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Glenn W. Turner

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Glenn W. Turner
Born 19 August 1934(1934-08-19)
Columbia, South Carolina
Died 8 January 2020 (85)
Lake Mary, Seminole Co., Florida
Affiliations Koscot Interplanetary, Dare To Be Great, Inc., Souncot Records, Challenge to America

Glenn Wesley Turner (August 19, 1934 - January 8, 2020) was an American motivational speaker and multi-level network marketer, famed for the rise and fall of his cosmetics distribution franchise company Koscot Interplanetary and self-motivation course distributor Dare To Be Great, Inc., both of which were subject to lawsuits by distributors over unpaid dividends, state-level prosecutions as pyramid schemes, and federal charges by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for illegal price fixing and impositions on distributors[i] and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the legal standing of their sale of distributorships, these being ultimately found in court to be unregistered securities subject to public oversight.[ii][iii] Following the bankruptcy of Dare To Be Great, Inc., Turner founded Challenge to America in 1979, offering a similar series of self-motivational courses, but again found himself facing civil and criminal suits over his business practices, this time ultimately being convicted of felony fraud in Arizona during 1986 and serving the next six years in prison.

Selected Discography

  • Glenn W. Turner (1971), Glenn W. Turner Speaks Out: "You Can Better Your Best" (LP, Souncot Records, SC-1114)
  • Glenn W. Turner (197-), Reaching for the Stars with Glenn W. Turner, Mr. Enthusiasm (LP, Koscot Interplanetary, K.I.K. 787)
  • Glenn W. Turner (1972), Dare To Be Great! (LP, Souncot Records, SC-1118)
  • Glenn W. Turner & The Jordanaires (1972), The Unstoppable Americans (LP, Souncot Records)

Of note, several of Turner's albums were produced by Bobby Lee Trammell.

Reading

Academic

General

Notes

  1. In re: Koscot Interplanetary Inc., 86 F.T.C. 11106 (1975): https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/commission_decision_volumes/volume-86/ftc_volume_decision_86_july_-_december_1975pages_1106-1202.pdf
  2. SEC v. Glenn W. Turner Enter., Inc., 474 F.2d 476 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 414 U.S. 82, 1973: the distributorships sold by Turner & Co. were upheld to be investment contracts governed under the Securities Act of 1933 and Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Refer: https://www.lexisnexis.com/community/casebrief/p/casebrief-sec-v-glenn-w-turner-enters-inc
  3. SEC v. Koscot Interplanetary, Inc. 497 F.2d 473 (5th Cir.), 1974: the terms of the distributorships sold by Koscot constituted an investment and were thus similarly subject to the Exchange Act. Refer: https://www.lexisnexis.com/community/casebrief/p/casebrief-sec-v-koscot-interplanetary-inc