Digital Altitude LLC
The FTC alleged that Digital Altitude sold tiered memberships on a promise of "six figures in 90 days or less", with coaching from people who were in fact salespeople selling higher tiers. Most buyers earned nothing and some paid over $50,000.
Resolved. Refunded, settled, ceased operating, or the claim did not hold up. Kept for the record.
Identity
Published so you can confirm this entry refers to the party you are checking, and not to somebody who shares a name.
- Registrations
- FTC v. Digital Altitude LLC, et al. (FTC case 172-3060, C.D. Cal., 2018)
- Jurisdictions
- United States (federal)
The coaches were the sales team
Digital Altitude sold a tiered membership programme, each tier costing more than the last, on the claim that buyers would learn to make substantial income from an online business. The advertised figure was “six figures in 90 days or less.”
Buyers were promised individualized coaching from successful marketers. According to the FTC, those coaches were salespeople whose job was selling the next membership level up. That single fact explains the structure: the product being sold at every tier was the next tier.
The scheme was promoted through webpages, Facebook and Instagram, and buyers were given marketing materials to run their own advertisements for it.
What it took in
A federal court halted the operation in February 2018, when the FTC said it had taken more than $14 million from people trying to start an online business. Later releases describe consumers losing tens of millions of dollars, including individuals who lost more than $50,000 each. Most customers never earned substantial income.
The settlements, in sequence
July 2018: officer Morgan Johnson and payment processor The Upside LLC are banned from selling business coaching and investment opportunities. Johnson’s $54 million judgment is suspended for inability to pay; The Upside’s $140,983 judgment is partially suspended on surrender of a bank account.
September 2018: Sean Brown is banned from the same activities and from owning any such business, under a $10.8 million judgment suspended on surrender of assets.
March 2019: former chief executive Michael Force, former chief operating officer Mary Dee, former chief technology officer Alan Moore and Thermography for Life LLC settle under a $54 million judgment, suspended after they surrender assets totaling approximately $1.9 million. The remaining defendants, including Digital Altitude LLC itself, went into default and the court granted default judgment.
All settling defendants are barred from credit card laundering, from profiting from consumers’ personal information collected through the scheme, and from failing to dispose of it properly.
The refunds
In February 2021 the FTC sent nearly $4.7 million to 10,249 people, averaging about $456 each.
What is not established
Stipulated orders resolve allegations without any admission or finding of wrongdoing.
Sources
Every claim above rests on one of these. Open them and check.
- Enforcement action February 8, 2018
- Enforcement action July 9, 2018
- Enforcement action September 11, 2018
- Enforcement action March 8, 2019
- Enforcement action February 3, 2021
- Enforcement action February 3, 2021
Right of reply
If you are named here and something is wrong, dispute this entry. There is no charge, the route never expires, and your response is published unedited.
Other coaching & business opportunity entries
See all coaching & business opportunity entries, or browse the full record.
First recorded February 8, 2018 · Last updated February 3, 2021