An Influencer's False Promise To Make His Followers Rich
4/17/202623 min
Get your tickets to our L.A. live show here! In 2019, influencer Tai Lopez made a pitch to his social media followers: by buying up distressed retail brands like Radio Shack and Pier 1 out of bankruptcy, they could all get rich. But as WSJ’s Suzanne Kapner reports, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused Lopez of running a “Ponzi-like scheme” through his company, Retail Ecommerce Ventures. Ryan Knutson hosts. Further Listening/Viewing:
- Influencer Arielle Charnas’s Fashion Fail
- How a Miami Couple Used Empty Mansions to Pocket Millions Sign up for WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsJessica Mendoza· Host0:00
Hey everyone, it's Jess.
Ryan Knutson· Host0:02
And Ryan. We have a live event coming up that you do not want to miss.
Jessica Mendoza· Host0:05
It's in Los Angeles on Tuesday, April 28th at the El Rey Theatre.
Ryan Knutson· Host0:10
We'll have Emmy winner and Oscar-nominated actor Riz Ahmed.
Jessica Mendoza· Host0:13
Who was in the Star Wars movie Rogue One.
Ryan Knutson· Host0:16
And TV and film producer Franklin Leonard.
Jessica Mendoza· Host0:18
We'll be talking about the future of Hollywood, and we'll have a few other surprises.
Ryan Knutson· Host0:23
Tickets are still available. Grab yours now via the link in our show notes.
Jessica Mendoza· Host0:26
See you April 28th.
Ryan Knutson· Host0:28
See you April 28th. Our colleague Suzanne Kapner covers the retail industry, and in 2021, a new company wanted to pitch her a story. The company was called Rev, which stood for Retail E-commerce Ventures.
Suzanne Kapner0:48
And they had reached out to me saying, "Hey, you know, talk to us. We have this great business model." This company was buying up all these, you know, defunct retailers who had filed for bankruptcy, who were struggling to survive. RadioShack, Pier 1, the list goes on. Dress Barn, Modell's Sporting Goods.
Ryan Knutson· Host1:09
As you were listing off those names, I can just, like, see myself walking down a mall in, like, 1997, and, like, I can see the logos. [laughs] It's just, like, a who's who of '90s mall brands.
Suzanne Kapner1:19
It, it was a who's who of dead mall brands, really.
Ryan Knutson· Host1:22
[laughs] Their idea was to buy these well-known but failing brands and turn them into digital juggernauts.
Suzanne Kapner1:29
We're getting them on the