| U.S. Federal Trade Commission |
FTC News Release, September 15, 2005
FTC Stops Weight-loss Claims about Seaweed-based Patches
Defendants Banned from Marketing Weight-Loss Products and Dietary Supplements in the U.S.
The alleged masterminds behind a fraudulent scheme to market two
seaweed-based patches as weight-loss products to U.S.
consumers have settled Federal Trade Commission charges. The
defendants, all based in the United Kingdom, will pay $150,000
– the profits they made from selling Hydro-Gel Slim Patch and
Slenderstrip in the United States. Under the settlement, the
defendants will be banned in the U.S. from making,
advertising, or selling any dietary supplement, food, drug, or
weight-loss product, and cannot make claims about other
health-related products or services unless the claims are
backed by scientific evidence.
The FTC filed a complaint in
December 2003 to stop the allegedly false and unsubstantiated
weight-loss claims for the two patches. In May 2004, the FTC
amended its complaint to include Kingstown Associates, Ltd.;
BVW Associates, Inc.; Gary Bush; David Varley; and Laurence
White, the defendants named in today’s announced settlement.
The FTC added the defendants when the Commission discovered
they were allegedly orchestrating the manufacturing,
advertising, and selling of the patches in the United States.
In September 2004, the original defendants settled FTC
charges.
The settlement announced today against the
U.K.-based defendants bans them from manufacturing, labeling,
advertising, promoting, offering for sale, selling, or
distributing any dietary supplement, food, drug, or
weight-loss product, or assisting others to do so. The
defendants are further prohibited from making representations
about the health benefits, performance, or efficacy of any
health-related service or program, or device unless the
representations are true, non-misleading, and substantiated by
competent and reliable scientific evidence at the time they
are made.
The order also requires the defendants to
give the FTC a list of people who bought Hydro-Slim Patch and
Slenderstrip, and prohibits them from disclosing their mailing
lists to others, except as required by law. They are required
to pay $150,000, but if it is found that the defendants
misrepresented their financial status, they will be
responsible for the full judgment of $5.3 million – the total
U.S. sales of the two patches. The order also contains
standard record-keeping provisions.
The Commission vote to authorize
staff to file the stipulated final order was
4-0. The stipulated final order for permanent
injunction was filed in the U.S. District Court for the
Western District of New York on September 9, 2005, and
requires the signature of the judge.
NOTE: This stipulated final
order is for settlement purposes only and does not constitute
an admission by the defendants of a law violation. A
stipulated final order requires approval by the court and has
the force of law when signed by the judge.
The text in this article was prepared by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.