72 Misc.2d 1054, 340 N.Y.S.2d 553
John P. MAHONEY, Plaintiff,
v.
Robert J. ANDRESEN and Dare To Be
Great, Inc., Defendants.
Civil Court of the City of New York,
Kings County.
Jan. 3, 1973.
*1055 SAMUEL A. WELCOME, Judge.
Plaintiff was induced to enter into a
'promotional sales contract' with the
defendant Dare To Be Great, Inc., or on
about August 2, 1971, and thereby part
with the sum of $5,000.
This was done after defendants
explained to plaintiff the basic details of
the Dare To Be Great, Inc., program
which consisted mainly of pyramid type
money sharing plan.
Upon reflection, plaintiff, on or about
August 13, 1971, before any action on
behalf of the defendant, Dare To Be
Great, Inc., notified the defendants that he
was no longer interested in participating in
the program and demanded that his
$5,000 be returned. The case was tried
before this Court without a jury and the
testimony adduced clearly indicated that
this 'agreement' was nothing more than a
pyramid selling plan in the nature of a
chain letter by which profits are promised
to each buyer in turn persuading others to
buy.
**555 It is clear on its face that the
'purported contract' between the
defendant, Dare To Be Great, Inc., and
plaintiff does not in any way indicate that
this is the basis of the plan but speaks
rather in generalities of motivation
materials available. Nor does this
contract in any way indicate the amount of
additional 'purchasers' that must be
convinced to join the scheme in order to
insure the return, not to speak of profits of
the original 'investment'.
There is no credible testimony in the case
that the defendant, Dare To Be Great,
Inc., in any way bore any financial loss as
a result of plaintiff's change of mind, nor
indeed would that be controlling.
(Although the defendant does set up in its
answer that it is obligated to part with
$2,500. as a result of the 'contract'.)
Plaintiff contends, inter alia, that there
was a unilateral mistake on his part
coupled with misrepresentation on the
part of the defendants. However, the
record is somewhat barren in support of
this contention. The main question,
seems to this Court, is whether this
'contract' is illegal. The question is
whether or not this 'contract' is in violation
of Sections 2(1) and 5 and 12 of the
Securities Act of 1933.
Section 2 of the Securities Act of 1933,
Act of May 27, 1933; 15 U.S.Code,
Section 77a--77aa, as amended, sets
forth the legislative intent as 'an act to
provide full and fair disclosure of the
character of securities sold in interstate
and foreign commerce and through the
mails, and to prevent frauds in the sale
thereof and for other purposes.'
*1056 Section 2 provides 'when used in
this title, unless the context otherwise
requires--
(1) The term 'security' means any note,
stock, bond, debenture, evidence of
indebtedness, certificate of interest or
participation in any profit-sharing
agreement, collateral-trust certificate,
preorganization certificate or
subscription, transferable share,
investment contract, voting-trust
certificate, certificate of deposit for a
security, fractional undivided interest in
oil, gas, or other mineral rights, or, in
general, any interest or instrument
commonly known as a 'security', or any
certificate of interest or participation in,
temporary or interim certificate for,
receipt for, guarantee of, or warrant or
right to subscribe to or purchase, any of
the foregoing.'
Subdivision (3) states 'The term 'sale' or
'sell' shall include every contract of sale
or disposition of a security or interest in
a security, for value. The term 'offer to
sell', 'offer for sale', or 'offer' shall
include every attempt or offer to dispose
of, or solicitation of an offer to buy, a
security or interest in a security, for
value . . .'
Subdivision (4) 'The term 'issuer' means
every person who issues or proposes to
issue any security.'
**556 In view of the definition as set forth
in said act the transaction between
plaintiff and said defendant clearly is a
security transaction within the meaning of
the Securities Act of 1933.
Section 5 provides as follows: 'Unless a
registration statement is in effect as to a
security, it shall be unlawful for any
person, directly or indirectly--
(1) to make use of any means or
instruments of transportation or
communication in interstate commerce
or of the mails to sell such security
through the use of medium of any
prospectus or otherwise; or
(2) to carry or cause to be carried
through the mails or in interstate
commerce, by any means or
instruments of transportation, any such
security for the purpose of sale or for
delivery after sale.'
Section 12 provides as follows: 'Any
person who--
(1) offers or sells a security in violation
of Section 5 or
(2) offers or sells a security (whether or
not exempted by the provisions of
Section 3, other than paragraph (2) of
subsection (a) thereof), by the use of
any means *1057 or instruments of
transportation or communication in
interstate commerce or of the mails, by
means of a prospectus or oral
communication, which includes an
untrue statement of a material fact or
omits to state a material fact necessary
in order to make the statements, in the
light of the circumstances under which
they were made, not misleading (the
purchaser not knowing of such untruth
or omission), and who shall not sustain
the burden of proof that he did not
know, and in the exercise of reasonable
care could not have known, of such
untruth or omission, shall be liable to the
person purchasing such security from
him, who may sue either at law or in
equity in any court of competent
jurisdiction, to recover the consideration
paid for such security with interest
thereon, upon the tender of such
security, or for damages if he no longer
owns the security.'
It has been held by the Security And
Exchange Commission that the operation
of such a plan as in the case at bar
involves offering of an investment contract
or a participation in a profit sharing
agreement which are securities within the
meaning of Section 2(1) and Section 12 of
the Securities Act of 1933.
See: Securities and Exchange
Commission v. Glenn Turner
Enterprises, Inc., (CCH Federal Security
Reporter, Paragraph 93605, May, 1972)
In that case the District Court of Oregon
found that these 'promotional sales
schemes' constitute an offer to sell in the
sale of investment**557 contracts and
should have been registered under the
Securities Act.
There is no testimony in this case and as
a matter of fact, it is conceded that these
'contracts' were not registered nor were
they exempted from the Securities Act of
1933. Moreover, as was held in the
Glenn Turner Case, any person who
participates in the distribution of these
securities must be a broker as defined in
Section 3(a) of the Securities Act of 1934,
and unless exemption is available would
be required to be registered as such
pursuant to Section 15(a)(1) of that act.
Clearly from all the testimony there is no
indication that the contracts were
registered; that the salesmen were, in
fact, brokers or that anything was filed
either with the Security And Exchange
Commission or any other Commission in
the State of New York.
It is the view of this Court that these
purported contracts are in violation of
Statutes of the United States and the
State of New York and are void as a
matter of law.
The plaintiff contends that the contract in
question is also in violation of Section
394--B of the General Business Law,
which *1058 requires that contracts in
excess of $500, for instructional physical
and social skills must be for a precise
period of years and requires a payment
under such contract be made in
installments.
The Court does not now pass on that
because it has already held that the
contracts are void under the previously
cited sections of the Securities And
Exchange Act and it is not necessary for
it to therefore hold that the defendants are
also in violation of Section 394--B.
Accordingly, therefore, even if the
defendant parted with money or was
obligated to part with money under this
contract the provision itself would be void
because the contract is void. Therefore
judgment is entered in favor of the plaintiff
as demanded in the complaint plus
interest, costs and disbursements. 15
days stay.
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