Ding-Dong, the Queen is Dead!!!

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Bruce, Feb 27, 2001.

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  1. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    I just checked the MIGS website, and apparently Shiela and Bill Danzig are no longer members of the Board of Trustees.

    Two possibilites; 1) The legitimate people of MIGS are *finally* getting it, or 2) She's still behind the scenes, just not as visible. I won't speculate as which scenario is true, but it will be interesting to read the discovery items should the MIGS lawsuit go to trial.
    http://www.degree.com/chairman-letter.htm

    Bruce
     
  2. Bill Huffman

    Bill Huffman Well-Known Member

    Very interesting, I note also that apparently yesterday Shiela's http://www.nsmi.com site disappeared. The get rich quick scheme, etc. are gone! It's either a coincidence or maybe another clue as to what is going on. It sure looks like CEU is cleaning house to me. If so, I'm very pleased for Rich and company.
     
  3. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    Bruce wrote, I just checked the MIGS website, and apparently Shiela and Bill Danzig are no longer members of the Board of Trustees.

    Sheila wrote to me last month that when their one-year appointments to the Board expired, she and her husband Bill would be leaving the Board, apparently a long-planned move, and so they have.
     
  4. Guest

    Guest Guest

    Hopefully, for MIGS, it is possibility # 1, and not the latter.

    However, I remember when it was announced to the world that "The King is Dead," several days later Elvis was buried and, I thought, gone forever. Yet, several times a year, Elvis comes back from the crypt, and is seen by some average citizen.

    Russell
     
  5. levicoff

    levicoff Guest

    I will not speculate on the goings-on at MIGS with regard to the board of trustees or the Danzigs' current role, if any, especially since the DEGREE.COM v. Levicoff lawsuit is still alive. However, a couple of miscellaneous observations . . .

    First, a board of trustees usually has a specific number of persons who serve. Prior to the Danzigs leaving, the board stood at seven persons (Enrique Serna plus the six persons listed in his welcome letter on the MIGS web site). The board now consists of Serna plus four.

    Second, one of the board members still listed is "Joshua Bennett, B.A., J.D., L.L.M." Bennett's law office address is also the "administrative office" address listed on the MIGS web site. Bennett is also the attorney who filed the registration of DEGREE.COM as a limited liability company in Nevada, as well as the Florida cross-registration of DEGREE.COM is a foreign LLC. He has his own web site - http://www.joshbennett.com - and his web site was designed by . . . you guessed it, Sheila Danzig.

    Finally, even though the Danzigs have been dropped from the list of trustees in Serna's welcome letter, MIGS is still advertised heavily on several of Sheila's web sites (including http://www.freeresearch.com and http://www.sexiest.org).

    Res ipsa loquitor, folks. [​IMG]
     
  6. Bill Huffman

    Bill Huffman Well-Known Member

    I don't see any MIGS advertisements there anymore?? On a.e.d. I posted that nsmi was down and Bill Dayson posted he could still see it!! On my internet it just pops over to the Danzig web site. Why is my internet different from everyone else's?? (Of course there are other possibilities but I like to always assume the most entertaining explanation.)
     
  7. levicoff

    levicoff Guest

    The explanation is quite simple and, indeed, it is the most entertaining: Sheila did a major clean-up of her web site today.

    This morning, her site did include banner ads for MIGS (as did some of the linked sites) as well as a link to freeresearch.com. Tonight, both the MIGS ads and the freeresearch.com link are gone.

    Fortunately, after seeing the original comments about the demise of nsmi.com on the newsgroup, I went to her site this morning and ran hard copies of her site and some of the linked sites. Since these latest developments, I did the same thing this evening. An interesting before-and-after comparison, to say the least.

    Tracks can be covered, but dated hard copies can say a lot. Especially in a court of law. (And y'all wonder why I'm laughing my butt off?) [​IMG]
     
  8. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    Why do I have the feeling that MIGS will appoint 2 more Board members very shortly? It fits in with their apparent habit of reacting to whatever the popular opinion is on either a.e.d. or here.

    Bruce
     
  9. Chip

    Chip Administrator

    Which, in turn, fits in with standard degree mill mentality.
     
  10. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    A question I still have is who *owns* MIGS? I'm simply guessing, but from her prominent involvement, Ms. Danzig and her husband are probably among those owners.

    So if that's the case, then unless they have sold their interest in MIGS, answer number 2 might be the more likely.
     
  11. levicoff

    levicoff Guest

    Remember that the lawsuit they have filed lists the plaintiff as "DEGREE.COM, a/k/a Monterrey Institute for Graduate Studies." So, for purposes of responding to Bill's question, let's treat them as one and the same.

