Jessica I. Marschall, CPA, ISA AM
September 13th, 2025
Author’s Note
As a 49-year-old mother of five children ranging from 16 to 25, I have spent the last 26 years watching MLMs devastate families in my community while building my career helping small businesses and startups achieve genuine, sustainable financial success. I know firsthand the economic pressures families face: the crushing costs of raising children, the invisible labor of caregiving for aging parents, the desperate search for flexible income that allows women and men to balance work and family responsibilities. These are the vulnerabilities MLMs exploit with surgical precision.
For over two decades, I have bitten my tongue as I watched friends, neighbors, and clients fall prey to these predatory schemes, always at their most vulnerable moments. But with inflation eating away at family budgets, the specter of recession looming, and economic uncertainty making families more desperate than ever for additional income, my silence has become complicity. The time for polite discretion has passed.
What follows is the brutal truth about MLMs that I have witnessed over 26 years: how they target mothers (and sometimes fathers) struggling to contribute financially while managing caregiving responsibilities, how they destroy the very communities they claim to empower, and how they have been protected by political forces that profit from the destruction of working families. As someone dedicated to helping people build legitimate businesses that create real value and sustainable income, I can no longer stand by while predatory schemes masquerade as entrepreneurship.
This is not just about bad business models or poor financial decisions. This is about systematic exploitation protected by law, wrapped in the language of faith and family values, and aimed directly at those who can least afford to lose. If we are serious about supporting families, empowering women, and building sustainable economic opportunity, we need to start by exposing the pyramid schemes that prey on our communities’ hope and desperation.
A Tale of Two Americas
For many affluent Americans, multi-level marketing companies exist only as cultural punchlines. They are the butt of jokes in Schitt’s Creek, where Moira Rose’s desperate stint selling cosmetics becomes comedy gold. They are Napoleon Dynamite’s Uncle Rico hawking Tupperware while living in the past. They’re the awkward Facebook message from a high school acquaintance you haven’t spoken to in years, suddenly interested in “catching up” over coffee.
But there is another America where MLMs are not funny at all. In working class communities across the country, these companies are devastating financial predators, targeting the most vulnerable with promises of prosperity while systematically draining their bank accounts, destroying their relationships, and leaving them worse off than before. As Bridget Read reveals in her essential new book Little Bosses Everywhere: How the Pyramid Scheme Shaped America, this is not a bug in the system; it is the feature that has made MLM executives billions while enjoying political protection at the highest levels of government.
The Numbers Don’t Lie (But MLMs Do)
The statistics are damning. According to a 2024 FTC staff report analyzing 70 MLM income disclosure statements, most participants made $1,000 or less per year, less than $84 per month. In at least 17 MLMs studied, most participants didn’t make any money at all. When you factor in the costs of buying inventory, attending conferences, and other business expenses, 99% of MLM participants experience financial loss.
Yet the industry continues to grow. As of 2024, the global MLM market was valued at $190 billion and is expected to reach $294 billion by 2033. Over 102 million people worldwide participate in direct selling, with women making up 75% of participants, and in some beauty and jewelry MLMs, that number climbs to 95%.
These aren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet. They represent millions of women, disproportionately mothers, women of color, and those in economically depressed areas, who are sold a dream of financial independence only to find themselves trapped in a nightmare of debt and social isolation.
The Gospel of Greed: MLMs and American Christianity
Perhaps nowhere is the MLM infiltration more insidious than in American churches. As Read documents, the connection between MLMs and right-wing Christianity runs deep, creating what amounts to a perfect recruitment ecosystem. Churches, with their built-in networks of trust and community, become hunting grounds for MLM recruiters who weaponize faith to make sales.
The theological alignment is striking. MLMs preach a prosperity gospel that dovetails perfectly with certain strains of American Christianity: God rewards the faithful with wealth, poverty is a personal failing, and success comes to those who believe hard enough. MLM conventions feel like revival meetings, complete with testimonials of transformation and promises of salvation, financial salvation, that is.
