FTC

BULLETIN: Sen. Edward J. Markey, D.-Mass., has called for an investigation of Herbalife, an MLM program. “There is nothing nutritional about possible pyramid schemes that promise financial benefit but result in economic ruin for vulnerable families,” Markey said in a statement. “Herbalife may be a purveyor of health and wellness products, but some of its […]

The PP Blog’s take on Bill Ackman’s take on Herbalife is that the Los Angeles-based MLM firm dupes prospects into believing they’re boarding the bus to Disneyland, but it’s really the bus to Jurassic Park. Latinos, African Americans and other vulnerable populations pile on bus after bus and become financial protein for the pyramid scheme […]

“The judge ruled in Nanci & David Frazer’s favor along with Albert Rosebrock (ministry board members) . . . to release frozen funds. The FBI and the Federal government is categorizing Frazer as having suffered from a case of ‘innocent ignorance’ as she worked for nine months doing customer support for a UK Collateral Loan […]

If continuing to recruit during multiple pyramid-scheme probes even as a judge and prosecutor reportedly had been threatened in Brazil with death were not enough, another MLM PR disaster is unfolding: The Blog of Faith Sloan, late of Zeek Rewards and Noobing, an HYIP Ponzi scheme that ripped off people with hearing impairments, wants TelexFree […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: The PP Blog called the Federal Trade Commission to get its take on these news releases, which use the agency’s name and imply that the FTC  recently has given several MLM “opportunities” a clean bill of health. The agency did not immediately respond. What would you think if you read a headline on […]

UPDATED 1:17 PM ET (FEB. 27. U.S.A.): The FTC has sued six Nevada-based companies with ties to a call center in St. George, Utah, amid allegations that the firms and corporate officers scammed consumers and payment processors in a $25 million fraud scheme. Nevada and St. George were ground zero for the alleged $275 million […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: Utah has been abuzz since the Salt Lake Tribune reported on Jan. 11 that a plea deal between Jeremy Johnson and the government had unraveled when prosecutors balked “at placing a list of people into the record that Johnson said prosecutors had promised not to indict if he entered a guilty plea.” “Included […]

BULLETIN: The FTC and attorneys general for the states of Illinois, Kentucky, and North Carolina have moved against Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing (FHTM), alleging it is a pyramid scheme. A federal judge in the Northern District of Illinois has appointed a receiver and ordered an asset freeze. FHTM’s website at FHTM.com now resolves to a site […]

On March 23, 2012, the PP Blog temporarily removed from public view three stories pertaining to accused Utah fraudster Jeremy Johnson. The explanation of why the stories were taken offline temporarily is here. On March 23, 2012, the PP Blog’s security software recorded a “mass injection attack” as the Blog visited a domain styled CollotGuerard.com […]

BULLETIN: Calling it a “major international crackdown on tech support scams,” the FTC has charged multiple companies and individuals in an alleged fraud scheme in which consumers were duped into believing their computers were infected with “viruses, spyware and other malware” and then charged to remove it. To cover their tracks, the FTC charged, the […]

What: Investor Fraud Summits. Where/When: Stamford, Conn. (today from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. EDT at the University of Connecticut – Stamford Campus); Nashville, Tenn. (Oct. 4 from 8:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EDT at Vanderbilt University Law School’s Flynn Auditorium located at 131 21st Avenue South) ; San Francisco (Oct. 9, in Walnut Creek, […]