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Thread: Herbalife News Stories

  1. #101
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    Traditional analysts and Herbalife stock evaluation

    "Quoth the Raven
    Long/short equity, contrarian, special situations, wild cards
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    Regulators Pile On Herbalife And Capital Managers Should Re-Evaluate Their Positions In The Company
    Apr. 15, 2014 12:40 PM ET | 32 comments | About: HLF

    Disclosure: I am short HLF."

    "1. We can clearly see that "traditional analysts" don't have much of a clue about what, intrinsically, makes up Herbalife's business model.

    This isn't a traditional P/E and net income situation. This Herbalife case is a specialty situation and if you do traditional analysis on this company without a comprehensive understanding of how the model works, you're likely to get burned because you're not looking at the forest for the trees.

    I could go back and cite numerous blunders here - Tim Ramey's horrible start to 2014 with Herbalife, Stiritz's position that's now underwater, Icahn seemingly not knowing how the business model works (or anything at all about Herbalife, for that matter).

    But, the best example that the traditional analysts are getting Herbalife wrong is Barclays' analysis of the stock, which was put out just days ago on April 8th. I immediately refuted this report the next day in my article, "Barclays Beefs Its Herbalife Analysis."
    Full story:
    Herbalife Ltd. (HLF) news: Regulators Pile On Herbalife And Capital Managers Should Re-Evaluate Their Positions In The Company - Seeking Alpha

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    Re: Herbalife News Stories

    Herbalife a big part of this story, so I hope ok if I drop it here as opposed to a new thread.

    How lobbying dollars prop up pyramid schemes

    As federal regulators investigate Herbalife, a long history of political maneuvering becomes relevant again

    By Matt Stroud on April 8, 2014


    Last month, a front page New York Times investigative report revealed that Bill Ackman, the hedge fund manager crusading against nutritional supplement company Herbalife, had pressured legislators and paid civil rights organizations upwards of $130,000 to start a federal investigation into the company’s business practices.

    The New York Times acknowledged that "Herbalife has mobilized its own army of lobbyists to defend itself against Mr. Ackman’s charges." But it didn’t emphasize that Herbalife spent nearly 800 percent more on lobbying in 2013 than Ackman did. It also didn’t mention that Herbalife’s intense lobbying effort last year is part of an influential, decades-old political strategy undertaken by the multi-level marketing (MLM) industry — a group of companies and industry groups like Herbalife that promote so-called "direct sales" businesses, which sell products in tandem with the opportunity to sell products. This political strategy — with ties to dozens of current congressional representatives who have received handsome donations from MLM companies and industry lobbyists — has pushed federal regulators away from investigating these companies. It’s also encouraged federal regulators to avoid defining the explicit difference between a legal MLM and an illegal pyramid scheme.

    Only three days after the New York Times’ report, Herbalife announced it was being investigated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). But with Herbalife officials now in their third week of closed-door meetings with the FTC — and with the majority opinion in a US Supreme Court ruling expressing last week that unlimited campaign contributions by corporations represent "the most fundamental First Amendment activities" — it’s worth asking how MLMs have influenced federal regulators in the past through political maneuvering, and how that influence might continue.
    Business opportunity

    Herbalife and the FTC have chatted before. In fact, the clearest and most recent example of Herbalife’s influence — and the broader influence of Herbalife-connected MLM lobbying dollars — is a law that became effective in the spring of 2012. After years of political maneuvering, the principal organization that represents MLMs — the Direct Selling Association (DSA) — succeeded in exempting most MLM distributors from this new law, which was designed with "work-from-home" business-opportunity sellers in mind.

    It was called the Business Opportunity Rule. Put forward by the FTC in April 2006 to "protect consumers from bogus business opportunities," the proposed rule would require sellers to hand potential customers a one-page document revealing some seemingly simple facts about what they were up to. Namely: whether the company was involved in any fraud-based lawsuits; the terms of its refund policies; "The total number of purchasers in the past two years and the number of those purchasers seeking a refund or to cancel in that time period;" and a list of references. It would also require some documentation supporting any income claims the seller was making.

    "The FTC roped in multi-level marketers with scammers."

    That last piece was important. It meant that a no-name seller pushing a no-name company couldn’t just say they had discovered some easy method to make millions or "end baldness in the human race" without proving it. But the proposed rule would affect MLMs, too — many of which were well-known companies traded on Wall Street. Distributors working for Herbalife and Amway, for example, would’ve been forced to hand over the same one-page disclosure as the scammy companies promising work-from-home data-entry jobs.

