction with the training provided, inadequate training materials, poor business leads, and misrepresentation of the quality of the materials and the potential for success. One complainant alleges the company does not provide clients; instead the customer received a lead list to call." "On May 27, 2003, we verified hat this company is not registered with the California Attorney General as a Seller Assisted Marketing Plan. The company's registration was revoked for allegedly violating the SAMP Act." "In California, a business opportunity offer must include written disclosures, cancellation notices and certain contract provisions. .... A contract may be voided within one year from the date the contract if any misleading statements are used or the company fails to provide proper documentation of the offer." I have evidence. Where's yours? Given the misleading statements used to induce my entry into the contract, and given your very significant silence regarding the same (why dispute what you know to be true?), I declare the contract void under the SAMP Act and seek an immediate refund of my $6,900.00, as I am sending this update to WTA via e-mail. Resolutely,

You say my story is not true? You voluntarily withdrew your registration under California's SAMP Act, and it was not revoked, you say? According to a Reliability Report, dated 11/16/03, issued by the Better Business Bureau that serves Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernadino Counties in Southern California (www.bbbsouthland.org), the falsehoods put forth in this matter are yours, not mine. To quote such report, in pertinent parts: "We rate this company as having an unsatisfactory business performance record based on a pattern of serious complaint allegations. Complainants allege dissatisfaction with the training provided, inadequate training materials, poor business leads, and misrepresentation of the quality of the materials and the potential for success. One complainant alleges the company does not provide clients; instead the customer received a lead list to call." "On May 27, 2003, we verified hat this company is not registered with the California Attorney General as a Seller Assisted Marketing Plan. The company's registration was revoked for allegedly violating the SAMP Act." "In California, a business opportunity offer must include written disclosures, cancellation notices and certain contract provisions. .... A contract may be voided within one year from the date the contract if any misleading statements are used or the company fails to provide proper documentation of the offer." I have evidence. Where's yours? Given the misleading statements used to induce my entry into the contract, and given your very significant silence regarding the same (why dispute what you know to be true?), I declare the contract void under the SAMP Act and seek an immediate refund of my $6,900.00, as I am sending this update to WTA via e-mail. Resolutely,

To Robert, You are not alone in being frustrated with our business. Since 1996 (7 years), we have experienced 19 people like yourself (an average of 3 people per year). This could be construed as either a good or bad batting average depending on ones perception. Out of the 19 unhappy people, we have given 12 partial refunds and one full refund, depending on the circumstances. With regards to the CA attorney general SAMP act, your story is not true. We were registered under the California SAMP act and voluntarily withdrew our registration because of cash flow problems, it was not revoked. As a matter of fact, we also stopped selling memberships throughout the world. We found the cost of selling memberships (advertising, sales commissions, etc.) almost put us out of business. We do, however, continue to support all of our members. As far as our contract is concerned, it is not one sided. All prospects were given a copy weeks before they made a decision to join, and our sales literature clearly states that the prospective member should show the contract to their attorney, which many of them did (at least 50%). Thank you, World Traders Association [email protected]