Albion Monitor /Features
 Fortuna: Fortuna fights back

...Transcripts of conference calls between Delgado and others appeared on the Internet, via Fortuna web pages and USENET...

The talk grew grandiose at times, with Fortuna described as an "amoeba," "bigger than the government" and "invincible"

Fortuna didn't wait long to fight back. A conference call in which "leaders" could speak and "members" could only listen indicated that:

  • Fortuna's business will continue as usual outside the United States;

  • the FTC action will be fought in court;

  • Fortuna and its attorney, Bob Sailer, expect to prevail on the legal issues;

  • Fortuna members were discouraged from communicating with the FTC or filing complaints.

    A "semi-transcript" of the conference call was placed on a Fortuna Web page in Australia. This transcript was eagerly read by the FTC, law enforcement investigators and journalists.

    One result was a federal subpoena for the tape of the conference call, which was made for the purpose of playback over the Fortuna phone network at a later time.

    A second conference call was announced in the USENET newsgroup alt.business.multi-level for the evening of June 3. The rhetoric in this call was even more heated than the previous one.

    Delgado was late joining the call, but when he came on he had exciting news to share. "I've already restructured the company internationally," he said. "This thing will go on forever." Fortuna "leaders" announced two "international offices" of Fortuna were operating, one in the Netherlands and another at an undisclosed location.

    At one point, Delgado stated that someone might "take me out." Later in the call, Delgado declared, "If it costs me my life, it would have been worth it."

    In the previous call, the formation of a Fortuna defense fund was announced. In this call, it was announced that a the fund had registered agents and a trustee appointed. Listeners were asked for money for the Fortuna defense fund. The talk grew grandiose at times, with Fortuna described as an "amoeba," "bigger than the government" and "invincible."

    Don Grant contributed an inspirational talk about the difference between dreamers and visionaries in which he described Delgado as a "super visionary." Libby offered her opinion that "...this is going to be one of the best things that ever happened to Fortuna."

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    Albion Monitor July 22, 1996 (http://www.monitor.net/monitor)

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