David Sharpe Net Worth: What the Record Shows

Executive Summary

Disclosure first. Rob Fore, the editor of topearners.net, was an Empower Network affiliate and one of its Top Producers at the time David Sharpe co-founded the company and served as its President, a post Sharpe left in April 2014. The editor’s own record holds a $232,865 Empower check dated 19 January 2013 and says Dave Wood and David Sharpe presented it on stage [the editor’s own record]. The editor has no position with Legendary Marketer. Because of that history, this profile reports the two lawsuits that named Sharpe and the end of his company as plainly as its growth, and the grade below was set by the same published standard as every other dossier.

The model. David Sharpe, of St. Petersburg, Florida, founded Legendary Marketer, an online marketing-education company that ran from 2017 until he closed it in 2026 CORROBORATED: BBB start date; Inc.; the farewell page’s “9 Unforgettable Years”. For most of its life it sold a $7 challenge through commissioned affiliates. Inside the challenge, buyers were booked onto calls with company “advisors”, who sold $2,500 business “Blueprints” and $8,000 to $12,000 masterminds, and PRO affiliates earned 40 to 60% of each sale VERIFIED: archived compensation plan, 7 Apr 2019; NBC News, 21 Mar 2024. NBC’s interviewees said they were told they would earn a $1,000 commission for each $2,500 Blueprint they resold; one said she made no money at all VERIFIED: NBC. Before all this he co-founded Empower Network with David Wood, launched on 31 Oct 2011, and was its President from about October 2011 to April 2014 VERIFIED: Empower’s 2015 complaint ¶9, read as an Exa-relayed copy; TINA.org’s 10 Jun 2014 update. Empower wound down in 2017 under Wood, who said that August it “is going bankrupt”; no bankruptcy petition has been located, and Florida’s index shows its registration inactive VERIFIED as Wood’s statement; VERIFIED negative; see Dossier #44.

The closure. Sharpe announced on 16 February 2026 that Legendary Marketer would close after nine years CORROBORATED: an affiliate’s on-screen reading the next day plus same-day write-ups; no primary copy captured. Members kept access and affiliates could withdraw balances until 31 March 2026 CORROBORATED, and one write-up, Red Hot Reviews, gives 28 February as the last day commissions were earned [single source]. As that affiliate read the announcement aloud, “Technology and the way people learn and build businesses has changed dramatically.” Red Hot Reviews prints the next sentence as “Platforms, hosting, events, and long-form course delivery have become expensive and increasingly outdated compared to faster, simpler tools that exist today.” CORROBORATED. Since at least 16 May 2026 the whole domain shows one line: “Thank You For 9 Unforgettable Years! Be Legendary!” VERIFIED. The operating corporation is still listed Active in Florida, and no receiver, bankruptcy filing or regulator appears in any record read CORROBORATED: Sunbiz index via Exa; VERIFIED negative within scope, with the FTC site search still incomplete.

The legal record. Two private federal suits have named him, and both are closed. In May 2015 Empower Network sued him and his company, Sharpe Consulting Group, Inc., alleging trade-secret misappropriation by both and breach of contract by him over an affiliate list (M.D. Fla. 8:15-cv-01165). Empower filed a notice of voluntary dismissal on 1 June; the court closed the case on 2 June, and that afternoon Empower amended the notice to say the dismissal was with prejudice VERIFIED: PacerMonitor docket and complaint, read via Exa. On 28 March 2019 a proposed class action under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, Shanahan v. Formula 5 Capital, Inc. (D. Neb. 8:19-cv-00135), named him as “a natural person doing business as LEGENDARY MARKETER” and alleged at least 25 calls to the plaintiff, including a prerecorded call promoting legendarymarketer.com VERIFIED: complaint; allegations unadjudicated. He answered on 6 June 2019 and was dismissed with prejudice by stipulation on 10 July 2019; no class was certified, and the whole case was dismissed with prejudice on 3 February 2020 VERIFIED: CourtListener docket. An FTC FOIA log entry from 2023 reads “Records concerning class action lawsuit against David Sharpe and Legendary Marketer”; that it refers to Shanahan is probable but not proven VERIFIED entry; INFERRED link.

