If Wayne Nugent has committed crimes pertaining to WorldVentures, alleged or otherwise, I’m unaware of them. Poates also told me that he and Short intended to sideline Nuguent (by threatening a criminal referral), fire Head and most of his sales team, and take control of WV.Ī notice to a prosecutory body, recommending criminal investigation or prosecution of one or more entities for crimes which fall into that body’s jurisdiction. It was also evident from Seacret’s sales data that WV’s sales representatives were not motivated to sell the Seacret products that were offered under the CMA.Īround the same time, Najfi informed me that he had been contacted by WV’s President Bo Short to arrange a conference call with me, Short, and WV’s COO Michael Poates.ĭuring that call, which occurred on October 1, 2020, Poates told me that WV’s financial condition was so poor that it would not be able to operate for much longer and was considering filing for bankruptcy. Several months after the CMA was executed but only a few weeks after WV began offering Seacret products to its members, I started hearing rumors that WV’s financial condition was continuing to deteroriate. While the parties did not enter into an agreement covering travel, we did include a provision in the CMA that contemplated a later agreement on that topic. To a lesser extent, I also interacted with Head, who appeared to have been tasked with carrying out Nugent’s business decisions and circulating the various drafts of the CMA.ĭuring the negotiations over the CMA, Nugent and I had a number of candid discussions about Seacret’s long-standing interest in establishing its own travel membership program.Īt one point Nugent even suggested that when the global travel industry had recovered from the pandemic, the parties should consider expanding their business relationship so that WV could fulfill the travel benefits sold by Seacret’s agent. I mostly interacted with Nugent, who told me that he made all of the important business decisions for WV and demanded that his counter-negotiator be the person who made all of the important business decisions for Seacret. I led the negotiations over the CMA on behalf of Seacret. It was my impression that Nugent viewed Seacret as a potential savior for WV, and he wanted Seacret to establish WV as an affiliate so that WV could refer its members to purchase Seacret products.Įventually, after a few weeks of back-and-forth negotiations, Seacret and WV entered into a Co-Marketing Agreement (CMA) dated July 22, 2020, which designated WV as an affiliate of Seacret and permitted WV to offer Seacret products under certain terms and conditions. I asked one of Seacret’s field managers, Muzafer Najfi, to reach out to WV.Īfter receiving an encouraging response from Najfi, I emailed Nugent to followup, and he convened a conference call with me and Head to discuss WV’s interest.Īs I learned on that call, WV at that time was experiencing a sharp downturn in its business due to … COVID-19, was struggling to pay commissions to many of its sales representatives, and was trying to find a way to jump-start its sales to avoid a mass exodus of sales representatives and financial collapse. Several years later in the spring of 2020, I received word through a contact at … Jeunesse that WV might be interested in restarting negotiations with Seacret. THose discussions, while friendly and productive, did not result in an agreement between Seacret and WV at that time.
Nugent and two of Seacret’s executives, Dan Stammen and Eddie Head, flew to Phoenix, Arizona, on a couple of occasions to meet with me to discuss a potential “merger of equals” between our two companies. The true story begins in 2016, when WV’s CEO Wayne Nugen first approached me about the possibility of starting a business relationship between Seacret and WV. I am making this declaration to set the record straight. WV’s complaint (against Eddie Head) is rife with false statements and misleading narratives about the historical interactions between Seacret and WV. Note that any bold text is on my part to emphasize what I feel are important points (including previously unknown information). Thus I’ve presented it below, not in its entirety but with minimal editing. Written as a stand-alone filing, Shabat’s declaration reads pretty well on its own. Shabat’s declaration was filed in support of Eddie Head, who is a defendant in proceedings initiated by WorldVentures. Izhak Ben Shabat, co-founder and CEO of Seacret Direct, has filed a lengthy declaration detailing WorldVentures’ collapse and the months leading up to it.
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