SCAMMED! Unmasking Suze Orman and Her Crooked Cabal From Fraudulent FICO Fables to Corporate Cons, How Suze Orman and Her Crooked Cabal Manipulated the Media, Plundered the Poor, Stole from the Middle Class, and Damaged the United States Economy An exposé about much more than just Suze Orman S.K. Janis Based on the documentary film: How Suze Orman SCAMMED The World A Tragedy, Comedy, And IQ Test, all in One Watch the film and access the multimedia links, Such as (Link 1-3) at: http://www.amodernquest.com/suzebook1.html This is a review/gift copy. The physical bookand Kindle e-book, are available on Amazon Table of Contents Introduction: The Suze Orman SCAMvenger Hunt 1 1: From Waitress to “Financial Expert”: Orman’s History of Shams and Shenanigans 19 2: Seducing Corporations, Banks and Billionaires 41 3: Trumping Up Her Bank Account With a Gold “Pump and Dump” Scheme 87 4: Distortions of the “Queen Of Crisis”: Damaging the Economy for Personal Gain 121 5: The “Approved” Card Scam And Media Wide Fraud 145 6: Capitalizing On The Financial Illiteracy Of The Poor, Minorities, and the “Occupy” Movement 187 7: The Scam-Ridden Card’s Cover-Up and Demise 225 8: Sociopathology and a Twitter Meltdown 257 9: And The Scams Go On… 347 Introduction: The Suze Orman SCAMvenger Hunt How many con artists are allowed to blast through the media landscape, telling blatantly false lies and getting some of the top journalists, politicians and media figures in the United States to knowingly or unknowingly lie to the public on their behalf? Harry Markopolos, the whistle-blower who uncovered Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme ten years before the rest of the world learned of the biggest financial crime in history, published his account in the 2010 book, No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller. As you will see from the evidence in this book and the companion documentary film, con artist Suze Orman’s schemes rival Madoff’s in breadth, if not depth. Markopolos explained that he had to step forward about what he could clearly see was an illegal scheme, because no one else, including the Securities Exchange Commission, had shown any interest, even after he alerted them with evidence of what was going on. I know the feeling. One cannot just stand by silently when a shyster is stealing, lying, scamming the public, and causing damage to the United States’ economy. That’s why a nice spiritual author like me has had to take time and energy from more positive projects to alert and educate the world about the “Suze Orman problem.” While Madoff’s scheme stole mostly from the wealthy, Orman’s victims have been poor and middle class citizens who were simply trying to be responsible and learn from a widely proclaimed financial “guru,” “expert,” and “wizard,” who is actually a con artist and actress supported by ghostwriters, behind-the-scenes experts, and some of the most powerful publicists, political lobbyists, damage control specialists, banks, corporations, and media figures of our time, including Oprah Winfrey, who has pushed Suze Orman on the world for nearly twenty years. 1 Talk about stacking the decks against people who either couldn’t afford a real financial advisor, or who were convinced by Orman to avoid those “crooked advisors” altogether and “look in the mirror” to find their best financial advisor—using her books, kits, and corporate-sponsored deceptive headlines as guides, of course. This book and film offer a stunning study of the kind of dishonest media and political webs that have corrupted our society, fooled the public, rigged the system, and damaged our world. It is truly a lesson for humanity. College courses are welcome to use this material for class studies, including topics involving psychology, media manipulation, and criminal justice. Anyone who wants to read positive takes on Suze Orman can turn to the many articles and press releases crafted by her publicists, echoed by their shills, and repeated by journalists who didn’t undertake enough due diligence to see the obvious and well-documented damage Orman was causing to individuals, our economy, and the fabric of society. Thankfully, much of what bears Suze Orman’s name is produced by behind-the-scenes experts and ghostwriters, so her books and kits do at least offer some useful information and services along with whatever paid endorsements and tainted advice Orman adds into each book and product, depending on who has “paid the piper” that year. I’m sure many would say that watching Suze Orman’s shows and reading her books has helped them to organize their finances. Some may have enjoyed getting their financial advice mixed with a touch of sociopathy, and the entertainment of Orman’s over-the-top shaming, emoting, fear mongering, and overly confident commands. Can you imagine the state of mind of someone who makes a face like this while advising a fan about whether to buy a laptop computer? 