    To some, this was perfectly reasonable. Many MLM companies have been accused of over-promising earning potential, and have been the target of class-action lawsuits filed by people who say they’ve been lied to about how much money they can earn. One key case in MLM history revolved, in part, around just this kind of alleged misrepresentation. The case was filed by the FTC against Amway, one of the oldest and largest MLMs in the country, which offers an opportunity for anyone to buy and sell health, beauty, and home care products from home. The FTC’s eventual 121-page final document in that case questions an Amway instruction sheet for encouraging its distributors to insinuate that selling the company’s products could "make your dreams come true."

    But to MLMs, the proposed rule was a travesty. Herbalife in particular, which had spent almost nothing on lobbying or campaign contributions in 2002, embarked on a spending spree to coincide with the FTC’s proposed rule. The company gave handsomely to MLM-friendly Republicans, such as Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan and Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. Democrats got a taste, too, with New York Congressmen Edolphus Towns, Eliot L. Engel, and Gary Ackerman receiving contributions. By 2008, Herbalife had spent more than $800,000 on lobbying.

    Herbalife_lobbying_chart
    Herbalife's lobbying dollars hit a peak in 2008, as the company pushed against the FTC's proposed Business Opportunity Rule. Last year, its lobbying spending hit another high as the company campaigned against Bill Ackman, who placed a billion-dollar Wall Street bet that the company is a pyramid scheme. (OpenSecrets)

    The company wasn’t alone. The immense political contributions of Amway’s founders and their families have been well-documented, particularly where Republican politics are concerned (a report in Mother Jones magazine earlier this year referred to them as "The New Kochs"). But Amway specifically flexed its corporate muscle to stop the rule, tripling its lobbying dollars between 2006 and 2007. Avon, another MLM questioned for its business practices and political action, spent about triple the amount it spent on individual congressional campaign contributions in 2008 as it did in the next highest-spending year in its history.

    Meanwhile, the industry trade group DSA pushed more than 17,000 people to send form letters to the FTC between 2006 and 2008, raging against the opportunity-killing oppression of a rule that roped MLM distributors in with other suspect work-from-home salespeople.

    ""Some MLMs do engage in unfair or deceptive acts.""

    In all, responding to DSA’s push and political contributions from MLM companies, 81 congressmen* — 57 republicans and 24 democrats — wrote multiple letters urging the FTC to change its stance on MLMs in the Business Opportunity Rule. MLM detractors sent 187 comments in favor of the proposal as it was written, but that number was dwarfed by DSA’s political army.

    In the end, the FTC decided to modify its rule in favor of MLMs. In a staff report to the FTC, analysts wrote that the rule "would have imposed greater burdens on the MLM industry than other types of business-opportunity sellers without sufficient countervailing benefits to consumers." A footnote to that quote, however, acknowledges "that some MLMs do engage in unfair or deceptive acts or practices, including the operation of pyramid schemes or unsubstantiated earnings claims that cause consumer harm." The proposal finally became law in 2012 — and MLMs got a pass.
    Money for nothing

    Or did they? In a conversation with The Verge last week, Amy M. Robinson, a senior vice president and chief marketing officer with the DSA, acknowledged that the FTC’s final action was a good thing for MLMs. But it is still worrisome, she says. According to Robinson, some wiggle room for FTC intervention remains in the law as it was passed in 2012. "It is DSA’s view that under the definition in the Rule, most [MLMs] would not be subject to the rule," she says. "It’s not a blanket exemption."

    But it’s close enough, says Bruce Craig, a former assistant attorney general in Wisconsin who has litigated several high-profile US pyramid scheme cases. Craig says that MLM lobbying dollars are dangerous — and unfair — because they effectively silence the people who are taken advantage of by companies like Amway and Herbalife. "These are people, by and large, who are mesmerized by how these very rich people get on the stage and claim they’re making millions by selling health shakes," he says. "The people who get taken advantage of are unsophisticated, from a business perspective. They’re not very wealthy. They quit their day job, they max out their credit cards, they contact all their friends and neighbors. This is the basic phenomenon."

    ""They quit their day job, they max out their credit cards, they contact all their friends and neighbors.""

