Arrestable Offenses / Crimes under Fla. Stat. 849.091
CopyCited 19 times | Published | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal
...el receiving a "commission or finder's fee for each person recruited; [1] an assertion that "the scheme or plan as being operated and being promoted by Koscot", (described in the complaint) "is believed to be and therefore alleged to be violative of Section 849.091, Florida Statutes, F.S.A."; an assertion "that such contracts are void because they are contrary to the established public policy of the state"....
...See Rice v. White, supra. See also Yoo Hoo of Florida Corp. v. Catroneo, Fla.App. 1965,
175 So.2d 220. If the plaintiffs are able to prove that the method and alleged scheme as described in their complaint constitutes a pyramid or lottery as prohibited by Section
849.091, the contract embodying such scheme or plan would be unenforceable and void....
...e decision of the Second District Court held that a scheme whereunder purchasers of products might *635 earn commissions upon the recruitment of other purchasers constituted a pyramid club under the facts before the court and was in contravention of Section 849.091....
...In my opinion, the factual allegations set forth in Counts I and II of the complaint are sufficient to show that the respective contracts between the several plaintiffs and the defendant, Koscot Interplanetary, Inc., a Florida corporation, are severally void under F.S. Section 849.091, F.S.A., or voidable under Chapter 517, F.S.A....
CopyCited 15 times | Published | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal
...to enable defendant to purchase a directorship in Koscot Interplanetary, Inc. Defendant contends that the note in question is void and unenforceable since it was given in consideration of participation in a transaction declared to be a lottery under Section 849.091, Florida Statutes, F.S.A....
...rida Securities Law. [1] From our review of the evidence in the record we are of the opinion that the transaction in question unmistakably and as clearly as the proverbial "nose on the face" constitutes a lottery within the spirit and letter of F.S. Section 849.091, F.S.A....
...evels of such plan. The evidence further demonstrates that the motivating factor inducing persons to become participants was not the sale of cosmetics but rather the receipt of a fee or commission through a chain process of securing membership. F.S. Section 849.091, F.S.A., sets forth the type of "pyramid club" or "chain letter" which constitutes a lottery: "849.091 Chain letters, pyramid clubs, etc., declared a lottery; prohibited; penalties....
...tiary not less than one year nor more than ten years." (Emphasis added.) It is difficult to discern any distinctive difference between the scheme giving rise to the debt in question and the prohibited chain letter or pyramid transaction set forth in Section 849.091....
...Although there is some reference to the sale and transfer of cosmetic products which supposedly is the business in which Koscot is engaged, the evidence indelibly indicates a pyramid franchising scheme possessing all of the requisite features and characteristics so as to bring it within the proscription of F.S. Section 849.091, F.S.A....
...mplaint against Koscot were sufficient to establish a cause of action. We observed in part: "... If the plaintiffs are able to prove that the method and alleged scheme as described in their complaint constitutes a pyramid or lottery as prohibited by Section 849.091, the contract embodying such scheme or plan would be unenforceable and void...." In our opinion the record in the case sub judice is more than sufficient to prove that the transaction giving rise to the promissory note in question constitutes a lottery as prohibited by F.S. Section 849.091, F.S.A....
...n act forbidden by law and upon the policy of discouraging illegal and corrupt agreements by refusing all judicial aid to the parties thereto". 17 Am.Jur.2d, Contracts, § 216. The legislature has made its intent abundantly clear in the enactment of Section 849.091 by prohibiting chain letter transactions and pyramid clubs and subjecting participants upon conviction to criminal sanctions....
...Section 517.21 reflects a broad legislative policy against unlawful security sales by making all persons involved in such sales civilly responsible regardless of whether such person is actually acting for the seller or is himself making the sale. The legislative intent embodied within the provisions of Chapter 517 and F.S. Section 849.091, F.S.A., can and should be given meaning and purpose by a judicial finding that the type of financial activity involved in the case sub judice is within the proscription of such laws....
CopyCited 11 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal
...We do not deem it necessary to decide whether the referral selling plan involved in the case sub judice constitutes a lottery within the original concept of that term as dealt with and defined in the constitution and decisional law of this state. We reach this conclusion because of the adoption by the legislature of F.S. § 849.091, F.S.A., as part of the statutory law of Florida, and which is as follows: "Chain letters, pyramid clubs, etc., declared a lottery; prohibited; penalties The organization of any chain letter club, pyramid club, or other group organized...
CopyCited 11 times | Published | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal
...es to the 100 families whose names were to be supplied by each founder. It is the appellants' contention, to simplify, that the imposition of a maximum of 3000 participants prevents this scheme from being a pyramid club forbidden by Florida Statutes 849.091, F.S.A....
