“Teach Me To Trade” Infomercial Stars Charged With Fraud

The US Attorney’s Office in Alexandria, Virginia announced yesterday the March 6 indictments of Linda Woolf, of Sandy, Utah, and David Gengler, of Draper, Utah, on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud. The SEC has also filed civil fraud charges against them. Woolf and Gengler star in the “Teach Me To Trade” infomercials and investor workshops which promote a get-rich-quick system for picking stocks. They represent themselves as highly successful stock trading experts, but the indictment alleges that they lied or omitted material information about their profits and that they actually are contract commission employees of Whitney Information Network, which owns the brand name and runs the seminars. The indictment also alleges that the actual purpose of the infomercials and free informational workshops is not to offer investment advice but to sell expensive advance training seminars. Business Week/AP story here.