Fraud supplement makers fined $16m
Manufacturers of dietary supplements have been ordered to pay a fine of almost $16m in the latest case of uncovered deceptive marketing.
A federal district court imposed the fine and permanent prohibitions against National Urological Group and several other corporate and individual defendants for fraudulent marketing of supplements for weight loss and erectile dysfunction.
The advertising watchdog Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which had filed the case last year, called the defendants “old-fashioned snake oil salesmen”. The products had been advertised as clinically proven to cause substantial weight loss, and clinically proven to safely and effectively treat 90 percent of men with erectile dysfunction.
The US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia also placed orders on the defendants’ future conduct, which FTC will monitor.
