State seeks pyramid scheme repayment

BANGOR – Maine’s attorney general has asked a federal judge to order four participants in a so-called gifting club to repay any money they might have received in A Woman’s Project. He also asked that fines up to $10,000 be imposed on them.

Attorney General Steven Rowe responded Friday to a lawsuit filed last month by four women who claim the attorney general violated their civil rights.

The women, who also are suing the state’s eight district attorneys, claimed that officials are violating their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights – the constitutional guarantees to freedom of speech and association – by calling women’s gifting clubs illegal pyramid schemes.

Rowe also denied the plaintiffs’ claim that he or the district attorneys threatened to prosecute the four, but admitted “warning the public against participating in pyramid schemes, including organizations similar to A Woman’s Project.” The attorney general asserted in his response that such groups constitute illegal lotteries and violate state law.

The suit was filed by two Ellsworth attorneys on behalf of Deborah Henderson of Lowell, Meg Peterson of Brooks, Susan Hart of Belfast and Beth Connor of Washington.

The women are seeking an injunction to keep prosecutors from charging participants in A Woman’s Project; a declaratory judgment that the activities of the organization do not violate state law; attorney’s fees; and unspecified damages.

Reports of the so-called gifting clubs first surfaced in Danforth more than a year ago. In March 2000, the Attorney General’s Office issued the first in a series of warnings that described the organizations as pyramid schemes. Several district attorneys around the state also warned people against participating.

Last week, a men’s version of the scheme surfaced in Hancock, Waldo and Kennebec counties. Both plans are essentially the same. Participants donate $5,000 with the hope of receiving $30,000 to $40,000, according to Rowe. The women-only plan is based on a dinner party theme; the men’s is based on a racing theme using the NASCAR name.