The advertising watchdog group TruthInAdvertising.org (TINA) sent a letter yesterday to the Acting Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), requesting that the FTC “implement a penalty offense program targeting the direct selling industry and its market-wide practice of utilizing deceptive earnings representations and false health claims.”
The letter also included a list of 660 direct selling companies operating in the U.S., including their contact information, that TINA asked the FTC to use to provide them with “actual notice of the law” and to “eliminate any claims of ignorance” so that “civil penalties may be imposed against lawbreakers.”
In February, Samuel Levine, Attorney Advisor to Commissioner Rohit Chopra held a conference call that argued the FTC should “resurrect” Section 5(m)(1)(B) of the FTC Act, known as the Penalty Offense Authority, which has rarely been used. These penalties can amass quickly and there is no known statute of limitations.