Nouveau Riche was a

multi-level marketing Multi-level marketing (MLM), also called network marketing or pyramid selling, is a controversial marketing strategy for the sale of products or services in which the revenue of the MLM company is derived from a non-salaried workforce selling th ...

company and a non-

accredited Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...

vocational school A vocational school is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational education or technical skills required to complete the tasks ...

specializing in

real estate investing Real estate investing involves the purchase, management and sale or rental of real estate for profit. Someone who actively or passively invests in real estate is called a real estate entrepreneur or a real estate investor. Some investors actively ...

. Class topics ranged from introductory real estate investing to advanced techniques such as creative real estate investing techniques including wholesaling, multi-units, and short sales; examples of course titles are "Fix & Flip" and "Creative Financing." The company takes its name from the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

term

nouveau riche ''Nouveau riche'' (; ) is a term used, usually in a derogatory way, to describe those whose wealth has been acquired within their own generation, rather than by familial inheritance. The equivalent English term is the "new rich" or "new money" ( ...

, which refers to those with "new money," particularly in an ostentatious or vulgar manner, who created wealth within their own generation as opposed to inheriting a family fortune ("

old money Old money is "the inherited wealth of established upper-class families (i.e. gentry, patriciate)" or "a person, family, or lineage possessing inherited wealth". The term typically describes a social class of the rich who have been able to ma ...

"). Nouveau Riche University closed down on December 31, 2010.

The school

Nouveau Riche taught thousands of students from around the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In 2007 more than 9,000 people attended the college. There were three tuition schedules ranging between 30 and 120 instructional hours. Students could designate a partner to attend classes at no additional charge. Classes were taught using the principles of instructional systems design and multiple six-day college sessions were held throughout the year. Those students who were enrolled with the Regents tuition (98 percent of all students) could repeat classes for an additional year and have access to streaming video classrooms for select courses at no additional charge.

History

Nouveau Riche was founded by Jim Piccolo and Mary Piccolo in 2000 with the inception of the company's educational programs occurring in 2002 through collaborative efforts with co-founder Bob Snyder. In December 2002, the corporate headquarters were established in

Scottsdale, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Winfield Scott , image_skyline = , image_seal = Seal of Scottsdale (Arizona).svg , image_blank_emblem = City of Scottsdale Script Logo.svg , nick ...

. Nouveau Riche once had plans to construct a campus facility on a site overlooking the

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

, valley. The campus was estimated to have a cost of $74 million and was planned to have administrative buildings, glass-and-steel classrooms and luxury dorms linked by a man-made river. The design of the complex was headed by Larson Associates Architects, Inc.

Controversy

Fortune Small Business reported that the company's affiliated investment broker, Investor Concierge, markets properties as "positive cash flow", but the cash flow is often positive only because of temporary subsidies, putting the buyer at risk of negative cash flow after the subsidies expire. The three founders have a background from Global Prosperity Group (GPG), which was "designed to be a scheme, device or artifice to defraud". When this scheme collapsed they founded the company Tru Dynamics, a MLM concept that later became the inspiration for the

pyramid scheme A pyramid scheme is a business model that recruits members via a promise of payments or services for enrolling others into the scheme, rather than supplying investments or sale of products. As recruiting multiplies, recruiting becomes quickly im ...

Liberty League International, as several leaders left Tru Dynamics to create their own company.

Arizona Corporations Commission fine

In February 17, 2011, the

Arizona Corporation Commission The Arizona Corporation Commission is the Public Utilities Commission of the State of Arizona, established by Article 15 of the Arizona Constitution. Arizona is one of only fourteen states with elected commissioners. The Arizona Constitution exp ...

announced that " e Commission ordered James Piccolo of Scottsdale, Craig Cottrell of Tempe and Michael Roberts of Scottsdale and their affiliated companies to pay $5,577,226 in restitution and a total of $300,000 in administrative penalties for defrauding 105 investors with unregistered deed of trust investments. The Commission found that the men promoted the unregistered deed of trust investments at real estate education seminars where they convinced students to become investors, promising them double-digit returns."

Notable alumni

Casey Serin Casey Konstantin Serin (born September 10, 1982, legally renamed Casey Constantine in April 2016) is an Uzbekistan-born American blogger, mortgage broker, and real estate investor. In a newspaper article, ''USA Today'' called him the "poster chil ...

(failed real estate investor deemed "the

poster child A poster child (sometimes poster boy or poster girl) is, according to the original meaning of the term, a child afflicted by some disease or deformity whose picture is used on posters or other media as part of a campaign to raise money or enlist ...

for everything that went wrong in the real estate boom" by ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

''.) - in late 2006, Serin attended a week-long course at NRU's location in Phoenix, for which he paid $16,000. Mike Sunnicks of the Phoenix Business Journa
reported
on June 21, 2016, that Nouveau Riche Alumnus Bob Snyder founded Renatus LLC with headquarters in Salt Lake City.

References

{{Multi-level marketing 2000 establishments in the United States 2010 disestablishments in the United States Defunct multi-level marketing companies Educational institutions disestablished in 2010 Educational institutions established in 2000 Finance fraud Unaccredited institutions of higher learning in the United States