Index to Information about Herbalife International
Herbalife International, founded in 1980, markets dietary supplements, herbs, weight-management products, and personal care products. Early History Herbalife’s Early Days (1980-1986) Herbalife Criticized at SenateĀ Hearings (1985) Herbalife Hearings, Part II (1985) ) Deposition of Mark Hughes (Herbalife founder, 4/25/88) Regulatory Actions California Attorney General Action (1985-1986) Herbalife Agrees to Pay $850,000Ā Penalty (1986) Complaint (1985) Permanent Injunction (1986) FDA Notice of Adverse Findings (1992) FDA warning letter (2014) U.S. Federal Trade Commission Settlement (2016) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Settlement (2019) Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Settlement (2020) Press Release Criminal Infoirmation Deferred Prosecution Agreement Class-Action Suits Jacobs v. Herbalife Complaint Settlement Chen v. HerbalifeĀ Bostick vs. Herbalife Complaint Settlement Lavigne vs. Herbalife Appeals Court Upholds Class Certification Other Information Herbalife Founder/Chairman Mark Hughes Found Dead at …
Continue Reading >Herbalife Agrees to Pay $123 Million to Resolve Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Case
U.S. Department of Justice Press Release, August 28, 2020 Audrey Strauss, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York (āSDNYā), and Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian C. Rabbitt of the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice (āDOJā) announced today the filing of criminal chargesĀ against HERBALIFE NUTRITION, LTD., a multinational corporation headquartered in Los Angeles, for conspiring to violate the books and records provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (āFCPAā). The charges arise out of a decade-long scheme by HERBALIFE to falsify books and records and provide corrupt payments and benefits to Chinese government officials for the purpose of obtaining, retaining, and increasing HERBALIFEās business in China. In connection with the filed charges, SDNY and DOJ entered into …
Continue Reading >Herbalife to Pay $20 Million for Misleading Investors
Securities and Exchange Commission News Release, September 27, 2019 The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Herbalife Nutrition Ltd.āa direct selling company with operations in over 90 countriesāhas agreed to pay $20 million to settle charges that it made false and misleading statements about its China business model in numerous U.S. regulatory filings over a six-year period. According to theĀ SEC’s order,Ā in quarterly and annual SEC filings between 2012 and 2018, Herbalife told investors that while direct selling is permitted in China, multi-level marketing is not, and that as a result, Herbalife’s business model in China differed from that used in other countries. Herbalife’s representations were untrue because it employed a very similar compensation model in China to the one it employed in every other …
Continue Reading >Herbalife Hearings (1985), Part II
May 15th was a sunny Spring day, ideal for a demonstration. About 8 AM., an estimated 3,000 Herbalife supporters from across the country began gathering on Capitol Hill, each wearing a large button reading: “I lost X pounds. Ask me how.” They had been called to Washington for a rally whose main purpose was to grab media attention and get television reporters to ask, on camera, how they had lost their claimed poundage. The evening before, they had shared their enthusiasm in a ballroom at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, where they received buttons and instructions from a platoon of officials from Herbalife International headquarters in Los Angeles. The 5-block walk from the hotel to the Dirksen Senate Office Building was covered by camera crews from …
Continue Reading >Herbalife Criticized at Senate Hearings (1985)
Opening two days of hearings, Senator William V. Roth, Jr. (R-DE), chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, made it clear that their purpose was not to “get” Herbalife or any other product, but resulted from five months of investigation into weight reduction products and plans of all types. The Subcommittee is authorized to investigate the efficiency and economy of all branches of the government and also has jurisdiction over “all aspects of crime and lawlessness within the U.S. which have impact upon or affect the national health, welfare, or safety.” Roth acknowledged that following announcement of the hearings (held in Washington, D.C., May 14th and 15th), he had received a “very large number of phone calls and letters from individuals who are very …
Continue Reading >FTC Statement on Herbalife Settlement
We have agreed to a settlement with Herbalife International of America, Inc. and its affiliates that provides $200 million in redress for consumers we contend were harmed by the practices challenged in the Commission’s complaint.1 Just as importantly, the order also includes injunctive relief that will protect U.S. consumers involved with Herbalife and provides important reminders to other multi-level marketing companies. Herbalife is a multi-level marketing organization that offers its distributors the ability to earn money by selling Herbalife-brand weight-management, dietary supplement, and personal care products. As alleged in the complaint, Herbalife’s marketing materials ā in English and Spanish ā promise part-time income of $500 to $1,500 per month, and substantial full-time income, showing pictures of Herbalife distributors enjoying expensive houses, luxury cars, and exotic …
Continue Reading >FTC’s Press Conference about the Herbalife Settlement
On July 15, 2016, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission held a videotaped press conference at which FTC chairwoman Edith Ramirez summarized and answered questions about the FTC’s case against Herbalife. Her opening statement noted: The FTC charged Herbalife with deceiving hundreds of thousands of hopeful people who saw its promotional campaigns and signed on for what they thought was a legitimate and lucrative business opportunity selling Herbalife products. Herbalife “promised people a dreamāa chance to change their lives, quit their jobs, and gain financial freedom.” The dream portrayed by Herbalife’s testimonials and marketing materials was “an illusion” because the vast majority of Herbalife distributors found they could make little or no money selling Herbalife products. The settlement included a $200 million judgment for refunds to …
Continue Reading >The Dubious Promotion of Herbalife’s Niteworks
Herbalife would like you believe that taking Niteworksā¢ will benefit your heart. The product was formulated by Louis J. Ignarro, PhD., professor of molecular and medical pharmacology at the UCLA School of Medicine, who shared the 1998 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his research concerning nitric oxide as a signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system [1,2]. This article tells why I believe that Niteworks is being promoted with improper claims and Ignarro’s conduct has been highly questionable. Ingredients and Claims Niteworks, which has been marketed since 2003, is a powdered mixture, each dose of which contains 500 mg of vitamin C, 200 international units of vitamin E, 400 micrograms of folic acid, 50 mg of lemon balm extract, 10 mg of alpha lipoic acid, 300 …
Continue Reading >Herbalife’s Early Days (1980-1986)
Herbalife International, of Inglewood, California, markets weight-control products, dietary supplements, and personal-care products. The company was founded in 1980 by 24-year-old Mark Hughes, who states he was inspired by his mother’s unsuccessful struggle to control her weight with amphetamines. However, this claim was contradicted by an autopsy report which indicyated that she had died of an overdose of Darvon, a painkiller that is a controlled dcontradicted by her autopsy. It indicates she died of an overdose of Darvon, a painkiller classsified as a narcotic [1]. Herbalife’s 1993 retail sales totaled $247 million in the United States and $693 million worldwide. Its principal products are Formula #1 (a meal-replacement protein drink mix), Formula #2 (an herbal tablet), Formula #3 (a multivitamin/mineral tablet), and Thermojetics, a weight-control …
Continue Reading >Mark Hughes, Herbalife’s Founder, Dead at Age 44
In May 2002, Herbalife founder, chairman, and chief executive officer Mark Reynold Hughes, was found dead at his $27 million oceanfront mansion in Malibu, California. In a series of articles about the death, David Evans (Bloomberg News) reported: Hughes died after a 4-day drinking binge, apparently from an overdose of alcohol and the antidepressant drug doxepin. His blood alcohol level was 0.21% (more than double the “drunk driving” level). He was being treated by a psychiatrist for a drinking problem. Hughes said many times that he had been inspired to start his company after his mother (Jo Ann Hartman) died from taking diet pills. However, Hartman’s autopsy found that she died of an overdose of Darvon, a narcotic painkiller. At the time of her death …
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