Under Investigation: The Inside Story of the Florida Attorney General's Investigation of Wilhelmina Scouting Network, the Largest Model and Talent Scam in America [Paperback]

Les Henderson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 12, 2006

THE WORLD’S LARGEST talent and model scouting company, led by celebrity boy-band promoter Lou Pearlman, recruited over 150,000 members across America from 2000 to 2003. Based in Orlando, Florida, this enterprise operated under many names: Studio 58 Models; WHY Models; eFashionShow.com; emodel.com; Options Talent; Trans Continental Talent; Wilhelmina Scouting Network; and Web Style Network.

It charged upfront fees ranging from $395 to $995 to put an aspiring model’s picture on their website, a service purportedly used by 1000 modeling agencies seeking new talent. “You could be discovered,” their army of talent scouts pitched. “Become a model!” “You have the look!”

Extremely controversial, subject to many local news reports, it also received national attention in Jane, Newsweek, and on Dateline NBC. More than 2000 complaints were filed with the Florida Attorney General’s Office, many with signed and notarized affidavits from consumers who felt they had been scammed. An investigation, led by Assistant Attorney General Jacqueline Dowd, was opened in July 2002.

Everyone expected Attorney General Charlie Crist to act. But he didn’t. Why not? Using previously secret documents obtained through public records requests, Under Investigation takes you inside the Florida Attorney General’s Office to see how the two-year investigation unfolded, and then was ultimately shut down under suspicious circumstances.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

WILHELMINA SCOUTING NETWORK, a model scouting business which was based in Orlando, Florida, is the focus of this book. It was also known by its earlier business names: Studio 58 Models (1999), eFashionShow.com (2000), eModel.com (2000-2002), Options Talent (2002), and Trans Continental Talent (2003).

For the sake of simplicity, the company is often referred to as "Wilhelmina Scouting Network" (or "WSN"), because that was its most well-known moniker, though it is sometimes referred to as the "Orlando scouting network" because its corporate headquarters remained the same despite its many name changes.

The Orlando scouting network had about 143 franchise offices1 in large cities across America and eventually local reporters heard about the business. It became the target of many consumer news reports, which, with few exceptions, exposed it as a scam. The reports appeared in local newspapers or on regional TV stations; a few were in national media; namely, Dateline NBC, Newsweek, and Jane magazine.

Although some of the reports were by seasoned investigative reporters and even used hidden cameras, their greatest revelations were just the tip of the iceberg. Reporters focused on the plight of models;whereas this book deals with the devastating impact on both models and the model scouts. Most of the past news stories were fairly short, limited by time and space; this first book on the topic is exhaustive and summarizes the results of a massive full-scale investigation unrestricted by arbitrary deadlines.

Although Under Investigation references the news reports published or broadcast while the firm was still operating, most of the information and analysis presented here has never been made public until now. It consists of access to documents which reporters have never seen; namely, thousands of records at the Florida Attorney General's Office, which included many of the scouting network's own printed materials and confidential documents.

This is my second book on consumer fraud. The first was Crimes of Persuasion: Schemes, Scams, Frauds: How con artists will steal your savings and inheritance through telemarketing fraud, investment schemes and consumer scams.

I was not personally scammed by Wilhelmina Scouting Network, either as a model, scout, franchise owner, or investor. This lengthy record was written as a creative response to a vexatious nuisance lawsuit used as a public relations stunt at my expense--it serves as a lawsuit against the perpetrators in the court of public opinion.

Since certain individuals will routinely go from one scam to the next, unless punished, it is unlikely they will stop until their actions and methods are fully exposed. One of the main perpetrators, Alec Defrawy, promised to publish his own book but it has yet to make it to store shelves and most likely would not have been incriminating. Now, at least, the authorities will have a manual on their history and methods, making insight instantly available and swift prosecution possible.

Well-known author Kurt Eichenwald of The New York Times talked about his motivation to write on white-collar crime in Serpent on The Rock, the story of the Prudential scam. What really put a fire underneath me to write this book was the way in which the government in Florida handled its investigation of WSN. Through continuous and probing communications with the Tampa Economic Crimes Bureau, I was able to discover not only how WSN operated but also how the Florida Attorney General's Office investigated. The total amount ofmoney lost is staggering, the victims did not receive restitution, and the scammers got off scot-free.

Having studied white-collar crime, I was not unduly surprised by the mechanics of the modeling scam but I was shocked and appalled by what I discovered about the AGO and felt compelled to make it public, to create a historical record for future reference, so that it may never occur again.

Under Investigation is not only the story of the largest modeling scam in America but also of secret political corruption at the Florida Attorney General's Office. As such, it shall be of interest to consumers as well as to state attorneys. It is for models who paid their $995 and wish to confirm that they were scammed. It is for the over two thousand consumers who filed complaints at the Attorney General's Office and expected state action to get their money back; they deserve answers to explain why Charlie Crist did nothing. It is for the people of Florida who want to know if Charlie Crist can be trusted should they vote to elect him Governor of Florida.

