California Wow founder pleads innocence

[jackr]

hang him.

[FarangKenStine]

Here is Levine's Exec profile from Businessweek

"Mr. Eric Mark Levine served as the Chief Executive Officer of California Wow Experience Public Company Limited and served as its Chairman. Mr. Levine holds a Doctor of Philosphy in Sport Science from Mannin University , UK. "

Mr. Levine holds a Doctor of Philosphy in Sport Science from Mannin University , UK.

Just one PROBLEM... google Mannin University and try to find out that it exists in any way

I found this:

Markets in Fake PhD's

A senior monk in Singapore has a fake PhD, it has been revealed;

Double trouble for Ren Ci Hospital. Straits Times did a write-up on Ren Ci’s

Venerable Ming Yi

and the non-recognition of his

Mannin University doctorate (PhD)

in Singapore. It was reported that Ming Yi did not check if Mannin University or its PhD programmes were recognised here before he enrolled into them and he claimed that he did the PhD only for the sake of gaining knowledge.

Alright, I would give him the benefit of doubt that he did not intend to cheat on the management of Ren Ci but it is interesting to wonder why he chose the unknown Mannin University over other Singapore-recognised foreign universities for his Doctorate degree in Philosophy.

What do you think is the market value of fake educational qualifications?

[Lobber]

http://www.dmc.tv/pages/en/scoop/Eric-Levine-WoW.html

[KhunOr]

I went to Cal Wow in Chiang Mai once. It was full of beautiful girls. I said to the guy on the reception: "Which machine do you recommend I use to get the most attention?"

He said: "Try the ATM in the foyer".

[Joe Mamma]

The winds have shifted and i smell a RAT!

[phantomfiddler]

It all sounds so incredibly simple, open a business that sells yearly subscriptions, transfer the money out of the country, declare bancruptcy, and Bob (is that his name ?) is your uncle ! Even more sublime than the bank managers lending money that they know won,t be repaid, giving themselves a hefty bonus based on the amount of money lent out, and walking away smiling while the bank goes under. There,s more work out there for a dishonest man than you would think imagineable !

Calif Wow, and it "lifetime" memberships, reads as a classic scam. I suspect that the bulk of the liquid assets of the company were transferred to safe bank accounts elsewhere. What surprises me is that this guy is still here. Perhaps he was the one left to take the fall.

[tingtongteesood]

As usual in Thailand 'It wasn't me !' and blame it all on someone else. It's all the landlord's fault, yeah, right....

[nosatisfaction]

Calif Wow, and it "lifetime" memberships, reads as a classic scam. I suspect that the bulk of the liquid assets of the company were transferred to safe bank accounts elsewhere. What surprises me is that this guy is still here. Perhaps he was the one left to take the fall.

makes you wonder who learned from who? reminds me of the Elite Card or whatever the name was.

[nosatisfaction]

As usual in Thailand 'It wasn't me !' and blame it all on someone else. It's all the landlord's fault, yeah, right....

Correct but he is not Thai!!!!!!!!!!!!

[nosatisfaction]

Here is Levine's Exec profile from Businessweek

"Mr. Eric Mark Levine served as the Chief Executive Officer of California Wow Experience Public Company Limited and served as its Chairman. Mr. Levine holds a Doctor of Philosphy in Sport Science from Mannin University , UK. "

Mr. Levine holds a Doctor of Philosphy in Sport Science from Mannin University , UK.

Just one PROBLEM... google Mannin University and try to find out that it exists in any way

I found this:

Markets in Fake PhD's

A senior monk in Singapore has a fake PhD, it has been revealed;

Double trouble for Ren Ci Hospital. Straits Times did a write-up on Ren Ci’s

Venerable Ming Yi

and the non-recognition of his

Mannin University doctorate (PhD)

in Singapore. It was reported that Ming Yi did not check if Mannin University or its PhD programmes were recognised here before he enrolled into them and he claimed that he did the PhD only for the sake of gaining knowledge.

Alright, I would give him the benefit of doubt that he did not intend to cheat on the management of Ren Ci but it is interesting to wonder why he chose the unknown Mannin University over other Singapore-recognised foreign universities for his Doctorate degree in Philosophy.

What do you think is the market value of fake educational qualifications?

Personnaly I studied at : Licence at Soi Cowboy Highschool, and obtained Doctorate in Physical Knowledge at Nana University

5555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555

All this after a brief training in Patpong

[ThaiPauly]

I don't really care about the massive bank transfers abroad.

I'm just concerned about all the people that got duped (including me).

What mugs we are to think that this business could possibly be legit when they were handing out lifetime memberships for peanuts...and doing it right up to the day they closed my branch in CM.

The way they have treated the general public is nothing short of scandalous, and it's for THAT reason they should have their asses sued......but it's not gonna happen is it?

It's always the small people who suffer.

[Thai at Heart]

I don't really care about the massive bank transfers abroad.

