Tarantin Entertainment James Tarantin Investment Scheme? Multilevel Marketing / Pyramid Scheme? Caveat emptor! Los Angeles, California

Scam?  Con?  Fraud?  Multi-level marketing scheme?  Cult? 
Violations of the California Consumer Legal Remedies act?

A friend of mine became involved with James Tarantin and his company, Tarantin Entertainment, and as she has a history of being taken advantage of by seemingly unscrupulous people, including Mark Anderson (now serving a lengthy prison sentence for fraud), Aaron Dixon aka Mick Merival (multiple civil and criminal fraud claims), Henning Morales (conduct well-documented on this site), I took it upon myself to look into Tarantin.

Frankly, the level of BS I discovered was remarkable.  Underneath all the babble, which is really  just senseless/meaningless nonsense (you must see and hear it to believe it, see the youtube links below) there appears to be two possible schemes at work:  A pyramid Multi-level marketing scheme and an investment scheme.

The company founder, James Tarantin, represents he has the "science for success" and that he has developed an equation for success and he wants you to invest in his company. However, it seems James Tarantin, who preaches about success, fails to lead by example. Public records, including secretary of state documents, indicate James lives in a one bedroom apartment, in a rent controlled apartment building, in a not so great neighborhood in Los Angeles.
While most in people who live in decent apartments with covered parking and maybe even a pool (or houses for that matter!), Tarantin's apartment has no such amenities, not even covered parking. Moreover, his home address is
apparently the same address he uses for his company Tarantin Entertainment (again confirmed by the Secretary of State's documents available online). On his website he doesn't list his Tarantin Entertainment company's address or telephone number. Documents indicate Tarantin has been in business for well over four years yet he still resides in and does business from a one bedroom apartment in a rent controlled apartment building?

If I am buying a book to motivate me and which advertises the secret to the "science of success" I want to follow the wisdom of a person who has been there and knows what they are actually talking about. A person that is successful. E.g., Donald Trump can speak of success in the real estate market, Bill Gates of success in technology, etc. But what "science of
success" can Tarantin speak of? Don't we call this leading by example, something he's apparently failed to do completely?

Tarantin claims he has "partnered" with Larry King and that Tarantin Entertainment was founded with the "complete cooperation" of Larry King.  Well, I spoke with Larry King's representative directly and he confirmed Larry King has in no way partnered with Tarantin nor did he in any way help found Tarantin Entertainment. 

On his website Tarantin describes himself as follows: "A Philosopher, Game Architect, Author, the Executive Chairman of Tarantin Entertainment and the Creator of 4=TD.An American Citizen who immigrated to the United States alone
with no family, money or any formal education as a Philosopher, James studied  5 Chief avenues; The Mind, Pragmatism & Enterprises, Morality, Metaphysics and Aesthetics.  After several months of deep research and traveling to Rome, James saw the Equation in a dream at age 16. From 9/22/10 12/25/10 he handwrote the entire book. James believes that each person is just around the corner at accomplishing their mountain top. And though he was a poor young man at the time, James was the first immigrant to America, and one of the youngest spiritual thinkers in history, to write a memoir at the age of 25, in
a language that isnt his mother tongue and with no training in writing whatsoever."

 Tarantin's website is devoted to raising money and he even has a person whose job is "sales and recruitment." It all seemed fishy to me, even cult-ish. What book author has a "sales and recruitment" specialist?  What is Tarantin's angle I wondered.

Then I watched Tarantin's videos on his website. He clearly had no idea about things he was talking about, like dark energy and dark matter. He spoke so ignorantly about quantum physics I laughed out loud. If you know anything about any of
these subjects you will find what he says either laughable or nauseating. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDnnI2vRPaw

In another equally laughable video, Tarantin speaks again in circles, saying a lot yet saying nothing at all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESkhE3rZ64c

 He cites Lance Armstrong as a key role model and example. The same Lance Armstrong that had his Tour du France titles stripped from him as he was renounced for using illegal drugs and left the sport in shame and disgraced.  Again another laughable or nauseating video full of BS.

I discovered many of the reviews about his book, available in a digital format on Amazon, were from people who were friends with the author. (So much for unbiased reviews.)

I then saw a page on his website where he offers his  "Affiliate Program" whereby Tarantin claims you can make lots of money selling his book.  Funny thing is according to Amazon's ranking of this book, Tarantin himself can't sell this book!  In fact, this is not a best seller, nor in the top 100, not the top 1,000, not the top 100,000. In fact, the book's sales
rank is #227,129.  Who knew there were even this many titles for sale?

But Tarantin states on his website:  " The pay structure is the first of its kind for an international book brand release, and allows you to receive money for each book you sell as well as commissions for each book that people you recruit sell. You will
receive commission for every book you sell through the international online retailers. You can then earn more commissions by recruiting additional partners, for which you will get substantial bonuses based on these new partners sales. You can recruit as many additional partners as you wish. The commission amounts add up extremely fast and can reach up to 74%, which
makes it very simple to get paid a substantial amount each month by selling the Equation book worldwide."

I then read about his "Dream Team."  All a bunch of puffery but no one with real credentials, which I discovered when I scratched the surface of their exaggerated descriptions. It's amazing what you can peddle on the internet these days.

On another site, a crowd funding site, Tarantin tried to raise $50,000.  He failed.  More than one person commented on the site, asking what the pledge was even for. 

The world is apparently filled with sheeple looking for easy answers and snake-oil peddlers and charlatans looking to feed them the answers they want. What he did with the money he actually raised from unwise investors is a mystery.

If you are an investor or considering getting involved with Tarantin, do your due diligence.  As they say, caveat emptor.  Hollywood is filled with posers out to separate you from your money.  You decide.
 
The foregoing is my "opinion." Use your own discretion and decide for yourself.