In the Fall of 2005 I was approached, by Bruce Badgett, about an idea for a new company he was about to form. He was gauging my interest in helping him start up the company. I had known Bruce about 9 months earlier at a trade show where he was promoting his Advocare business. He began to tell me that Advocare had gone down a wrong path and was no longer the company it once was. They had parted ways with the main scientist, Rich Scheckenbach an Ed Volkoff. I was told that the reason Rich left was because Advocare was substituting ingredients of lesser quality and Rich would not stand for that. I later found out that Rich was being sued for fraud by Advocare. I found this information through a google search and found the news release on the following link.
Neither I, nor, any of the potential investors were ever informed of the civil fraud case that Mr. Scheckenbach lost.
In April of we met at Bruce's ranch, in Boswell, Oklahoma. There were about 12 people there. Most of them were Bruce's contacts from Advocare. That is where I first met Alan Litvak, who was to be the National Sales Director. He was supposed to be a "marketing expert" and hundreds of contacts in the sports world, since he was a former sportscaster.
I, and several others, were deemed area managers. Our responsibility was to tap into our business contacts to create interest in investing in the new company, REVIVE USA.initially, the investment package was to be $35,000. It quickly changed to $40,0000. Bruce laid out our goal of selling 40 "zones" which would bring in 1.5 million plus in capital. The goal was to have them sold within 90 to 120 days.
Excitement was high, and we had a lot of activity, as far as people looking at the opportunity. We began having weekly conference calls. As April and May passed, we had a lot of people kicking the tires. As we got into June, Bruce and Alan really started to emphasize that people were starting to purchase zones and that it was their contacts and none of ours. It was really important that we closed zones because we were going up on price and that is where the initial product sales would be focused and if we didn't have zone owners, there would be no product commissions.
A Zone is a geographic area chosen by zip codes and population base that the investor purchased to have exclusive rights to all product sales within that zone.
In late June, I sold my first two with two more to close after the 4th of July.
I was asked by Bruce and Alan to fly to Kansas City as a reward for my hard work.in Kansas City, we went to the Kansas Speedway to meet with an Indy Car team about a sponsorship opportunity. I was kind of shocked at the hard sell that the team put on us. I was immediately concerned that we were not ready for this.
Later that night, Bruce and Alan called me aside after they finished their second meeting with the race team. They asked my opinion and I told them that I was concerned about us being ready because we didn't even have our product to the market.
This is when I asked them How many zones do we have sold?
Alan quickly replied 18-20. He said that they were selling so fast lately that he had lost count. With that number, I calculated approximately how much money the company should have, $ 700,000 to $800,000. This race sponsorship was a $250,000 deal. I also knew that I had several serious deals about to close. The race team would allow us to pay it over a series of payments. I figured, even if they did this deal we would have plenty of money to finish ramping up the company and get operational.
Later on, after discovering some information, I backtracked and realized that I was lied to. At that time, we only had 3 zones actually sold. Two more closed the following week. They were my investors. I, and all other managers had been led to believe we were about to hit number 40.
40 zones was the magic number for us and the potential investors. After the 40th, prices were going up.
The end of July neared and Alan and Bruce started a frenzy. They announced on our weekly conference call that that week was the week would finally hit our goal If we had any potential investors. They better make their decision to be in the first 40.
I had two more investors buy in. They even pushed one who had committed to buying 10 zones in September because that was when a land deal would close. They pressured him so much to go ahead and at least purchase one so he could lock in that price for a year. He got mad and backed out all together.
The next week we announced we hit our goal. Everybody was proud.
Then Alan and Bruce said that the Dynamics had changed because of the race sponsorship. The public response was so great to our exposure from the Indy League, that we needed to seize the opportunity to sell additional zones. We were to continue selling zones, but the price had gone up to $ 55,000.00
What we didn't realize was were being told lie after lie after lie. 40 zones would have put us at 1.6 million dollars committed. I say committed, because we had agreed to finance some to allow people to get in on the opportunity that didn't have the full $40,000.
