By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-16 01:21:43 | Updated at 2024-11-16 03:27:41
2 hours ago
A Nebraska beauty queen has been accused of conning admiring fans out of $3 million as part of a bogus get-rich-quick scam.
Liz Friesen, who is the current Mrs Nebraska, is being sued by the state for allegedly conducting a 'highly deceptive' passive income scheme.
The 34-year-old is accused of 'flaunting a high-end and wealthy persona online to mislead consumers into believing [she] would give consumers access to similar levels of wealth and success'.
Friesen then used the victims' investments to fund a lifestyle filled with, 'luxury vacations in exotic locales, Lamborghinis, Cadillac Escalades, and other high-end vehicles, multimillion-dollar mansions, jewelry, designer clothing, private airplanes, a lake house, and countless other extravagances,' the lawsuit states.
It alleges that Friesen enticed consumers to purchase 'automated' e-commerce stores that would be run by 'dropshipping gurus' on Amazon and Walmart, through a shadowy company called WiFi Money.
Dropshipping is when a seller doesn't keep any inventory or deal with shipping, instead forwarding to a third party, meaning they don't pay for the item until it has been purchased.
The scheme began during Covid and sought to capitalize on the boom in online shopping, the lawsuit states.
Each victim paid between $15,000 to $100,000 to set up their accounts and were promised an income of up to $100,000 a month, according to the filing.
Nebraska beauty queen Liz Friesen has been accused of conning admiring fans out of $3 million as part of a bogus get-rich-quick scam
Friesen, who is the current Mrs Nebraska, is being sued by the state along with Florida-based company WiFi Money for allegedly promoting a 'highly deceptive' passive income scheme
But Attorney General Mike Hilgers' office said in a statement that Friesen and her co-defendants, who are also influencers, pocketed the victim's cash and used it to fund their jet-set lifestyles.
The victims in turn saw either minimal profits or huge losses on their investments, according to Hilgers.
Friesen's social media page features several snaps of her enjoying the high life, including vacations abroad and photos taken on a private jet.
However, the gurus frequently violated the online marketplaces' policies, leading to mass suspensions and deactivations of the consumers' accounts, the lawsuit states.
It added that the defendants, which include other influencers, continued to promote the scheme for two and a half years, even as it failed.
'Defendants continued promoting the scheme to consumers via social media and elsewhere, unfairly inducing many consumers to pay tens of thousands of dollars into a scheme that was doomed to fail,' the lawsuit states.
The complaint contains an example of a post allegedly written by Friesen in which she makes outlandish claims about the expected returns.
The lawsuit claims she enticed consumers to purchase 'automated' e-commerce stores that would be run by 'dropshipping gurus' on Amazon and Walmart which ultimately failed to the tune of millions of dollars
Friesen, of Lincoln, is a married mother-of-two who describes herself as a 'mompreneur'
'[W]ork alongside me and my WiFi Money team and make $5,000 extra a month, $10,000 extra a month, $100,000 extra a month,' Friesen wrote on Instagram. 'Whatever it is that your heart desires, let's make it happen.'
'This group of influencers manufactured lavish lifestyles on Instagram to lure consumers into a stream of 'passive income' schemes that were doomed to fail, then divvied up the money they took amongst themselves despite the schemes' total failures,' explains Attorney General Hilgers.
'These highly deceptive 'passive income' schemes will not be tolerated in Nebraska under my watch.
'Our Office will fight hard to get Nebraskans' hard-earned money back and hold bad actors to account.'
The lawsuit was filed in the District Court of Lancaster County, Nebraska. The complaint alleges violations of the Consumer Protection Act and Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act, among other laws.
Friesen and her co-defendants are being asked to refund consumers, 'stop their schemes and refrain from them in the future' and reimburse the state for its legal fees. The state is also seeking a civil penalty.
Friesen, of Lincoln, is a married mother-of-two who describes herself as a 'mompreneur'.
The lawsuit claims she and her co-defendants used victims' cash to fund a lavish lifestyle of exotic vacations and luxury goods
She was crowned Mrs Nebraska in June, ten years after she won the Miss Nebraska pageant.
Since news of the lawsuit broke, the Mrs Nebraska Organization announced that Friesen would be taking a step back from duties.
'At this time, we have no reason to believe any of the current allegations involved official Mrs Nebraska Organization social media accounts,' the pageant said in a statement.
DailyMail.com has contacted Friesen for comment.
