Lee Peeler, Deputy Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, testified yesterday before the House Committee on Government Reform regarding FTC complaints against dietary supplement companies. According to the FTC press release:
The FTC has filed fourteen complaints in the past year against companies making allegedly unsubstantiated or false advertising claims for dietary supplements and other natural healthcare products, including oral sprays, creams, and patches. Also, in the past year, the Commission obtained orders against forty companies and forty-four individuals, which prohibited the unlawful practices and required the defendants to pay a total of $35.5 million in consumer redress, disgorgement, and civil penalties.
Of course, the majority of these were consent orders. One of these, announced the same day as Peeler’s testimony, was in FTC v. v. Garden of Life, Inc. and Jordan S. Rubin, filed in the Southern District of Florida against the fast growing West Palm Beach supplement company and its dynamic founder. The consent order provides for $250k of “consumer redress” (read disgorgement) and a permanent injunction. For the FTC case file, click here.
To read the full text of Peeler’s testimony, click here.
About Joel Rothman
Joel B. Rothman represents clients in intellectual property infringement litigation involving patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, defamation, trade libel, unfair competition, unfair and deceptive trade practices, and commercial matters. Joel’s litigation practice also includes significant focus on electronic discovery issues such as e-discovery management and motion practice relating to e-discovery.
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