S.E.C. v. International Loan Network, Inc., 91-5306

• Decision Date: 10 July 1992
• Docket Number: No. 91-5306,91-5306
• Citation: 968 F.2d 1304,297 U.S. App. D.C. 22
• Parties: , Fed. Sec. L. Rep. P 96,886 SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION, Appellee, v. INTERNATIONAL LOAN NETWORK, INC., et al., Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

Page 1304

968 F.2d 1304

297 U.S.App.D.C. 22, Fed. Sec. L. Rep. P 96,886

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION, Appellee, v. INTERNATIONAL LOAN NETWORK, INC., et al., Appellants.

No. 91-5306.

United States Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued May 18, 1992.

Decided July 10, 1992.

Bruce Fein, for appellants.

Lucinda O. McConathy, Asst. Gen. Counsel, S.E.C., with whom James R. Doty, Gen. Counsel, Jacob H. Stillman, Associate Gen. Counsel, Randall W. Quinn, Special Counsel, and Paul Gonson, Sol., were on the brief, for appellee.

Before RUTH BADER GINSBURG, HENDERSON and RANDOLPH, Circuit Judges.

Opinion for the court filed by Circuit Judge KAREN LeCRAFT HENDERSON.

KAREN LeCRAFT HENDERSON, Circuit Judge:

[T]he movement of money creates wealth. What we believe is that if you organize people and get money moving, it can actually create wealth.

--Melvin J. Ford ¹

Money is always there but the pockets change.

--Gertrude Stein ²

Appellants Melvin J. Ford and Odell Mundey appeal from the district court's opinion holding that the operation of certain investment programs by the International Loan Network, Inc. (ILN) constitutes the fraudulent offer or sale of unregistered securities in violation of federal securities law and from the preliminary injunction, based thereon, prohibiting the appellants from continuing to operate those programs and freezing ILN's assets. For the reasons set out below, we affirm the trial court's opinion and preliminary injunction.

Ford is the founder and president of ILN, which he describes as "a financial distribution network whose members believe that through the control of money and through the control of real estate you can accumulate wealth and become financially independent." JA 131. To promote ILN's various financial enrichment programs, Ford travels throughout the country addressing ILN members and prospective members, with evangelical fervor, at revival-style "President's Night" gatherings. Mundey is vice president of ILN. ILN's programs, which are described at length in the district court's opinion, see SEC v. International Loan Network, Inc., 770 F.Supp. 678, 682-87 (D.D.C.1991), may be summarized as follows:

(1) Memberships: First, ILN sells "basic" and "club" memberships. A basic membership costs $125 and entitles the member to various benefits including discount shopping, travel and car rental. A basic member can purchase a club membership for an additional $100, $500, or $1,000 payment and receive in return investment advice through newsletters, seminars, and so on. In addition, Club members at the $500 and $1,000 level are entitled to participate in ILN's "Property Rights Acquisition" program, which is described infra.

(2) Capital Fund Bonus System: The Capital Fund Bonus System (CFBS) is a pyramid sales program that Ford has characterized as "the most powerful financial system since banking." JA 150. To participate in this program, a person signs on as an "Individual Representative" (IR) to sell ILN memberships for a fifty per cent commission. In addition, he receives fifteen per cent commissions on sales made by members he recruits and by their recruits and ten per cent commissions on sales by the next two levels of recruits "downline."

(3) Property Rights Acquisition Program: The Property Rights Acquisition (PRA) program is the fourth in a series of related ventures. In its first three incarnations, as more fully described by the district court, 770 F.Supp. at 683-85, the program promised large cash payments or valuable real property rights within 180 days to qualified members who made an immediate cash payment of $1,000 to $10,000. The present program, begun in March, 1991, is substantially more modest, at least on paper. According to the program's brochure, the purchaser of a PRA now obtains only instructional videotapes, the right to enroll in real estate courses and access to a computer listing service. ³

(4) Maximum Consideration Program: The Maximum Consideration program is described in ILN's written materials as a "special award opportunity for representatives of ILN who have evidenced that they are in the process of acquiring real property for purposes other than a personal residence." JA 108. To be eligible for the award, a person must (1) sell $3,000 worth of PRA memberships, (2) make an earnest money deposit on an agreement to purchase real estate for other than residential use, which can be satisfied by a PRA purchase, and (3) sign an "acknowledgment" form that states, inter alia: "I agree that Maximum Consideration is a special award paid at the sole discretion of ILN and only the top ten qualifiers are guaranteed an award," JA 111. Each of the top ten qualifiers is guaranteed an award of at least $5,000, while the discretionary awards to others may reach five times their original PRA purchase price or real estate contract deposit, "based upon PRA sales volume, the amount of money invested, and the length of time they have been in the program." 770 F.Supp. at 686. According to Ford, an individual purchasing $16,000 worth of PRAs could receive an award of up to $80,000 because "all of a sudden the velocity of money increases to such a point, the ability to create wealth expands to such a degree, that we could come back and give somebody an award for up to $80,000." JA 165.

