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| Seal of the United States Federal Trade Commission. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Trivita Settle with FTC?
According to leaked letter to its affiliates, Trivita has settled a demand from Federal Trade Commission against its alleged false health claims regarding its Nopalea related products. Nopalea, also known as prickly pear (a type of cactus), is reputed to have some healing properties and is often pushed by so-called alternative medicine proponents in the same manner as prior fads such as noni, mangosteen, and acai berry products.
Report by Courthouse news showed that FTC filed the demand on July 11th. However, this did not seem to have received any news coverage. http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/07/11/69432.htm
According to leaked letter as published on BehindMLM (and thus far, unverified), the settlement involves stop making false claims, and paying a large fine with no admission of wrongdoing and no stop of sales of such products (provided no further misleading claims are made). All affiliates must acknowledge the new restrictions or their commission will be withheld pending acknowledgement.
EDIT: FTC's own press release just dropped:
http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2014/07/cactus-juice-marketers-pay-35-million-refunds-consumers-deceptive
SEC opposes Merrill's "motion" to release 4 million for "expenses"
James Merrill, co-owner of TelexFree, out on bail, had previously filed a motion to release over 4 million dollars in one of the frozen accounts to pay for his legal defense. And SEC has filed an answer to that, explaining that James Merrill have plenty of assets available including accounts of several hundred thousand dollars, not to mention possible other sources (one of which is the house he used as bond to get himself out of jail). Why was he asking for 4 million in possibly tainted funds from alleged Ponzi scheme TelexFree? And since he haven't been indicted (merely charged), how much is his lawyers charging to require that much money, beyond what he has now?
Given that Merrill's logic for requesting the funds is "SEC have to prove that these money are tainted, if they can't, then we should have the money", SEC explained that Merrill got it backwards. SEC have already shown the judge, twice, that the money has a high suspicion of taint, first when the criminal charges are filed, and second, at the pre-trial hearing. It is actually Merrill's burden to prove the money's NOT derived from TelexFree. SEC characterize this attempt as essentially a "fishing expedition" to see if Merrill's team can force SEC to reveal what other evidence SEC has on TelexFree and Merrill before the trial, and it should be denied. No sneak peek for you!
The actual response can be viewed here: http://asdupdates.com/wordpress/archives/5741
TelexFree bankruptcy trustee Stephen Darr sent out 2nd round of subpoenas, most approved
Stephen Darr, after being appointed trustee in TelexFree bankruptcy, had been busy. He basically subpoenaed everybody who had something to do with the company (payment processors, lawyers, accountants, etc.) for more information.
The second round of subpoenas had been approved by the judge, with only two objections. One requested that any information provided remain confidential, which was agreed. The other claimed that the subpoenas are harassment and will be heard by the judge in a few days.
Most of the documents for this back and forth can be viewed on the KCCLLC website setup for TelexFree
Thanks to http://behindmlm.com/companies/telexfree/telexfree-trustees-2nd-round-of-subpoenas-approved/
Oh, and one extra note:
TelexFree Brazil Guy Carlos Costas is running for Brazilian Congress Seat
Yes, a ponzi pimp running for office. And since he had not been convicted of anything, he probably will get his name on the ballot, unless his party disown him.