    Robert FitzPatrick points out the irony of MLMs being exempted from the Business Opportunity Rule. "How is it possible," asks FitzPatrick, an MLM critic and author of False Profits: Seeking Financial and Spiritual Deliverance in Multi-Level Marketing and Pyramid Schemes, "that the FTC has not even imposed disclosure rules on a network of enterprises that pulls as much as $30 billion a year out of 15 million American households every year with a ‘business opportunity’ proposition?"

    The answer comes down to politics, he says. "MLM lives and has always lived on the strength of its lobbying." That should worry anyone like FitzPatrick, who’s hoping the FTC will take major action against Herbalife and MLMs after it concludes its ongoing investigation into Herbalife. Part of the problem is that, until recently, "no money at all was ever spent on lobbying against MLM by anyone," FitzPatrick writes in an email to The Verge. "All the ‘anti-MLM’ advocates came to battle without guns."

    That is, until Bill Ackman made his billion-dollar bet that Herbalife was a pyramid scheme in December 2012.

    "Ackman changed the equation somewhat and also brought the issue to the attention of Wall Street, where it had been ignored or perhaps merely viewed from an ethics-free perspective," FitzPatrick writes. "However, measured against the lobbying of the MLM industry, [Ackman] is like Edward Snowden versus the NSA / CIA."

    ""Measured against the lobbying of the MLM industry, [Bill Ackman] is like Edward Snowden versus the NSA / CIA.""

    According to FitzPatrick, last month’s New York Times piece digging into Ackman’s political maneuvering "pretended that Ackman is somehow wielding undue influence."

    That’s an odd way to see things, argues Bill Keep, an MLM expert who's dean of the business school at the College of New Jersey.

    "Suppose the worst of what people say about both Ackman and Herbalife are true — Ackman is targeting Herbalife simply for the financial return for his hedge fund, and Herbalife is operating a massive, international pyramid scheme," Keep says. "Which should worry us more?"

    Keep continues: "The FTC's decision to open an investigation of Herbalife was non-trivial. Everything is now on the table, from invoking the Business Opportunity Rule, to clarifying any misinterpretation of [federal MLM rules], to charging Herbalife with operating a pyramid scheme."

    "Any one of these outcomes will send ripples through the industry," he says. "Though instead of a ripple, the latter would be more like a tsunami."

    * The names of these 81 congressmen were provided to The Verge by Douglas Brooks, an outspoken MLM critic and Massachusetts -based lawyer who often represents victims of fraudulent and deceptive MLMs.

    How lobbying dollars prop up pyramid schemes | The Verge
    "It's virtually impossible to violate rules ... but it's impossible for a violation to go undetected, certainly not for a considerable period of time." Bernie Madoff
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    Illinois attorney general investigating Herbalife

    "Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office is investigating nutrition and weight loss company Herbalife, her press secretary said on Thursday."
    "Madigan's office joins the Federal Trade Commission and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office in probing the company. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has reached out to former Herbalife distributors and is probing their business documents."
    More:
    Illinois Attorney General investigating Herbalife

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    Ackman adversary John Hempton falls off Herba-cliff

    "An obscure Australian hedge fund manager who last year became a media darling with his acerbic attacks on Bill Ackman’s $1 billion Herbalife short is now sobbing to his investors about losing money.

    'Things that should work are not working,” John Hempton of Bronte Capital moaned to investors in February.'"
    More:
    Ackman adversary John Hempton falls off Herba-cliff | New York Post

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    Re: Herbalife News Stories

    Stock analysts very rare are right on their models. And I am 100% sure they have no idea how to analyze a regular pyramid, that's where they were wrong :)

    they were analyzing what they insisted is a " health food producer / supplier" but even then it was with fabricated earning reports.

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    Re: Herbalife News Stories

    Quote Originally Posted by NikSam View Post
    Stock analysts very rare are right on their models. And I am 100% sure they have no idea how to analyze a regular pyramid, that's where they were wrong :)

    they were analyzing what they insisted is a " health food producer / supplier" but even then it was with fabricated earning reports.
    Very true! I would expect the market itself (presumably from those with true inside knowledge) to sell this stock off hard if they really started to think the government was going to take this thing apart. The best example of that comes to mind of this is Enron from back in the day. The analysts loved it at 80$, with a few short sellers sounding the alarm. BUT from an accounting standpoint, whole other kettle of fish than HLF.
    "It's virtually impossible to violate rules ... but it's impossible for a violation to go undetected, certainly not for a considerable period of time." Bernie Madoff
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    Lieff Cabraser Announces Class Action Litigation Against Herbalife Ltd.