How it was marketed. The proof engine was Wake Up Legendary, a weekday live show on Facebook where Sharpe interviewed customers about their first results; the company counts “over 1,000 interviews of successful students”, and its podcast feed holds 1,251 episodes from January 2021 to July 2025 VERIFIED. The reach belonged to the affiliates, whose TikTok and Instagram videos sent buyers to the challenge CORROBORATED: 2020 show titles; NBC. In March 2024 NBC reported that buyers called that advertising misleading and that the Better Business Bureau had removed the company’s A rating and opened an investigation; Sharpe told NBC he took “all feedback seriously” VERIFIED: NBC; complaints unadjudicated. Three months later the company stopped accepting new affiliates “until further notice” pending “a thorough review of social media accounts, funnels, and overall marketing practices” VERIFIED: Wayback, 17 Jun 2024. Its last product reversed the old pitch: Pack & Profit promised buyers “No ‘High-Ticket’ Closers Calling You” while the launch stream told affiliates of “Earnings potential over $2,000+ per referral” VERIFIED. In September 2025 he also posted that he had made “$40,000 in commissions” as an ordinary OfferLab affiliate VERIFIED as his statement.

Income evidence: C+. Inc. ranked the company No. 3,576 in 2022 and No. 1,667 in 2023 CORROBORATED: Inc. profile via Exa + LM’s archived 2023 post, and Tampa Bay Business & Wealth alone reports 336% three-year growth CORROBORATED, single secondary. His own totals are claims with dates: “close to a $100 million in sales” for Empower (January 2014), “$150MM” (March 2015), “$250 million in career sales” on the company’s website as NBC quoted it (March 2024), “$136 Million of information” (November 2025), “over $100 million in courses and coaching” (December 2025) and “$150M” (September 2026) VERIFIED as claims.

Now. The last front end, the $25 Pack & Profit Challenge launched on 17 November 2025, is gone; packandprofit.com no longer resolves VERIFIED: DNS, 16 Oct 2026. His YouTube channel (@davidsharpelive, 43.2K subscribers) was silent from 21 December 2025 to 12 September 2026 and has since posted 44 Shorts, with a median of 244 views, plus one long-form video, none of them selling anything VERIFIED: watch pages to the morning of 16 Oct 2026.

The Edge

“Story + Phone” (2017 to 2025) [PARTIALLY REPLICABLE]. The redemption story he has told since 2014, a ninth-grade dropout, heroin, homelessness, arrests and sobriety since 2008, answers a buyer’s distrust before it is voiced, and he tells the Empower chapter instead of hiding it VERIFIED as his telling. The transferable part is the phone layer. A $7 product bought a scheduled conversation, and company advisors rather than affiliates sold the $2,500 and larger products, so a beginner with no sales skill could still be paid a $1,000 commission VERIFIED: 2019 plan; NBC. Paying single-level commissions of 40 to 60% on every rung turned thousands of social creators into the sales force VERIFIED rates; INFERRED effect.

The closure tests the edge. The three parts that built the company also carried the costs that ended it. Closer-led selling drew NBC’s 2024 report and the BBB’s withdrawal of its A rating; the affiliate army drew the June 2024 halt on new applicants, made “in coordination with 3rd party legal and compliance experts”; and the custom platform carried the hosting and development costs his announcement named VERIFIED events; INFERRED linkage. His last product was sold on the opposite promise, “No ‘High-Ticket’ Closers Calling You”, and the record does not show whether it was a last attempt or a planned bridge VERIFIED quote; UNKNOWN intent.

What to copy and what to leave. Anyone with a $1,000-plus offer can copy the mechanic: content earns a small commitment, and a human converts the large one INFERRED. The story does not copy, and the affiliate army needs owned products, closers and a payout system INFERRED. Leave behind income-implying affiliate videos without typicality data (the company’s 2018 disclaimer said “the vast majority of Affiliates will not derive an income”), a three-day rescission window on a $2,500 product, “lifetime access” sold on a platform that can close, and career totals that count another company’s sales VERIFIED examples.

