TikTok Financial Guru Threatened To Sue Me - My Response

 Hey guys, it's Caleb Williams here. This is the BetterWolf channel. This is going to be a very unique video So I apologize for anyone that's new to this channel This channel exists to help you live more intentionally and I want to do so by bringing on different experts talking about different financial strategies And I ultimately want this platform to be where people can agree to disagree and for us to increase financial IQ and inspire people to live more intentionally and ultimately live their one life as Best as they can on today's video though. I'm going to be responding to an eight-page Letter that I essentially got via email Saying that I defamed Curtis Ray the his MPI strategy and his company and in an interview that I did with Rocky D Francisco and I'm going to be responding to to that and I really I really have three Options really have three options that I can do and After I go through this entire document because I just want to be as transparent as possible I'll go through the three options that you know I have and tell you the option that I've decided that I'm going to go with so let me give you a little bit of context Because again, you might be like wow like what's what happened? I want it like what what's going on? Why is someone like sending you a letter saying that you defamed their name? So number one, I do a lot of videos probably two two and a half years ago. I started There's like an epiphany that I had to say like hey, maybe this channel should not just be me talking all the time Maybe I should bring on other experts and a lot of experts are people in our own space and you know I don't agree with everyone for those of you that have seen me interview people You know that I'll push back on people that I like agree 95% of the time but like 5% I don't agree with and we'll push back Not because I'm trying to like defame their name, but because it's like I want this channel to be as authentic as possible And we don't grow when we're in our little you know, bubbles We we grow when we're able to have conversations and challenge each other and so Hopefully you've seen me grow in that and I'll be the first to say I have a lot to grow in I think the the biggest criticism that I get is that I'm way too soft in conversations and interviews And that's something that I'm I'm growing and I'm and thanks to our growing community Thanks to the people that subscribe and comment I take your comments seriously and as we're growing I realize that I have an obligation to you the people that spend your time Watching these videos to do my very best job. So all that to say There's a lot of people that asked me about this Curtis Ray Curtis Ray blew up on TikTok At the time he had over a million subscribers on TikTok, which is truly amazing and came out with documentaries Headbooks was like a very prominent person when it comes to The insurance space and even when it came to a financial influencer on TikTok and I'm gonna be very careful what I say in this video as you'll see why So anyways, I was asked to comment on that I Talked to Rocky DeFrancisco who has his opinions. You'll see a not all of his opinions were appreciated and and then I ultimately interviewed Curtis himself shot and recorded the entire interview and was going to release it to the world Rocky and and Curtis to kind of be like hey, this is one side And then this is Curtis himself that's that side and here's the platform So I'm not just having one video or the other. I'm I'm giving like you know I can't think of a better person to represent Curtis and Curtis himself And then someone who's has a ton of experience has a newsletter over 50,000 people When it when it comes to the financial service space like is a big deal is not just a nobody is someone that's like well-respected as an attorney and at the end of the day You know had some strong opinions about strategies and what what Curtis is doing and and so the reason I didn't publish it two years ago is I was just like you know what I just don't I don't want this chant like I was a little bit afraid of like any controversy and I was just like you know What just gonna like I'm gonna let this thing rock kind of deal like you know I'm just not gonna post it and then I had an interview with a guy by the name of Dan Thompson Who I don't agree with 100% as you will see if you watch that interview and he wrote the forward and one of Curtis's books And in that interview I talk about my opinion about Curtis in that interview And so I was thinking it to myself okay should I air this this Conversation with Dan I don't endorse everything that he says, but I'm like you know what our audience is a lot smarter than I might think I don't I hate when people assume that I'm dumb or like hey We need to censor you because you're you wouldn't know what to do with this information I just think that's like probably the number one issue that I vote around is like freedom of speech And I was like you know what it would be very hypocritical for me to be like I want to be freedom of speech But then like censor speech like crazy over here. So I was like you know what I'm gonna post The the Dan Thompson interview and it performed amazing. We got great feedback and Dan himself shot me in encouraging text being like hey video Performed well. Let's do part two whether we do part two or not like that's awesome like that's that's great But since I mentioned Curtis's name and they're kept on being people that would ask me about Curtis. I was like you know what I think the time is right to just release both pieces of content that I've been sitting on and I posted it and believe it or not Both videos did very poorly when it comes to YouTube YouTube has a um a system