Evil MLM: Revisionist History, Juice Plus Edition

Remember in the book 1984 by George Orwell, the government rewrites history when the policies change? "We've always been at war with Eastasia"? Turns out, MLM participants does that every day.

Just the other day, someone posted this to reddit's /antimlm subreddit

I have nothing to say about Bear Grylls. I do have something to say about the revisionist history though.

Notice where it says "juice plus has been tested and trialed for the past 40 years"?

That's impossible. Juice Plus didn't exist until 1993. This is from their own homepage:

All Juice Plus+ products share a common nutritional philosophy that traces back to our beginnings in 1993

Before 1993, Juice Plus sold water filters, air purifiers, and smoke alarms under the name "National Safety Associates" as an MLM. They swapped companies names in 1993 and changed focus entirely. It's a brand new company, but they kept the leadership, so they can kinda keep claiming they were founded almost 50 years ago (in 1970 under a different name).

I am NOT going to get into the bogosity of "juice plus cure my cancer" stories on Youtube. I'll just refer you to the article written by a real retired MD

News Update 15-JUL-2014: Trivita Settle with FTC; SEC oppose Merrill access to 4 million; TelexFree Trustee issued more subpoenas

Seal of the United States
Federal Trade Commission.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Remember, readers: VERIFY the information for yourself. If they don't include links, their news probably cannot be trusted. Even if they include links, make sure it's to a reputable website like news websites and such.


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?