Millionaire program clients testify against hypnotist

Thursday, Dec. 11, 2003 | 9:45 a.m.

A hypnotist and self-help guru's main defense against charges that he robbed disgruntled clients of refunds is that they didn't do all of their homework -- thus negating the money-back guarantee to double their money in 90 days.

Strip headliner Marshall Sylver, 41, charged consumers between $4,500 and $6,500 for a three-and-a-half day seminar and 10 weeks of one-on-one mentoring designed to train them in the behavior traits needed to become a millionaire.

"There's no risks, no small print," Sylver says in his radio advertisement for his Millionaire Mentorship Program. "Do what I tell you to do and you'll be on your way to becoming a multimillionaire."

The advertisement was played twice Wednesday as the Nevada attorney general's office wrapped up its prosecution. Sylver is charged with nine counts of theft by obtaining money under false pretenses from December 1999 to April 2001.

In addition to teaching them how to be millionaires, Sylver promised clients their money back if they did not double their investment in 90 days. This promise was conditional on three things: the participants show up at all classes, speak with their mentor daily Monday through Friday and complete all daily assignments and commitments.

Nine of Sylver's former clients, however, say assignments were often inconsistently given by their mentors, and that they were never given a clear list of what was expected of them until they asked for a refund. Their mentors also left much to be desired, witnesses said.

"Even after completing all the assignments and doing everything I was told to do, it didn't pan out," Devin Stone, the state's last witness said in direct examination Wednesday.

"I completed every one of my assignments that I knew about."

Stone said the assignments he was given included a daily journal, a five-year plan, a business plan and things like making a dream board, a collage of magazine images of all his desires -- mostly material in nature.

Many participants, however, were encouraged to buy into multi-level marketing companies such as The Tax People or Pre-paid Legal Services, Stone said, something he declined to do.

Stone said Michael Yee, Sylver Enterprises director of mentor services, told him his request could not be processed until he turned in his daily planner -- something Stone says he was never told to keep.

Yee testified Wednesday that many clients were often missing minor parts of their assignments, and he denied their refund requests on that basis. Yee said one alleged victim, Donald Baker, did not adequately fill out his daily planner, and another, Trav Lyon, spent too much time on his resume and not enough time actually submitting it to employers.

"If you miss a few letters of the alphabet, you didn't correctly say it," Yee, who no longer works for Sylver Enterprises, said. "If you miss a few items, you are not on track."

Yee further testified that the mentors were supposed to help keep their proteges on track. But the quality of the mentors provided through the program are another major issue in the case, witnesses said, as many had just barely graduated from the program themselves.

"I was very disappointed in my mentor," Stone said on the stand.

Stone said his mentor, Eric Stoltz, was having problems with the program himself and had not been financially successful.

"It turned out that I was mentoring him more than he was mentoring me," Stone said. "He was a younger guy, younger than I am."

The indictment, handed down by a grand jury in April, names several other witnesses who claimed to have had inadequate mentors.

Part of Sylver's promise, prosecutors say, was that the program was an "elite course" that required a "pre-interview" to be accepted, and that all mentors would report directly to Sylver and "advise him of the unique challenges facing each participant."

Yee testified that the company began getting requests for refunds in late 2000, and that a client-turned-mentor, Mark Connelly, was fired because of the complaints. The affected clients, however, were not given their money back.

Instead, Yee said Sylver enacted a policy that allowed new recruits to receive a $1,000 "personal responsibility discount" for the program fee if they waived their money-back guarantee.

"He wanted to get it where we would only be having those who want to achieve success rather than those who want to learn information and get the refund later," Yee said.

Five of the nine eventually got their money back after taking the company to small claims court.

Stone, one of the alleged victims who has yet to get his $5,000 back, said the offer sounded like "a no-brainer" when he first heard Sylver's radio advertisement because of the money-back guarantee.

"It just seemed like here was a guy who knew what he was talking about, and I couldn't go wrong," Stone said.

Stone was scheduled to undergo cross-examination this afternoon before attorney Dominic Gentile began his defense of Sylver with two expert witnesses, linguist Roger Shuy and English professor John Irsteld.

Sylver just wrapped one month of performances at the Palms and said he has two more pending contracts to perform in Las Vegas.