where it tells you like when you release a video um, it tells you how it did compared to the last 10 videos that you did and so obviously You know as a creator you want to release videos and you want your videos to perform like one or two or three out of ten meaning like out of the last ten These this is like the third best one or the second best one of the best one and that's like that's something that's like really awesome And then if it's like a seven a nine or ten out of ten It's like this one was not really like it was worse than average or just wasn't it didn't resonate with your audience And the court both Curtis's videos as of right now are nine out of ten which mean which just tells you that it's like hey videos are out Life goes on, but I have I this channel it is not here to try to expose anybody or be like a coffee zilla of the financial world There might be other people out there that want to do that I do not want to do that because I don't want to spend all this time Trying to like expose people and doing a ton of research for those of you that know me I love having conversations and I want this channel to be Going out and getting incredible conversations the top being Dave Ramsey It would be awesome to interview Dave Ramsey I don't agree with him on a hundred percent of things But it would be incredible to sit down and challenge him on some things and really be able to flesh some things out that maybe He's said in sound bites, but to flesh that out So just to be clear like that was that was the intention and there was something That came out recently about Curtis That I'll share at the end of this video and I had a choice to make a video or like jump on it early I was like, you know what? I'm not even going to make a video about it because again This channel is not here to beat up on anybody Anybody and I sincerely mean that And so wasn't wasn't going to say anything or do anything about what the information I was given And then I get a letter of via email from Curtis's raise legal team We're actually going to go through this I will have a link down below for any of you that want to Check out the letter itself. I think I'll like maybe like blur out addresses and stuff But overall I want as many people to see this one of the things that I when I was reflecting on like what I should do here I was like, you know what Caleb the thing that I Carried a ton about when it comes to America is freedom of speech and I really believe the secret of our success and growth is been authenticity Well, how can you be authentic if you're hiding things from your viewers the people that are ultimately helping you Have this platform to begin with if none of you guys watch our videos I wouldn't be getting letters like this but more importantly we the information that interviews that we have wouldn't be seen and Wouldn't be having a ripple effect or having an impact And so as I was reflecting on like okay, what what should I do? I could get a letter like this and because of the legal system um It's just it's expensive to find any any anything just to be clear and I'll share with what I'm going to do at the very end But that's just like so the the initial reaction quite frankly if I'm being honest was hey this video performed poorly And let's just take it down and not rock the boat We got a lot of good momentum going and let's just continue to Let's continue to go and I don't I don't want to you know spend a ton of money trying to fight something that it's like I'm not doesn't even a part of my brand is exposing people It's not like the fact that you even thought I'm here to try to expose But like that's crazy and so it's like okay um But then the more I've been thinking about it, I was like you know um I could just leave it up and what you'll see in their letter is like would they actually come after me? They might um you can determine for yourself if you think that the statements that I My guest made or the famitory and here like you can make that Not sure how that whole process goes, but the the attorneys and people that I've been talking to um say it's a pretty crazy process for both parties Um and so and we're still having our legal team look and I'm going to give me like an official This is what you should do um kind of deal, but at the time of this recording I'm not 100% sure if I'm going to keep it up or if I'm going to Remove the video, but what I'm really clear on is that I'm going to make this video Talking about um sharing with you the process. That's I'm really clear on that Because you guys have the right to know this and ultimately um There's there's power in having a community and being able to actually share what's going on some people use blogs and writing My way of communicating is via video And so that's what I'm going to do and unless our legal team is like absolutely not I'm going to share with you this letter that I got In the description down below so that you can follow along and um Yeah, that's that's what that's what we're going to do. So um With without further ado, I'm just going to dive in for those of you that Don't know this. I am not a great reader So buckle up you might want to maybe turn up the speed and maybe watch this thing at 2x But I'm going to read what I think is necessary and um I'm going to do my very best to Be stay in the lines Because what I don't want to do is create the The just the legal ease of like well you said in this video your opinion like I'm going to try to be as very Black and white as possible But I'm telling you the reason I'm going to be black and white as possible is I'm dealing with somebody that I will say this Don't sue me allegedly Has a lot more money than me and allegedly Um would rather have a legal letter speak for them versus having them