Journey

1983: Born, by his own account. VERIFIED as his statement

2008: Turns himself in, enters a 15-month treatment program and starts over on his father’s couch. VERIFIED as his statements

2009 to 2011: Telemarketing and direct sales, then online training for network marketers. VERIFIED as his statements

9 September 2011: Sharpe Consulting Group, Inc. is incorporated in Florida. CORROBORATED

31 October 2011: Empower Network launches with David Wood; Sharpe is co-founder and President. VERIFIED

April 2014: Leaves Empower, citing health at the time. VERIFIED

March 2015: Runs “The $150-Million Case Study” webinars. VERIFIED

15 May to 3 June 2015: Empower sues him and his company; Empower’s own dismissal closes the case. VERIFIED, Exa-relayed docket

March 2016: Registers legendarymarketer.com as a network-marketing recruiting blog. VERIFIED

2017: Legendary Marketer opens as an education company. CORROBORATED

August 2017: Wood says Empower “is going bankrupt”; no petition is ever located. VERIFIED as Wood’s statement

28 March 2019: Named in a TCPA robocall class action in Nebraska; dismissed as to him with prejudice on 10 July 2019. VERIFIED

April 2019: The published ladder runs from $2,500 Blueprints to $12,000 masterminds. VERIFIED

2022 and 2023: Inc. 5000 at No. 3,576, then No. 1,667. CORROBORATED

21 March 2024: NBC News reports buyer complaints; the BBB drops the A rating and opens an investigation. VERIFIED

June 2024: New affiliate applications stop pending legal review. VERIFIED

17 November 2025: Pack & Profit launches at $25, selling “information I packed once” by its own page. VERIFIED

16 February 2026: Announces the closure; the final Wake Up Legendary live airs on 18 February. CORROBORATED

31 March 2026: The platform closes. CORROBORATED

12 September 2026: Returns to YouTube with near-daily Shorts and no offer. VERIFIED

Score Note

This dossier scores 54, Tier 2, cohort Program. The label “Challenge-to-phone ladder (closed)” describes a machine that ran for nine years and stopped by its owner’s decision.

Income: 22/40. He owned and ran a company that Inc. ranked two years in a row, under a Florida corporation that has filed since 2011 CORROBORATED. Docked because no record shows his own pay, his published totals contradict one another and include Empower’s sales, and nothing shows income since the company closed in March 2026 UNKNOWN.

Audience: 13/30. 43.2K YouTube subscribers, a median Short of 244 views and recent long-form videos between 300 and 600 views VERIFIED. Docked because the reach that mattered, thousands of affiliates and the Wake Up Legendary audience, dispersed with the closure, and Instagram and Facebook could not be measured UNKNOWN.

Activity: 10/20. Near-daily Shorts since 12 September 2026 VERIFIED. Docked for the nine-month silence before that, a podcast feed that stopped in July 2025, and no offer or list capture VERIFIED.

Dossier value: 9/10. A full lifecycle of a high-ticket affiliate education company is on the record, from its price ladder and commission table to its disclaimers, two lawsuits and its shutdown terms VERIFIED. The lesson for a reader is concrete: the phone layer that made the model work is copyable, and the same layer, with the affiliate army and the custom platform, carried the complaints and costs that preceded the closure. Held back from full marks because his own pay, the announcement’s primary text and the company’s ad history are all missing UNKNOWN.

Three facts behind the score. (1) No caution flag. Neither suit that named him produced a finding, and both are closed; no regulator has acted against him or his companies; and Empower Network’s later collapse came after he left in April 2014, which is also why Dossier #44 does not rest its own flag on it. (2) The company is documented and he is not. Two Inc. 5000 listings confirm the scale, while every figure about his own money is a claim. (3) The company ended on an announced schedule. He set a closing date, kept member access open until 31 March 2026, the corporation is still listed Active, and his channel now carries no offer at all.