I sold two more zones at $55,000.. By mid October, things began to go amiss. We were short on money. We were told that the computer sytems, the warehouse, costs of packaging were all higher than originally expected. We were also being told that a lot of the people who financed were not making their payments. I knew my lone financed guy was making his payments.
People were starting to ask where our product was. I was told at one point, by Bruce Badgett, that a product that we were importing from Russia was on the boat at port but the documents were not filled out correctly, and it was returned to Russia. I found out later that was a lie. The product had never been ordered.
There was always some excuse and it always pointed to someone else.
Our venture into racing was not over. Our relationship with Panther Racing had gone sour. According to Bruce and Alan, they were not adhering to their contract once they had received our money. I found out later from the Racing attorney that it was Revive USA who had not met their obligations. Imagine that. I was told by Bruce that they had received their money.
Next, we were now a sponsor of Erica Enders drag racing team. The Enders totally changed their car and 18 wheeler over to the Revive Logos. There were big media announcements. According to Greg Enders, he didn't get paid a dime. He got took as well. They made a phony announcement about Erica turning down our sponsorship due to it conflicted with the main NHRA sponsor Powerade. They were taking one for the league. Baloney!!!
It was mid to late November that I discovered where we actually were as far as zone sales. Some of our product had finally arrived and I was emailed a list that broke down how much product went to which zone. There were only 20 -22 zones listed. I called Becky, our office manager, and asked her if this was correct? She replied, yes. It was at that point, that I realized how many lied we had been told. I was in shock to say the least. The first thing I did was to contact the people who had invested and informed them what was going on.
I then contacted two potential investors that were close to making decisions. One was worth about $500,000 and the other about $250,0000. The one from Lubbock immediately put things on hold. The one from Decatur, still agreed to meet with us at a meeting that was already scheduled. He smartly backed out altogether.
It was at this meeting that I first confronted Bruce. He told me that he had sold his John Deere tractors to continue the company. I later saw pictures of those tractors on a real estate website when his ranch went up for sale.
I asked him what happened to the money we had collected. As of that date, I personally had brought in $400,000 in investors money. He said it all went to the race team and paying for the product that finally did come. I know that is a lie. He never paid for all of the packaging or product. I know for a fact that he still owes those companies money.
It was at that point that I told him that they needed to be honest and straight forward with the investors. That never happened.in January, I had a very contentious conference call with Bruce and Alan because I caught them in another lie. It was at that point that I relayed a request from the investors. They were requesting an accounting of the money. That never came. Bruce's response was that he was not going to be put on trial. They had one lone conference call in January with the investors. They never heard from Bruce or Alan again until late May or June when an email was sent out from a group of investors in Louisiana. They had been trying to contact Bruce and Alan, but got no response. BruceThat is when we began to discover additional investors who had never received anything after they sent their money in. One couple used to be best friends with Alan Litvak and his wife Kelly. They had put $10000 down on a zone but a few days later asked for their money back. They were told to read their contract and that there were no refunds. That is against federal law.
We have repeatedly asked for an accounting of the money, but, to no avail.
According, to Alan's former friends that invested, Alan's wife was driving a new SUV shortly after this. Supposedly he was in dire financial straits. I have not confirmed this, but I believe the SUV to be a true story.
Alan is out their with his new title of Executive Director for Kingdom Racing of Katy, Tx. You guessed it, soliciting money for sponsorships for the new race team. The sickening part is he is out there as a Christian and to spread God's word. Alan Litvak can not be trusted.
Bruce left me a long sobbing message abouthe didn't know hat to do. They were about to be homeless because his ranch had failed to sale. That was a lie. I talked to the realtor and she told me that it was the fastest selling property she ver listed. It sold in about 10 days.
Supposedly Bruce is traveling the country promoting Ascential Biosciences, a new multilevel marketing nutrition company that Rich Scheckenbach is involve with.
Bruce's email is [email protected] Phone number is 580-504-5555. His physical address is unknown.
Alan's email is [email protected]. Phone is 832878-7542. He resides in Katy, Texas. He has additional contact info at
Bruce Badgett and Alan Litvak cannot be trusted. Bruce is extremely good at diverting questions and convincing you into seeing his point of view.
Anonymous
Fort Worth, Texas
U.S.A.
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