speak for themselves Okay, it's just my opinion. It's not a fact Um, I will say and I say this as sincere as possible and you should know this about me is Curtis If you're watching You are welcome to come on the show at any time at any time you're welcome to share your points Um, and I would love that absolutely love that and I hope you knew that you were open before because I've said that in other videos That you are free to come on um, and so I haven't heard from you. This is the first I've indirectly heard from people Representing you so without without further ado. We're going to jump in um the first page pretty much addresses me A couple companies that I represent and says our offices represent Curtis ran his business entities They go on to say the entities and they say the purpose of this correspondence is to demand that you immediately remove uh from your respective websites and um the video and audio reference to um the The the video that I posted on the better wealth podcast and your youtube channel titled exposing Curtis Ray attorney reveals the dangers of the MPI and then they say If you fail to refuse to do so then Curtis Ray son son core and MPI you will file a lawsuit against you and better wealth and and all other applicable business entities and individuals for the harm cause by the defamatory comments made by you The better wealth and its agents against Curtis Ray and his better wealth entities. It's very interesting that they say you better wealth and its agents Because you'll see that Only one thing that they repper they say in this letter is something I actually said. So it's just just just interesting then they give a background of um who Curtis is MPI You know, I too love I just want to want to point this out because it's like hey, we're we're coming somewhere would they say This is what I love um they say but through your youtube channel you regularly produce and post videos on your channel to show viewers A better way to think about money to live a more intentional life. I was like That's awesome that they put that in this letter like I'm I'm glad they did the research They they ultimately said that your youtube channel has nearly 35,000 subscribers We're over three thought 35,000 subscribers. So at the time of the writing we've we've grown and I just want to thank all of you that have Subscribed you literally Number one because you subscribe and watch our videos probably why I got a letter like this But ultimately the reason I'm making this video and encourage to continue to go on is because of Of you so I just want to thank you and ask you to subscribe if you haven't Subscribe already okay, so then we get into the meat the famitory comments not gonna comment on the famitory So I'm not gonna comment on that like what that means and you know the intent but On about July 25th 2024 you release a video approximately 28 minutes in length with a guest rocky de francisco where and you repeat disparage ray by name And his MPI strategy slash business this video was published under the title exposing critis ray Attorney reveals the dangers of MPI it is unclear why you would Would just now be releasing a video I shared in the intro of that video why Um, not just in this video in that video why but um and You know that you recorded two years ago especially when so much information you shared on the video is inaccurate outdated based on the current market conditions The timing of the release suggests potential the various motives Regardless in the video the two of you made the following statements using timestamps marked from the better wolf video That's all saying about that comment. All right, so the first Times fam that they use and you'll see if you're following along is minute four minutes 34 seconds to six minutes And this is where I am setting the stage And and this is what they said you discuss it's not like you just discuss the MPI product Um and and further indicate just ray describes his product as the only thing Okay, they say these statements are false and misleading the MPI is a strategy It's not a product and it's never described as a product Moreover, it is never described as the only thing in fact MPI You um and its teams repeatedly explain to its clients and MPI strategies part of a multi strategy approach to his finances Okay, want to be very clear about me setting the stage and depending if the video is up or not you can see what I said in this um as I set the stage as I often do I'm setting the stage and saying like this I'll use this example I have a lot of friends that talk about whole life insurance talk about strategies like infinite banking And I probably a hundred times have said don't over pitch a concept like infinite banking or whole life to make it be better than it really is I I make jokes like um this thing is not gonna save your marriage like some people overhype things And I very much like the more Older I get you can say I just I just don't get I don't love the whole hype fest In my own life in the my friends life And so I was setting the stage. It's like we're talking about somebody that has gone crazy viral on TikTok and videos and all these things on this concept of MPI and so the concept was Um just setting the stage to be like hey This this thing like I there this could be an overhyped product or strategy I'm not necessarily calling any one person out. I'm calling. I'm just setting the stage for if we're gonna say that this is gonna be the end I'll be all let's set the stage Again, this this was not I don't know. I don't know what else to say other than I was setting the stage And I do this all the time and it has nothing to do with Trying to defame somebody's name all that to say that's the only thing that I said In here that they're pointing to