Robert McNulty took the Tryp securities fraud scheme to his grave.

The founder and CEO of the collapsed rideshare MLM died in May 2021 at age 75, lying on his deathbed as Washington state regulators prepared to nail him with a cease and desist order for securities fraud. McNulty never saw the enforcement action arrive.

Tryp's con ran simple but effective. Through its Founders Club program, McNulty and his company pitched stock options to recruits hungry for a piece of what he promised would be a multi-million dollar advertising blitz. He name-dropped Shaquille O'Neal as an endorser. He dangled valuations of $75 a share to lure people in.

One Washington resident took the bait in 2018. A Tryp agent explained that signing up for the rideshare network would grant access to company stock options. McNulty called the resident directly. He painted a glossy picture of Tryp's future and pitched him on buying $100,000 worth of stock.

The resident could only scrape together $25,000. He wired it.

Tryp sent back a stock certificate for 33,000 shares at roughly $0.76 per share. According to McNulty's pitch, those shares would eventually be worth $75 each once Tryp went public. Do the math. The resident was being sold a dream of a $2.5 million windfall from a $25,000 investment.

McNulty never disclosed his litigation history. He never explained the actual financial condition of the company. He never provided any reasonable basis for claiming those shares would hit $75. He and Tryp simply offered unregistered securities in violation of federal law—neither was registered with the SEC.

When BehindMLM reviewed Tryp in January 2019, the scheme was already clear. The rideshare MLM eventually collapsed in January 2020. McNulty pivoted, relaunching the operation as Trip Delivers, a non-MLM food delivery service. It started in Tennessee, expanded to Florida, and failed like everything else McNulty touched.

By May 2021, as cancer ate at the 75-year-old, Washington's Department of Financial Institutions was preparing paperwork to serve him the cease and desist order. Regulators never got the chance to hand it over.

There's no indication the resident who wired $25,000 ever saw a return on those promised $75-a-share valuations. Tryp stock never went public. The company imploded. The money vanished.

McNulty took the scheme with him when he died.

🤖 Quick Answer

What was the Tryp securities fraud scheme?
Tryp was a rideshare MLM founded by Robert McNulty that defrauded investors through its Founders Club program. The scheme offered stock options to recruits, promising access to multi-million dollar advertising campaigns and stock valuations of $75 per share, falsely leveraging celebrity endorsements like Shaquille O'Neal to attract victims.

When did Robert McNulty die?
Robert McNulty, founder and CEO of Tryp, died in May 2021 at age 75. He passed away while lying on his deathbed as Washington state regulators prepared to issue a cease and desist order against him for securities fraud, which he never witnessed.

How did Tryp recruit victims into the fraud?
Tryp recruited victims through its Founders Club program by promising stock options tied to rideshare network participation. The company lever

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