From “Wize Guys” (Wizetrade)
Houston Press 2-2-2006
• Do: Pay $3,000 for software that purports
to get you rich through trading in the stock
market
• Don't: Read the fine print in the contract,
which says the software doesn't come
with instructions or training. And when
you do finally receive the instructions
or training, you automatically forfeit the
right to a refund.
Testimonial from Website
• “I’m new to the
market and without
WIZETRADE™ I wouldn’t
have a clue
how to make a
profitable trade.
This software
shows a simple solution
to a
complex market. I won’t
trade without
it.”-Amber Archangel,
California
Follow Up on Testimonials
• Since GlobalTec/Dynetech spokeswoman Dori Madison couldn't
answer our questions -- or put us in touch with any happy and
successful GlobalTec customers -- the Press tried reaching the
instructors and happy customers directly. None of the
instructors returned our calls, and the closest we got to the
people featured in the testimonials was a woman in Carmel,
California, named Amber Archangel. In her testimonial,
Archangel says, "Without Wizetrade, I wouldn't have a clue how
to make a profitable trade."
• Archangel did not want to say how much money she made off
Wizetrade. In fact, she didn't want to say anything at all,
explaining that she wanted to check with GlobalTec before
commenting. We never heard back.
• These calls prompted another warning from Dynetech/GlobalTec,
this time from an outside firm.
Class Action Suit
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"When you see contracts that are that one-sided and that unconscionable, for
me as a consumer lawyer, that raises red flags about the transaction," Eric
Coakley says from his Denver office.
Coakley is looking for class certification in a suit filed against GlobalTec on behalf of
frustrated 4X Made Easy buyers. He's talking about GlobalTec's refund and complaint
policies.
However, GlobalTec/Dynetech spokeswoman Dori Madison said the plaintiffs sued
because "They really wanted to work for the company, is what it came down to.
Because they loved the product…They really wanted to work with the company, and
there just wasn't a spot for them."
Coakley says his clients, wowed by the free demonstration of the software, took it
home only to find out the thing was impossible to understand without instructions.
"They don't know how to use it; they haven't received the instruction," he says. "So
they can turn it on, they can see the red and green lights, and all the pretty arrows
and everything, but they don't know -- they can't interpret it."
According to a 2003 4XME "terms and conditions" purchase agreement, refund rights
are forfeited at the end of a one-day training program, on the 15th day from the date
of purchase, or when the purchaser gets the "4XME DVD Training Series" (the
instructions) -- whichever comes first.
In an e-mail, Madison stated that the refund policy was inaccurately described and
"meets or exceeds the requirements of applicable state and federal laws."
Moreover, the agreement states that customers waive their right to trial by jury and
that all disputes must be resolved by arbitration in Orange County, Florida. The
arbitration must be conducted by three attorneys with more than ten years'
experience each, unless one of them was previously a judge.
Firm Expertise
• Do: Believe that GlobalTec's brain trust
has securities expertise that makes
Warren Buffett look like a drooling baboon.
• Don't: Try to verify the brain trust's
credentials.
George Thompson, 40
George Thompson, 40
• GlobalTec: Thompson founded GlobalTec after
he "built" a trading firm in Dallas. He's also the
author of Don't Play in the StreetŠUnless You
Know Which Direction Your Stock is Traveling.
• From the Texas State Securities Board:
Commissioner Denise Voigt Crawford:
Thompson "is not registered with us, he has
never been registered with us, and I'm prohibited
by law from confirming or denying the existence
of an investigation."
George Thompson, 40
• Dallas Better Business Bureau: In his
application to the BBB, Thompson
identified himself as the president and
owner of All Tech Investment Group. He
did not include an address, length of
operation or business description.
George Thompson, 40
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Federal Trade Commission: Thompson began selling Wizetrade in 1999
under the name "Wave on Wall Street" through an affiliate of a Dallas-based
company called 2xtreme Performance International, which ostensibly sold
nutritional products. However, the Federal Trade Commission accused the
company's founder, John Polk, of running a pyramid scheme, and the
company folded in 2000. By that time, Polk was already in jail for an
unrelated charge of fraud connected to his real-estate infomercials.
Thompson was not a defendant in that case and, according to the FTC's
file, appears to have helped the commission's case against 2xtreme. In a
declaration filed with the FTC, Thompson said the company's founder had
begun pre-selling the Wave on Wall Street to "distributors within the
company." Thompson said he warned Polk that the product was not ready
to be sold.
