Brett Fogle Options University Beware Independent Contractors - Brett Fogle will hire you, utilize your services and then NOT pay you! Boca Raton, Florida

At no point ever were our affiliate partners owed 'Hundreds of thousands of dollars'. This is flat out false information and a fabrication.

We had affiliates not paying us, and one affiliate by the name of Market Gauge that owed us over $40,000 and they did not pay us. This affected our ability to pay our affiliates in 2011-2012. This was out of our control.

However, since then we have paid and made good with all affiliates, paying them money owed. The company has since been sold, and there are no outstanding affiliate commissions owed.

Our money-back guarantee was always honored, and we processed refunds in a timely manner. If we did NOT, then we WOULD have hundreds of complaints, which we DO NOT. Think about it.

The claim that we had a BBB rating of 'F' is also untrue.

The company has an A+ rating which you can see here:

http://screencast.com/t/MATKlCzwdSW
** These complaints are not by random customers or vendors. They are all related to original vendor and her unfounded claims, and her cohorts the problematic partners that caused all of this commotion in the first place.

Don't believe any of it.

It should also be noted that we raised over $120 Thousand Dollars for global charities during the 2008-2010 recession, a time when people needed it the most.

Here is a screenshot of the work we had done:

http://screencast.com/t/uGqgTsu6X3Z7

Which can be seen here:

http://www.optionsuniversitycharity.com/

And an entire website dedicated to this here, showing that the company had dedicated to donate 10% of profits to global charities, as a socially minded company:

http://www.optionsuniversitygiveback.com/

So it's unfortunate that a few people with a grudge can attempt to poison the reputation of a good company, that gave quality education to thousands of people worldwide, and raised tens of thousands for reputable charities. 

 

 

I am the former owner of the company, which was acquired earlier this year.

These statements are completely false and untrue.

We did not owe 'hundreds of thoudsands' to anyone, and while our business took a downturn with the economy, and we were the victim of internal theft by our CFO which made it challenging to pay some of our affiliates on time, we have paid our affiliates and all company debts, which not many people could have done considering the circumstances. 

The statement about the BBB rating is also untrue.

As of 8/26/2013 the rating still shows B+ but was an A earlier this year when the company was sold which can be seen here:  http://screencast.com/t/nXJqyPCxsn

It's unfortnate that people can freely and anonymously post false and misleading statements here as a matter of public record, with no validation required.

I regret that this contractor feels she wasn't compensated fairly, but as I've stated we gave her the option to stay on with us after separating with the partner she was working with, and she declined. She was paid very well and got to go on exotic locations like Hawaii, The Biltmore Estate, and other high end event locations which the company paid for.

In addition, this person was never employed by Options University. She worked for a separate company entirely, with different staff and employees, so it's unfair to tie this together. The decision not to pay her was made by Joe Atkins and had nothing to do with me.

Here original comments are also completely untrue, about leaving a company insolvent. Her misuse of the facts, can only mean she has no idea what she's talking about. I have nothing to hide.

We can agree to disagree. But this was an unfortunate result of the business imploding, for reasons we don't need to go into here. I maintain I did everything I could and made valiant efforts to save it. It could not be saved, and I find it surprising that this person doesn't name the other business partner in the venture, who at that point was the managing partner and calling the shots, and ultimately was responsible here as he made the decision not to pay this contractor.

Brett,

The judge did not award in your favor. He removed you from the lawsuit because of the LLC protection (which is why you always file your companies as such I'm sure). I won the claim against Mastery Products which was one of your businesses. You have ignored the judgement. The judge has now agreed to add Options U Forex Trader to the judgement however your lawyer tells us that THAT company has also been dissolved? A regular pattern of yours which brings me back to the original posting. People need to beware.

I suspect the judge will not appreciate you stating that he "ruled in your favor on a frivolous lawsuit" - as he agrees with me that it is not frivolous which is why he ruled in my favor.

I will not respond to you here again. I have told the truth and you know it, the court knows it and the students know it.

