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Smilin' Bob Not Smilin' Anymore
Consumerist reports an Associated Press release that Steve Warshak, 42, was found guilty of 93 counts of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering. His 75-year-old mother, who has cancer, was found guilty of conspiracy and other charges, and was sentenced to 2-years, but is free pending appeal. US District Judge Arthur Spiegel, in Cincinnati, OH, denied Mr. Warshak's request to remain free pending appeal, but gave him 30 days to wrap up his affairs and report to prison. Besides Enzyte, Washak's company, Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals, who also distributes products to boost energy, manage weight, reduce memory loss and aid sleep, will be allowed to stay in business — but must forfeit $500 million. Among their most egregious offenses was a requirement of a Notarized statement from a doctor certifying that they had a small penis. Amazingly, remarkably few customers availed themselves of the refund offer. Unfortunately, it looks like the commercials will still be able to continue...
My cousin was murdered in 1995 and the guy who did it had colon cancer, with 6 months to live. Before going to trial, the judge ordered the case dismissed because he had less than 6 months to live and didn't want to be accused of being cruel. 13 years later, the guy is still alive and my cousin's three kids don't have their father. The perp was never made to answer for his crime, even though he still had the 44, registered to him, in his hand when the cops arrived on the scene.
still in business that means we still have to see the stupid Smilin' Bob commercials? Or worse, will they think of another stupid ad campaign to try to drum up more business and soften (no pun intended) the blow of the $500 million forfeiture?
this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. -- Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
No parole. Maybe 20 years with time off for "good behavior".
This guy got more prison time than Jeff Skilling of Enron fame. And Enron's collapse cost a lot of people some serious coin.
Great guy, heard some really hilarious stories about the company...grandma winning employee of the month on numerous occasions. Groups of employees taking product at work just for "fun". He told me his uncle said they sell confidence in a bottle and nothing more! The dood always had plenty of money and never went to class, but 500 million...damn!
I can't blame people quite as much for not understanding how to do proper research on something, or knowing signs of a scam.
Further, we here at Slashdot, who are probably biased heavily to the educated, analytical, and practical, will always see through more of the scams. A scam artist in it for the money only has incentive to improve things to the point where it fools enough of the population to get money.
Not only do they have no need to make their scam better, but there's probably a disincentive. If I got scammed on something, I'd be livid, and I'd have the time, money, and skills to try to get the cops involved. Going after the bottom quartile is not only easier, but probably safer.
Probably because most people are clueless about their rights as credit card customers. People simply aren't aware that they can call their credit card company and get instant action on any fraudulent charge.
Yes and no. Last January I had a substantial amount in fraudulent charges racked up on a credit card. All car rentals (same $45.80 charge over and over) at three car rental places, same company but in other states, all on the same day. So, I call up and explain the situation, got through to a fraud officer. He was very cooperative, had no problem admitting the charges were obviously fraudulent or erroneous (I mean, I'd have had to have rented about fifty cars to have been responsible for them.) Now, about a year earlier they'd had an (ahem) "security problem" and had proactively sent me a new card with a new number. What amazed this guy was that all the rental charges had been made with the old number which (as he said) "should have been impossible." So he wrote them off just like that. At this point, all is fine.
... I called up and told them that they had one, and only one chance to make good on this before I sued them for everything they owed me plus the damage to my credit rating because they'd already reported me. I then found out that the rental company's auditing system had already reversed all the charges anyway!
Six months later, after what they called a "reasonable investigation", these bastards put all the charges back on my card without warning, including a whole bunch of penalties. So my card is way the hell above its limit now, and they go and charge me overlimit and late fees. I'm completely unaware of this until I tried to pay for dinner one evening, and the thing came back "denied". Then I get a letter saying that they'd put the charges back because I had "activated my new card from my home address in Iowa (I haven't been to Iowa since 1973) at some phone number I've never heard of, because I was "obviously trying to defraud the company." That did it for me
After multiple conversations with their fraud department, they agreed to perform another investigation. In the meantime, I got issued another card and a new number. I'd been a fifteen year customer of this particular card, and never had a problem before. To say I was pissed off is an understatement.
After a few weeks, they completed their second investigation (I think performed by someone not in India this time, like the first one was.) Needless to say, I don't use that card anymore. Not that I expect any better from other issuers: how can you tell how a company handles their internal security, and how they treat customer relations, until something bad happens?
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
For example, willow bark can be sold as a supplement. It's active components are backed by long term clinical studies and it has been used in medicine for thousands of years and thus qualifies for exemption from FDA evaluation. You might be more familiar with the extract form that has been evaluated by the FDA, known as Asprin.
Incorrect. Aspirin is not an extract of willow bark. The extract from willow bark that you refer to is salicylic acid. Asprin is acetosalicylic acid and was first produced by chemical alteration of salicylic acid. (Aspirin is metabolized by the body into salicylic acid).
"Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives" should be a convenience store, not a government agency.
This reminds me of one instance where I was the victim of a very minor fraud.
I ordered from a somewhat shady company, and so used a one-time credit card number with a limit set exactly at my total bill.
A few days later I check my credit card online and, guess what, Shady Company has charged me $10 more for shipping than they said they would.
First thing I did was call my credit card company and ask how this was possible. Oh, they said, we always allow for up to 10% excess because people forget about shipping charges and such....
Frickin idiots!
I was able to get my $10 back, and it only cost me four separate calls to Shady Company and about an hour of my time. (I was nearly ready to resort to the Dreaded Chargeback when they finally gave me my refund.) But still, if the one-time-use card number had done what it was supposed to have done, that would have been an hour of my time that I wouldn't have had to waste.
If you mod me Overrated, you are admitting that you have no penis.
That's an amazingly long time in prison for scamming people. He would have got less if he sold legitimate drugs that occasionally killed people.
No wonder American prisons are overflowing. Why not make him empty bedpans in retirement homes or some other yucky community service for a few years instead?
Great Windows SFTP Server!
I mean, seriously, when and how did the penis size obsession get started anyway?
Apparently, it's not at all limited to modern western society. Tribal dress designed to make the penis seem larger as well as tribal and primitive art depicting gods and kings with rather large penises.
OTOH, having marketing play on insecurities of every sort is somewhat more recent. I do wonder about the sociological and psychological effects of having an entire society being told repeatedly that they are inadequate and their lives incomplete without various products.
I'm replying to your post just because it is the highest rated for this point in the thread. I mean this as an honest question as I have never found the concept humorous.
Why is male on male rape in a prison environment considered either funny? Why do some appear to view male anal rape as part of the punishment of being imprisoned?
I've not seen once the male to female or female to female rape shown in a humorous manner or as justifiable. Is it just the discomfort of the subject matter of male anal rape that gets the grins.
"What luck for the rulers that men do not think." - Adolph Hitler
*shrugs* It's actually somewhat on topic, so I think it'd be sort of encouraged.
I'm just disappointed that the commercials will continue 'cause they always make me crack up uncomfortably. (Yeah, I'm an immature girl, oh well.)
open source modern art: laser taggi
I know; I wasn't specifically addressing you. I just wanted to clear the air, so to speak, since a lot of people really do believe that. I've had to reassure quite a number of friends expecting their first child that they were more than adequate to feed their baby.
Of course I never say anything to my male friends, their egos are fragile enough as it is, and when a guy's self-image is based on his perceived size advantage, as far too many are, it would be just cruel to ...er... deflate him.
Besides, in my 50 years of experience, I've found that physical size and/or performance actually has very little to do with my enjoyment of a relationship. Just being nice to a girl will do a lot more for her than a bigger stick to bang her with. If a guy is thinking in terms of "banging" anyway, he's on the wrong track. I've had the reputation of a cold bitch most of my life because I don't roll over simply because somebody else's dick twitches, but I can get wound up enough even before any clothing comes loose that I barely notice what goes on after they come off. Now that's a real lover!
I wish mine were smaller! There are no advantages whatever to having a big dick, and quite a few disadvantages.
It's really gross sitting on the toilet and having it hang into the water. Some toilets were obviously designed either by women or by men with small penises. It's hard ti shit whan you have to be careful keeping your dick dry.
A big cock is harder it get in, especially if she's got an extra tight vagina. If she's got a really tight pussy it's likely to be uncomfortable for both. As Mojo Nixon put in in Tie My Pecker To My Leg, "I need a woman that's six feet ten, she gotta be that tall so's I can get it all in". Some women not only have tight ones, but you hit her back wall.
My ex-wife had an IUD, and the damned thing poked me in the dick.
Since it takes more blood to tumesce, erectile dysfunction is more likely.
You can't wear cutoffs or it's likely to hang out the leg of your shorts. This can be embarrassing.
You can never get good head, not even from a toothless woman.
And it's not going to get you laid. She's not going to know you have a big dick unless another woman's told her you do. And even then, technique counts for much more than size.
The only advantage to having a big dick is you don't have to buy an SUV or a Harley.
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
If I got scammed on something, I'd be livid, and I'd have the time, money, and skills to try to get the cops involved.
If I got scammed, I'd be mad at myself.
That said, I'd still go to the cops.
When I finally start up selling snake oil or religion for profit ala Ron Hubbard, I'm going to have to use exercise as a condition for rewards to the after life or for what ever the snake oil is to activate. If you haven't been properly exercising daily for the past month, my snake oil won't work on you. If you haven't committed the past decade to exercising properly, you ain't getting in that afterlife.
So far, I'm not getting into that afterlife either. ;) I think that I'd be fairly safe from the cops and medical community. What are they going to say that exercise is bad for you if it is for religious reasons or with a placebo?