But Thompson appeared in an infomercial for the product, a partial
transcript of which is in the FTC's files. Thompson is identified in the
infomercial as "the co-founder of one of the largest day-trading firms in the
U.S." Also appearing in the infomercial is Peter Hirsch, a co-defendant in
the FTC's suit against 2xtreme.
Karl Haas, 37
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From GlobalTec's Web site: "Before joining GlobalTec, Karl was a broker
for three years with a series 7 and series 63 license."
From the Texas State Securities Board: Haas resigned from TD
Waterhouse in 1999, after failing the Series 7 exam three times. He was
with the firm for nine months. He then worked at Fidelity Brokerage Services
for just over a year. He passed the Series 7 and Series 63 exams in 2000
but was registered for only part of his time at Fidelity. Previous jobs included
sales and delivery for a company called Haas Distributors, assistant
restaurant manager at Bristol Hotels&Resorts in Dallas, and manager of an
inline skating retail store. In 1993, Haas pleaded guilty to felony possession
of hashish and misdemeanor possession of marijuana. A Navarro County
district court gave him deferred adjudication, and after five years' probation
the case was dismissed.
GlobalTec spokeswoman Dori Madison stated Haas's profile contained a
typo, and that he wasn't licensed for three years. When Haas was
interviewed for GlobalTec's inaugural "GlobalTec Talk" newsletter in 2003,
he stated: "I was a customer service rep at Fidelity."
Shamus O'Connor, 36
• GlobalTec: "Shamus earned his BS in business administration from
the University of Massachusetts. Shamus has more than 10 years
experience trading stocks, options and foreign currencies. He was a
licensed financial advisor/stock broker for a major Wall Street firm
for three years and formerly held series 7 and 63 licenses."
• From the Texas State Securities Board: In 1997, O'Connor
resigned from the Houston branch of Josephthal, Lyon & Ross, a
New York-based broker-dealer. He resigned after a customer
accused him of unauthorized trading. Prior to that, O'Connor worked
for 13 months at Lew Lieberbaum & Co., a Long Island brokerage.
Before that, he was a country-club bartender in Coppell, Texas; a
waiter at a Dallas Pappasito's and "head bartender" at a Dallas TGI
Friday's.
• Between 1992 and 1996, the NASD cited Josephthal, Lyon & Ross
three times for securities violations. In 2001, the NASD ordered the
firm to pay $3.3 million after finding that, in the 1990s, brokers were
paid extra to push stocks in a troubled technology company owned
by the firm.
Blake Morrow, 33
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GlobalTec: The president of 4X Made Easy, Morrow previously "managed six-figure
trading accounts in a day trading operation and was a co-owner of a Dallas-based
day trading firm."
From the Texas State Securities Board: In 1996, after five months at the Phoenix
branch of the Joseph Charles & Associates brokerage, Morrow resigned with a
$2,055 debit. Prior to that, he was a bouncer at a college bar in Tempe, a
salesperson at a Guess? store in Mesa and a waiter at a Phoenix Hilton.
Joseph Charles & Associates filed for bankruptcy in 2000, after years of individual
and regulatory complaints of fraud and illegally urging customers not to flip their
shares in initial public stock offerings.
From 1996 to 1998, Morrow worked at the Mesa-based Carrington Real Estate
Planning. In 2004, Richard Dean Carrington pleaded guilty to theft for peddling fake
life insurance policies on AIDS patients. The charge came after a five-year
investigation of Carrington Real Estate Planning and Carrington Investment Services
by the Arizona Corporation Commission. Carrington agreed to pay $3.1 million in
restitution.
Morrow's TSSB record indicates he was an indirect owner and employee of the
Dallas brokerage Centerpoint Securities. The NASD censured Centerpoint in 2003 for
failing to prevent a broker from committing fraud, and for running a securities firm
without required minimum net capital.
Morrow was not accused of wrongdoing in the regulatory complaints against Joseph
Charles or the policy scam in Arizona.
Mark McDonnell, 48
• GlobalTec: McDonnell is described as the first
Wizetrade customer and developer of Charts With Mark,
"an intensive chart analysis training tool." McDonnell is
also described as "a former trader with a major
brokerage firm."
• From the Texas State Securities Board: McDonnell
quit the Dallas branch of Fidelity Brokerage Services in
1999, after 28 months with the company. From 1990 to
1997, he was a project manager at the Dallas branch of
Fluor Daniel GTI, an environmental services company.
From 1987 to 1990, he was a project engineer at another
Dallas firm.