This is not accidental. Amway’s founders, Jay Van Andel and Richard DeVos, were devout members of the Christian Reformed Church who deliberately infused their business model with religious rhetoric. In 1979, their foundations contributed about $600,000 to religious broadcasting, funding everything from the “Hour of Power” to the “Back to God Hour.” They understood that wrapping their pyramid scheme in the language of faith provided both a recruitment tool and a shield against criticism.
The pattern continues today. MLM recruiters in churches use biblical language to justify their business model, presenting recruitment as evangelism and financial success as God’s blessing. They target church communities because they know these networks are built on trust, trust they can exploit for profit.
The Nixon-Ford Protection Racket
How did MLMs become so entrenched in American life despite their demonstrably predatory nature? The answer lies in a pivotal moment during the 1970s that Read explores in detail, a moment when political connections trumped consumer protection.
In 1975, the Federal Trade Commission filed charges against Amway, alleging it was operating as an illegal pyramid scheme. The case should have been straightforward: Amway’s model clearly emphasized recruitment over retail sales, the hallmark of a pyramid scheme. But Amway had something most pyramid schemes don’t: direct access to the White House.
When Gerald Ford became president following Nixon’s resignation, Amway’s founders suddenly had a friend in the highest office. Ford had been the congressman from Amway’s home district in Michigan. Van Andel would later serve as chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In 1975, while under FTC investigation, Van Andel and DeVos enjoyed a 43-minute Oval Office meeting with President Ford.
The result was predictable. In 1979, despite overwhelming evidence of deceptive practices, the FTC ruled that Amway was not a pyramid scheme. The commission did find Amway guilty of price-fixing and making exaggerated income claims, but these were slaps on the wrist. More importantly, the ruling established what became known as the “Amway Safeguards Rule,” creating a legal framework that has protected MLMs ever since.
This was not just regulatory capture; it was regulatory design. The FTC’s decision created a roadmap for pyramid schemes to operate legally, as long as they maintained certain cosmetic features like buyback provisions and sales requirements that, in practice, are rarely enforced or meaningful.
The DeVos Dynasty: From Amway to the Department of Education
The political protection of MLMs didn’t end in the 1970s. The relationship between MLMs and conservative politics has only deepened, reaching its apex with Betsy DeVos’s appointment as Secretary of Education under Donald Trump.
DeVos, married to former Amway CEO Dick DeVos (son of co-founder Richard DeVos), brought the MLM mindset directly into government. In a 1997 op-ed, she was remarkably candid about her family’s political strategy: “I have decided to stop taking offense at the suggestion we are buying influence. They are right. We do expect some things in return.”
The DeVos family’s contributions to conservative causes are staggering, estimated at over $200 million to Republican candidates and causes. They have funded think tanks like the Heritage Foundation (producers of Project 2025), supported school privatization efforts that mirror MLM structures, and pushed for deregulation that benefits predatory businesses.
This is not just about one family. The MLM industry has cultivated deep ties to conservative politics, understanding that their business model requires political protection to survive. They have funded politicians who promise deregulation, supported judges who favor corporate interests, and created a revolving door between MLM boardrooms and government offices.
Beyond the Usual Suspects: Insurance and Financial MLMs
While most people think of MLMs as companies selling kitchen gadgets, essential oils, or weight-loss shakes, Read’s book illuminates a particularly dangerous subset: insurance and financial services MLMs. Companies like Primerica, World Financial Group, and various insurance MLMs operate under the radar, targeting vulnerable communities with complex financial products they are often unqualified to sell.
These financial MLMs are especially predatory because they deal with products that can devastate families when sold inappropriately. A working-class family sold an unsuitable insurance policy or investment product does not just lose the money they invested in the MLM; they can lose their life savings, their retirement security, or their children’s college funds.
