Attorney General's News Release

September 27, 2000

Nixon files lawsuits against five more people in connection with "dinner party" pyramid scheme

Liberty, Mo. — Attorney General Jay Nixon today filed lawsuits against three Clay County residents and two residents of Washington state for their roles in introducing and operating an illegal pyramid scheme in the Kansas City area. In June, Nixon obtained a temporary restraining order against six other defendants, all residents of the Kansas City area, in connection with the pyramid.

Nixon said one of the new Clay County defendants is believed to be responsible for introducing the scheme into western Missouri from the state of Washington. Two of the new defendants are employed at the Clay County Juvenile Justice Center, as is another defendant from the earlier lawsuit.

The scheme is often called the Women's Empowerment Network (WEN), The Dinner Club, The Original Dinner Club or The Breakfast Club. Nixon stressed, however, that the scheme is not limited to those names, and that reports of this type of pyramid recently have come into his office from the St. Louis area and from east-central and southeast Missouri as well.

Nixon said that WEN calls itself a "gifting tree" and is in the form of a four-course dinner party, with participants entering at the "appetizer" level and paying $5,000 to the person at the top, or "dessert," level. Appetizer-level participants move up to the "soup & salad," "entree" and "dessert" levels as more participants are recruited at the lowest level. Nixon said those terms may vary from scheme to scheme.

Named as defendants in the lawsuits filed today in Clay County Circuit Court are Kansas City area residents Kim Adams, Connie J. Balano and Lori Lee Myers; and Washington residents Robyne Leida Hicks and Christen Lee Anzalone. Adams and Myers are employed at the Juvenile Justice Center.

The lawsuit states that Adams is responsible for introducing the pyramid scheme into western Missouri. After hearing about the program from friends in Washington, the lawsuit says, Adams organized the first WEN recruitment meeting at a hotel in Clay County in late February. All three Missouri defendants solicited other women to participate in the scheme. The two Washington defendants came to Missouri and provided information about the pyramid at meetings, and Anzalone was designated as the "monitor" for all the "gifting trees" in Missouri.

Nixon is asking the Clay County Circuit Court to issue injunctions to prohibit the defendants from violating Missouri law by continuing any activities in connection with the pyramid scheme. Nixon also is asking the court to award restitution and penalties against the defendants as the court finds appropriate.

Learn more about pyramid schemes

Inquiries from consumers should be directed to consumer@ago.mo.gov or 1-800-392-8222 (from within Missouri) or 573-751-3321 (outside Missouri).

All media inquiries should be directed to Press Secretary John Fougere.

E-mail      Phone: 573-751-8844         Fax: 573-751-5818