In a December livestream to his QAnon fanbase, conspiracy theorist Phil Godlewski laid out what he explained as the vital to their fiscal futures: obtaining silver.
The important steel, Godlewski insisted, would before long explode in worth after the passage of legislation some QAnon believers assume will provide on a utopia. Earnings taxes would be eradicated, debt would be abolished, and any person holding silver would develop into fabulously rich.
But Godlewski didn’t want his followers to purchase silver from just any company. Rather, he told them to acquire through 7k Metals, a multi-level marketing and advertising enterprise and metals seller.
Godlewski and other top QAnon conspiracy theorists have discovered a new way to make funds from their supporters: directing them to purchase and offer products for multi-amount advertising firms.
MLMs, which count on new users recruiting subordinate salespeople, with the unique “upline” making income from their “downline” recruit’s product sales, have formerly been the domain of leggings and crucial oils firms. But now QAnon leaders want in on the motion.
Even though quite a few MLMs are authorized, some have been in contrast to unlawful pyramid strategies, in which new users fork out in income to sign up for with out any possibility of building their cash back again. Disillusioned Mlm associates have complained that they’ve been remaining poorly in debt when their income failed to materialize.
Promoting silver by 7k Metals marked the newest company go from Godlewski, who served time in jail last 12 months following bouncing a lousy verify for a lot more than $21,000, then falsifying bank records to keep away from currently being caught. In an unrelated 2010 scenario, Godlewski was indicted in excess of carrying on an alleged sexual relationship with a 15-12 months-outdated. He later on pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor demand of corrupting a minor.
Godlewski isn’t on your own. Far more QAnon promoters have turned to selling multi-degree marketing corporations as approaches to monetize their followings.
QAnon booster Richard Potcner, who goes by the title “Richard Citizen Journalist” on the net, rose to prominence in conspiracy-theorist circles in 2020 by filming hospitals as “proof” that the pandemic was a hoax.
This spring, Potcner came to his followers with a major message: It was time to get silver. Like Godlewski, he had teamed up with 7k Metals to pitch his supporters on joining the Multi level marketing.
“Patriots are unstoppable alongside one another,” Potcner claimed, encouraging his followers to place their retirement cash into silver.
Though the business enterprise associations among the QAnon promoters and the Multilevel marketing businesses are unclear, both equally Godlewski and Potcner could stand to gain considerably if they are counted as the “uplines” for followers who be a part of 7k Metals.
Godlewski, Potcner, and 7k Metals didn’t reply to requests for remark.
QAnon leaders are not just selling silver. Scott McKay, a Q-backer who wields a tomahawk on phase and overtly fantasizes about the murder of Democrats in his videos, seems at QAnon rallies across the nation beneath the identify “Patriot Streetfighter.”
In posts on the messaging application Telegram in March, McKay urged his lovers to get ready for the start of a mysterious challenge identified as “Operation Tomahawk.” Revealing small about the project, he promised that he was launching an “economic warfare platform” that would just take on liberal organizations and “choke them out.”
“We are heading to have millions and then tens of hundreds of thousands of people today participating in this,” McKay declared in a video clip.
McKay’s Procedure Tomahawk turned out to be Patriot Switch, one more direct-advertising enterprise centered on multi-amount marketing and advertising. This time, QAnon followers are becoming urged to get their solutions by way of Patriot Swap, therefore “supporting companies that promote freedom.” In a online video to his followers, McKay promised that they would get paid commissions by recruiting new people to provide through the business.
McKay didn’t reply to a request for comment.
Endorsing the MLMs hasn’t often absent easily for the QAnon figures. In 2021, Godlewski’s attempts to pitch his followers ran afoul of Jeanette Geary, a conservative activist and Godlewski detractor. Geary told The Every day Beast in a December email that she had contacted the FBI and other legislation enforcement organizations about Godlewski’s silver procedure. (Godlewski hasn’t been billed with any crimes connected to the silver gross sales).
Final calendar year, Godlewski sued Geary for defamation in a Pennsylvania federal court docket around her allegations. Geary has claimed that Godlewski inspired his followers to vacant their 401(k) retirement accounts and convert them into silver marketed by 7k Metals, according to his lawsuit.