I'm just concerned about all the people that got duped (including me).

What mugs we are to think that this business could possibly be legit when they were handing out lifetime memberships for peanuts...and doing it right up to the day they closed my branch in CM.

The way they have treated the general public is nothing short of scandalous, and it's for THAT reason they should have their asses sued......but it's not gonna happen is it?

It's always the small people who suffer.

He was the face of the company. In the end it was a majority Thai company.

[Jim walker]

A life behind bars doing push-ups best place for any WOW thief

[RisqEM]

What I understand from this scumbag is "if they didn't shut off my electric and lock my doors from nonpayment of bills, we would have been able to survive." Scumbag

[keemapoot]

He shouldn't waste time chewing the fat with the press, but should be firm in his lawsuit defense. He sounds likes he's fit to be tied, but maybe he just needs to slim down his rhetoric.

fit to be THAID....

Thais trying to strong-arm him, he needs to flex his muscles and chinup to the bar with all the legal gymnastics he will go through now. Hope he has the endurance training to go the distance.

[lemoncake]

What I understand from this scumbag is "if they didn't shut off my electric and lock my doors from nonpayment of bills, we would have been able to survive." Scumbag

Why is he a scumbag? gym and bigger company's do not fold?

Were you actually a member? or just suffering from tall poppy syndrome?

[sydneyjed]

http://www.dmc.tv/pages/en/scoop/Eric-Levine-WoW.html

Yes you too can have the mind and the body.....Got to give him his due he was good at talking himself up and one of the better bullshiters in Bangkok aside from the Boiler Room operators just up at soi 33 and 'Cowboy on a Friday night!!

http://www.scottmurray.info/characters-stories/interesting-folks/172-eric-levine

[CanInBKK]

What I understand from this scumbag is "if they didn't shut off my electric and lock my doors from nonpayment of bills, we would have been able to survive." Scumbag

Why is he a scumbag? gym and bigger company's do not fold?

Were you actually a member? or just suffering from tall poppy syndrome?

Can't speak on behalf of RisqEM but I think the fact that he blamed bankruptcy on the flood, riots, etc. each of which lasted no longer than a month or two instead of the actual fact that he didn't pay the bills which resulted in the landlords shutting out customers qualifies him as a "scumbag".

[uty6543]

What I understand from this scumbag is "if they didn't shut off my electric and lock my doors from nonpayment of bills, we would have been able to survive." Scumbag

Why is he a scumbag? gym and bigger company's do not fold?

Were you actually a member? or just suffering from tall poppy syndrome?

Can't speak on behalf of RisqEM but I think the fact that he blamed bankruptcy on the flood, riots, etc. each of which lasted no longer than a month or two instead of the actual fact that he didn't pay the bills which resulted in the landlords shutting out customers qualifies him as a "scumbag".

And the fact that California Wow have done this in other countries as well

[lemoncake]

What I understand from this scumbag is "if they didn't shut off my electric and lock my doors from nonpayment of bills, we would have been able to survive." Scumbag

Why is he a scumbag? gym and bigger company's do not fold?

Were you actually a member? or just suffering from tall poppy syndrome?

Can't speak on behalf of RisqEM but I think the fact that he blamed bankruptcy on the flood, riots, etc. each of which lasted no longer than a month or two instead of the actual fact that he didn't pay the bills which resulted in the landlords shutting out customers qualifies him as a "scumbag".

Not sure where you get your information from, but floods and riots did not last 1 or 2 months, but little longer, not to mention the clean up afterwords.

He is not responsible for paying the bills, the publicly listed company was.

And again, many company's go belly up, it does not mean the CEO's are scumbags, it just means company's were either mismanaged or did not provide required service among many other reasons including cashf flow problems

[lemoncake]

What I understand from this scumbag is "if they didn't shut off my electric and lock my doors from nonpayment of bills, we would have been able to survive." Scumbag

Why is he a scumbag? gym and bigger company's do not fold?

Were you actually a member? or just suffering from tall poppy syndrome?

Can't speak on behalf of RisqEM but I think the fact that he blamed bankruptcy on the flood, riots, etc. each of which lasted no longer than a month or two instead of the actual fact that he didn't pay the bills which resulted in the landlords shutting out customers qualifies him as a "scumbag".

And the fact that California Wow have done this in other countries as well

When company goes belly up, it usually goes belly up everywhere.

[realenglish1]

Throw a chicken into the water and see if they can swim

[realenglish1]

He screwed my girlfriend on a membership and then tried to get more money. So do I believe this report HELL YA.

If it clucks like chicken Waddles like a chicken and swims like a chicken Guess what ? It must be a chicken

Do chickens swim?

I am not sure if they can swim so throw it in the water and if it sinks OOOPS Sorry Mr Levine

[planetdweller]

He shouldn't waste time chewing the fat with the press, but should be firm in his lawsuit defense. He sounds likes he's fit to be tied, but maybe he just needs to slim down his rhetoric.

