Trek Alliance
Trek Alliance was begun in 1997 by a group of Equinox representatives who were upset with Equinox leader Bill Gouldd. Equinox International was shut down by regulatory authorities in April, 2000, and Gouldd has been barred from any MLM involvement.
However, according to people who have been involved with Trek, the abuses continue in the Equinox pattern, with very minor changes to deflect the regulators.
Additionally, some of the worst personal abuses throughout the Equinox organizations, including sexual misconduct, have continued into Trek Alliance, perpetrated by the very people who complained about Gouldd's behavior toward the reps.
According to Rob Styler's book, Spellbound, a group of top money earners in Equinox sent a letter to Gouldd on September 10, 1997. The letter stated, among other things:
"We, the distributor force, will no longer accept sexual misconduct. There was not a person in the room on Monday [who] has not had their business suffer because of your transgressions and unacceptable conduct against wives, girlfriends, and, more generally, any good-looking woman in the Equinox sales organization. . .
"Bill, our only intent is to fix our company. . . we need to forever eradicate the unfulfilled agreements, lies, and ethical and moral transgressions."
Rich Von is described in this book as "a multimillionaire with a wonderful wife and family." He was one of the founders of Trek Alliance, along with Kale Flagg.
Did Von and Flagg succeed in "fixing" what was wrong with Equinox? Not exactly. . .
