Larsen, Scott

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Scott Larsen is the author of Amquix.info, one of the best known websites critical of the Amway/Quixtar Business. His "analyses" of the business are widely quoted by anti-Amway/Quixtar and anti-MLM proponents. Larsen first launched his anti-Amway website in '97/'98 at the address http://www.awod.com/gallery/rwav/slarsen/amway.html with the title Amway Distributor's Little White Lies. In 2001 the site was moved to http://www.amquix.50megs.com/index.html. In November 2003, in response to a request by Team of Destiny claiming the site "violated copyright and trademark, violated state law, and violated 50 Megs' Acceptable Use Policy", the site was removed[1]. Within days it returned at it's current address, http://www.amquix.info.

While the supporters of Larsen contend that his site is an accurate reflection of the business, critics of Larsen and his site contend that while many of his "analyses" seem impressive to the uninformed, they tend to rely not only on a flawed understanding of the business, (such as with the 4% bonus, see Disputes & Controversies below) but also on numerous flawed assumptions that do not reflect the reality of the Amway/Quixtar business. Many of these common "myths" about Amway/Quixtar, are refuted on The Truth About Amway and Quixtar.

Disputes & Controversies

Larsen has had legal action taken against him by Orrin Woodward's TEAM for copyright infringement and his claim that Team of Destiny was an illegal pyramid.[1] and by Diamond Joe Land for copyright infringement and defamation[2]. Land reportedly later apologized to Larsen after Land joined a competitor MLM and Quixtar terminated his IBOship for rules violations. Ironically, after TEAM leadership was expelled from Quixtar, TEAM unsuccessfully sued Amway, claiming it was a pyramid scheme.

He has also had to issue a number of public apologies to Crown Jody Victor for publishing false claims about him on Amquix.info[3]. In this dispute it came to light that despite nearly 8 years running what he titles The Web's largest public collection of Quixtar and Amway information Larsen did not understand the qualifications for the 4% leadership bonus, one of the key building blocks of the Amway/Quixtar business. Larsen had incorrectly reported a distributor needed side volume in all cases to qualify for this bonus and had used this false assumption in a number of his analyses. According to the Quixtar Rules of Conduct [4] minimum side volume is only needed for distributors with one qualifying leg. Distributors with multiple qualifying legs do not need the side volume to qualify for the 4% bonus.

Larsen has also been caught falsely defaming New Zealand Diamond Dave Bradley (under the guise of parody)[5], fudging articles about Founders Crown Ambassador Dexter Yager's income[6], and deliberately leaving out information in a Wall Street Journal article on Amway Japan's Double Crown Ambassador Kaoru Nakajima[7] in order to support his claims, as well as falsely defining what an illegal pyramid is [8].

Related Links

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Team of Destiny, Inc. vs Scott A Larsen
  2. L.Joseph and Lynn Land, Land Group International, and AllianceNet Solutions, LLC vs Scott A Larsen
  3. IBOAI: Internet Critics - What they don't want you to know
  4. Quixtar Compendium
  5. Amway/Quixtar critic Scott Larsen caught falsely defaming yet another Amway Diamond
  6. The Truth About Amway Forums - Reason's not to trust Scott Larsen post #2827
  7. The Truth About Amway Forums - Reason's not to trust Scott Larsen post #2828
  8. Amway/Quixtar critic Scott Larsen is full of s**t .... again