Embattled Herbalife has hired a Republican consultant in a move to head off any action against the company from state attorneys general.
Marcus Reese, a former George W. Bush campaign operative, joins the Los Angeles company as vice president for state and local government affairs, a newly created position, to bring Herbalife’s message to local and state leaders, the company said.
About nine state AGs have looked into allegations by investor Bill Ackman and Hispanic activists that the diet shake company is a pyramid scheme, Ackman has said. Two of them, New York and Illinois, have been identified.
Herbalife denies it’s a pyramid scheme.
The new position is a sign that Herbalife “is still concerned about what the state AGs are doing,” said Brent Wilkes, executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, an Herbalife critic.
Reese, who worked on the 2004 Bush campaign, among others, has been a consultant to Herbalife for the past year at Tusk Strategies, a public affairs consulting firm.
Reese has called himself a “war eagle” who, if not a political operative, would like to do fashion PR for Tom Ford.
Reported by: valuewalk.com

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