US Feds TARGETING CRIMINAL Prosecution of Diet & Supplements Players / Advertisers??? (10)
US Feds TARGETING CRIMINAL Prosecution of Diet & Supplements Players / Advertisers???
Dietary supplements industry in crosshairs as law enforcement prepares to announce charges
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...ounce-charges/
The Justice Department said it has planned a news conference for 3:30 p.m. in Washington to discuss the “results of a sweep involving the unlawful advertising and sale of dietary supplements.”
It was not immediately clear which companies would be named in the investigation or what type of charges would be filed. But, in the meantime, investors fled some of the industry’s biggest players.
Shares of GNC, Vitamin Shoppe and Herbalife all plunged ahead of the announcement. GNC’s stock fell as much as 20 percent, while Vitamin Shoppe and Herbalife were down 6 percent and 2 percent respectively.
Spokespersons for GNC and Vitamin Shoppe did not immediately return calls for comment. An Herbalife spokesman said the company did not believe that it was connected to the Justice Department announcement.
The dietary supplements industry has been under assault for some time. In April, more than a dozen state attorney generals asked Congress to launch an investigation into herbal supplements in and a recent study in the British Journal of Cancer found a potential connection between men who took muscle-building supplements and the risk of developing testicular cancer. The New York attorney general’s office ordered four retailers — GNC, Target, Walgreens and Wal-Mart — to halt sales of some supplements after DNA tests showed that they did not always contain the herbs advertised.
Health experts have long complained that supplements, which are not considered a food or drug, are too loosely regulated and pose a safety hazard to consumers. The companies are required to ensure that their products are safe and accurately labeled, experts say, but there is little federal oversight.
Health experts have complained that the lightly-regulated supplements industry posed dangers to consumers.
Justice Department officials are expected to be joined at the news conference by officials from the Food and Drug Administration, Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.
so is this for affaliates or just the scammers that were named above?
Originally Posted by maybach
From the recap (I'm too lazy to retype this - the all caps aren't mine)
"I AM THE ACTING DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR THE FTC'S BUREAU OF CONSUMER PROTECTION ... WE ARE PLEASED TO PARTICIPATE AS PART OF THE FTC'S ONGOING CONSUMER PROTECTION MISSION TO COMBAT DECEPTIVE AND UNFAIR MARKETING PRACTICES IN CONNECTION WITH DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS.
...
WE ARE ALSO SEEKING MONETARY RELIEF FROM A NUMBER OF COMPANIES INVOLVED IN WEIGHT LOSS SCAMS. WE SETTLED WITH SEVERAL DEFENDANTS INVOLVED IN A CLASSIC WEIGHT LOSS SCAM PROMISING RAPID, DRAMATIC WEIGHT LOSS WITH BOGUS X WORDS AND FAKE SCIENTIFIC -- EXPERTS AND FAKE SCIENTIFIC SCAMS. MANY INDIVIDUALS CAPITALIZED ON THE GREEN COFFEE BEAN FAD, FIRST TOUTED ON THE DR. OZ SHOW. MARKETERS MUST COMPLY. THE FTC WILL CONTINUE TO BE AN ACTIVE PRESENCE IN THE SUPPLEMENT MARKETPLACE ."
so is the crackdown only on US offers? are EU offers still alright?
wait how the fuck do these faggot FBI pricks have time to fuck with marketers when they have ISIS and all these other pieces of shit in the world blowing shit up. Fuck this country the priories are sooo god damn backwards its retarted as shit
"Officials from the Justice Department joined a half-dozen other federal agencies Tuesday to announce the results of a nationwide sweep of firms marketing dietary supplements promising muscle gain, weight loss and other health improvements.
In all more than 100 firms have been charged with fraud or other civil offenses, according to the government.
An 11-count indictment has been unsealed today against USPlabs LLC, a Dallas firm that formerly manufactured highly popular workout and weight loss supplements. The indictment charges USPlabs, S.K. Laboratories Inc. and their operators with a variety of charges related to the sale of those products. The announcement was made today at a news conference in Washington, D.C. in which officials announced a nationwide sweep of dietary supplement makers and marketers.
A statement from the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, John Parker, said the indictment included 11 counts. The following were charged with a variety of offenses related to illegal sale of dietary supplements, Parker said.
Additionally, USPlabs, and three of its executives are charged with obstruction of a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proceeding and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The defendants include:
Jacobo Geissler, 39, of University Park, Texas, the CEO of USPlabs
Jonathan Doyle, 37, of Dallas, the president of USPlabs;
Matthew Hebert, 37, of Dallas, responsible for product packaging design at USPlabs
Kenneth Miles, 69, of Panama City, Florida, the quality assurance executive in charge of compliance at USPlabs
S.K. Laboratories, Inc.;
Sitesh Patel, 32, of Irvine, California, the vice president of S.K. Laboratories
Cyril Willson, 34, of Gretna, Nebraska, a consultant to USPlabs, are charged with various counts associated with the unlawful sale of dietary supplements.
Parker said all of the defendants but Doyle and Miles were arrested earlier Tuesday. He said the FDA and Internal Revenue Service agents seized assets in dozens of investment accounts, real estate in Dallas County, and a number of luxury and sports cars.
Additionally, USPlabs, Geissler, Doyle and Hebert are charged with obstruction of a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proceeding and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The indictment also alleges that the company imported ingredients from China and then lied about the source and nature of those ingredients after it put them in its products.
Benjamin Mizer, a deputy assistant attorney general at the DOJ, announced the indictment in a Washington press conference Tuesday.
“As alleged in the indictment unsealed today, the defendants were on a perpetual search for the next miracle ingredient,” Mizer said. “That search generally focused on Chinese chemical manufacturers. When they found an ingredient that they believed was promising–and knowing full well how the market for dietary supplements operated–they doctored packaging, labeling, and other paperwork to defraud others about what the product was.
USPlabs marketed and sold its products nationwide without first seeking FDA approval for ingredients found to have sickened and harmed consumers, according to a federal affidavit attached to the search warrants. USPlabs continued to sell products with a dangerous and illegal stimulant, dimethylamylamine, known as DMAA, in 2013 after being warned about it a year before by the FDA, the affidavit said.
The federal agency banned DMAA in 2012 and ordered several companies to remove it from their products.
An indictment is an accusation by a federal grand jury, and a defendant is entitled to the presumption of innocence unless proven guilty.
Upon conviction, however, the maximum statutory penalties are: conspiracy to commit wire fraud and each wire fraud count – 20 years and a $250,000 fine; conspiracy to commit money laundering – 20 years and a $500,000 fine, or twice the value of property involved in the transaction; obstruction of an agency proceeding and conspiracy to introduce misbranded food – five years and a $250,000 fine; introduction of adulterated food into interstate commerce with an intent to defraud and mislead – three years and a $10,000 fine; and introduction of misbranded food into interstate commerce and the introduction of adulterated dietary supplement into interstate commerce – one year and a $10,000 fine."
from http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/20...-upslabs.html/ and http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndtx/pr/...icers-indicted
So they took down one product because it caused cancer + sued the hell out of everyone that has a link with the company.
Sounds pretty OK to me.
I don't see any affiliatenetworks or big nutra affiliates being mentioned.
Looks like our industry is safe for now.
Originally Posted by vitalis
Originally Posted by maybach
Home > General > Affiliate Marketing Forum