I was once invited (by my 1st wife's boss) to a presentation by 'Crown Development Company.' We had already made plans for the evening in question, but agreed to attend the beginning of the presentation since our prior engagement was later in the evening. What I heard scared the hell out of me and, unfortunately, we had to leave the meeting before finding out who Crown Development was. The next day I called our AG's office to see if they had any info. They also had never heard of the company but were alarmed by the information I gave them. They called my wife's boss, who later called me in a fury to inform me that Crown was merely a front for Amway because people wouldn't come to the presentations if they knew upfront who it was. She offered me the chance to redeem our friendship by attending another presentation the following week, which I gracefully as possible declined. Frankly, I had already had a bellyfull of Amway's tactics and certainly didn't believe any company which had to make its presentations under a 'front' name could be all that legitimate.

Amway is one of the largest corporations in Michigan (my home state) and, in my opinion have some of the most questionable sales practices. True, they escape the definition of a true Ponzi scheme by the inclusion of product sales, but I must state that, in two hours of the presentation i mentioned above, the distribution model was hyped but never was a product mentioned. If it had, I'd have been able to leave even sooner. At one point, it almost seemed as if most Michiganians were selling Amway products to one another. The products are OK, but much more expensive than comparable products.

Be aware of one other fact: by your participation in Amway, whether by selling their products or purchasing them you will be supporting some of the most far right politics that exist. I state this not so much as a judgment as a statement of fact regarding the causes supported by Amway's (very wealthy) officers.