The investigation which culminated in this book was aggressive and so is the reporting of it. The truth is not sugar-coated; this is a tell-all book in a take-no-prisoners style. Many allegations may be shocking but forty pages of citations will attest to the care taken before making them. Les Henderson
September 6, 2006

From the Back Cover

"Lou Pearlman is the target of a state probe. The investigation has turned up `hundreds of potential violations.' Pearlman issued a statement saying he was unaware of the investigation."--ASSOCIATED PRESS

"I never cleared WSN of anything. I was drafting a civil RICO complaint and continuing to make efforts to initiate a criminal prosecution, too."--JACQUELINE H. DOWD, Former Senior Assistant Attorney General, Orlando

"We were unable to find any substantial violation of Florida law."--JOHN H. MACGREGOR, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa

"I have been given authority to go ahead with a legal action in this matter. (This is completely confidential and nonpublic.)"--ROBIN P. SPECTOR, FTC Prosecutor, Washington, D.C.

"Do you think the FBI is investigating?"--AYMAN A. EL-DIFRAWI (ALEC DEFRAWY)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Coyote Ridge Publishing (September 12, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0968713335
• ISBN-13: 978-0968713334
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,925,348 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #38 in Books > Law > Current Affairs

More About the Author

Les Henderson has spent the majority of his career in sales management, both in retail and direct sales. He has sold insurance, mutual funds and computers. He earned the Chartered Financial Planner designation while working for one of Canada's largest mutual fund dealers.

He has owned a retail store and has served as a director in community organizations such as the S.P.C.A., the local Business Improvement Area, various task forces and as the Past President of the Rotary Club of Sudbury.

His first book and website were the result of five years of extensive research, compilation and ongoing revision.

Mr. Henderson is available for speaking engagements, seminars, keynote speaker addresses for conferences and conventions, expert witness fraud case testimony for pyramid schemes, high yield investment programs, Ponzi schemes, Nigerian advance fee fraud and other issues covered on this site. Rates for appearing consist at this time of travel expenses from Sudbury, Ontario only, based on availability, and at his option.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For those who will never see justice..., March 14, 2007

By 

JF (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Under Investigation: The Inside Story of the Florida Attorney General's Investigation of Wilhelmina Scouting Network, the Largest Model and Talent Scam in America (Paperback)

As someone who was conned by the 'businessmen' mentioned in this book, I have to recommend it to anyone else who found themselves unknowingly caught up in this scam.

Whether you were (like me) a talent scout, an aspiring model, a parent of a child who was told that your kid has model ability, a vendor, a franchise owner, a landlord, whatever... we were all duped and none of us will ever see a penny of what we put into this company.

For me, there's a certain amount of closure that this book brought to me. It made me realize that no, I wasn't dumb to get caught up in this, they were just THAT GOOD at the game. And all of the things that I thought were shady, actually were. And that this whole thing was a giant, manufactured LIE of a business.

Yes, it's very detailed. And it's history starts long before the WSN scam. But, the background helps to paint the picture of what was to come. And though the details can get tedious, it's the details that really made this business able to thrive, despite all of our government regulation of business in this country.

It disappoints me that this book couldn't have had a happy ending, but I already knew that. But i'm glad to see that the WSN scam didn't just fade away in some people's minds.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Justice Denied, August 23, 2007

By 

Craig L. Howe "The Pointed Pundit" (Darien, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Under Investigation: The Inside Story of the Florida Attorney General's Investigation of Wilhelmina Scouting Network, the Largest Model and Talent Scam in America (Paperback)

In the late 1990s I stumbled across the web pages of the Wilhelmina Scouting Network. I could not believe that the world renowned modeling agency would cheapen their brand on such a low-grade idea brand. It turns out I was right. They never had.

I did not realize that until I read Les Henderson's expose Under Investigation. It is the tale of the largest modeling scam in America and secret political corruption at the Florida Attorney General's Office.

It is the story of models who paid $995 to pursue their dream, only to discover they were scammed. It is the story of more than 2,000 consumers who filed complaints at the Florida Attorney General's Office expecting state action. Instead they got nothing.

I have always been fascinated with great sales people who can only find scams to pursue. The legal road to riches is within their grasp. Instead they dedicate themselves to lives of deceit. Henderson is a skilled investigative journalist of the old school. He spares no one writing this book.

Thoroughly researched and aggressive told, this tale leaves one wondering why we place any faith at all in our government to protect us from ourselves.

10 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A scam revealed, but a "journalist" shows his biases as well, November 3, 2007

By 

S. Cameron "Sam" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Under Investigation: The Inside Story of the Florida Attorney General's Investigation of Wilhelmina Scouting Network, the Largest Model and Talent Scam in America (Paperback)

WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT. I'm a fan of TRUE investigate journalism: Dateline, 20/20, Primetime, and local reporters who do the research.

First, when I lived in Tampa in 2001, my (ex) girlfriend was scouted by these guys, paid $495 and got a whopping 2 jobs (earning about $150 total). So I'm more than familiar with these scammers and was eager to read a great book detailing their nightmarish existence.