me everything else was the guest rocky So I just read you what they said and we'll move on time stamp 830 um Rocky says I can't believe the department of insurance Has not shut him down and then they say under this these statements are derogatory misleading and are designed to scare MPI prospects and clients away from the business the statements are clearly Designed to imply that Ray's less sun core are doing something illegal and that should be shut down by state agency This has not happened and and the statement is false and designed to harm Reputations of Ray and sun core Now we're gonna go to time stamp 936. Why do we want the death benefit to go higher because as an agent I want the commission so the more premium I put in the more commission I make very greedy concept from a life insurance agents point At you which is why agents like it? Okay, I'll share what they write and then I'll give context this statement is misleading and derogatory The statement is clearly designed to make the viewer believe that the only reason Ray and sun core use the strategy is to Precure or potentially higher commission payouts that is false policies are designed as max funded to Suppress the death benefit and commission and and is only increased to maximum the contribution limits and growth potential over time While maintaining max funded status. Okay, just just be clear I'm not speaking for rocky But I went back and watched what he was saying and he was literally talking about hyperfunding the concept of hyperfunding And wasn't even in the statement wasn't saying anything about Curtis or sun core or anything That's just just a point he even says and time stamp 1140 that um to their credit They do things to mech minimum that was um a statement that Curtis said in there and and so I'll just continue to move on um In at time stamp 1035 Anytime somebody in the life insurance or annuity Industry has you sign a non disclosure on something if your radar doesn't go straight up and the hair on the back of your neck Doesn't doesn't stick up and something is wrong with you Um, and then it goes on to they say this statement is misleading and designed to scare customers away from Ray and MPI again statement had nothing to do with MPI or Curtis Ray if you watch the video Rocky is talking through the hyperfunding and rocky has a newsletter of over 50,000 agents He gets all kinds of people emailing him stuff and so whether he's he's referencing Curtis's team with an NDA or not um He's he's continuing to talk about just like oh by the way if people in the financial world like if we at better wealth We're like hey, we're gonna talk about this tax strategy, but we need to for you to set sign this NDA Um, that doesn't make it illegal. That's not illegal at all But is that a red flag? Yes, and if Rocky wants to go into more details of why that's a red flag? He can But that's just like my two cents around that um again in that statement I don't see where they're saying anything anything about Curtis or MPI when it comes to it NDA Okay, uh down in times time 13 13 minutes and 16 seconds maybe there'll be another One and then they've inserted life insurance company Maybe another one would be so stupid to go along with it And then they insert MPI strategy, okay And they they said that this statement is clearly deflamatory implying that any insurance company willing to Agreed to execute the MPI strategy is stupid because the strategy is too risky slash improper mutual volma ha is an eight a plus rated company. It's interesting to me When I interviewed Curtis, he said that multiple and he represents multiple insurance companies In this letter they only mentioned mutual volma ha which is interesting to me mutual volma ha is an a plus rated company Is currently number one in the industry according to investment media and has consistently been among the top rated companies For many years running by the way. I don't think we mentioned in the this video Who what company? Curseworks or or works represents or what they do. So I just want to be clear about that But um there you go and then at 14 minutes 32 seconds your video states that MPI engages in a lack of disclosure to consumer The statement is false MPI unlimited provides all required disclosures to consumer and provides a substantial amount of reference material to consumer It also encourages its consumers to duck their own additional personal Personal investigation. It also encourages its consumers to conduct their own additional personal investigation Okay, time stamp 1546 the problem with the disclaimer is that it's In parentheses the calculator disclaimer is wrong It's underselling the risk. It's got 6.4 in there I heard today that the company lowered the cap from 6.4 to 6.2. So it's an accurate Then they say this statement is grossly Misrepresenting the reality at the time of this recording. They say this a couple times at the time of this recording At the time of this recording the cap rate was 10% your guest is referring to the illustrated rate But he uses the term cap rate which is completely different and blatantly misleading blatantly misleading Okay MPI unlimited adjusted their marketing and calculator according to the carrier's current current accepted illustrated rates Okay, and then under that in addition the calculator reference is not currently showed on the MPI website I wonder why and maybe that's a reason for you to stay until the end for me to share potentially why or anywhere else It's interesting because Yeah, never mind. I'm not gonna say it stay stay in your lane Caleb the Complete information is outdated isn't misleading to the public because your video was from years ago That that's correct their calculator is no longer on MPI website and there may be a reason why