Sony email leak reveals Herbalife’s sleazy politics
The following excerpt from a recent New York Post article pretty much says it all:
Hollywood heavyweight Michael Lynton waded into the long-running Bill Ackman-Herbalife battle last year (by) helping the CEO of the nutritional-shake maker try to stop a looming regulatory probe.
Michael Johnson, the CEO of Herbalife, reached out in an e-mail to his pal Lynton, the CEO of Sony Entertainment, to help short-circuit an attempt by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) to have the Federal Trade Commission investigate the company.
Ugh, I feel infected by Herbalife’s PR sleaze just from reading it…
Lynton helped Johnson by introducing him to Joe O’Donnell,
a Lynton pal and Republican businessman from Massachusetts once described as the most powerful person in Boston for his ties to President George W. Bush.
Noting that Ackman can “scare almost anyone,” Johnson thanked Lynton for his help.
“Saying thank you is not enough for your introduction to Joe,” Johnson e-mailed Lynton Jan. 27, 2014.
What exactly Joe O’Donnell and the CEO of Herbalife got up to is not known, but ultimately an FTC investigation into Herbalife was confirmed two months later in March.
A year earlier the FTC had branded Herbalife’s business practices as “disturbing“.
What irks me about this particular story is that, instead of releasing their retail sales figures and revenue, which would instantly clear their name both from a regulatory and public standpoint, this is what Herbalife have been up to.
Thankfully Johnson’s attempts to lobby his way out of a regulatory investigation failed, otherwise what a farce that would have been.
Meanwhile, refusing to make public Herbalife’s retail sales data, one can only speculate as to why Johnson was so desperate to head off an FTC investigation to begin with.
I wonder what he thought they’d find…
ha, michelle celarier of the NYpost is back in action again!
it’s not like senator markey, wrote to the FTC of his own volition. ackman ‘personally’ met with, and convinced his staff, to convince senator markey to write to the FTC.
later on, markey stated he had no idea that ackman has shorted the herbalife stock, and stood to gain from his fight against herbalife.
senator markey is currently the subject of an ethics committee investigation , for using his public office to crash the stock of herbalife shares.
senator markey has gone quiet after this, and refuses to comment on the herbalife matter any more.
so, the sleaze oozes from both sides. when big boys fight, politicians, regulators, press,the corporate world, all get dragged in and sleaze oozes like nobody’s business.
once again, herbalife has No Obligation to release any retail figures to the public. the FTC is investigating, they will check whether herbalife has enough retail, to be adjudged a pyramid scheme or not.
but, this is a ‘well timed’ revelation from michelle celarier, considering herblife’s Q1 earnings call is on may 5th. well done well done.
Ther are no “sides”.
Herbalife refuse to reveal their retail sales data and instead have been outed playing dirty politics in an attempted to ward off a regulatory investigation.
They are doing everything they can to hamper regulators short of proving they aren’t a pyramid scheme.