Texas AG in bed with Big Oil?
By Erik Rush (05/30/06)
The news release of Wednesday, May 17, 2006 on the home page of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s website read "Abbott Shuts Down Dallas-based Bioperformance For Peddling Fake Fuel Pills In Pyramid Scheme". The release went on to explain that the Attorney General "filed a lawsuit and obtained a temporary restraining order and asset freeze against Texas-based BioPerformance Inc. The company, organized as an illegal pyramid scheme, markets a fuel pill it falsely claims will boost gas mileage and save consumers money." A drastic move on the AG's part, and a crushing blow for any business, to say the least.
And very, very interesting if you read on.
Normally, I am pathologically suspicious of companies that utilize the multi-level / network marketing paradigm, since there are perhaps hundreds of appallingly dishonest companies in that industry and hundreds of thousands of Americans who have been burned by them. There are also companies in that industry that are extremely ethical and above board.
A couple of reasons I took notice of this story:
1. Its timeliness with regard to the recent machinations of Big Oil and escalating fuel prices.
2. I happen to know several satisfied distributors and customers.
Some time ago, a successful businessman (in another industry) who is a friend of mine gave me some of this fuel additive to test. After researching the company, I decided to give it a try. And what do you know? I experienced, as advertised, a significant increase in my gas mileage.
As I’ve said previously, my political loyalties take a back seat when someone is doing the wrong thing – or the right thing – for the people of America. We all know that there are level-headed Democrats and liberals as well as posturing, hypocritical Republicans and conservatives.
You see, I’ve followed similar cases very closely, and cheered when the Federal Trade Commission or some other agency took down a company that richly deserved to be taken down. Generally speaking, cases against these companies arise due to disgruntled customers and distributors who have every reason to be disgruntled; they approach attorneys or the appropriate state or federal agency and get the ball rolling.
No so with the case against Bioperformance. According to the AG’s press release, he filed the lawsuit himself. Alleging “violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the promotion of an illegal pyramid scheme” (which even thriving companies like Amway, Herbalife and Mary Kay have faced in various forms), Abbott claims that “[Bioperformance’s] claims are bogus; the pill does absolutely nothing to improve gas mileage.”
I wonder what Abbott plans to do when Bioperformance’s attorneys parade their (estimated) 60,000 satisfied customers and distributors into court and present their ISO (International Organization for Standardization) 9000 test results, as well as their other scientific verification that their product indeed does work.
So of course I decided to look into this Greg Abbott guy. And what do you think I found? Big Oil connections up the wazoo. It appears that Texans have been pressing for some time for Abbott to lay bare his business dealings with one John Colyandro, a central figure in the Tom DeLay-TRMPAC money-laundering scandal who also served on Greg Abbott’s campaign payroll during the same time frame in 2002. Colyandro is also the spokesman for Koch Holdings, LLC, which owns a group of companies engaged in trading, operations and investment worldwide. According to their profile, these companies “have a presence in nearly 60 countries in core industries such as trading, petroleum, energy…” In short, the company is involved, among its many other interests, in Texas crude oil production.
Of course, the blogs are replete with opinions on Bioperformance. Some who’ve never tried the product are sure it’s a scam simply because it’s an MLM. I’ll admit that’s the way I would have leaned without having proof otherwise. Many others provide anecdotal evidence of being introduced to the fuel additive by a friend of a friend and are blissfully happy with their results.
There are few things that raise as much frustration and are a threat to our national economy, as well as personal and business finances, as escalating gasoline prices. It’s bad enough when Big Oil itself engages in practices deserving of prosecution under RICO (the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act), but it’s even more heinous when Americans like Greg Abbott - who are beholden to uphold the law - conspire to quash commerce and industry’s efforts to give Americans respite from this national economic crisis.
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