that's the case All right, so time stamp 16 minutes the policy he used is using the maximum interest rate is 6% So if you illustrate out 40 years at 4% rate is ludicrous and is certainly not compliant and should be shut down Think what he's talking about is the illustration from a 6% 4% arbitrage and then they say under this This statement is inaccurate at the time of this recording the loan interest rate was 4% as stated in the disclaimer I always love how they say At the time is recording I wonder what the loan interest rate is now The calculations were and continue to be updated to reflect current illustrated rates and and the disclaimer also reflects these rate changes Moreover your guest statement that he cannot believe Ray slash MPI has not been shut down is clearly the Draugatory and intended in injure ray and MPI is slash some quarters business reputation the statement is intended to impug In pug I'm not sure what that word is the character slash integrity of ray Here's what I'll say I won't comment to that. I'll I'll make a general comment When I'm talking to people all different types of people and we're even we'll just take whole life for example When we talk about illustrations and not using illustrations and assuming illustrations are going to be accurate 40 years from now That's not me defaming the insurance company or the person that might be having the illustration like It's literally just stating like an opinion that will be accurate and this is no shot By the way illustrations could be better than what illustrated the idea of using an illustration and banking on 40 years Especially when you're using arbitrage in general not talking about Curtis Of course, I'm not talking about Curtis or MPI I'm talking about like something that I might do would be irresponsible and so I can say that and not be like I'm trying to defame an insurance company or someone's name It's just literally speaking like probably not a good practice and I can speak to myself in that Okay Time stamp 17 minutes 31 seconds to 18 He's what's realistic crediting right question mark What's gonna happen when rates go back up We're gonna have a massive loan and on this policy and we that we can't repay and we have a crediting rate that can be As low as five and a quarter and a lending rate of six now I'm going to have a 75 basis point negative loan arbitrage every single year when is the policy going to implode question mark And so and then it just says these statements are misleading to viewers the average crediting rate is determined by the average crediting of all 25 year period for the past 65 years That is a realistic average however the actual performance of the strategy since Inception is actually higher than illustrated rate more over even though your guest stated It is not realistic to use an average growth rate to project out potential growth He then projected a worse case scenario every year to imply that the policy will implode in addition the assumed crediting rate your Guest uses Substantially lower than both the actual 25 year performance So I don't know if they if because this is where they say like this is clearly defamatory Oh, it says these these statements are misleading to the viewers, okay Um and then at 18 minutes and 47 seconds the fact that he's using the company he uses and the piece of garbage product that he's using is more problematic Um if he was actually using a good product with a good company which would never let him do this the potential outcome would be better because he Would have a fixed lending rate of five and an expected rate of return of five and a half He's got a product with a maximum lending rate of six I believe and really an expected rate of return closer to five And then this is that was the statement and then um below is the attorneys response The savings are a derogatory in accurate intended to fame ray and his business your guest never states which insurance company or companies ray slash-sun core utilized for implementing the MPI strategy Which is true With one being mutual of Omaha which is an a plus rated insurance company and it's currently rated number one in the industry for Investopedia for consecutive years for the exact type of insurance offered and has consistently been among the top insurance companies for many years your guest is clearly trying to imply that MPI strategy is not Implemented by a reputable insurance company which is utterly false in addition as previously stated the numbers your guest provides do not accurately reflect historic averages or current crediting rates There you go guys and by all means I'm looking forward to hearing thoughts in the comments um Again, I'm going to be very careful what I comment and So just going to be very clear about that um for this video then the it goes on to state like law And then their analysis which is just a summary of all the all the things All right, so then we're going to get to the demand which is we're nearing the end And the demand is um pretty much saying we look forward to seeing that the video addressed here in has been removed If we do not hear from you by the close of business on friday September the 27th indicating that the video has been removed Then we will be forced to take legal action against you in your better will business entities Which will include claims of defamation false light and all other claims available under the applicable law As noted herein because the statements made tended to injure ray Suncor An MPI profession trade and business the statements constitute defamation per se Which give rise to not only special damages But also general and non purgatory damages as well Moreover ray and the Suncor will be entitled to presumption of damages Okay And then in addition as you are