Five things you need to know about The Inquirer’s examination of Life Surge and founder Joe Johnson
Life Surge takes over the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday and will feature several Eagles stars as speakers. But what is it? And what did our investigation uncover?
On Saturday, the Wells Fargo Center will host Life Surge, a one-day conference where, their ad states, “local Christians gather to learn why and how to create and multiply financial resources for Kingdom impact.” Several Eagles players and coach Nick Sirianni are listed as guest speakers.
But according to an Inquirer review, the man behind Life Surge has a troubled business history, and some past conference attendees have warned their fellow Christians they’d be wise to stay away.
Here are a few takeaways from The Inquirer’s examination of Life Surge, its founder Joe Johnson, and the Eagles’ players involvement in the Christian wealth conference.
What is Life Surge?
Life Surge travels the nation and hosts one-day events that are headlined by musicians, television personalities, business leaders, professional athletes and well-known conservative Christian speakers. The events are advertised as promoting investing and financial literacy among Christians.
Attendees can also pay extra for VIP tickets, which include photos with the famous speakers.
But in between famous speakers, employees give lectures on stocks and real estate in an attempt to sell a $97 three-day finance class, where attendees are then urged to pay for mentorship programs that can cost nearly $40,000.
» READ MORE: Eagles stars to speak at Life Surge, a Christian wealth seminar run by founder with fraud allegations
Why is it controversial?
Life Surge itself is controversial due to what some past attendees describe as a deceptive business model.
Some critics say flashy arena events offer little practical investing advice and mainly serve to entice attendees into the $97 weekend seminars. There, some attendees say instructors encourage participants to take on debt in order to sign up for costly mentorship programs or investing tools. A third-party company offers credit card applications on-site to finance the courses.
“They tell you to mortgage what you got and cash out of your 401k to invest in this,” one past attendee of the weekend classes, Kevin Hinebaugh, 47, of Columbus, Ohio, said. ”And if you couldn’t, they had people sitting there with credit card financing to do it.”
Who is Joe Johnson?
Joe Johnson is the founder and CEO of Life Surge. Johnson, a self-described “serial entrepreneur,” was a principal of at least half a dozen companies and charities that ended in controversy or financial disarray.
A real estate brokerage Johnson founded before Life Surge, the Welfont Group, is facing at least three active lawsuits alleging the company facilitated millions of dollars in fraudulent tax breaks tied to real estate deals in multiple states.
In addition, Johnson was sued for millions by a woman in connection to his role at a prior seminar company, Get Motivated, which used a business model similar to Life Surge. She said he mentored her and she loaned him $12 million, much of which was never repaid.
How are the Eagles involved?
Sirianni, Cooper DeJean, Saquon Barkley, Brandon Graham, and Brian Dawkins are all scheduled to speak at Life Surge on Saturday. Ticket packages that cost $497 and include photos with DeJean, Barkley, and Sirianni are listed as “sold out” on Life Surge’s website.
An Eagles spokesperson told The Inquirer that the team is not affiliated with the event.
On Wednesday, DeJean was asked during a post-practice news conference about the event and responded: “They came to my management team and asked me about it. That’s how it approached me.”
Life Surge initially used the Eagles’ team name and their old typeface as part of its marketing, but their ad has since removed all references to the Eagles and the NFL from the Philadelphia event page.
How did Life Surge respond to The Inquirer’s questions?
Life Surge pointed to a 98% satisfaction rating on internal surveys and hundreds of positive online reviews. Johnson denied any knowledge of actively owing money to any parties, including $23,000 in unpaid back taxes to the state of Ohio related to a defunct landscaping company, one of his first ventures.
Johnson did acknowledge that he took on debt and defaulted on his loan from his time at Get Motivated, but he added that it had been resolved and he no longer owes the woman any money. He said he had no knowledge of the lawsuits against Welfont, which were filed after he departed from the company. However, the activity concerning the dispute occurred while he was still with the company.
In a written response to The Inquirer, Johnson stated that he is “not aware of any outstanding debts, including the alleged back taxes mentioned.” He added that his “current credit score is over 800, and I have no liens, past-due obligations, or outstanding legal judgments.”