A federal district court has ordered the direct marketers of an herbal tea and a diet patch to pay nearly $2 million to the Federal Trade Commission for making deceptive claims that both products would allow users to lose weight quickly without diet or exercise, according to the FTC.
Named as defendants were Bronson Partners LLC and its officer Martin Howard, according to the FTC.-
For nearly two years before the FTC complaint was filed, the defendants marketed Chinese Diet Tea, telling consumers they could lose as much as six pounds a week by drinking one cup of the green tea after each meal to “neutralize the absorption of fattening foods,” the FTC continued.
Advertising in national magazines such as USA Weekend and Clipper Magazine, the marketers charged $24.95 plus shipping and handling for a month’s supply, according to the FTC.
Also during this time, the marketers sold through its catalog and national magazines the Bio-Slim Patch, a diet patch that contained extracts from the fucus, garcinia, and guarana plants. Instructing consumers to wear the patches 24 hours a day for at least three months, the marketers claimed that “repulsive, excess ugly fatty tissue will disappear at a spectacular rate due to the combination and synergy of these three natural ingredients,” according to the FTC.
In addition to ordering the nearly $2 million payment, citing “obvious and widespread” violations of the FTC Act, Judge Stefan R. Underhill of the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut granted the FTC’s request to prohibit the defendants from deceptively selling or advertising any weight-loss products, the FTC continued.
The FTC filed its complaint against Bronson Partners and Howard as part of the “Big Fat Lie” law enforcement sweep in Nov. 2004, according to the Commission.
In July 2008, the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut granted the FTC’s request for summary judgment against Howard and Bronson Partners, LLC – also doing business as New England Diet Center and Bronson Day Spa, according to the FTC..
This case is on file in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport, CT.