...McNULTY, J., concurs. PIERCE, A.C.J., concurs in part and dissents in part with opinion. PIERCE, Acting Chief Judge (concurring in part and dissenting in part). In my opinion appellant's "plan of operation" contravenes the pyramid club statute, F.S. § 849.091 F.S.A., as construed in the Childress case; but I do not think it constitutes a security within F.S....
CopyCited 2 times | Published | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal
...A review of the recent cases discussing the criteria to be applied in determining the adequacy of a complaint compels us to the conclusion that Count I of appellants' second amended complaint contained sufficient allegations to bring the activities within the proscription of F.S. Section 849.091, F.S.A., and was at least adequate at this stage to state a cause of action....
...onal courses in such areas as sales technique and must pass an examination before they are accepted as sales agents or sales trainees. The state alleges that the defendants' method of sales distribution is a pyramid or chain operation which violates Section 849.091, Florida Statutes 1971, and therefore constitutes a lottery....
...y chance, for consideration. M. Lippincott Mortgage Investment Co. of Florida v. Childress,
204 So.2d 919 (Fla. App. 1967). Also prohibited as lotteries are pyramid clubs where something of value stands to be gained from participation in the scheme. Section
849.091, Florida Statutes 1971, F.S.A., provides: "The organization of any chain letter club, pyramid club or other group organized or brought together under any plan or device whereby fees or dues or anything *625 of material value to be pai...
...s securing other new members and thereby advancing themselves in the group to a position where such members in turn receive fees, dues, or things of material value from other members is hereby declared a lottery, ... ." Florida cases construing F.S. Section 849.091, F.S.A., have consistently held that an override or chance acquisition of money through the activities of others is an essential element for a scheme to be declared in violation of this statute....
...wise, will entitle the plaintiff to the claimed relief. In the instant case, it is apparent from the above cited authorities that an override in the defendants' sales scheme would have to be proved by the state to find the defendants in violation of Section 849.091, Florida Statutes 1971, F.S.A....
CopyCited 1 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 2002 WL 424603
...Croy concededly participated (and on account of which he lost $2,500.00) constituted a "lottery." The learned trial judge's theory does not, however, square with the unambiguous statutory pronouncement that the "organization of any ... pyramid club ... is hereby declared to be a lottery." § 849.091(1), Fla....
...Parsons,
569 So.2d 437, 438 (Fla.1990), and does not purport to curtail the discretion to prosecute fully offenses a statute duly proscribes. The decision in Adams does not support Mr. Croy's contention in the present case that the misdemeanor provision addressed to pyramid schemes, section
849.091, removes pyramid schemes from the purview of the general lottery statute, section
849.09, altogether. The explicit language in section
849.091(1) declaring that pyramid schemes ("organization of any ......
...attorney's office and assured dozens of persons that the Gifts From The Heart pyramid club was perfectly lawful, amounted to more than simple participation in the pyramid club or mere solicitation to join, both proscribed by the misdemeanor statute, section
849.091(1), Florida Statutes (1999); and constituted instead the felony of promoting or conducting or assisting in the promotion or conduct of a pyramid scheme (defined by statute as a lottery) in violation of section
849.09(1)(d), Florida Statutes (1999)....
...)(a), Florida Statutes (1999). See Hudson v. State,
711 So.2d 244, 246 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998) (holding that section
924.07(1)(j) "plainly contemplates appeal from a judgment of acquittal only if the judgment of acquittal follows a guilty verdict"). [2] Section
849.091(1), Florida Statutes (1999), addresses any chain letter club, pyramid club, or other group organized or brought together under any plan or device whereby fees or dues or anything of material value to be paid or given by members thereo...
CopyCited 1 times | Published | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal
...or the defendant, the inducement being the offer of a substantial finder's fee to be paid by the defendant to plaintiffs for each new distributor recruited. The complaint charged the defendant's scheme of operation was a lottery in violation of F.S. § 849.091, F.S.A....
...Like a supervisor, the director receives $500.00 for each new supervisor whom he brings into the organization. We held in Frye v. Taylor, Fla.App. 1972,
263 So.2d 835, that the above described relationship between the defendant and the so-called directors was a plan or device in violation of F.S., §
849.091, F.S.A....
...In our opinion, that holding is equally applicable to the above described relationship between the defendant and its supervisors. It would appear to us that the relationship between the defendant and its supervisors and directors falls within the following operative provisions of § 849.091: "The organization of any ......
...the evidence in finding that the aforesaid contracts were not "securities" for purposes of F.S., Chapter 517, F.S.A. and that the contractual relations between the plaintiffs and defendant were not a part of an illegal lottery in violation of F.S., § 849.091, F.S.A....
CopyPublished | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 1972 Fla. App. LEXIS 6963
plan or scheme allegedly in violation of F.S. Section
849.091, F.S.A. (which prohibits chain letters, pyramid
