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Senior Alert
Huckster Targeting Elderly with False Claims Banned
by FTC
Pushed dietary supplements to cure Alzheimer’s,
diabetes, and emphysema
Jan. 4, 2006 - The mastermind behind a scheme to
sell dietary supplements – primarily to senior citizens - using claims
the Federal Trade Commission alleged were false and unsubstantiated has
been banned from the direct response marketing of foods, unapproved
drugs, and dietary supplements.
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Senior Alerts |
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The defendant, A. Glenn Braswell, who was already
under another consent decree stemming from alleged violations of the FTC
Act, also will pay $1 million and turn over assets worth $3.5 million to
settle the FTC’s charges.
The FTC also iannounced a settlement with one of
the “expert” endorsers for Braswell’s dietary supplement products.
“We charged Braswell with peddling empty promises
to consumers battling serious illnesses,” said Lydia Parnes, Director of
the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “This settlement will prevent
him from profiting from these sorts of deceptive claims in the future,
and deter others who may think they can get away with similar
practices.”
Braswell sold dietary supplements, mostly through
direct mail advertising, including the
Journal of Longevity, a
direct mail ad that purported to be a health-information magazine. The
FTC alleged these ads, aimed at elderly consumers, used false and
misleading claims of medical or scientific “breakthroughs,” expert
endorsements, and misrepresented the results and applicability of
scientific studies.
According to the FTC, Braswell’s operation was one
of the largest U.S. direct mail marketers of health-related products
during the time he was running the companies.
The products the FTC targeted, Lung Support
Formula, AntiBetic Pancreas Tonic, Gero Vita G.H.3, ChitoPlex, and
Testerex, were supposed to cure, prevent, or treat a number of
illnesses, such as Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and emphysema.
Braswell is the former owner of the
California-based corporate defendants and controlled the misleading
advertising and marketing materials.
In settling the FTC’s charges, Braswell not only is
banned from direct response marketing (with a few exemptions, such as
FDA approved product claims), he also is prohibited from making false,
misleading, or unsubstantiated health claims, misrepresenting
endorsements, making unsubstantiated endorsements, or misrepresenting
scientific evidence for all foods, drugs, dietary supplements, and
health-related products and services.
Braswell already was under a 1983 consent order to
resolve the FTC’s charges related to his marketing of baldness and
anti-cellulite products.
Today, the FTC also is announcing a settlement with
defendant Hans Kugler. The FTC alleged that Kugler was an expert
endorser for two of the products, Lung Support Formula and Gero Vita
G.H.3.
The FTC’s complaint charged that Kugler did not
have the required expertise or a reasonable basis for his endorsements.
The settlement prohibits him from making future endorsements, unless
they are based on competent and reliable scientific information and an
actual exercise of his represented expertise, as well as
misrepresentations about scientific tests or studies. Kugler will pay
$15,000 in settlement of the allegations.
With today’s announced settlements, all of the
seven corporate defendants and four of the five individual defendants
have settled the FTC’s charges in this case. Litigation continues
against Chase Revel.
The Commission votes authorizing staff to file the
stipulated final orders were both 4-0. The stipulated final orders for
permanent injunction were filed in the U.S. District Court for the
Central District of California on October 21, 2005 (Kugler) and December
28, 2005 (Braswell).
The FTC notes that these stipulated final orders
are for settlement purposes only and do not constitute an admission by
the defendants of law violations. A stipulated final order requires
approval by the court and has the force of law when signed by the judge.
Copies
of the stipulated final orders are available from the FTC’s Web site at
http://www.ftc.gov and also from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center,
Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. The FTC
works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair
business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help
consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or
Spanish (bilingual counselors are available to take complaints), or to
get free information on any of 150 consumer topics, call toll-free,
1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357), or use the complaint form at
http://www.ftc.gov. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity
theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a
secure, online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law
enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.
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