• Short On Ethics

    American Journalism Review By Cary Spivak Two Web sites that investigate business fraud are funded by short selling—placing market bets that the stock of companies they write about will go down. It’s an approach that makes journalism ethicists very uncomfortable. […]

  • Whistleblower Provisions Under Dodd-Frank

    There has been lots of chatter about the whistleblower provisions under Dodd-Frank. A whistleblower  can earn 10% to 30% of any penalty the federal government imposes against a company. And companies have to be very careful, because there are anti-retaliation […]

  • Sentences Handed Down in International Multimillion-Dollar Fraud Scheme

    Thomas Huddleston Jr. – Corporate Counsel at Law.com A lesson for would-be criminal masterminds: When looking for victims to scam, try someone other than the U.S. government. A group of Kenyan nationals learned that the hard way Aug. 19 when […]

  • Who is Short Selling Medifast stock?

    UPDATE: On February 17, 2010, Medifast Inc. filed suit in US District Court, Southern District of California, alleging defamation, violation of California Corporations Code, and unfair business practices. On March 29, 2011, Judge Janis Sammartino dismissed all of Medifast’s claims […]

  • Acquisition by Usana Health Sciences Gets Them Into China (Legally, This Time)

    A few years ago, I was involved in an investigation of multi-level marketing company (MLM) Usana Health Sciences (NASDAQ:USNA).  One of the allegations that came out during that investigation was that Usana was illegally conducting business in China. China has […]

  • Another Reason Why More Anti-SLAPP Legislation Is Needed

    UPDATE: On February 17, 2010, Medifast Inc. filed suit in US District Court, Southern District of California, alleging defamation, violation of California Corporations Code, and unfair business practices. On March 29, 2011, Judge Janis Sammartino dismissed all of Medifast’s claims […]

  • MonaVie Lawyers Are Again Threatening Critics

    These stories never get old. People criticize multi-level marketing in general, and particular MLMs specifically, and the lawyers come running. They cry that the bloggers are saying bad things about their companies, and that can’t be allowed to happen. Mona […]

  • Questions Raised About the Figures Reported in USANA’s SEC Filings

    USANA Watchdog  just posted an article this morning which questions the active associate count of USANA Health Sciences (NASDAQ:USNA) and whether there is illegal recruiting of associates in China. Watchdog’s analysis of the numbers found some very curious things: Associates […]

  • Penn & Teller on Multi-Level Marketing and Pyramid Schemes

    Last month, Penn & Teller’s Showtime show Bullshit! featured multi-level marketing. They did an excellent job of hitting the high points on why MLMs almost guarantee failure for all the participants. Sure, there will be a couple of people at […]

  • United First Financial is Being Shopped to Private Equity Groups

    Recently, the cat has been let out of the bag that UFirst Financial, the company selling the worthless “Money Merge Account” software via a multi-level marketing business model is on its last legs.  Top members of the salesforce are plotting […]