Texas AG Sues Mannatech for "Fictitious" Claims

[wserra]

Texas AG Greg Abbott is clearly doing his share to shut the scams down. The latest - "wellness" MLM Mannatech. To his considerable credit, Abbott describes in the complaint the way these thieves actually covertly encourage the making of false and illegal claims, while at the same time pretending they have no control over those who make them. As we know, every such MLM around does this, and kudos to Abbott for calling Mannatech out.

For a summary, read the press release.

[soapboxmom]

wserra,

I got so excited when I saw the court documents on scam.com I posted them on another Mannatech thread here as well. Finally, Gregg Abbott has gone after a "health" MLM in Texas. Now if he would get our favorite "wealth" MLM, Advantage Conferences, I might see my way clear to vote for him again. It is hilarious that Mrs. Sam "scammer" Caster's wife spoke at the Advantage Conferences scamference this June. Tim Darnell even mentions her is his ridiculous book Slay Your Giant.

From Slay Your Giant:

Linda Castor, in her powerful book, Undeniable Destiny, says that building her and her husband, Sam’s multi-million dollar business has been constant spiritual warfare. She owes their success to much needed spiritual discernment of God’s direction gained through prayer. Her story amazingly parallels my life story and so I truly relate to that book. Though I’ve yet to meet this couple, I love Linda and Sam as fellow Christ-dependent and Christ-centered successful business people.

Linda is a powerful prayer warrior. Prayer is the secret, yet essential practice that Champions know to consistently implement. I totally agree with Linda that business and life in general are both a spiritual battle.
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Linda makes it clear that prayer has been their single most important weapon – their weapon of choice. I could not agree more. In my experience, building a business is a matter of faith and belief. Owning a business requires constant Giant Slaying, one after another on a consistent basis, and requires all the resources we can muster. God is the provider of all our strength and all our wisdom. To involve Him, to reach Him, we simply speak and even ‘cry out’ to Him in our prayers. And when we do, we must then trust Him explicitly without any trace of d-o-u-b-t whatsoever - and the battle will be won!

Timmy didn't defeat his Giant the Better Business Bureau/Dr. Jon Taylor. I don't think God will see him prevail with the Attorney General's office either.

Soapboxmom

[Shakespearegirl]

well that's just lovely.

When do you suppose this Abbott guy will notice he's got the biggest pyramid scam in Texas sitting right on his back porch? I can't believe Mary Kay is still flying under the radar.

UGH.

But still it's good he's going after Mannatech. They are rotten too.

[wserra]

These guys (state AGs) are elected politicians. You have to realize how they think. I'm not defending it, just pointing it out.

Mannatech is big. Mary Kay is huge. Look at the number of canned comments with which they were able to flood the FTC "business opportunity" rulemaking. Before an elected politician will take on a huge company, s/he wants to be sure than the positive publicity will outweigh the negative. About the only way ordinary folks have to do this (other than agitating on boards like Q, which I am sure the various AGs offices do keep some sort of watch on) is to complain. That's COMPLAIN. In Texas, here is how to do it. The more care you take with the complaint, the more attention you're likely to get. I'm sure that complaints from residents of the particular AG's state do count for more than non-residents'.

Hint, hint.

As for Abbott - yeah, relatively little has been done in such a target-rich environment. But name someone who has done even as much as he has. Hell, the FTC doesn't take on the big guys - the Amways or MKs.

[soapboxmom]

I complained about another opportunity that had many threads on here in the past. I was approached by that one personally. When I told the investigator that I was Soapboxmom that individual knew exactly who I was. They do read these sites. The funniest part is the goons from that opportunity were insisting there was no investigation as I was talking on the phone with the investigator and mailing in materials about that scam.

So, other thing I learned is that when the authorities investigate they do not advertise it. The investigators do take what is said here very seriously and it does speed along their work. Sadly, I was not solicited by AC and the AGs office needs more reps harmed by those goons to file formal complaints. So, yes by all means complain about all these scams. The scam I complained about now has an Income Disclosure, which while not quite what I had in mind is better than nothing. The goons, of course, will not admit I had anything to do with that.

Soapboxmom

[Judge Roy Bean]

...As for Abbott - yeah, relatively little has been done in such a target-rich environment. But name someone who has done even as much as he has. Hell, the FTC doesn't take on the big guys - the Amways or MKs.

Abbot and company rarely take on companies with significant state-level influence. His reluctance to target mortgage servicing companies based in in Texas is revealiing. They use the excuse that they won't get involved in individual cases then won't tell you how many complaints they've received to see if there are more than just a few individual cases.

They're squarely in the "accept some collateral damage" mode.

[wserra]

I have no quarrel with anything you wrote, JRB.

My point was that some enforcement is better than the norm - none at all.

[Doc Bunkum]

Nothing "Fictitious" about this.

Mannatech Q4 2011 – Revenue Minus 12.8% To $48 Milllion

Mannatech Reports Fourth Quarter and Year End Results

* Annual net sales for 2011 were $200.7 million, down 12.0% from $228.1 million for the full year 2010
* Distributors down from 372,000 in 2011 compared to 403,000 in 2010
* Net loss of $7.0 million