2 Although “financial expert Suze Orman” never took a single finance- related college course and has no current credentials, she’s been in the game long enough have learned about topics such as Roth IRAs and long- term care insurance, mixed with some common sense advice about spending less than you earn, topped off with a few meaningless platitudes she herself doesn’t follow, and a whole lot of scamming. In our book and film, you will see Suze Orman pushing corporate- sponsored infomercials disguised as trustworthy advice, pitching mediocre and downright predatory products with evangelical fervor, selling FICO kit customers’ private information to creditors (based on a successful lawsuit), and running a gold “pump and dump” that decimated the savings of anyone who listened to her passionate advice, while Orman had bought a ton of gold stock before her mediawide “pump,” that she sold on the very day it hit the top. In our book and film, you will see “financial guru” Suze Orman drumming up scary headlines to create fear and increase her public influence rating, and blasting her snake oil throughout today’s media landscape, with blatantly fraudulent misinformation campaigns, including her “Approved” prepaid debit card scam that that fooled poor and middle class citizens into believing that moving their hard-earned money from banks and credit unions onto Orman’s fee-laden, shoddily run prepaid debit card was going to improve their FICO scores. A financial fraud like Orman’s “Approved” card would have certainly landed any other scammer in prison. Many have been convicted for far less. Therefore, I’ve included abundant examples from that especially ubiquitous, elaborate, and fraudulent campaign in this book and film. 3 Orman’s endless obfuscations are also a well-documented study of con artistry by a master of the arts. It is my hope that readers and viewers of this book and film will learn to be more savvy in the face of con artists like Suze Orman and other past, current, and future scammers and schemers who cause tremendous damage to many lives and to our world. I invite readers to have your own “Suze Orman SCAMvenger hunt” as you read through her latticeworks of predatory pitches and publicity cover-ups. Once you understand how she works, Suze Orman’s scams, shams, and shenanigans are easy to find in nearly every appearance and headline she generates. In 2014, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo bravely called out Orman and the predatory political lobbyist, media broker, damage control expert, publicity strategist gang that supports her, when Cuomo challenged his colleague John King to stop shilling for the “Orman Cabal.” 4 To view a video clip of Cuomo’s “Orman Cabal” comment in a bizarre and interesting context that will be explored further in upcoming chapters, go to http://www.amodernquest.com/suzebook1.html, where you can access a list of all links from this book, and click on: Link Intro-1. As much as this book is about problems with Suze Orman herself, it is equally about the problems with a media and political landscape that can turn a narcissistic sociopath’s overconfidence and penchant for lying into extreme public influence and an expert status for which she has neither the personal nor professional credentials, and certainly not the integrity. It would be one thing if Orman was just selling kits on QVC and telling people how to get a Roth IRA, but this financial advisor—who claims to not be a financial advisor when it is convenient—has the ear of top journalists, politicians, and government agencies, including the same Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that should be protecting the public from her scams. Orman has received massive image support from former FDIC chair Sheila Bair and former General Electric CEO Jack Welch and his wife Suzy, who nominated Orman to be named to Time magazine’s list of the one hundred most influential people in the world. Orman has recently been playing kitchee koo with Secretary of Labor Perez, who specifically added a disclaimer into his 2016 financial ruling, stating that Suze Orman is—by name—exempt from his new regulations requiring financial advisors to give advice that is in the best interest of their clients. Orman’s scams have been eagerly hosted by top-notch journalists on nearly every television station, and as you’ll see in our film, she and Senator Elizabeth Warren “like each other, giggle, giggle.” Watching Orman’s shenanigans with Warren was especially disappointing for me and many who have viewed our film. Most of the information I present comes from research on media and social media.