Herbalife



Herbalife is a company with a multilevel marketing (MLM) business model known for selling skin care products, snack foods, and diet woo.

In 1986, the company settled a case that called into question the medical claims of some of their products and their pyramid scheme-style business model. Nobel Prize-winning scientist Louis J. Ignarro was noted for creating their Niteworks® product (a mix of Vitamin C, Vitamin E, folic acid, lemon balm extract, α-lipoic acid, L-taurine, and L-arginine and L-citrulline), which claimed to be able to increase the functioning efficiency of all the body's major organs. Ignarro's promotion of the product caused a flap when his undisclosed ties to Herbalife were revealed after he co-authored a paper hawking the product in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science in 2004.

In February 2016, Herbalife agreed to pay a $200 million fine and change its business practices as a result of a legal settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. The settlement required that Herbalife track retail sales in the US (which it had previously not done) and require that at least two-thirds of the rewards be based on retail sales. The settlement did not resolve the accusation by billionaire investor William Ackman that Herbalife has operated as an illegal pyramid scheme.