Diet-Pill Seller in $155 Million Settlement - FTC
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A Texas diet-pill marketer has  agreed to pay back up to $155 million he earned from selling  weight-loss pills that did not work as advertised, the U.S.  Federal Trade Commission said on Friday.
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An online advertiser that drove traffic to its Web sites by sending out spam with misleading subject lines has agreed to settle a U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC)&#160;complaint charging that it failed to tell consumers they had to spend money to receive so-called free products, the FTC announced Wednesday.The settlement requires Member Source Media to disclose the costs and obligations associated with the advertised products and services, and bars the company from sending e-mail that violates the CAN-SPAM Act, which regulates the sending of unsolicited e-mail. The company must also pay $200,000 in civil penalties, according to the settlement approved Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.Member Source Media -- doing business as ConsumerGain.com, PremiumPerks.com, FreeRetailRewards.com, and GreatAmericanGiveaways.com -- and the company&#8217;s owner, Chris Sommer, used deceptive spam and online advertising to lure customers to its Web sites, the FTC alleged.The company used e-mail subject lines such as, &quot;Congratulations. You&#39;ve won an iPod Video Player,&quot; &quot;Here are 2 free iPod Nanos for You: confirm now,&quot; and &quot;Second Attempt: Target Gift Card Inside,&quot; the FTC said in a press release. The company&#39;s Web-based ads contained similar offers: &quot;CONGRATULATIONS! You Have Been Chosen To Receive a FREE GATEWAY LAPTOP.&quot;When consumers arrived at Member Source Media&#39;s Web pages, they were led through a series of ads for goods and services from third parties.To qualify for their &quot;free products,&quot; consumers would have to first wade through pages of &quot;optional&quot; offers. Once they navigated those pages, they had to participate in a series of third-party promotions requiring them to do things such as purchase products, subscribe to satellite television service, or apply for multiple credit cards, the FTC said.Member Source Media&#39;s failure to disclose material facts was deceptive and violated the FTC Act, the FTC said. In addition, the agency charged that deceptive subject lines in Member Source Media&#39;s spam e-mails violated the federal CAN-SPAM Act.The settlement requires that Member Source Media clearly disclose in its ads and on its Web pages that consumers have to spend money or incur other obligations to qualify for a free product or service. The settlement also requires the company to provide a list of the obligations a consumer is likely to incur to qualify for their chosen item -- such as applying for credit cards or purchasing products.
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A settlement of an inquiry into Lillyâs marketing of the antipsychotic drug Zyprexa could result in the companyâs paying more than $1 billion to federal and state governments.
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A company that made contaminated pet food that killed dozens of dogs nationwide will pay $3.1 million in a settlement with pet owners, an attorney said yesterday.
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The FDA has appoved a drug called alli, the first diet pill that can be bought without a prescription
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WASHINGTON, Feb. 14  â Merck & Company agreed Wednesday to pay $2.3 billion to resolve several tax disputes, the Internal Revenue Service said.
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(InfoWorld) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has begun mailing claim forms to more than 1,400 identity theft victims who spent money to clear up identity-theft problems due to a security breach at data broker ChoicePoint announced in early 2005. The FTC began mailing claim forms to victims, identified with the help of law enforcement agencies, on Wednesday. The FTC has also created a Web site where consumers who do not receive a claims form can download one and obtain information about the claims process. In January, the FTC and ChoicePoint reached a settlementÂ requiring the company to payÂ $5 millionÂ to be used to reimburse consumers for expenses caused by the data breach. ChoicePoint also agreed to pay a $10 million fine. In February 2005, ChoicePoint announced that scammers had set up bogus businesses and contracted with the company to gainÂ access to the personal informationÂ of 145,000 U.S. residents. The company, which found out about the breach in September 2004, later said the number of people whose information was lost in the breach was 163,000. Consumers who receive a letter and have out-of-pocket expenses due to identity theft caused by the ChoicePoint security breach should submit claims promptly; the FTC needs claims to be postmarked by Feb. 4, 2007 for them to be considered. Consumers who do not receive a letter, but who believe that they have identity theft-related expenses due to this incident, may submit a claim by completing the form available on the FTCâs Web site or by calling 1-888-884-8772. The amount applicants receive will depend on a number of factors, including the total number and amount of claims that the agency receives, the FTC said. ChoicePoint issued a short notice about the FTC reimbursement program. "Even though ChoicePoint agreed to create a $5 million fund to assist potentially affected consumers, ChoicePoint has no role in deciding who will receive the money or the criteria used by the FTC to distribute the money," the company said in a statement.
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Merck agreed yesterday to pay more than $650 million to settle charges that it routinely overbilled the government for its most popular medicines, the arthritis drug Vioxx and the cholesterol drug Zocor, cheating Medicaid out of millions of dollars in discounts over eight years.
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Makers of the birth control pill Ovcon have reached a settlement with several states, including Utah, that sued the company for antitrust violations.  Utah's share in the $5.5 million settlement totals $86,620, according to the office of Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.
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A new anti-obesity drug that works in  the same way as Sanofi-Aventis's Acomplia has advanced in  clinical trials, triggering a $25 million payment to Belgian  drugs, chemicals and plastics maker Solvay.
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TAP Pharmaceutical Products has agreed to pay $150 million to consumers and private insurers to settle claims they overpaid for its drug Lupron because the company artificially inflated the price.
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As part of a renewed effort to curb false weight-loss claims, the Federal Trade Commission said on Tuesday it has sued six companies that sold products ranging from cellulite cream to diet teas and patches.
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NEW YORK, Jan 10  - Wyeth on Monday said it will  support changes in a nationwide legal settlement with users of  its "fen-phen" diet drugs, speeding up compensation to as many  as 40,000 people who say they were harmed by the recalled  medicines.
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COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A company that made contaminated pet food that killed dozens of dogs nationwide will pay $3.1 million in a settlement with pet owners, an attorney said Friday.
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The fine would settle a civil and criminal investigation into the companyâs marketing of an antipsychotic drug.
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WASHINGTON -- Drug giant GlaxoSmithKline agreed to pay $3.4 billion in the largest tax settlement in IRS history, resolving a dispute from the 1980s over the multinational company's U S profits.
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Genzyme has agreed to pay at least $325 million to win the hotly contested rights to a potentially powerful cholesterol-lowering drug.