Legal correspondence between attorneys alleges WorldVentures’ revenue has been “decimated”.
The leaked email correspondence pertains to a Texas District court case, which WorldVentures is defending.
The April 6th dated email reads as follows:
As you are aware, we are now amid a global pandemic arising from the outbreak of … the disease COVID-19.
Dallas County, Collin County, and the City of McKinney all issued stay-at-home orders that require their residents to shelter in place through the month of April to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Travel is shut down for the foreseeable future.
The fallout has decimated WorldVentures’ revenue.
My understanding is that the company laid off most of its staff and has not paid its leaders since December 2019.
Our source claims the email was sent between the attorneys of two WorldVentures distributors, who are plaintiffs suing WorldVentures for unpaid commissions.
What we do know is the case was filed in Collin County. A search of public records reveals two possible candidates.
Christ Kent, Jake Kevorkian and Scott Ross vs. WorldVentures Marketing, LLC was filed on January 11th, 2019.
Arbitration was ordered last May and at the time of publication the case outcome remains pending.
The other possibility is XAS Travel & Trading LTD v. WorldVentures Marketing, LLC and WorldVentures Holdings, LLC.
The email does cite “et al.” after WorldVentures Marketing LLC, so unless it’s a clerical error (the first lawsuit was filed against one defendant), this is likely the case in question.
XAS Travel & Training LTD v. WorldVentures Marketing, LLC et. al. was filed on November 5th, 2019.
XAS filed a Motion for Summary Judgment on April 13th (earlier today).
This fits with the last paragraph of the leaked April 6th email, which suggests the attorneys were discussing a plan of action:
Putting aside the hotly disputed liability issues of this case, due to the changing circumstances, the current and future investment of money and time into this lawsuit, we believe…
We’ve asked our source for clarification but as of yet haven’t heard back.
In any event, I think it’s important to put into context the collapse of the travel industry with WorldVentures revenue woes.
WorldVentures since inception has always been about selling memberships, i.e. it’s a pyramid scheme. WorldVentures’ original business model didn’t pay on travel. Travel commissions were only added a few years back as pseudo-compliance.
A 2013-2014 regulatory investigation in Norway revealed 95% of WorldVentures’ revenue was derived from affiliate membership fees.
BehindMLM last reviewed WorldVentures in September 2019. We found affiliate membership revenue still likely to be WorldVentures’ largest source of revenue.
Within this context, it’s important to make a differentiation of how the travel industry’s collapse has affected WorldVentures.
WorldVentures’ revenue hasn’t allegedly collapsed because nobody is booking travel. It’s collapsed because the travel marketing narrative isn’t remotely believable in the current climate.
You can’t pitch a pyramid scheme hiding behind travel services if the travel industry doesn’t exist. Simple as that.
Our source also made the claim that WorldVentures’ CEO Josh Paine resigned.
I was able to verify this via Paine’s LinkedIn account:
A CEO bailing amid a revenue crisis isn’t particularly confidence inspiring.
Update 23rd December 2020 – WorldVentures filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on December 22nd, 2020.
Update 25th July 2022 – Josh Paine has turned up as the newly appointed CEO of IDLife.