????2006年12月份，基思·伍德維爾打開羅斯·摩爾寄來的圣誕禮物時，他就知道出問題了。伍德維爾和摩爾的經歷非常相似：兩人都是猶他州摩門教徒，畢業于楊百瀚大學（Brigham Young University），都當過律師，2001年911后在迸發的愛國熱情驅使下決定為國獻身，加入了美國中央情報局（CIA）同一個培訓項目，兩人很快就成了死黨。隨著雙方的妻子相互熟識，孩子們在一起玩耍，他們的生活也進一步交織在一起。到2006年底時，伍德維爾仍在這家情報機構服役，以美國駐澳大利亞大使館雇員的身份，搜集東南亞情報。而摩爾已經厭倦了這項工作的種種要求，回到了猶他州重新當他的老百姓。

????這年12月，伍德維爾收到了摩爾寄來的圣誕禮物。這是一張勵志DVD《秘密》（The Secret），朗達·拜恩寫的這本書后來成了暢銷書。“你是宇宙中最強大的磁場！你本身擁有比世界上任何東西都強大的磁場，”這就是該書中典型的一段。這張DVD講述如何運用這種磁力引來財富。

????但一張新世紀式的勵志DVD絕不可能對伍德維爾產生吸引力。他只關注事實和證據，一絲不茍，典型的執法人員形象——身材強壯、穿灰色西服、留著極短的寸頭。伍德維爾對這份禮物感到很困惑。“我意識到會有什么事發生，”他現在描述當時的狀況稱。

????幾個月后，摩爾寫電子郵件給伍德維爾說，他投資的一只私募基金專門購買、轉售被低估所謂房屋，正在帶來難以置信的回報——每個月10%。這只基金的不尋常之處在于，這似乎不僅僅是錢。它支撐了這樣一種信念：不打算依賴政府告訴他們什么地方投資安全的人們需要特立獨行和自力更生。摩爾不僅將自己的積蓄投入了這家基金，還在為它做法律工作以及招募新投資者。伍德維爾喜歡簡單普通的共同基金，他是那種認為只要買入幾只股票，生活就會充滿危機的人。他沒有理睬摩爾提出的幫他買入基金的建議。

????對于摩爾而言，賺取公務員工資的歲月已經遠去，他將盡情享受新的優裕生活。他帶妻子去了加勒比海度假。幾個月后當伍德維爾去看他時，摩爾向這位好友展示了最令他驕傲的新車：一輛異彩流光的紅色雷克薩斯（Lexus）。

????當晚，摩爾攜妻子共同觀看了伍德維爾妻子在教堂的小提琴獨奏演出后，摩爾提出了建議：伍德維爾應當放棄在美國中央情報局的工作，和他一起干。除了成功的房地產投資外，摩爾解釋說，他還計劃創立一家人生教練公司，肯定能大獲成功。“如果你愿意離開情報部門，”摩爾告訴他的朋友說。“我們應當一起干。”

????只要能找到公司進行投資，眼前這樣的場景就會不斷上演——在酒吧、辦公室、在后院露臺，在世界上任何地方，朋友勸朋友加入各種各樣的風險投資（或冒險）。”

????Keith Woodwell knew something was amiss the moment he unwrapped the Christmas present from Ross Moore. Woodwell and Moore -- both Utahans, both Mormons, both graduates of Brigham Young University, both lawyers -- had become tight friends after both, in parallel bursts of patriotism inspired by 9/11, decided to devote themselves to their country and entered the same CIA training program. Their lives had intertwined further as their wives had become close and their children played together. By late 2006, Woodwell was serving in the spy agency, posing as a U.S. embassy employee in Australia while gathering intelligence on Southeast Asia. Moore had tired of the demands of the job and moved back to Utah, a civilian once again.

????That December, Woodwell received a Christmas present from Moore in the mail. It was a copy of?The Secret, an inspiration-oriented DVD that later became a bestselling book by Rhonda Byrne. "You are the most powerful magnet in the universe! You contain a magnetic power within you that is more powerful than anything in this world," went a typical passage. The DVD described how to use that magnet to attract wealth.

????A New Agey self-help video was the last thing that would appeal to Woodwell. He's the sort of man who concerns himself with concrete facts and evidence -- the very picture of buttoned-up law enforcement intensity with his solid physique, gray suits, and a buzz cut that leaves him a millimeter short of full baldness. Woodwell was taken aback by the gift. "I realized something was up," he says now.

????A few months later Moore e-mailed to tell Woodwell he was making fabulous returns -- 10% a month -- in a private fund that bought undervalued houses and resold them. The fund was unusual in that it seemed to be about more than money: It espoused a dogma that stressed individualism and self-reliance for the type of person who wasn't going to rely on the government to tell him where it's safe to invest. Moore wasn't just putting his savings into the fund; he was doing legal work for it and recruiting new investors as well. Woodwell, who favors?plain-vanilla mutual funds, is the type of person who considers buying a few shares of an individual stock as living dangerously. He ignored Moore's offer to help him buy in.

????The days of public sector salaries were gone for Moore, it seemed, and he was reveling in his new affluence. He took his wife on a Caribbean vacation. And when Woodwell visited a few months later, Moore showed off his newest and proudest possession: a gleaming red Lexus.

????That night, after Moore and his wife attended a violin recital by Woodwell's wife at their church, Moore made his pitch: Woodwell should give up his CIA job and join him. In addition to the successful real estate investments, Moore explained, he was planning to start a life-coaching business that he was certain would be a success. "If you're ready to leave the agency," Moore told his friend, "we should work together."

????For as long as there have been businesses to invest in, scenes like this have played out -- in bars, in offices, on backyard decks -- with buddies wooing buddies to join them in every type of venture (and adventure) under the sun.