I've also taken journalism classes, so I was expecting not just a well documented book on this scam(which the author provides), but a WELL WRITTEN one as well. On the second account, this book fails miserably and it's why I regrettably have to give it a bad rating. I'm rating the BOOK, not whether the companies investigated were scams, which in my opinion they certainly were.

What you get instead is 60 chapters (SIXTY!!) of childish writing by a self-styled "investigator", Les Henderson. He does not list his qualifications as an investigator other than a previous book he wrote.

He then proceeds to lay out the history of some of the bigwigs behind the con. But I started noticing by about the third chapter how his personal hatred was creeping into the language of the book. A scammer was not simply a manipulative person, but described as: "fat, fat cat, wicked webmaster, the deceiver, wolf in sheep's clothing", etc. I actually started writing them down; that's how noticeable they became.

In addition, he points out that one main scammer was born in Egypt, although he is presumably a full US citizen, and another scammer was a Jew. Why didn't he tell us if the rest of the main characters were white Christians? He also calls the Egyptian scammer a "terrorist" late in the book. Writing about the guy, Alec Defrawi, he says Defrawi "decided to attack American financially." Wow. A none too subtle Muslim stereotype. Very classy.

By the end of the book, I was so disappointed in the way the "investigator" let his personal biases creep into the writing that I started marking pages where any editor would have simply taken a red pen and scratched out the ridiculous phrases. In court, a judge would've admonished Henderson, "stop badgering the witness and STICK TO THE FACTS". No editor is listed and the address of the "publishing company" and its website link back to Henderson's first book- making one think that he edited and published this himself. Nothing wrong with self-publishing, but self-editing in this case clearly was a mistake.

My other two big issues with the book may have been out of Henderson's control. First, as we ALL know by now, one of the main scammers, Lou Pearlman, is now in jail, accused of massive financial fraud in some investment scheme.

So as much as Henderson does a good job early on in laying out a history of total fraud by Defrawi and Dave Elliott and Cort Randell, it appears in hindsight that Lou was not some innocent victim unwilling to make the hard changes to improve the program; it appears Lou himself may have been just as bad if not worse than the main scammers.

Second, Henderson's whole conspiracy theory centers around how a former assistant AG (Jackie Dowd) got "fired" for trying to sue TCT/Options. But could it have been that the AG was investigating Pearlman's financial scam, told Jackie to slow down with the modeling stuff because they wanted to get him on the investment scam, and if she refused, they fired her? Nobody knows and the book was written before the Pearlman stuff hit, so I don't begrudge the author.

The other issue for me was that my ex DID actually get two modeling jobs off the website in Tampa. Didn't pay the "hundreds per hour" they lied and said, but she did make about $150. Yet Henderson does not interview one single model of the 150,000 who signed up who got booked on one single job??? Was my ex the ONLY ONE out of 150,000 to get a job?

She still feels she got ripped off (as do I), but I can't believe he couldn't locate a single model who got a job to ask them about it and offer some factual balance. After all, he's an "investigator."

In the end, the ONLY reason these scammers were shut down was because Monster.com and Hotjobs.com refused to let them advertise for scouts. Without scouts they couldn't recruit new models and they died quickly.

Yet he underplays that. That and that alone appears to be the only reason they're out of business. If Henderson's conspiracy is to be taken at face value (the new Pearlman financial scam notwithstanding), then every single one of the 150,000 models got ripped off and yet the Attorneys General of dozens of state did nothing. The New York consumer protection board couldn't do anything. The economic crimes unit of Florida did nothing. The Financial Litigation units of Florida did nothing. THE LARGEST class action law firms in the country thought about suing but did nothing. (????!!!!!) The Orlando Police did nothing. Only 1 local TV station did any pieces and they took "bribe hush money" to stop running bad stories.

Personally, I know this company was a rip off from my own experience. Yet Henderson takes 400 pages with all sorts of insider info and all he can come up with is that one new Assistant A.G. killed the case for unknown reasons. None of that explains how any OTHER Attorney General in another state couldn't sue to shut the local franchises down. Or why the class action law firms (including the one that beat Microsoft) wouldn't want to sue a billionaire like Lou Pearlman???

It just doesn't add up, much as I'd like it to.

In the end, there probably were some models who got work. But "investigator" Henderson didn't find a single one who could explain why employees like Chris Roberts (who provided lots of info to the AG) would keep working there instead of running for the door after a week. So not everyone could've thought they got ripped. My ex only paid $495. Maybe when they raised prices people got more suspicious??

Who knows the real truth.

But as glad as I am that these guys are out of business and Lou is in jail, I have a hard time swallowing 400 pages of a huge conspiracy theory as well as Henderson's terribly biased, childish name calling of people he clearly wants us to hate because they're "fat, Egyptian" or whatever personal biases he holds.

Next time I humbly suggest the author hire an editor (there were also about half a dozen typos, missing words, etc.) and leave the name calling for the schoolyard, not a presumably serious journalistic tome.