The warning cannot be clearer: Never purchase insurance or financial products from an MLM representative. These are complex products that require genuine expertise and fiduciary responsibility, qualities that are antithetical to the MLM model of recruitment over competence.
The Social Capital Extraction Machine
MLMs do not just steal money; they systematically destroy social bonds. In poor and marginalized communities, where monetary capital is scarce, social capital becomes crucial for survival. Networks of mutual aid, where neighbors help with childcare, friends offer temporary housing, and communities support each other through hardship, are often the only safety net available.
MLMs specifically target these communities because they understand this dynamic. They teach recruits to monetize every relationship, to see every friend as a potential customer or recruit. Birthday parties become sales opportunities. Play dates turn into recruitment sessions. Church fellowship becomes a prospecting ground.
The result is social devastation. When the MLM inevitably fails to deliver its promises, the recruit has not just lost money; they have lost friendships, strained family relationships, and damaged the very social networks they depend on for survival. In communities where these bonds are essential for basic survival, this social capital extraction can be even more devastating than the financial losses.
The Psychology of the Pyramid
Why do people keep joining MLMs despite the overwhelming evidence of their harm? Read’s book helps us understand that MLMs have perfected a psychological manipulation system that exploits fundamental human needs and vulnerabilities.
MLMs offer identity and belonging to people who feel marginalized by the traditional economy. They provide a sense of purpose to those whose contributions are undervalued. They promise control to those who feel powerless. For stay-at-home mothers isolated from adult interaction, for immigrants navigating a new country, for anyone told they are not enough, MLMs offer a seductive narrative: You can be a boss, an entrepreneur, a success story.
The cruelty is that MLMs exploit these legitimate needs while ensuring they can never be met. The “business opportunity” is designed to fail for 99% of participants. The community is conditional on continued purchasing and recruitment. The empowerment is an illusion that evaporates the moment you question the system.
Breaking the Cycle
So what can be done? Read’s book suggests that addressing the MLM plague requires both individual awareness and systemic change.
On the individual level, education is crucial. People need to understand the mathematical impossibility of MLM success, the manipulation tactics used in recruitment, and the warning signs of pyramid schemes. When someone approaches you with an “amazing business opportunity,” ask hard questions: How much are they actually earning after expenses? What percentage of participants make a profit? Where does the money really come from: product sales or recruitment?
But individual vigilance isn’t enough. We need regulatory reform that acknowledges the failure of the 1979 Amway ruling. The FTC needs enhanced powers and resources to pursue MLM fraud. The artificial distinctions that allow pyramid schemes to operate legally need to be eliminated. Income disclosure requirements need to be strengthened and enforced.
Perhaps most importantly, we need to address the underlying economic conditions that make MLMs attractive in the first place. When people have access to genuine economic opportunities, affordable childcare, and social support systems, they are less vulnerable to pyramid scheme recruitment. The rise of MLMs is inseparable from the erosion of the American middle class and the safety net that once supported it.
The Ultimate Insult
There is a final cruel irony in the MLM story that Read’s book drives home. The very people who profit from these schemes, the MLM executives, the politicians they fund, the wealthy investors, would never fall for an MLM pitch themselves. They would never spend their evenings hustling products to friends, never alienate their social circles with constant sales pitches, never invest their last savings in inventory they cannot sell.
They know it is a scam. That is why it is funny to them: a joke on Schitt’s Creek, a laugh line at a cocktail party. They can afford to find it amusing because they are not the ones being destroyed by it.
But for millions of Americans, particularly women trying to contribute to their household income while managing family responsibilities, MLMs are not a joke; they are a trap, carefully designed and politically protected, that turns the American Dream into an American nightmare.
The pyramid’s shadow is long, and until we shine a light on the political and economic structures that allow these schemes to flourish, it will continue to darken the lives of those who can least afford to lose. As Read’s Little Bosses Everywhere makes clear, this is not just a story about bad business; it is a story about how American capitalism, corrupted by political influence and wrapped in religious rhetoric, preys on its most vulnerable citizens while those in power look the other way, or worse, profit from the destruction.
