"Similar to a child molester preying on children"

Marketing company can conduct business despite restraining order

August 17, 1999
By a person happy to not have been fooled

I was looking for a better job--one that would allow me to go back to school and finish my last year
without taking a substantial loss of income.

I responded to the ad in my local newspaper and they seemed very excited to interview me--even when I had to change my interview date twice. Usually a skeptic, I should have wondered why they were being so accommodating. However, where I live, the unemployment rate is less than 5% so I figured they were just having trouble-finding people.

When I finally got to the interview, I was deeply disappointed to see 30 other people. When the "corporate overview" began, I regretted what I had gotten myself into and was actually embarrassed. The ad failed to disclose anything about the job. But I felt that I should have known better, even though there certainly were no clues prior to my attendance.

When the presentation was over, I felt that I needed to scrub down like Meryl Streep in "Silkwood."
The sales pitch was heavy. They made it seem like you could succeed without an education--that Equinox
was the end all to a person's money troubles and search for a career.

But this is contrary to the government's findings. Some testimonials coming out of the company are that it is a pyramid-scheme.

Hopefully the government will be successful in preventing Bob Gouldd from engaging in such enterprises in the future.

Their tactics seem similar to a child molester preying on children--because of their target age. Most of the people in my "interview" were just out of high school or in their early twenties. This is a prime age group to indoctrinate and brainwash, especially when focusing on the topic of finding a career and success.

The loss of money, business tactics and age of recruits in Equinox is a tragedy.