QAnon Leader Pushing Followers Into Multi-Level Marketing

During a December live stream with his QAnon fan base, conspiracy theorist Phil Godlewski offered what he describes as key to their financial future: buying silver.

Godlewski asserts that the precious metal will soon explode in value after the law is passed, which some QAnon believers say will bring the unthinkable. Income taxes will be eliminated, debt will be eliminated, and whoever holds silver will magically become rich.

But Godlewski doesn’t want his followers to just buy silver from any one company. Instead, he told them to buy through 7k Metals, a multi-level marketing and metal dealer business.

Godlewski and other top QAnon conspiracy theorists have found a new way to monetize their supporters: directing them to buy and sell products to multi-level marketing companies.

MLM, based on new members recruiting junior sales staff, with the “upline” initially monetizing the sales of the “downline” recruitment, formerly the domain of trading companies leggings and essential oils. But now QAnon leaders want action.

While many MLMs are legal, some have been compared to illegal pyramid schemes in which new members pay to join without any possibility of earning their money back. Disillusioned MLM members have complained that they are piled up in debt when profits do not materialize.

Selling silver through 7k Metals marks the latest business move for Godlewski, who went to jail last year after returning a bad check for more than $21,000, then forging bank records to avoid getting caught. catch. In an unrelated 2010 case, Godlewski was accused of engaging in an alleged sexual relationship with a 15-year-old child. He later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of damaging a minor.

Godlewski is not alone. Many QAnon promoters have turned to promoting multi-level marketing companies as a way to monetize their followers.

QAnon booster Richard Potcner, who goes by the nickname “Journalist Richard Citizen” online, rose to prominence among conspiracy theorists in 2020 by filming hospitals as “proof” that the pandemic was a hoax.

This spring, Potcner came to his followers with a sobering message: Time to buy silver. Like Godlewski, he’s teamed up with 7k Metals to get his supporters to join MLM.

“Patriots are unstoppable together,” says Potcner, encouraging his followers to pour their retirement funds into silver.

While the business relationships between QAnon promoters and MLM companies are unclear, both Godlewski and Potcner can reap substantial profits if they are counted as “upline” to followers. join 7k Metals.

Godlewski, Potcner and 7k Metals did not respond to requests for comment.

QAnon leaders don’t just sell silver. Scott McKay, a Q-backer who wields a tomahawk on stage and openly fantasizes about the killing of Democrats in his video, appears at QAnon rallies across the country as called “Patriot Streetfighter”.

In posts on messaging app Telegram in March, McKay urged his fans to prepare for the launch of a mysterious project called “Operation Tomahawk”. Revealing a little about the project, he promised that he would launch an “economic warfare platform” that would take on free corporations and “suffocate them.”

“We’re going to have millions and then tens of millions of people involved in this,” McKay announced in a video.

McKay’s Operation Tomahawk turned out to be the Patriot Switch, another direct selling business based on multi-level marketing. This time around, QAnon followers are being encouraged to purchase their products through the Patriot Switch, thus “supporting companies that promote freedom”. In a video to his followers, McKay promised that they would earn commissions by recruiting new people to sell through the company.

McKay did not respond to a request for comment.

MLM ads don’t always go smoothly for QAnon metrics. In 2021, Godlewski’s attempts to recruit his followers resulted in a foul by Jeanette Geary, a conservative activist and Godlewski detracted. Geary told The Daily Beast in a December email that she has been in contact with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies about Godlewski’s silverwork. (Godlewski was not charged in connection with the sale of silver.)

Last year, Godlewski sued Geary for defamation in Pennsylvania federal court over her allegations. Geary has claimed that Godlewski encouraged his followers to empty their 401(k) retirement accounts and convert them to silver sold by 7k Metals, according to his lawsuit.