(5) Subsidiaries: ILN also operates several subsidiaries including a real estate acquisition company, an educational scholarship service, a financial advisory service, a real estate brokerage service and a printing and graphics company. Each of these is funded, at least in part, by ILN and some of them provide services for ILN members as well as the general public.

On May 15, 1991, the SEC commenced this action against ILN, Ford and Mundey, alleging that (1) they were selling unregistered securities in violation of section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933 (1933 Act), 15 U.S.C. § 77e, and (2) they were doing so fraudulently in violation of section 17(a) of the 1933 Act and section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (1934 Act), 15 U.S.C. §§ 77q(a), 78j(b), and Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 10b-5, 17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5. On May 15, 1991, the district court issued a temporary restraining order which, inter alia, prohibited ILN, Ford, Mundey or any other ILN agents from offering or selling securities without registration or by fraudulent means and froze ILN's, Ford's and Mundey's assets. ⁴ On July 18, 1991, following a three-day evidentiary hearing, the district court issued an opinion holding that (1) the CFBS, the predecessors to the current PRA program and the Maximum Consideration program all involved the offer or sale of unregistered securities in violation of section 5 of the 1933 Act, 770 F.Supp. at 691-93, ⁵ and (2) the marketing of these securities was accompanied by material misrepresentations in violation of sections 17(a) of the 1933 Act, section 10(b) of the 1934 Act and Rule 10b-5. Id. at 693-96. Based on these holdings, the court concluded a preliminary injunction was required to continue the prohibition on the marketing of these programs and the freeze of ILN's assets. Id. at 696-97. Accordingly, on July 26, 1991, the court issued a preliminary injunction extending that relief.

Ford and Mundey appeal the district court's opinion and injunction on the grounds that (1) ILN's programs do not involve the offer or sale of securities and (2) they made no misrepresentations in promoting those programs. ⁶ We find neither argument persuasive.

I.

First, the appellants assert the district court erroneously concluded that the CFBS and the Maximum Consideration program involve the offer or sale of securities, namely investment contracts, so as to come within the purview of the 1933 and 1934 acts. ⁷ We disagree.

The Supreme Court set out the now-familiar test for identifying investment contracts in SEC v. W.J. Howey Co., 328 U.S. 293, 301, 66 S.Ct. 1100, 1104, 90 L.Ed. 1244 (1946): "The test is whether the scheme involves an investment of money in a common enterprise with profits to come solely from the efforts of others." The district court properly applied this tripartite test and we affirm both its conclusions and its analysis. See 770 F.Supp. at 688-93.

Regarding the CFBS, we perceive no error in the district court's holding that all three prongs of the Howey Test are satisfied. The appellants argue strenuously that the program involves no investment of money because an individual need make no payment to ILN to become an IR. The district court, however, found otherwise. Based on a President's Night transcript and the testimony of witnesses "who ha[d] repeatedly heard [Ford] speak," the court concluded that "the intent is for a person to become a member first and then recruit new members." 770 F.Supp. at 691; see also id. at 682 ("[I]t is equally clear that the Capital Fund is marketed so that a person will first join the organization himself and then recruit others to join"). In particular, the court noted Ford's oft repeated refrain: "you come in, then you bring in your wife and your kids." Id. at 691. We find this evidence more than sufficient to support the court's finding.

As for the common enterprise element, the fortunes of investors are clearly linked to each other and to the success of ILN as an enterprise. The CFBS generates income for its investors, and for the appellants, only through constant expansion of membership, which depends on individual recruiting and the appeal of Ford's larger marketing campaign. Thus, the court properly found the CFBS satisfies the second prong of the Howey test as well. ⁸

Finally, profits for CFBS investors are expected to accrue, if not solely, at least predominantly from the efforts of others, namely of the downline members from whose fees an IR expects to derive most of his wealth and of the appellants who created, promote and operate ILN's programs. ⁹ Thus, the CFBS satisfies the third...