Pyramid Scheme Alert has sent an official request letter to  to the United States Federal Trade Commission’s  (FTC) Acting Director of the Consumer Protection Bureau asking that the agency initiate an investigation of the multi-level marketing company, Herbalife. The letter included a statistical analysis of the actual payments made by Herbalife to “Supervisors”, the upper level who invest the most to gain Herbalife’s promised “business opportunity.”

The letter states, “The numbers show that Herbalife is promoting a deceptive and destructive financial trap to millions of Americans. Of the more than 493,000 Americans that Herbalife reports to have invested in its business opportunity in 2012, only about 2,300 earned what could be a called a profitable income and that was at the cost of all the others.”

Additionally, Pyramid Scheme Alert has written to Roy Cooper, Attorney General (AG) of the state of North Carolina, asking that his office initiate an investigation of Herbalife.

  • Herbalife recently announced plans to open a large distribution center in that state, which will likely be accompanied by intensified recruiting among consumers there.
  • North Carolina has one of the strongest anti-pyramid scheme laws in the country.
  • North Carolina is one of three states that recently joined with the FTC to prosecute the multi-level marketing company, Fortune High Tech Marketing.

The letter to the North Carolina AG included  a statistical analysis of the actual payments made by Herbalife to “Supervisors”, the upper level who invest the most to gain Herbalife’s promised “business opportunity”, showing massive loss rates among those who invested.