I'm reminded of this guy because occasionally I drive by the Life Time Fitness Center where he stabbed himself in a suicide attempt. He later had a successful suicide attempt while in jail.
Back in the 90s I had thought to make money by taking out ads like he did. I spoke with some of my coworkers about it and they said a couple guys we worked with tried it with recipes but weren't able to make much money so I gave up on the idea.
So when this guy came along in the early 2000s I called up his company. I could tell they were a scam right away just by talking to the employee on the phone.