The question is not whether MLMs are pyramid schemes; the evidence is overwhelming that they are. The question is whether we as a society will continue to allow them to operate, protected by political connections and regulatory capture, while they systematically extract wealth from working class communities and destroy the social fabric that holds them together.
The answer to that question will say a lot about what kind of country we want to be.
Bibliography: MLMs and Their Impact on Working-Class Communities
Primary Source
Read, Bridget. Little Bosses Everywhere: How the Pyramid Scheme Shaped America. New York: [Publisher], 2024/2025.
Government Documents and Reports
Federal Trade Commission. “Business Guidance Concerning Multi-Level Marketing.” FTC.gov, April 30, 2024. https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/business-guidance-concerning-multi-level-marketing
Federal Trade Commission. “FTC Staff Issue Report on Multi-Level Marketing Income Disclosures.” Press Release, September 2024. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/09/ftc-staff-issue-report-multi-level-marketing-income-disclosures
Federal Trade Commission. “FTC Staff Report Analyzes 70 MLM Income Disclosure Statements.” Business Guidance Blog, March 20, 2025. https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2024/09/ftc-staff-report-analyzes-70-mlm-income-disclosure-statements
Federal Trade Commission. “Multi-Level Marketing Businesses and Pyramid Schemes.” Consumer Advice, July 25, 2022. https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/multi-level-marketing-businesses-pyramid-schemes
Federal Trade Commission. “FTC Settlement Ends AdvoCare’s Alleged Pyramid Scheme and Bans Defendants from Multi-Level Marketing.” Business Guidance Blog, June 9, 2022. https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2019/10/ftc-settlement-ends-advocares-alleged-pyramid-scheme-bans-defendants-multi-level-marketing
Federal Trade Commission. “FTC Settlement Bans Pyramid Scheme Operators From Multi-Level Marketing.” Press Release, June 27, 2025. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2014/05/ftc-settlement-bans-pyramid-scheme-operators-multi-level-marketing
In re Amway Corp., 93 F.T.C. 618 (1979). Federal Trade Commission Decision.
Industry Statistics and Market Research
Business Research Insights. “Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) Market Size | CAGR of 5.4%.” Market.us, June 4, 2025. https://market.us/report/multi-level-marketing-mlm-market/
Enterprise Apps Today. “Multi-Level Marketing Statistics 2024 By Region, Salespeople Attitude, Revenue of Direct Selling, Demographics, Leading Markets, Profit Ratio and Revenue.” January 22, 2024. https://www.enterpriseappstoday.com/stats/multi-level-marketing-statistics.html
Fundera. “10 MLM Statistics You Need to Know.” January 23, 2023. https://www.fundera.com/resources/mlm-statistics
Global MLM Solution. “10 Eye-Opening MLM Statistics for 2025 You Must See.” https://www.globalmlmsolution.com/blog/top-mlm-statistics
LLCBuddy. “Multi-level Marketing (MLM) Statistics 2025 – Everything You Need to Know.” March 18, 2025. https://llcbuddy.com/data/multi-level-marketing-mlm-statistics/
Academic and Legal Analysis
Mangiaratti, Camille H. “Big Dreams and Pyramid Schemes: The FTC’s Path to Improving Multi-Level Marketing Consumer Protections in Light of AMG Capital Management and the 2016 Herbalife Settlement.” Journal of Law and Policy 30, no. 1 (2021): 228. https://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/jlp/vol30/iss1/6/
MLM Legal. “Fact Checking the FTC’s New Legal Guidance.” https://mlmlegal.com/landmark
Supply Side Journal. “Multi-Level Marketers Gain Pyramid Scheme Resource in FTC Guidance.” March 28, 2025. https://www.supplysidesj.com/supplement-regulations/multi-level-marketers-gain-pyramid-scheme-resource-in-ftc-guidance
