Presidential candidate Donald Trump is facing yet another public controversy as he’s been found to have misled Celebrity Apprentice viewers by endorsing a pyramid scheme, reported the Wall Street Journal. He’s been noted as to have personally gained a significant profit from his promotion.
Trump earned $1 million endorsing ACN Inc., a North Carolina-based multi-level marketing firm that made, as Trump said, “amazing” video phones. “I simply can’t imagine anybody using this phone and not loving it,” Trump stated in 2011 as part of a promotion tied to Celebrity Apprentice. However, Trump’s viewers weren’t aware that ACN was the subject of an international regulations investigation involving Canada and Australia.
ACN’s salespeople are required to pay $500 to even begin selling off-brand video phone equipment, and they rarely make a profit. Many former employees have noted how ACN is nothing but a scam. Most of the company’s earnings are received by employees higher up on the pyramid. Trump has admitted to giving motivational speeches for ACN, but claims he lacks personal knowledge about the company.
“I know nothing about the company other than the people who run the company,” said Trump. “I’m not familiar with what they do or how they go about doing that, and I make that clear in my speeches.”
Despite his denial of not having prior knowledge about ACN, Trump stated the following during one of his speeches: “ACN has a reputation for success, success that’s really synonymous with the Trump name and other successful names, and you can be a part of it.”
Trump has never used ACN’s products, but below is a clip from the Celebrity Apprentice that features the company.
