OpTree

We told you recently about politician Burt Saunders, a Florida politician who is currently running for congress. Saunders is a member of the board of YTB, the direct sales travel company that has been under fire in recent months due to claims that they are running an illegal pyramid scheme. Now it seems that Saunders for some reason is not being completely honest about his involvement with the company.

When questioned about his role with the company, Saunders claimed this week that he has only been with the company since June. Record show however that he has been involved with the company since at least 2007 with financial records showing that he received thousands of dollars in 2007 as a paid consultant for the company.

Saunders has also claimed that he does not own any stock in the travel company. However, records from the Securities and Exchange Commission show that on May 23, a month after being elected to the Board of Directors, Saunders was awarded with over 24,000 shares of YTB stock. We have a copy of these records which you can see.  

These allegations bring even more suspicion to both YTB and Saunders. There is no word on how Saunders became involved with the Illinois based company, or how a politician felt it would be in his best interest to get involved in a seemingly illegal pyramid scheme type operation. While not all direct sales companies are bad, or illegal, had Saunders done any investigating into YTB, he would have seen that there have been several complaints lodged against the company to the Better Business Bureau.

If Saunders felt that he, and the company, had not participated in any underhanded activity, why would he, or the company feel compelled to be dishonest about their relationship. I’m sure eventually the truth will come out, and I can’t imagine that it will be good for either party.

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