certainly aware you have compliance obligations with the various insurance companies You work with those compliance obligations typically prohibit you from For example making encouraging or allowing disparaging remarks or providing false information about other products and insurance And but the prohibitation applies to verbal remarks such activities are considered unfair trade practice and are generally prohibited Why law Ray slash MPI So off some core are looking into Notifying those insurance companies because the content in the video may violate your compliance obligation And then signed Byers truly The attorney I say I look forward to him back from you. So here's uh here's My thoughts obviously This has been a long enough video and I'm sure there'll be lots of different feedback And I genuinely look forward to reading your feedback although I'm going to be very careful what I say in the comments For obvious reasons First observation is Only one statement I made and that was very much setting the stage about And I do this almost on every interview So I promise you I'm not trying to defame every single person that I interview But try to set the stage and try not to overemphasize anything I'm a big fan of insurance. I think it's problematic to be try to overemphasize it to be like the end. I'll be all Not talking about Curtis Ray or MPI stretch. I'm talking about myself And so just just be clear like that's like when we set the stage just like hey, let's let's just set the stage here And so that's that that's the thing that I that that's the thing that I said Not sure on the scale of 1 to 10 how um You know False or misleading those are but that's my best try to set the stage and everything else is What rocky said and you can read for yourself and if the video is still up you can watch along um, so I uh there's really three options that I that I can do option number one Is take down the video That probably would have been the easiest option from just a legal standpoint. Just take it down Option number two is do nothing and just keep it up option number three is Well, there's more options, but the option number three is the option that I'm going with option number three is to Make a video like this documenting the journey to be as authentic as possible and Take the video down which I at this point intend to do We have our legal team looking at it and the reason and I can already tell by people are like hey Caleb fight this fight The reason is I Want to make this channel and make content to inspire people to live more intentionally And I want to continue to build momentum and I don't want to spend a ton of time and money On something that's not even my best work like I think it's fair to say that that video that I look like I'm 15 years old It's probably not like the best video of all time. I'm just just being really clear that the intention at this point is to take that video down not because I believe that I did anything wrong, but it's because allegedly my opinion this is not a fact Curtis Ray has a lot more money than me and I don't want to spend a ton of money trying to fight something that Is not core to what we do at our business and what's not core to this channel That's swear math But there's an and and the and to this is I'm going to have rocky differences go back on And we are going to shoot a video and we are going to be extremely black and white On not going to speculate on anything. We are literally going to share Facts and the news of what's happening rocky has two documents from the Washington insurance commissioner That we will go through and and we won't speculate on anything these are documents that Are available are made available to you and Rocky de francisco literally published in his email The links to it and I intend when we have that video That I do with rocky to be able to share exactly what I did with this letter. So for you to see and then I intend to be done with Curtis and that's Curtis Once to come back on and have a conversation. I'm not this this channel where we got bigger and better things to focus on any one person And but that's thought that we're we're going to trend in and I say that because at the time of this recording Our legal team is still looking in and advising me on what I'm doing, but my gut is saying Do a new video with rocky do not speculate just talk about pure fact And take the old video down From the one that they did this but shoot this video telling you exactly why the video is taken down and you can Believe whatever you want to believe because it's America and we have a freedom to believe and freedom of speech and it's amazing thing and that doesn't always Um it's not always convenient, but it's something that makes this country so amazing. So that's all I want to say About this I want to thank every single person from the bottom my heart who has watched the end. Thank you I'm growing a ton. I even want to thank like I'm grateful for letters like this I'm genuinely grateful for Curtis Ray himself Um, and I don't say that since sarcastically like this this grows people And I do believe that there are going to be a future where This will not be the last letter and I'm so grateful for just this journey of of learning and sharpening the saw And there's a lot that I'm learning in this process But um as we continue to grow this platform we're going to get more attention and with more attention comes pros and cons And you could say that this is A con that comes with an amazing growing community But I will take this all day long for the thought of being able to help people of more intentionally and grow And so with that I appreciate all of you that like comment reach out um And I look forward to hearing from so many of you. God bless and take care you