A competitive state Senate race in southeast Mecklenburg County is once again focused on the Democratic candidate’s past sales work for a company that law enforcement officials called a massive pyramid scheme.
Incumbent Woodson Bradley says that she was not perpetrating fraud — but was a victim. Republican Staci McGinn says that’s absurd.
Two years ago, McGinn attacked Bradley over her past work as a top salesperson for Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing.
In 2013, the then-attorney general of Kentucky said the company was "one of the most prolific pyramid schemes operating in North America." Roy Cooper, who was attorney general at the time, said: “The people at the company made money at the expense of new recruits who end up losing.”
The Federal Trade Commission helped shut the company down.
“Pyramid schemes are more like icebergs,” said C. Steven Baker, director of the FTC’s Midwest region at the time. “At any point, most people must and will be underwater financially. These defendants were promising people that if they worked hard they could make lots of money. But it was a rigged game, and the vast majority of people lost money.”
Despite the attacks, Bradley won the seat by a razor-thin margin of 209 votes.
This year’s race is a rematch — and Republicans are once again bringing up Bradley’s past work at Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing.
But in a new campaign mailer, Bradley says she was the victim.
The piece features a portrait of Bradley. It says: “I survived an abusive relationship — only to be targeted by a pyramid scheme preying on survivors of abuse.”
The mailer was paid for by the N.C. Democratic Party and authorized by Bradley.
Bradley spoke to WFAE about her experience with the company this week.
“They primarily targeted women and they also targeted people that spoke different languages and they targeted other people that might have been struggling financially in life,” she said. “But women in all stretches of life were very much targeted and single moms in particular.”
McGinn, a former Bank of America executive, said Bradley’s claims of being a victim are “unbelievable.”
“Her claims she was targeted by the pyramid scheme because she was a domestic abuse survivor is simply absurd,” McGinn said. “She was a platinum level sales manager, chief spokesperson, trainer, and member of the ring of honor for the scam.”
Bradley said she was indeed a platinum sales manager for Fortune Hi-Tech, but the title was meaningless.
“That’s a very accurate statement; they could have called me a purple sprinkled donut,” Bradley said. “I mean, it’s a made-up name in a network marketing company. It doesn’t have anything to do with levels or clout per pay. That just happened to be a network marketing company title.”
She continued:
“I was just a mom who had a home-based business. You buy the little kit and get their products at a discount. And shared it with some friends and we all decided we would lose weight and improve our health. And from there they said you are a good communicator, and that’s it. I made some videos. “
McGinn says Bradley’s role was much more significant. She also trained others on how to do well at the company and promoted Fortune High Tech Marketing in videos. She has noted that Bradley is named in the federal court filing seeking to shut down the company, although her name appears in an explanatory role about how the company worked, such as how sales bonuses were handled.
“She made a lot of money from it, until the house of cards fell,” McGinn said. “The real victims were the 350,000 people — 20,000 of which were in North Carolina who lost their savings. She should admit her wrongdoing and apologize.”
Bradley said the pyramid scheme attacks are “desperate.” She said McGinn doesn’t have any ideas about bringing down prices and improving public schools.
McGinn’s campaign platform does talk about education, public safety and trying to lower housing costs.
McGinn said Bradley’s past is important for voters to know.
The district covers Mint Hill, Matthews and much of south Charlotte.