My offer stands to anyone wishing to see court documents to back up my claim just ask.

Stop your whining and get a life Jan. Nobody wants to hear it.

You say you have 40 people with complaints against us, but they are not against us. It's a different company and did everything humanely possible to save the situation. It's not my fault it imploded.

The fact is you are the ONLY contractor with a complaint against us.  And I can show you 40 staff and contractors from the past that have had GOOD experiences with us.

Stop your lies and move on. The judge / court awarded in my favor from your frivolous harassment lawsuit. Enough already.

I am sure it is clear to anyone reading this post that Mr. Fogle has a hard time taking responsibility and places blame everywhere but with himself.

He told someone recently that his latest post here was in an effort to make me "back off" and I  refuse to waste another minute and/or address him directly as he seems to believes the story he and his partners have spun and all of this is going nowhere. I also see that he blamed me by name for another unflattering post which I had nothing to do with. No, I am not the only one that feels this way about Options University/Forex Trader and their founding partners.

My original posting stands. If you get involved with Brett Fogle OR Forex Joe Atkins be very careful. I can supply interested parties with nearly 40 email addresses of individuals and businesses that were burned by them (and who will back up my story) and I am happy to share a copy of the court judgement against his company which he has refused to pay.

Jan, 

You are misrepresenting the facts here which is disappointing.

You took me to small claims court demanding payment largely for services NOT rendered by you.  You were looking for payment for the next 30 days (future work), after you were offered the option to conduct one more platinum group meeting with a suitable substitute and you declined.

Our company attorney was on the end of that call and can attest to this fact.

For the record, the judge in your small claims case found me not-guilty.  He awarded you a judgment against Mastery Products which as you know became insolvent last year.

The meeting that was conducted where we voted to do so was conducted by my partner at the time in the parent company Joe Atkins.  The REASON we dissolved the company was because Gary and Trish made it impossible to continue.  They were demanding and never satisfied, and none of the 19 (at one time) employees and other contractors would work with them or wanted anything to do with them.

You are representing that we did this maliciously and purposefully, which is a gross misrepresentation. Nobody tried harder than I did to resolve the seemingly irreconcilable differences including bringing in a mediator and spending many thousands of dollars for this, just to appease all the parties. 

While I'm sorry that you feel you were not properly compensated, your attacks here against me personally are untrue and without merit. I was not the controlling partner in the parent company OU Forex Trader, Forex Joe was.  He made the final financial decisions who to pay and who not to pay, and so you should be directing your complaints against him, not me.

And for the record, we always paid our affiliates in this company and all of our vendors. Even recently when I had to reduce overhead at Options University, I did so by giving all staff 2 weeks notice, giving them time to find new employment.  They all thanked me for this.

If you can find another vendor that we owe money to, I challenge you to post it here. 

I'm a victim here of this unfortunate situation just as you are, and it is a fact of life that not all businesses make it.  Many companies are in trouble and have closed in this economy.  It's just too bad, because we had a good product. 

In the end however, it was the wrong people.  You were well paid during the term of your contracts, and also got to travel to exotic locations like Hawaii, the Vanderbilt Estate, and Florida - all paid for by the company.  So why don't we be done with this here and get on with our lives.

You also stated below that one of my partners was a glorified accountant who I have not met. This has no truth to it.  Forex Joe delivered much of the Forex content.  The 'other' Joe was never a partner. And I was never the CEO of these companies.  I was a partner, but not the controlling partner in OU Forex Trader, which owned Mastery Products. I did not have control and so your blame here is misplaced and misguided.

• You took the Platinum member's money and disappeared.
  
  
• You used my services and didn't pay me.  
  
  
• A judge has ordered that you pay me and you are ignoring the court order.

Those three things alone say enough about how you operate without me having to add anything futher.

Again - I will be HAPPY to report that you have made good on your word and paid the court ordered amount when (and IF) that happens.