World of Direct Selling. “A Historical Milestone: FTC v. Amway (1975-1979).” May 18, 2025. https://worldofdirectselling.com/milestone-in-history-ftc-amway/
Religious and Political Connections
Alcorn, Randy. Referenced in: The Gospel Coalition. “Beware the ‘Christian’ Pitch to Join Multilevel Marketing.” January 22, 2022. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/multilevel-marketing-christians/
Alternet. “Veteran of MLM Pyramid Scheme Leading Movement to ‘Put America Under Bondage of the Kingdom of God.'” December 7, 2023. https://www.alternet.org/far-right-christianity/
Carter, Neil. “Why Evangelical Christians Love Multi-Level Marketing So Much.” Patheos: Godless in Dixie (blog), February 20, 2021. https://www.patheos.com/blogs/godlessindixie/2021/02/20/why-evangelical-christians-love-multi-level-marketing-so-much/
Christianity Today. “The Divine Rise of Multilevel Marketing.” April 10, 2020. https://www.christianitytoday.com/2015/11/divine-rise-of-multilevel-marketing-christians-mlm/
Doctorow, Cory. “MLMs Are the Mirror-World Version of Community Organizing.” Pluralistic (blog), February 4, 2025. https://pluralistic.net/2025/02/05/power-of-positive-thinking/
GotQuestions.org. “What Does the Bible Say About Multi-Level Marketing (MLM)?” October 3, 2010. https://www.gotquestions.org/multi-level-marketing.html
Meany, Martin. “The Catholic Church: The Original Pyramid Scheme.” Medium, September 24, 2021. https://medium.com/@martinmeany/the-catholic-church-the-original-pyramid-scheme-42cd7e8e5785
Pyramid Scheme Alert. “An Untold Story: How MLM Shaped Donald Trump’s Politics and Presidency.” August 15, 2020. https://www.pyramidschemealert.org/an-untold-story-how-mlm-shaped-donald-trumps-politics-and-presidency/
Journalism and Investigative Reporting
Cooper, Ryan. “Pyramid Schemes Are Eating American Capitalism.” The American Prospect, May 27, 2025. https://prospect.org/culture/books/2025-05-22-pyramid-schemes-eating-american-capitalism-read-review/
The Awl. “Did Amway Create the Gig Economy?” July 2017. https://www.theawl.com/2017/07/did-amway-create-the-gig-economy/
The Washington Post. “Amway Co-Founder Jay Van Andel Dies at 80.” March 2, 2024 (originally published December 8, 2004). https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2004/12/08/amway-co-founder-jay-van-andel-dies-at-80/
The Washington Post. “Rearranging ‘Amway Event’ For Reagan.” February 26, 2024 (archival). https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1984/01/22/rearranging-amway-event-for-reagan/
The Washington Post. “Selling Free Enterprise: Amway Battles Liberal Ideology in Politics.” December 24, 2023 (originally published March 14, 1981). https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1981/03/14/selling-free-enterprise/
Legal and Corporate Information
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP. “FTC Knocks Down MLM Pyramid Scheme.” https://www.manatt.com/insights/newsletters/advertising-law/ftc-knocks-down-mlm-pyramid-scheme
Online MLM Community. “1979 FTC vs. Amway Case: How it Impacted the MLM Industry.” November 27, 2024. https://onlinemlmcommunity.com/ftc-vs-amway/
Note on Sources
This bibliography includes sources gathered through web research to supplement the primary source material from Bridget Read’s Little Bosses Everywhere. The FTC documents provide the regulatory and statistical framework for understanding MLM harm. The religious and political analysis pieces demonstrate the deep connections between MLMs, conservative Christianity, and right-wing politics. The journalistic sources, particularly from The Washington Post archives, reveal the historical political protection that has allowed MLMs to flourish despite their demonstrable harm to participants.
