The promotional attack machine used to bring Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) to its knees is now targeting Anthony Powell, one of the nutritional supplement company’s top distributors.
The Pershing Square Capital operated website has, under the subsection “perpetrators,” a profile of Anthony Powell, an aggressive entrepreneur highly successful at closing deals to build an Herbalife distribution network of over 16,000 distributors under his domain. Powell used this aggressiveness to become one of Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF)’s top distributors, in some years earning nearly half a million per year. The problem is, on Ackman’s Herbalife attack website Powell is accused of making get rich quick promises using a pyramid scheme to build his fortune.
In 2002, NWTW, Herbalife, Powell, and other senior Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) distributors were sued in a class action in federal district court in Los Angeles. Plaintiff alleged that Herbalife and NWTW constituted a pyramid scheme and that the defendants were committing fraud and securities fraud by making deceptive earnings projections and omitting and misrepresenting the risks inherent in the business.
Plaintiff further alleged that “Powell, along with other of the defendants, conceived, authorized the use of and operated the Lead Generation System known as ‘The Newest Way to Wealth.’”I Herbalife settled the case for $6 million in 2004.
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