I like the tone of your reply , your sense of humor is in ship-shape lately.

[uty6543]

Can't speak on behalf of RisqEM but I think the fact that he blamed bankruptcy on the flood, riots, etc. each of which lasted no longer than a month or two instead of the actual fact that he didn't pay the bills which resulted in the landlords shutting out customers qualifies him as a "scumbag".

And the fact that California Wow have done this in other countries as well

When company goes belly up, it usually goes belly up everywhere.

not true. in each country they use the same name "California Wow" but trade under different names for example "California Wow Thailand" which is how they have gone bankrupt in korea 2008 and other countries see post 15. besides if he hadn't taken money out of the country they could have paid there bills and carried on trading

[Trouble]

Reviewing the financial statements that someone provided a link too clearly indicates that the operations profits/losses were there for all to see. Price Waterhouse is a legitimate accounting firm. It is clear that the company was taking significant losses for 2010 and 2011. It is also clear what the remuneration of the directors was and it is clear that this was reduced as things got worse. What we don't see is the salaries of any of these individuals as employees of the company. Note also that only one of the directors had stock in the company as of 2011. It looks like the others had dumped their shares. So it would be interesting to follow the money but the financials clearly indicate that there were big losses regardless of the floods and/or political unrest.

That being said, the selling of life time memberships in anything, particularly fitness centers, has long been seen as the downfall of these centers. In order to keep a fitness center afloat there has to be continuing revenue. The selling of life time memberships should be a warning for anyone seeking membership. Only centers collecting fees for monthly membership will be able to stay afloat. This is true of clubs in any country. I have seen many fail because the revenue stream must continue monthly. There is a constant need to bring in new members when selling lifetime memberships or other memberships for anything less that the real cost to carry a member.

I hope that continuing news on this company will be forthcoming.

[nosatisfaction]

I don't really care about the massive bank transfers abroad.

I'm just concerned about all the people that got duped (including me).

What mugs we are to think that this business could possibly be legit when they were handing out lifetime memberships for peanuts...and doing it right up to the day they closed my branch in CM.

The way they have treated the general public is nothing short of scandalous, and it's for THAT reason they should have their asses sued......but it's not gonna happen is it?

It's always the small people who suffer.

Is it possible you also have a "lifetime membership" for golf?

I would re-consider it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

small people don't have this kind of Cards, the only lifetime membership they have is the one that entitles them to breathe.

[technologybytes]

Why is anyone blaming Eric Levine, as a foreigner he cannot own be a majority shareholder in any business... so why is he the fall guy?

Thailand can't have it's cake and eat it. Either Foreigners can own a business in Thailand or we cannot, and since we cannot.. stop blaming the Farang!!

Some background as per SET website:

- general info: http://www.set.or.th/set/companyprofile.do?symbol=CAWOW&language=en&country=US

- major share holders: http://www.set.or.th/set/companyholder.do?symbol=CAWOW&language=en&country=US

You van see that Eric Levine holds 'only' 11,53% of the shares

Have fun !

So if he owns only 11.53% of California Wow, why do people come out with stupid statements like "he cheated my girlfriend" etc.

It was a business, and guess what? Sometimes businesses fail... and most of time when a business fails it's NOT because of fraud.

Honestly, did you think the LIFETIME membership was YOUR lifetime... that's crazy. You got what you paid for.. lifetime of California WOW.

[zachary]

I'm guilty of getting scammed from Caliwow too. They made me pay the 1 year renewal fee (2888 baht) about 5 days before my branch closed. super scammers

[cyborgx]

Why is anyone blaming Eric Levine, as a foreigner he cannot own be a majority shareholder in any business... so why is he the fall guy?

Thailand can't have it's cake and eat it. Either Foreigners can own a business in Thailand or we cannot, and since we cannot.. stop blaming the Farang!!

Can't be the majority shareholder (but we all know lawyers offer ways round this one), but can be the MD/CEO running it. Don't know what his exact position was called, everybody knows it was him running it.

Access denied, utilities turned off, I wonder why? Call me sarcastic but could it possibly be because u weren't paying the bills!

Having no published membership scales, just leaving it up to sales people to get as much as they can from punters...... Very professional, and not even a little bit dodgy........

Massive bank transfers are not the kind of thing you can make up, they either happened or they didn't. I'm guessing they did if the reason for them is under investigation.......

Did his "plans and actions that were being taken for its recovery" include any reduction in his salary, and/or re-investment of the funds he'd already drained from the company putting it in the situation in the first place? Let me guess the answer to that one.......

In rsponse to Lemoncake's "many company's go belly up, it does not mean the CEO's are scumbags, it just means company's were either mismanaged or did not provide required service among many other reasons including cashf flow problems"

As CEO is it not his job to see that the company is properly managed??!!!! That the Finacial plan is viable? Oh, no, I must be mistaken, as CEO it was his job to sit around on his wrinkly old sunburned ass chatting up women!