After Barry Minkow and Fraud Discovery Institute revealed earlier this week that Denis Waitley (board of directors for Usana) didn’t have the credentials he claimed, Usana is covering for him. They announced late today that he will be retiring, with this statement:
Dr. Denis Waitley has decided not to stand for reelection to the USANA board of directors. Dr. Waitley recently informed USANA that an error appeared in his biography listed in the Company’s proxy statement and that he did not in fact earn a masters degree in Organizational Development from the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, California. Dr. Waitley did confirm that he earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and a Ph.D. in Human Behavior from La Jolla University. Dr. Waitley’s board term will end on April 17, 2007, at which time he will retire as a director of the Company.
But the problem is that this wasn’t just an “error”. This was something that was printed over, and over, and over again in Usana’s SEC filings. You mean to tell me that an error (an oversight, a mistake, whatever) that inflates one’s credentials with a false Masters degree is to be believed?
Again, this is a misrepresentation by the company to investors and distributors alike.
After reviewing the above article about Denis Waitley (whom I know) I was shocked about the phony Naval Postgraduate degree. Then I decided to Google La Jolla University where he got his Ph. D. I cannot find a such place as La Jolla University. Google comes up with U.C.S.D. (University of California, San Diego). I am familiar with UCSD as my wife once worked there as a teaching assistant. Is there a La Jolla University?
I grew up in San Diego…..there is NO “La Jolla University.”