Burgeoning Ally: Proof that EF Hutton Owns Champion City News?

The views expressed on this blog are mine alone, and they do not reflect the views and opinions of any group, board, organization, or employer I may be affiliated with.

In my last post, I addressed an article from Champion City News about EF Hutton. In that post, I addressed Champion City News and EF Hutton as if they were separate entities.

But I'll be honest... from the outset, I have suspected that Champion City News is not an independent news outlet. In fact, it has been my assumption that EF Hutton is behind the news site.

I made no such assertion in my last post, and when people asked me about it in Facebook comments, I refrained from speculating. I did not want to make assertions that I could not support (because, I apparently have more journalistic integrity than Champion City News does).

Sure, there were the rumors I'd heard from others, but those were all hearsay.

And yes, it's true that people have contacted me since my post circulated on Facebook... some of whom claim to have been at the company when EF Hutton launched the new website... but these eyewitnesses have asked to remain anonymous. Anonymous tipsters are often helpful, but they sometimes feel inadequate for proving anything beyond a shadow of a doubt.

So, I've had my suspicions, but I have not been able to draw any tangible connection between Champion City News and EF Hutton.

Until I read the Terms of Service.

I found something interesting, and I would like to share it with you. Before I do, I'll need to give you just a tiny bit of background information.

We are going to talk about Meggalife. What is Meggalife? It's a product/service/platform created by EF Hutton. This is no secret, there have been press releases about it and EF Hutton celebrates Meggalife as their brand. But, if you'd like to see proof, here's a picture from the Meggalife website linking Meggalife to EF Hutton. (I'll be sharing some screenshots here... if you have trouble reading the text in the images, you can click on each picture to enlarge it in most browsers, or follow the link to see the source).

Meggalife.com/pages/how

Not only that, the Terms of Service Page on Meggalife's website names the headquarters to be One Main Street, which is EF Hutton's address. Here, take a look:

These Terms also mention Megga, Inc. Megga, Inc. is a subsidiary of HUTN, Inc. HUTN, Inc. is the parent company of EF Hutton. You can read their most recent financial statement to see what I mean (this can be accessed by clicking here).

HUTN, Inc Financial Statement

Okay, so what did I find?

I noticed an interesting link between the Champion City News website and EF Hutton's Meggalife website. And, believe it or not, it all came from the Terms of Service. (Terms can be accessed here for CCN and here for Meggalife).

Let's start small. Take a look at EF Hutton's Meggalife Terms of Service. When were they last updated?

Meggalife Terms of Service Page on Feb 16, 2018

The Meggalife Terms of Service were most recently updated on November 7, 2017. I wonder when the Champion City News Terms of Service were last updated.