    "SAN FRANCISCO, Apr 18, 2014 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The law firm of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP announces that class action litigation has been brought on behalf of those who purchased or otherwise acquired the securities of Herbalife Ltd. (“Herbalife” or the “Company”) HLF -0.09% between May 4, 2010 and April 11, 2014, inclusive (the “Class Period”)."
    Full release:
    Lieff Cabraser Announces Class Action Litigation Against Herbalife Ltd. - HLF - MarketWatch

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    Herbalife Recognized as a Corporate Role Model in Latino Magazine

    "LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Herbalife (NYSE: HLF), a leading global nutrition company, is proud to announce its recognition as one of the leading companies recognized in LATINO Magazine’s “LATINO 100” Spring 2014 issue, an annual listing that spotlights companies providing the most viable business opportunities for U.S. Latinos.

    “We are incredibly honored by LATINO Magazine’s acknowledgment of Herbalife as one of the top corporate supporters of the growing U.S. Latino population,” said Ibi Fleming, senior vice president and managing director, Herbalife North America. “Latinos across the country have historically embraced Herbalife’s nutrition products since the company’s founding in 1980. Their success is a tribute to the hard work of our members and a clear demand among Latinos for a healthy lifestyle. We are also proud to be acknowledged for our work in fostering and ensuring workplace diversity in our corporate culture.”"

    Full Herbalife Press release:
    Herbalife Recognized as a Corporate Role Model in Latino Magazine’s Second Annual “Latino 100” Spring 2014 Issue | Business Wire

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    Investigation on Behalf of Herbalife Ltd. Investors Announced by Law Offices of Howard G. Smith

    "BENSALEM, Pa., Apr 22, 2014 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Law Offices of Howard G. Smith announces that it is investigating potential claims on behalf of investors of Herbalife Ltd. (“Herbalife” or the “Company”) HLF +2.74% . The investigation concerns possible violations of federal securities laws, and focuses on the Company’s business, operations and financial performance."

    Full Press Release:

    SHAREHOLDER ALERT: Investigation on Behalf of Herbalife Ltd. Investors Announced by Law Offices of Howard G. Smith - MarketWatch

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    Re: Herbalife News Stories

    The investigation is related to allegations that the Company’s distributors generate revenue by recruiting other distributors rather than selling Herbalife’s diet and nutritional products to the general public, and that the Company engaged in deceptive trade practices and unduly pressured its Members to purchase more products for resale.
    Time for that lawyer to quit pointing out the obvious and file!
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    Re: Herbalife News Stories

    I wonder if at the end we will see all responsible punished, probably not.
    How about auditors who signed their name on earning reports,
    lawyers, legal council who misled and witheld critical information ?

    so at the end HLF will just leave US market and continue in other countries till those crack down on them one by one ?

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    Bill Ackman’s Secret $$ Deal for Herbalife Whistleblower

    "In his year-long campaign against the embattled Herbalife company, Wall Street hedge fund manager Bill Ackman secretly promised a disgruntled former company executive as much as $3.6 million over 10 years if he lost his job after providing information to government investigators and the media.

    Ackman’s firm so far has paid the whistleblower $80,000 under the arrangement, according to the former Herbalife executive’s lawyer.

    “It was the right thing to do,” Ackman told ABC News.""
    The article talks about an abc interview with the former executive where the deal wasn't disclosed properly.

    " Ackman said he agreed to the deal after Bohorquez balked at going public because he feared his disclosures could make it difficult for him to find work at an executive level.

    “Giovanni could not afford to take the company on. We thought his story was important,” Ackman told ABC News. “Being a whistleblower is a very dangerous thing to do if you want to get a job."

    Bohorquez is one of the few insiders to ever talk critically about Herbalife."
    "Taken together, the total value to Bohorquez over 10 years could be as much $3.61 million.

    The deal requires Bohorquez to actively look for work and to be truthful in all of his statements about Herbalife to the media and government.

