Tony Robbins May Have Been Conned by a Mad Scientist

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Cult-followed self-help guru Tony Robbins wagered hundreds of millions of dollars on a breakthrough technology that seeks to turn coal into clean energy — but according to new reporting from The Wall Street Journal, proof that the tech works remains scant.

Per the WSJ, the ambitious tech in question claims to use "quantum reformers" to transform coal, a heavily polluting fossil fuel that much of the planet is currently trying to move away from, into hydrogen — meaning that, if it works, it stands to turn the coal industry of the past into clean, climate-friendly energy. And the scientist behind the plot, according to the WSJ? A person named Simon Hodson, who's described in the report as a "white-haired California scientist with a background in cement and food packaging."

Robbins, also an accused sexual predator, was reportedly so taken with the quantum coal machine and its creator that in September 2022 he pledged a staggering $200 million to the project, dubbed Omnis. Soon thereafter, he and Hodson took over an inoperative coal-fired energy facility in West Virginia.

"If I'm wrong, I lose all that," Robbins told the paper in an April interview, referring to the $200 million cash infusion. Robbins has published multiple books about personal finance, which boast titles like "Unshakeable: Your Financial Freedom Playbook" and "The Holy Grail of Investing." (The latter book, as the WSJ notes, glowingly describes the self-helper's first Omnis encounter.)

But years into the venture, according to the WSJ, Omnis has strikingly little to show for all of its world-changing promises.

Fire Flames

According to the WSJ, Omnis was founded in 2014 and made a big splash in 2017 when it teamed up with the coal producer Consol Energy to convert Pennsylvania waste coal into "fertilizer and other products." Upon Robbins' cash infusion, Omnis — which had already inked a deal with West Virginia government to construct modular homes using coal products  — took over an out-of-use coal energy plant in West Virginia, where it got to work on its coal-into-quantum-hydrogen scheme.

Robbins wasn't the only backer. The project has also captured the attention of major West Virginia lawmakers and influential energy barons, with the state approving a "$50 million low-interest loan" for Omnis' miracle power plant, despite there continuing to be no public proof that the concept works. Hodson has elsewhere raised money and inked deals for other projects in the state, including an effort to build modular homes, but has yet to follow-through on those plans. Also, per the WSJ, Omnis' Pennsylvania plant was destroyed in a May fire.

According to the report, a spokesperson for Robbins claims that the cult-followed figure was recently returned $75 million from Omnis, which is now going by a new name: Omnigen. So, in a spot of good news for Robbins, it looks like the alleged sex pest won't have to resort to shacking up in one of Hodson's missing modular houses.

The West Virginia plant, meanwhile, is still burning coal.

More on maybe-probably related stories: Elizabeth Holmes Says She Can't Afford $250 per Month to Pay Back Victims

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