- 6 - regard, petitioners compiled an extensive list of family members, friends, and acquaintances that they used to identify and recruit potential downline Amway distributors. Typically, petitioners made contact with these individuals either by telephone or by traveling to wherever these individuals lived to meet with them. Nothing in the record suggests that petitioners made any effort to develop a profile of a successful downline distributor on which basis they would recruit; instead, petitioners recruited family, friends, and acquaintances. Petitioners’ attempts to recruit downline distributors also consisted of describing the Amway business plan to friends and acquaintances at gatherings in petitioners’ home or at restaurants where food and beverages were routinely consumed. Petitioners recruited 26 downline distributors in 1996, 37 in 1997, and 12 in 1998. The record does not disclose how many, if any, of these downline distributors were in a familial or preexisting social relationship with petitioners. The relationship between petitioners and their downline distributors was, at best, informal. There were no contracts or minimum sales agreements. Downline distributors were free to leave petitioners’ distribution network at will, and, if they desired, could even join another Amway distributorship under a different upline distributor. Petitioners were not assigned a sales territory, and, like their downline distributors, theyPage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011