    “You should judge for yourself whether Giovanni is an honest man or not,” Ackman said. “I think Giovanni will be viewed as a hero.”"
    Full article:
    Page 1: Bill Ackman

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    Herbalife Short interest grows 13% in a matter of weeks

    "Short interest grows 13% in a matter of weeks as the investigative pile on continues

    In March, shares of Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) were subject to short interest growth of 13.4%, totaling 25,013,446 shares betting the stock will head lower. This stands in contrast to short interest of 22,058,820 according to Analyst Ratings.net reports."

    Full story:
    Short Interest In Herbalife Ltd. Grows As Trouble Mounts

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    My Herbalife short is looking much better: Ackman

    Activist investor Bill Ackman told CNBC on Wednesday that his losses from betting against Herbalife (HLF) have been "more than cut in half" based on the recent downturn of the nutritional supplement company's stock.
    Related Stories

    "This is unfortunately a very bad company, causing a lot of harm," Ackman said in a " Squawk Box " interview.
    More:
    http://finance.yahoo.com/news/herbal...160957866.html

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    Herbalife punished 600 distributors for medical claims: ABC News

    "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Herbalife, a weight loss and nutrition company being investigated for allegations of running a pyramid scheme, disciplined hundreds of distributors last year for making unsubstantiated medical claims about its products, ABC News reported on Wednesday."
    "In one case, an ABC reporter posing as a customer caught a Staten Island, New York, distributor on a hidden camera saying a woman overcame a brain tumor after using Herbalife products, the network said.

    Asked by ABC in a televised report if Herbalife cured brain tumors, Herbalife President Des Walsh said: "Absolutely not. Frankly, I am appalled to hear you say this because what is happening there is a complete and absolute violation of our rules."

    Asked if such incidents happened often, Walsh replied: "I do not believe so."
    Full story:
    Herbalife punished 600 distributors for medical claims: ABC News - News - WSAU News/Talk 550AM 99.9FM

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  19. #116
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    It's Perfectly Fine For Herbalife Short-Sellers To Lobby The Government

    Opinion piece by By Jonathan Macey — Professor, Yale Law School, Yale School of Management

    "Short selling is vital to the economy because it is instrumental in ferreting out corporate fraud. Short sellers have just as much right to advocate publicly for their positions as companies like Herbalife."
    "The Madoff scandal provides an object lesson in what happens when concerned citizens try to get regulators interested in investigating Ponzi schemes without resorting to lobbying. Financial investigator and gadfly Harry Markapolos investigated Bernie Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme for nine years and came to the conclusion that the business was a massive Ponzi scheme. Markapolos repeatedly made his case to the SEC and the media but to no avail The title of Markapolis’s book, “No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller,” says it all. Markapolis’s efforts to expose Madoff failed for two reasons.

    First, unlike big hedge funds and other investors, Markapolis did not have the resources or the incentives to lobby politicians to push regulators in to action. Second, unlike Pershing Square, which is a large, successful hedge fund, Mr. Markapolis was (wrongly) viewed as something of a crank because he had no skin in the game. In sharp contrast, Pershing capital reportedly is betting over a billion dollars in its investors’ capital that Herbalife is a pyramid scheme. That investment gives them a lot of credibility in my book."
    Full opinion piece:
    It's Perfectly Fine For Herbalife Short-Sellers To Lobby The Government - Forbes

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    Herbalife Donated To LATINO Magazine Before Being Honored

    "Although the amount is not listed, Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) included LATINO Magazine on the donation list activist investor Bill Ackman gave to The New York Times (page 112). There are also several Hispanic and Latino organizations on that list, including: the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Voto Latino, Latina Style, the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, the Hispanic Institute and a few others."
    "Bill Ackman has also made his share of contributions which some would consider to be questionable. He did make a deal with the man who blew the whistle on Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF)’s operations in 2011. What more people were concerned about was his campaign contributions to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Those contributions were said to have come before the Schneiderman’s office began its investigation."
    "at the end of the day, there’s no proof of motivations"
    Full story:
    Herbalife Donated To LATINO Magazine Before Being Honored

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    Herbalife, Ackman Respond to 'Nightline' Undercover Report

    Highlights of April 24, 2014 article
    By BRIAN ROSS, MATTHEW MOSK, RYM MOMTAZ and WILLIAM GALLEGO
    "We provide clear, accurate and timely disclosures to prospective members regarding potential income," a statement by the company said. "Studies have revealed that the vast majority of Herbalife members have realistic expectations of the business opportunity and the effort required to succeed at all levels."

