Pictured Above: Beverly Hills Listing; Below: Lopez Advertisement removed due to "deceptive practices"
A new YouTube advertisement by self-help marketer Tai Lopez entitled "Here in My Backyard" appears to display a home that is likely not owned by Mr. Lopez. The ad is a follow up to a now famous and parodied advertisement, "Here in My Garage", where Lopez shows expensive cars he claims to own and offers to help others achieve wealth.
A video by h3h3Productions entitled "The Tai Lopez Conspiracy" shows a home with a short-term rental advertisement on Zillow.com designed and decorated exactly as it is displayed in Mr. Lopez's video. Mr. Lopez claims in the video that the home, which is located in Beverly Hills, is his own home in his YouTube advertisement. However, records show it was last purchased in 1996 by 62 year old Marc Bohbot and 55 year old Michelle Bohbot. Michelle Bohbot is a notable fashion designer and creator of the Bisou Bisou brand that is licensed to JC Penney Company (JCP) Inc. The home was listed for sale for 44 million and removed as a listing in May 2013. The listing was offered by Steven Bohbot, the son of Marc and Michelle Bohbot. In April 2015 it was listed for rent and went through at least seven price reductions through August 2015, where it was listed at $75,000 a month. The listing was offered again by Steven Bohbot, the son of Marc and Michelle Bohbot, who is also a licensed broker and whose name appears to be affiliated with Bradley Simmons Realty.
It is unclear for how long Mr. Lopez is renting the property but clear that Lopez wants his viewers to believe that he owns the property. YouTube parent Google - Now AlphaBet Inc. (GOOG) - has a policy on scam advertising stating, "Some users create content which attempts to trick others for their own financial gain. Content that deliberately tries to mislead users for financial gain may be removed, and in some cases strikes may be issued to the uploader. Please be wary of claims that seem too good to be true, as they likely are." In addition to the suspected misleading claims, it is also unclear how much financial benefit Mr. Lopez and Alphabet Inc. have achieved on these potentially deceptive advertisements. In both advertisements Mr. Lopez appears to use his own purported wealth to lure in customers for his self-help products.
[Note: Another video posted shows evidence that his cars are also rented.]
2017 Update: It appears that "Here in My Backyard" was removed by Google due to, "violating YouTube's policy on spam, deceptive practices, and scams." There was a great line in that video:
"This is where I like to read a book and stuff like that."
Also, "Here in My Garage" appears to have been filmed at 8425 Hillside Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90069. This is the same address where a journalist from VICE interviewed Mr. Lopez in September 2015 and was told that Lopez was the "owner" of the home. However, records suggest that the home is owned by Colecrest LLC whose owner is Craig Walton, a Los Angeles building contractor (who also owns other homes). The home was last purchased in 1997 for $117,045, according to records online. In other words, Mr. Lopez seems to be caught in another lie.
