“The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.” – Justice Louis Brandeis, dissenting in Olmstead v. United States (1928) When I say the gospel that isn’t, I am referring to the idea that continues to become ever more commonplace in the national discussion. The idea […]

The nature of this industry is complex. When I entered this field, I knew very little about the people who operated within it, the laws and regulations that encompassed it, or frankly what exactly it meant to fall under the descriptive phrase of “direct sales,” network marketing,” “multi-level marketing,” etc. Those on the outside may […]

The nature of the network marketing industry has evolved over the last several decades with new and innovative business models, yet the regulatory landscape has remained quite stagnant and vague. We are all aware of the landmark cases of Koscot and BurnLonge, FTC v. BurnLounge Case Summary, along with company specific settlements such as Vemma, […]

In Part 1, we presented our belief that there is soon to be a shifting tide of regulatory attitude from empowering the consumer to now empowering the government. Such empowerment has morphed into the idea that consumers are now unable to protect themselves due to the constant barrage of information, e.g., misleading/deceptive income claims, no […]

We have discussed in many of our previous articles the ever-changing regulatory strategy of federal agencies and the virtual impossibility of reading regulator’s minds, especially the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), but we have never truly dove into the minutiae of what may be causing this constant shifting of the goal posts. Is it really a […]