    At the same time, the hedge fund Pershing Square, released its own response to the reports on ABC News' "World News With Diane Sawyer" and "Nightline". Pershing Square has for a year been urging regulators to investigate Herbalife.

    "ABC’s investigative report revealed examples of the pervasive and fraudulent wealth and health claims that drive Herbalife’s pyramid scheme," the statement said.
    The sessions included statements, live or on tape, from company executives saying that personal experiences as distributors could vary and that no particular testimonials should be viewed as average or expected.
    There was also no shortage of substantial income claims.
    Article gives several examples.

    Walsh told ABC News the company responds immediately to reports of rogue distributors who overstate the potential of an Herbalife career.
    I wonder if that applies to the high ranking distributor mentioned in the article who purportedly said:

    "Before you know it, not only will you be a supervisor, but you’ll have supervisors under you, who’ll have five supervisors under them, who’ll have five supervisors under them,” the instructor explained at the Herbalife seminar in Flushing, Queens. "That’s 155 supervisors and if they’re each doing about 2,000 to 2,500 volume points a month, you’re going to be making somewhere in the neighborhood of $42,000 a month."
    Full article:
    http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/herbal...23457777&page=

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    Ackman documentary stars alleged Herbalife victims

    "In his quest to bring down Herbalife, activist investor Bill Ackman will publicly showcase a documentary about former Herbalife distributors who say they were defrauded by the company."
    "The documentary will be shown at an event Friday in New York City. Members of the press, government, community and consumer organizations are invited to attend the showing, which will be simultaneously webcast."
    "The film will be followed by a live panel discussion with individuals in the film, moderated by former CBS news anchor Connie Chung.

    Chung said she took the gig on the condition she would not be paid and would be given free rein to treat it like any other news story. She plans to interview Herbalife executives and the victims ahead of time.

    “It is such an incredible, meaty story,” Chung told The Post.
    Full story:
    Ackman documentary stars alleged Herbalife victims | New York Post

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    Robert FitzPatrick to Moderate Herbalife Distributor Panel

    Robert FitzPatrick replacing Connie Chung for Herbalife Distributor Panel discussion....

    " May 01, 2014 04:08 PM Eastern Daylight Time

    NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P. announced today that multi-level marketing expert Robert FitzPatrick will replace Connie Chung as the moderator of the Friday, May 2, 2014 panel discussion with former Herbalife distributors.

    “The focus of this event has always been the victims. While we’re disappointed Connie Chung isn’t able to moderate the panel, we’re pleased Robert FitzPatrick, an expert in multi-level marketing schemes, will lead the discussion.”

    The panel discussion will follow the screening of a brief documentary featuring more than a dozen former Herbalife distributors recounting their experience with the company and how they were harmed by the Herbalife pyramid scheme.

    Chung, who required as a condition to appear as an unpaid, independent journalist, said: "I intended to fully vet every aspect of this complicated story but concluded I needed a team of researchers, which I did not have at my disposal. There were too many levels and sides to the story."

    A Pershing Square spokesman said: “The focus of this event has always been the victims. While we’re disappointed Connie Chung isn’t able to moderate the panel, we’re pleased Robert FitzPatrick, an expert in multi-level marketing schemes, will lead the discussion.”

    For a preview of the video and more information about Herbalife, go to www.HerbalifePyramidScheme.com or www.FactsAboutHerbalife.com.

    Journalists, community and advocacy groups and elected leaders are invited to attend the event, which will take place in New York City. For more information about attending, please contact Farrell Sklerov at Rubenstein Associates.

    About Robert FitzPatrick

    Robert L. FitzPatrick is an expert in examining and revealing deception and fraud in Ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes and bogus home-based businesses. He is an author, teacher and internationally recognized authority in multi-level marketing schemes and pyramid sales fraud. A catalyst and leader in the international effort to end fraud in the direct selling industry, Robert founded and serves as president of Pyramid Scheme Alert, the first international association to expose and prevent pyramid scheme fraud.

    He is co-author of False Profits, the first book to critically examine the recent rise in pyramid and Ponzi schemes in home-based businesses. He was featured on NBC Dateline, ABC World News, and he was interviewed by correspondent Mike Wallace on CBS 60 Minutes. He has been interviewed live on NBC Today show, Canada's CBC National News, Christian Broadcasting Network, and on several BBC radio news programs aired in the UK. He has been quoted in many newspapers around the world, including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

    About Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P.

    Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P. ("Pershing Square"), based in New York City, is a SEC-registered investment advisor to private investment funds. Pershing Square manages funds that are in the business of trading — buying and selling — securities and other financial instruments. Funds managed by Pershing Square are short the stock of Herbalife Ltd. Pershing Square may increase, decrease, dispose of, or change the form of its investment in Herbalife for any or no reason, at any time. Pershing Square may change its views about or its investment positions in Herbalife at any time, for any reason or no reason. Pershing Square may buy, sell, cover or otherwise change the form or substance of its Herbalife investment. Pershing Square disclaims any obligation to notify the market of any such changes. Please see the full Disclaimer appearing on websitewww.factsaboutherbalife.com.

    Contacts

    Rubenstein Associates
    Farrell Sklerov, 212-843-8289
    fsklerov@rubenstein.com"

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    Herbalife Comments on Pershing Square-Sponsored Advertisement

    Not sure how Herbalife is concluding that Connie Chung is withdrawing from a "spectacle" since she never said that as far as I can tell.

    "Herbalife Comments on Pershing Square-Sponsored Advertisement

    May 01, 2014 07:21 PM Eastern Daylight Time

    LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) a leading global nutrition company, today commented on the upcoming event hosted and sponsored by Bill Ackman and Pershing Square Capital Management. As recently confirmed by ABC News, Mr. Ackman has spent more than $20 million to date on his campaign against Herbalife. Herbalife views the release of this advertisement posing as a “documentary” as nothing more than propaganda. The company believes this is yet another tactic in Mr. Ackman’s calculated, coordinated and well-funded effort to destroy a 34-year old company and support his $1 billion bet against Herbalife.

    We applaud Connie Chung’s decision to withdraw from this spectacle. We believe the decision of an independent journalist to withdraw shows Mr. Ackman’s event for what it is: misleading propaganda designed to help achieve his ultimate goal of enriching himself by driving down Herbalife’s stock.

    As for the event's new moderator, Robert Fitzpatrick, a self-proclaimed expert in multi-level marketing, he is a known critic of the industry, and a consultant to Mr. Ackman and three-time convicted felon and perpetrator of fraud Barry Minkow. Herbalife believes Mr. Fitzpatrick’s involvement is further evidence that this “documentary” is merely another biased attack on our company. As such, Herbalife has not been asked to nor has any intention of participating in Friday’s media event.

    Since 2008, approximately 1.6 million new members have joined Herbalife in the U.S., including nearly 84,000 in the first quarter of this year alone. Studies have clearly shown that the vast majority of Herbalife members have realistic expectations and a positive experience.

    The ‘Gold Standard’ consumer protection rules that Herbalife offers all its members not only meet, but in most cases exceed the standards prescribed by the Direct Selling Association (DSA), of which the company is a long-time member in good standing. The Gold Standard guarantees:

    no minimum purchase requirements and no requirement to purchase any sales or business tools to start up or succeed;
    low start-up costs and 100% 90-day money back guarantee for cost of start-up pack;
    100% money-back guarantee, plus shipping costs, for all unsold products purchased within prior 12 months; and
    clear, accurate and timely disclosures regarding potential income-generating opportunities in the Statement of Average Gross Compensation, which can be found here.

    In addition, Herbalife requires that its members acknowledge in writing that they are aware of each of these Gold Standard Guarantees before their application is accepted.

    The company has recently unveiled iamherbalife.com to highlight, in their own words, the positive impact Herbalife has had on the lives of the company’s members and customers. It also shines a light on the truth behind the allegations made by Mr. Ackman and the extraordinary lengths he has gone to in order to achieve his goal of driving down Herbalife’s stock price for financial gain.

    About Herbalife Ltd.

    Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) is a global nutrition company that sells weight-management, nutrition and personal care products intended to support a healthy lifestyle. Herbalife products are sold in more than 90 countries to and through a network of independent members. The company supports the Herbalife Family Foundation and its Casa Herbalife program to help bring good nutrition to children. Herbalife's website contains a significant amount of financial and other information about the company at Herbalife Ltd. - Investor Relations. The company encourages investors to visit its website from time to time, as information is updated and new information is posted.

    FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

    Although we believe that the expectations reflected in any of our forward-looking statements are reasonable, actual results could differ materially from those projected or assumed in any of our forward-looking statements. Our future financial condition and results of operations, as well as any forward-looking statements, are subject to change and to inherent risks and uncertainties, such as those disclosed or incorporated by reference in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Important factors that could cause our actual results, performance and achievements, or industry results to differ materially from estimates or projections contained in our forward-looking statements include, among others, the following:

    our relationship with, and our ability to influence the actions of, our Members;
    improper action by our employees or Members in violation of applicable law;
    adverse publicity associated with our products or network marketing organization, including our ability to comfort the marketplace and regulators regarding our compliance with applicable laws;
    the outcome of inquiries from regulatory authorities;
    changing consumer preferences and demands;
    our reliance upon, or the loss or departure of any member of, our senior management team which could negatively impact our Member relations and operating results;
    the competitive nature of our business;
    regulatory matters governing our products, including potential governmental or regulatory actions concerning the safety or efficacy of our products and network marketing program, including the direct selling market in which we operate;
    legal challenges to our network marketing program;
    risks associated with operating internationally and the effect of economic factors, including foreign exchange, inflation, disruptions or conflicts with our third party importers, pricing and currency devaluation risks, especially in countries such as Venezuela;
    uncertainties relating to the application of transfer pricing, duties, value added taxes, and other tax regulations, and changes thereto;
    uncertainties relating to interpretation and enforcement of legislation in China governing direct selling;
    uncertainties relating to the interpretation, enforcement or amendment of legislation in India governing direct selling;
    our inability to obtain the necessary licenses to expand our direct selling business in China;
    adverse changes in the Chinese economy, Chinese legal system or Chinese governmental policies;
    our dependence on increased penetration of existing markets;
    contractual limitations on our ability to expand our business;
    our reliance on our information technology infrastructure and outside manufacturers;
    the sufficiency of trademarks and other intellectual property rights;
    product concentration;
    changes in tax laws, treaties or regulations, or their interpretation;
    taxation relating to our Members;
    product liability claims;
    whether we will purchase any of our shares in the open markets or otherwise; and
    share price volatility related to, among other things, speculative trading and certain traders shorting our common shares.

    We do not undertake any obligation to update or release any revisions to any forward-looking statement or to report any events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law.

    Contacts

    Herbalife Ltd.
    Barbara Henderson, 213-745-0517
    SVP, Worldwide Corp. Communications
    or
    Amy Greene, 213-745-0474
    VP, Investor Relations"
    Applauds Connie Chung’s Decision to Withdraw from Event

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    Herbalife to emerge from FTC probe stronger than ever, CEO vows

    "The head of Herbalife Ltd. vowed Tuesday that the Los Angeles nutritional products company would emerge unscathed from a Federal Trade Commission investigation stronger than ever.

    "I think it's going to clear the air, and I think it's going to be a very good day for Herbalife when this is all cleared up," Herbalife Chief Executive Michael O. Johnson said in an interview with The Times, shortly after the company's annual meeting at its downtown headquarters."
    More:

    Herbalife to emerge from FTC probe stronger than ever, CEO vows - latimes.com

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    Re: Robert FitzPatrick to Moderate Herbalife Distributor Panel

    Quote Originally Posted by JustTooMuchTime View Post
    Robert FitzPatrick replacing Connie Chung for Herbalife Distributor Panel discussion....
    Would rather see them bring in another big name reporter. I like Fitzpatrick for what he does, but don't know that his name has the same pull or perceived impartiality as someone like Connie Chung. RP just seems to be setting up the MLM talking machine to cry witch hunt.
    "It's virtually impossible to violate rules ... but it's impossible for a violation to go undetected, certainly not for a considerable period of time." Bernie Madoff
    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Scam-...98399986981403

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    Re: Robert FitzPatrick to Moderate Herbalife Distributor Panel

    Quote Originally Posted by ribshaw View Post
    Would rather see them bring in another big name reporter. I like Fitzpatrick for what he does, but don't know that his name has the same pull or perceived impartiality as someone like Connie Chung. RP just seems to be setting up the MLM talking machine to cry witch hunt.
    Meanwhile clem is another one that sits in the corner crying that no one called him.

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    May 2, 2014 Webcast: Former Herbalife Distributors Speak Out

    This is the VOD of the Friday, May 2, 2014 event: Former Herbalife Distributors Speak Out, featuring a documentary and a Q+A session.

    May 2, 2014 Webcast: Former Herbalife Distributors Speak Out | Facts About Herbalife

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