The Phil Piccolo Story

Several people asked me about Phil Piccolo and who he is and what he did. I do not know the man personally, but from what I read, he is the King Zealot of MLM. If it is not MLM, he is not interested. Apparently, he has had some less than reputable programs over the years and was officially retired until Coach Tomer requested that he come check out YTB and help recruit more reps. YTB flew Phil from Florida to HQ in September 2007 two times and Phil signed up.

Within a month, he was a Level 1 Director and by the end of the recruiting period for the Birthday Bash had recruited enough people to steal the number one spot on the cruise.

For a more detailed description, here is a comment from this blog:

It seems that everyone wants to know the truth about Phil Piccolo and YTB and they don't feel they'll ever hear it until Phil leaves. Wrong. I happen to know the truth and everyone can take it for what it is worth -- even those who drone the Piccolo mantra about Bob Burtis having his bankruptcies. What Bob Burtis has or has not done does NOT change who Phil Piccolo is, what he has done and what he IS doing one iota. Phil stole the birthday bash away from whomever the second place winner was. This is how he did it: Phil started another one of his famous (or infamous?) programs and called it DubaiMLM. He made inferences to Dubai Dollars and free money and people went totally nuts signing up into the program from all over the world. Switch to YTB for a moment. Phil is doing his darnedest to sign up RTAs. He is also DYING financially because he has no income streams coming in. He needs money. So, he devises a clever plan to separate people from their money at $500 a whack. He starts telling everyone who signs up into YTB that they can be an RTA for free. He has access to a Florida travel agency (K & E International, Inc/KE Travel located at 4607 Lake Worth Rd, Lake Worth, FL 33463-3451 Phone: (561) 966-9808 who begins handing out FREE travel ID cards to everyone and anyone who signs up with Phil. Now, because Phil is giving away these RTA positions, he's not making any money. So, everyone who does this RTA thing must also participate in his "lead program" - $500 a pop. They are "GUARANTEED" ten sign ups a month and 3 conversions out of those ten. He tells them he is getting these super qualified leads from a high-end source and says they normally go for $1500 a month but that they are running a "special" and he'll get them in on the lead program for just $500. So people begin jumping on it. Phil is now raking in $500 from each person signing up as an RTA. I'm sorry, how many RTAs did Phil sign up? Each of these paid him $500. So, instead of YTB getting the money, PHIL PICCOLO got the money. Back to DubaiMLM. Everyone and everyone from all over the world is signing up into DubaiMLM. Since YTB is USA only, Phil can only use those leads that are here in the USA. Phil then takes the leads that have come into DubaiMLM and slams these people into YTB via a small sentence in one of his infamously long, boring and poorly worded emails that says they will be placed into a travel opportunity. So, the people from DubaiMLM are getting slammed into YTB, and the people from YTB who are paying $500 for ten leads are getting CRAP leads who know absolutely nothing about anything and are only interested in *free* money from DubaiMLM. Isn't that nice? THAT is who Phil Piccolo is. THAT is how he won coach's birthday bash. THAT is how he cheated the second place winner out of their RIGHTFUL place. It makes me sick. I can't believe that whoever the second place winner was really worked the program and DESERVED to win -- yet slimy con-man Phil Piccolo gets the free pass right under YTB's nose. I hear that he went to YTB headquarters to plead his cause and apparently fooled them into thinking he's just such a swell guy and is really just helping people. Right? I mean, after all, he has probably told them, "Look, I GAVE away the RTA positions and I made NO MONEY." When in actuality he was making $500 a month off of each person as long as they participated in his program. Phil Piccolo is the consummate con-artist and don't allow anyone to tell you anything differently.

And in a subsequent comment:

I'm anonymous for a reason. It isn't because I don't have proof -- I just prefer to remain anonymous for my own protection. Your wonderful Phil Piccolo last year set up some guy who crossed him and duct taped him to a chair, put duct tape over his eyes, and he and his "henchmen" slapped the snot out of the guy. I think there are a number of charges that would arise out of something like that, like probably felony kidnapping just to name one. Of course Piccolo was stupid enough to photograph the event -- and I just happen to have obtained one of the copies of that photograph. What is it about stupid, arrogant criminals that drives them to photograph or otherwise document their crimes? The funny thing about this is that there are a number of other people who would be able to independently verify the person in the photo I have and it is certainly authentic. Also, Piccolo had bragged about it to someone I know. Phil Piccolo is nothing but a common criminal who at some point will end up in jail.

After this post appeared, the anonymous poster contacted me with the following email:

Hi John. Please forgive my caution. You simply cannot be too careful out there. I took a look at your sites and read some articles you've written -- you're extremely talented and, I think, in no way connected to Phil Piccolo. What I would like to do is give you a call tomorrow sometime, if that is okay with you, and discuss my experiences with Mr. Piccolo from a first-hand point. You may, from there, make your own determination. It would be nice to have someone with some credibility help to address some of these issues. I will be happy to, after our conversation, provide you with the photograph in question. Also, when we talk tomorrow you'll know the story behind the photograph and the "why" behind it. From what I understand now, the authorities are breathing down Piccolo's neck and it is very likely that something will come to a head. At any rate, let me know your thoughts on tomorrow. Do you mind providing me with the best number with which to reach you? Thanks John.

Well, apparently when old Coach realized that Phil had scammed the scammer--by not legitimately recruiting RTAs, he was canned from YTB. Back in February when I asked about this, here is the response I received:

I know all about the crap on the internet about Phil. I got flooded with e-mails from other RTA’s to ask if what they read was true. He’s one of those “Professional Networkers” that everyone just hates cause he’s an MLM junkie. He’s been terminated, but what I don’t know is if it was because of all the fuss we made or something he did. (I even had a couple Directors ask if I could find something on him, that’s how bad they wanted him out.) I know the guy who brought him in and from what I hear, Coach was a little upset about the e-mail concerning him and Phil getting together. Apparently it was fabricated. I don’t know if Peter knew about his history or not, but he’s not responding to my e-mails. Here’s Piccolo’s rep site: www.ytb.com/themillionairementor, it’s no longer available. His other two marketing sites are also down. (http://www.sell3travelfree.com & www.joinforfreetravel.com )

So there you have it. The story of Phil Piccolo!