Herbalife @ BehindMLM

Due to the lack of information that usually surrounds regulatory investigations in the US, this one’s going to be brief. Last we checked in with Herbalife’s regulatory woes, the company acknowledged that they were under an FTC civil investigation. Now comes the news that the FBI and Department of Justice are also involved…

Despite the industry-wide ramification of a full-blown investigation into Herbalife, there’s surprisingly not all that much to write about. Earlier today, Herbalife shares sank as much as 15% in Wednesday trading after the nutritional supplements marketer said it is under Federal Trade Commission investigation. Kinda curious that Herbalife themselves made the announcement, although after further [Continue reading…]

In November 2011, after seven years of litigation, the Commercial Court in Belgium ruled that Herbalife was a pyramid scheme. The case was brought forward by the non-profit organisation “Test Aankoop” and claims that Herbalife breached the WPMC (market practices act) by running a pyramid scheme. Herbalife filed an appeal against the case, arguing that [Continue reading…]

When one considers the MLM industry globally, often at times it feels like the industry transitions through a simultaneous time-delay. Typically due to a lack of legal precedents and litigation, as MLM spreads through countries of different economical tiers, I can’t help but observe the same issues and problems cropping up as they did years [Continue reading…]

Barring any unforeseen events, it the next chapter in the Herbalife pyramid scheme saga will take place in a US Federal court. Back in April Dana Bostick filed a lawsuit against Herbalife, ‘accusing the company of being an “inherently fraudulent pyramid scheme.”‘ Bostick’s 68 page complaint was filed under Federal corruption and racketeering laws. Bostick, [Continue reading…]

Dear Team Herbalife, Today is a very sad day for us all. Founder’s Circle member, John Peterson passed away suddenly today, following a tragic accident at his home in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The Herbalife family has lost a dear friend, an inspirational leader, and a loving husband and father of John Jr., Jennifer and Bryan. [Continue reading…]

One of the common questions we get here at BehindMLM whenever we call out a company that is not under investigation is that, if analysis of the business model reveals such blatant questions of legitimacy, how come regulators have not investigated the company. Not being a regulator there’s no clear-cut way to answer this. Affiliates [Continue reading…]

Despite the Herbalife PR machine churning out news of sports sponsorships and the hiring of new executive staff, along with the theatrics that continue to be played out in Wall Street, a storm has been brewing between Herbalife and consumer groups in the US. At the forefront of these groups are those  who charge themselves [Continue reading…]

Misdirection (n): Misdirection is a form of deception in which the attention of an audience is focused on one thing in order to distract its attention from another. I’ve been buried under a mountain of work so I’m a bit behind on BehindMLM at the moment (geddit?), but by now most following the MLM industry [Continue reading…]

As good an admission as any that there are some serious problems with Herbalife’s current compensation plan and business model, the company announced today that it ‘will more clearly identify the wholesale customers among its 3.2 million distributors from April’. The big questions? Will Herbalife actually cut off these wholesale customers from the income opportunity [Continue reading…]