Recently, the cat has been let out of the bag that UFirst Financial, the company selling the worthless “Money Merge Account” software via a multi-level marketing business model is on its last legs.  Top members of the salesforce are plotting how to oust other sales people and keep the profits for themselves. The numbers show that about 75% of MMA’s users have stopped using the software.

Now the news is that the powers that be at United First Financial are shopping the company to private equity groups. Of course, they don’t want anyone to know…. especially not their sales force.  The ship is sinking quickly, and the owners are trying to offload the company before there is nothing left to sell.

Here’s the note that recently went to upper management at U1st Financial:

This interesting information was posted on a Canadian discussion board where the members were talking about United First Financial. As you saw here, some of the top people in UFF see that the company is going under, and are looking for a way to take this horrible software to a new company, and leave all the dead weight agents behind.

Too bad users aren’t actually using the software anymore, according to the below.

Medifast General Counsel Michael Tanczyn, Esq. at the deposition of Sam Antar. (click to enlarge)

UPDATE: On February 17, 2010, Medifast Inc. filed suit in US District Court, Southern District of California, alleging defamation, violation of California Corporations Code, and unfair business practices. On March 29, 2011, Judge Janis Sammartino dismissed all of Medifast’s claims against me in her ruling on my anti-SLAPP motion.

Earlier this year, Medifast (NYSE: MED) filed a $270 million lawsuit against Barry Minkow, me, and several other defendants for what it has alleged are false statements and a conspiracy to damage the stock price of the company. This lawsuit is nothing more than the typical big company suing a critic to shut her up. Medifast has far more resources than any of the defendants, and the company was hoping that by suing us, we’d shut up about the company’s multi-level marketing division Take Shape For Life (TSFL).

The demise of United First Financial is apparently imminent. The company has had anemic sales for more than a year, and it seemed it was only a matter of time before Ufirst folded. The end is coming nearer, as people at the top of the pyramid are looking to  the best people (not those bad ones who just get drain cash from the company every time they get a commission check) to find a new way to sell this crappy software via an MLM model.

Witness this email from Rich Schaffer, a pyramid-topper who gives excellent details about just how awful U1st Financial is doing!

Sent: Thursday, July 01, 2010 10:59 PM
Subject: Proposal for a New Company!
From: Richard Schaffer

This was left as a comment on an article on this blog. I have no way to verify the accuracy of any of the information, but wanted to share it with my readers.

As of June 2010, UFF is all but out of business. They had their last round of lay offs at the home office just yesterday and are now down to about 8 people running both the client and agent support lines. Thats down from around 70 a year ago.

All of their last ditch efforts to boost sales have failed and the next round of lay offs in a couple of months from now will be when the company closes.

The MMA was a great product, but poor management, questionable business practices and just plain stupidity from the owners have got UFF to where it is today. As the company began to slide, and more and more of us were laid off, the owners continued to spend thousands of dollars on creature comforts for themselves around the office. It was sad to see.

I felt like I worked for some Wall Street, big bank executives who lived in some fantasy land and refused to change their life style while all of the “little people” around them were being laid off, or having their hours cut, etc. I wouldn’t be surprised to be standing next to one of them in the line at the unemployment office soon.

As with most multi-level marketing companies, Numis Network purports to offer a business opportunity that can generate high earnings for an individual. The “product” being sold by Numis is collectible coins. As an investment, gold and silver coins have values that are fairly easy to determine with a few minutes and an internet connection. The value of a “collection,” however, is not so easy to assess. The value of a “collection” varies from owner to owner, so it is hard to put a price tag on it.

Numis Network is careful not to call its coins investments, as that creates regulatory problems in addition to the ease of objectively valuing the investment (and coming to the conclusion that Numis is not the place for a serious coin buyer).

This was left as a comment on an article here about United First Financial (UFF) and their Money Merge Account (MMA).

Tracy, I wish I had read this earlier, like 2 months earlier. I did a Google search for paying down mortgages, and came across UFF’s Money Merge Account. I looked through the website, testimonials, etc. I was sold before the agent even contacted me. The agent was excellent. Young, but excellent. Totally different circumstances of life from me – I am much older with many more accounts, loans, investing vehicles. I was told that there was a “Multiple Properties Option” – I figured “PERFECT!” and signed up all enthused, fired up, ready to go.

No, this is not Mona Vie's site. No, MonaVie doesn't endorse or approve me writing about them. In fact, they'll probably get mad that I'm mentioning them. I don't like MonaVie.

I received the following information about multi-level marketing company MonaVie via email from an anonymous source. I have written here about MonaVie in the past, and my opinion is that it is another thinly veiled pyramid scheme with an overpriced product (magic juice) as a front.

If you are thinking about getting involved with MonaVie as a distributor, this is the single most important article to read about it. This will give you a good idea of how little money you’re going to make.

And you should also take a careful look at the below. Note that I have not verified the accuracy of the assumptions in this article from the anonymous source. You should do your own research on MonaVie prior to making a decision.

UPDATE: On February 17, 2010, Medifast Inc. filed suit in US District Court, Southern District of California, alleging defamation, violation of California Corporations Code, and unfair business practices. On March 29, 2011, Judge Janis Sammartino dismissed all of Medifast’s claims against me in her ruling on my anti-SLAPP motion.

Anti-SLAPP motions have been filed in the Medifast lawsuit by me and by my co-defendant, Robert FitzPatrick. My motion can be read in its entirety here, and Fitzpatrick’s can be read here.

SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation.  It’s basically when a big company tries to shut up a little guy with expensive litigation. In my opinion, Medifast sued me and others in an attempt to get us to stop publicly analyzing or criticizing the company and it’s multi-level marketing business model.

UPDATE: On February 17, 2010, Medifast Inc. filed suit in US District Court, Southern District of California, alleging defamation, violation of California Corporations Code, and unfair business practices. On March 29, 2011, Judge Janis Sammartino dismissed all of Medifast’s claims against me in her ruling on my anti-SLAPP motion.

This week Barry Minkow and iBusiness Reporting did a comparison of the business models of Pre-Paid Legal Services Inc. (NYSE: PPD) and the Take Shape For Life division of  Medifast Inc. (NYSE:MED).  Pre-Paid Legal is being investigated by the SEC, and Barry wondered how the compensation plans of Pre-Paid and TSFL stacked up. The obvious question is whether Medifast could eventually face the same scrutiny as Pre-Paid Legal.

It seems that the SEC investigation of Pre-Paid Legal has focused on its stock buyback program (this is how executives and insiders get rich) and how the company is marketed. They also asked for data on membership statistics, so this could open the door to evaluating whether the practices of the company are like a Ponzi scheme.