Multilevel/Pyramid Marketing Schemes Lure Unsuspecting Consumers through FTC Loophole Don’t look now, but dozens of companies, starting with Amway back in 1979, and more recently Herbalife, the supplements company being challenged as operating a pyramid scheme by activist investor Bill Ackman, have been diverting billions in sales every year away from traditional retailers across the health, beauty and general merchandise industries. Multilevel marketing, or MLM, is a simple model that enriches those who start it at the expense of those who …
Bruce Craig
About Bruce Craig
Former Wisconsin Assistant Attorney General
Bruce Craig encourages all retail executives to let the FTC know that they don’t appreciate losing sales to MLM businesses and would very much appreciate it if the FTC would set up a regulatory framework that would effectively deal with this problem. Bruce retired from the Wisconsin Department of Justice in 1997, after having served as Assistant Attorney General and litigated consumer cases over a 30-year period. He currently volunteers with a New York public interest firm, New York Legal Assistance Group.