As the Contractor responsible for the initial posting I can tell you that I was NOT at any time offered to extend my contract for 30 days. Mr. Fogle is not accurate. My contract was terminated without notice.

How could I be offered to extend my term and work for a company that no longer exisisted? Mr. Fogle was not on the call in which this conversation (or lack thereof) took place. It never happened and I would swear to that on all that I am and have. He states above that he felt I was part of the problem of students turning against them (not true, they did that themselves) so why would they offer to extend my contract - this makes no sense. I would have given them 30 days notice as we had agreed on and expected the same from him/them. If he is telling the truth any event would have fallen within that 30 day period.

I would never have turned students against any of them and did my best to keep the program going - reaching out to Brett and pleading with him to do what is right for the students. I could post that email (that went unanswered by Mr. Fogle). AFTER the fact, even AFTER he and his Partners closed the program on the students and terminated my contract without notice I remained quiet about the ugliness I have seen. 

Last month I took Mr. Fogle and Mastery Products to small claims court and I won. The Judge ruled that Mastery Products did in fact breach my contract and they owe me payment in full.

I have yet to hear a word from them or receive any of the court ordered payment.

Bad business. Do not sign a contract with Mr. Fogle or any of his companies - contracts mean nothing to him. I hope that this will change in the future and he will make good on his word and the contract that HE signed - if so I will happily report back to that fact and never speak of him again. If not, I will continue to work through the court system and by any means available to receive what is rightfully due and will support any others that wish to do the same.

We do not owe hundreds of thousands of dollars to affiliates. This is not correct information.

We've recently discovered and are investigating 'significant accounting and spending irregularities' from the past 2 years, which is now in the hands of the police.  But this contributed significantly to our inability to pay some of our affiliate marketing partners.

But we have paid down over $50,000 in commissions, and are paying down these balances as fast as we can.

We are also owed over $40,000 in commissions from affiliate partners, which have not been forthcoming. So this is not intentional, but we are being affected by not being paid as well.

This vendor was very well paid (overpaid) for the majority of the term.

However, we believe she was also partly responsible for turning the students and the instructor against the company, and in the end contributed to the inability to resolve our differences.

This is a matter of opinion. But she was also demanding and difficult, and created much dissension about the company resulting in the CFO not wanting to work with her.

The facts regarding what she is 'owed' are also skewed here.  She was offered the opportunity to stay on an additional 30 days and produce a final Platinum 'event' per her contract, but because of her personal reluctance to do so with a new speaker, she declined (which was heard by several parties).

The company would have paid this, as we have made attempts to pay the other vendors.

This person was part of the problem, and given the opportunity to get paid but declined.

Thank you for wishing me luck in my pursuit of payment due from Brett Fogle, Joe Atkins and Options University/OptionsU Forex Trader/Mastery Products (I wonder what name they will choose to operate under next?).



I am curious to know if any of the Afflilates have sued for what is rightfully due? It seems that they continue to wrong those that work for them and those that put trust in them by buying their products and services and somehow continue to get away with it.



I know that numerous complaints have recently been filed with the authorities so hopefully a full investigation will be forthcoming and they will learn that bad business and walking away with people's hard earned money is not tolerated for long.

While it is true that $4,000 is a significant sum of money, you are one of the lucky ones. Options University Group and Options University Members, both of which are companies controlled by Brett Fogle, owe affiliate partners hundreds of thousands of dollars. Instead of paying you they will simply send you a letter from time to time telling you why they cannot pay you.

I cannot comment on the quality of the coursework but I do know a few buyers who had to jump through hoops to get a refund even though they were assured that the company's money-back guarantee would be honored without any hassles. 

It is ironic that thousands of individuals look to Options University for expert investing/money management advice when the firm cannot seem to manage its own finances. Poor reviews on sites such as scam.com and Rip-off Report, as well as an F rating with the Better Business Bureau, do not seem to deter new customers, either. One thing is certain there is likely to be many more LLCs forthcoming. 

Best of luck to you.