    DEGREE.COM is registered in Nevada as a "limited liability company," or "LLC." An LLC may have, depending on the state, as few as one member of manager. That being the case, the term "Board of Trustees" as used by MIGS may or may not have any legal weight insofar as the organization of MIGS is concerned.

    The "Manager or Member" listed on the Nevada registration is Josh Bennett, the Florida attorney at whose office address MIGS, according to their web site, is based. (On the other hand, MIGS' local phone number in Florida is listed at Sheila's address.) To view their Nevada registration, go to http://sos.state.nv.us/corpsrch.asp and use DEGREE.COM as the search term.

    DEGREE.COM is cross-registered in Florida as a foreign LLC (based on its registration in Nevada, which was part of their filing). You can do a search at http://ccfcorp.dos.state.fl.us/ to find online photocopies the actual registration which, once again, was filed by Josh Bennett.

    Now, let's put two and two together . . . Josh Bennett, who has his own web site at http://www.joshbennett.com that was designed by Sheila Danzig, filed both the Nevada and Florida registrations for DEGREE.COM, which is "a/k/a [MIGS]" according to the lawsuit.

    While I will not draw a conclusion as to the "ownership" of MIGS, such as it is, keep in mind that an LLC does have one or more owners, although they are technically called members or managers. And, in light of the potential that the "board of trustees" terminology may or may not be relevant to this situation, one could, in theory, be a "member or manager" without sitting on a public board of trustees.

    So, is Sheila curatiling her involvement in toto, or merely attempting to blend into the background. I would not be prepared to come to a conclusion at this time (although an answer would certainly come out at trial, should things come to that).

    Therefore, I'm satisfied to leave it at this (and am tempted to start using this as a sig file): Res ipsa loquitor. Just a l'il ol' food for thought.
     
  12. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    Random thought, not connected to the MIGS debate....

    Are "Becoming a Scumbag" and "Being Obsessed With Elected Office" mandatory courses in ABA-accredited law schools? It certainly seems that way.

    Bruce
     
  13. Bill Huffman

    Bill Huffman Well-Known Member

    Something does not compute in my way of thinking. (Admittedly that doesn't mean much but since someone may still be reading this I'll humor myself and continue.) On the NSMI site, that was taken down, it was stated that from 1991 to 1998 NSMI had made $20,000,000 in revenue. What I seem to remember (since the site is down I must go by memory) the revenue generators for NSMI were a $199 package of amazing marketing tips and some kind of sex toys or something. The margins on these items, especially the amazing marketing tips, I would expect to be very attractive from NSMI's perspective. So I would expect at least a million dollars a year profit. Now this was apparantly a bird in the hand for the Danzigs. (Note: this is a different hand than what Steve was referring to above.)

    Now maybe web visits have dropped way off at the NSMI site since 1998. After all the Macarena dance may not be as popular as it once was. And people popping back in to the Macarena web site for a refresher course probably already bought everything they could from NSMI. I mean I don't think very many people would buy two packages of the same amazing marketing tips, even if they are only $199 each. If anyone did then I have an amazing marketing tip for them myself. But on the other hand, word of the other successes of people using these amazing marketing tips (for only $199) must be pulling in lots of new customers.

    Anyway, let's look at the other hand. (This is the previous other hand sometimes known as the other other hand. Maybe I should call it the outer other hands.) There's MIGS with less than 2 dozen students. I would guess that most of the student tuition has to go out in teacher salaries. But even if for arguments sake I assumed a margin as great as what I'd expect on an amazing $199 marketing tips package I can't imagine that MIGS could pull in anywhere near the $20,000,000 revenue in 8 years.

    Now here's the part that doesn't compute. Assuming all that is true or at least in the ballpark why would someone take down the NSMI cash cow on the one hand to make a few thousand a year from a school on the other hand? (i.e., the outer other hands) Perhaps I'm underestimating the potential profits that a real school could make? But I understand Shiela to be nearing retirement age and giving up big profits now for maybe bigger revenue in a few years doesn't seem like a good investment.

    Oh well I guess I'm just doomed to remain ignorant because I procrastinated buying the amazing marketing secrets for only $199. Now I can't buy it and find out how all this business marketing stuff works. If anyone here bought this amazing package and is willing to share the secret, I'd really appreciate the insight. As you can see I could really use a few more hands in figuring this out.

    Thanks and have fun,
    Bill
     
  14. levicoff

    levicoff Guest

    No, but perhaps you can find them as continuing education courses for CLE credit. [​IMG]
     

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