Here is a piece of an old LA Times article that mentioned Beckley:
The get-rich-quick business is quickly getting poorer. Consider Ed Beckley, a skinny, squeaky-voiced man with choir-boy looks who sells a $299 "Millionaire Maker" package of cassettes and books promising to teach people how to get rich buying real estate even if they are broke. Once based near Sacramento, the former schoolteacher moved his operation in 1984 to Fairfield, Iowa, to be closer to a university founded by his spiritual mentor, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the renowned Indian transcendental meditation guru. Within a year, Beckley, 39, built the largest company in the business of distributing advice on buying real estate with no money down. His "Million Dollar Secrets" cable television program appeared in about 200 markets, his payroll grew to 560 and the company he controls, the Beckley Group, claimed to have $40 million in sales. But while Beckley was telling people how to get rich, his Beckley Group was going broke. Deluged with more than 40,000 refund requests from people who bought Beckley's home-study courses, the company ran out of money a year ago. On March 22, the company, in which Beckley owns an 80% stake, filed in Des Moines for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, listing $6 million in debts. All but 35 of Beckley's employees have been fired, the program now appears in only 20 television markets and the company is having trouble making good on a promise made to the Iowa attorney general's office to refund more than $3 million still owed to 11,000 people. That pledge followed an inquiry by the agency into alleged violations of state consumer laws. Donald Neiman, the Beckley Group's attorney, said it may take three to five years to repay those customers. Here is his current website: http://www.edbeckley.org/ ________________________________ From: Duveyoung <no_re...@yahoogroups.com> To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Wednesday, July 24, 2013 2:12 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Great writing advice from Stephen King > And seeing how King Tony lied to all of us, well, seems to be that the apple > fell from the tree and didn't roll an inch. > > Edg > > I wouldn't fault King Tony for having a clandestine family so much as I > would fault some of the other mucky-mucks for hitting on married women, > co-eds, etc. I never met Tony, so what do I know?... and his "little secret" was slight comparatively, but the concept still holds: we were modeled unto that "anything goes" -- especially if you don't get caught at it. And shame on me for snickering about it so many times instead of quitting the movement. Rick, I'm out of Fairfield and don't keep up -- do you know about any others that could make the top-ten scoundrels list? My off the cuff top ten in no special order: 1. Dr. Bloomfield 2. Ed Beckeley 3. Heggy 4. Bevvy 5. Girish 6. The serial rapist guy who lived in the dome house 7. The guys who made it possible for the MUM campus murder 8. The money launderers 9. The commodities company leaders 10. Andy Rymer See? Tony, Sri Sri, Vaughn, didn't even make the list! Edg
