Special Investigation: Vemma

The Vemma Nutrition Company is a privately held multi-level marketing company that sells energy drinks, nutritional beverages and weight management products. Vemma, which calls itself an affiliate marketing company, is based in Tempe, Arizona. It was founded in 2004 by Benson K. Boreyko and his sisters. Vemma is an acronym for vitamins, essential minerals, mangosteen and aloe. Nutrition Company, an Arizona-based dietary supplement company, was having a good year in 2013. The company was marketing several drinks, including the energy product line Verve. Through its “Young People Revolution” and social network marketing, sales reached more than $20 million per month according to the company, and a “jaw dropping” number of new distributors were joining each month. But a TINA.org investigation found a jaw-dropping number of issues relating to the company, including complaints to the FTC that it was a An inherently deceptive form of multi-level marketing where participants are told they’ll get paid for recruiting other participants, and not necessarily for selling products or services. Typically, participants must pay some sort of initial investment in order to join, and will then earn a commission for each participant they recruit. Unfortunately for the unsuspecting consumers, pyramid schemes are doomed to collapse because the number of potential participants is limited. targeting young adults who end up losing money and health claims that violated a previous FTC consent order. In August of 2015, the FTC came knocking at Vemma’s door alleging that the company was a pyramid scheme. In December 2016, Vemma reached a $238 million settlement with the agency that bans its recruitment-focused business practices.

	Things to Know About Vemma
	Vemma Reaches $238 Million Settlement with FTC
	Timeline
	Vemma Reaches Settlement Agreement in FTC Pyramid Case
	Settling Up: Vemma
	Here’s How the Vemma Case Ends
	Vemma Frenzy Ends: Judge Limits Vemma’s Operations
	What You Should Know about the FTC’s Action Against Vemma
	Takedown: Feds Move Against Vemma
	Vemma 2014: It Ain’t Pretty
	Vemma Distributors: Focus on Facts not Hype
	Vemma Facing Judicial Inquiries in Europe
	Health Claims Could Cost Vemma and its CEO Millions
	Vemma Health Claims Database
	TINA.org to Vemma: Take Down Health Claims
	New Class Action Alleges Vemma’s Clinical Studies ‘Worthless”
	Vemma Involved in Silencing One of its Harshest Critics
	Leading Nowhere: The Industry Within the MLM Industry
	Misleading Health Claims about Vemma Still Flood Web
	Vemma Affiliates’ Health Claims Violate FTC Order
	Vemma Deemed Pyramid Scheme in Italy
	Seven Signs Vemma Distributors Fared Worse in 2013
	Vemma Facing Class-Action Lawsuit in California
	Pyramid Scheme Expert Issues Warning about Vemma
	Eight ‘Facts’ That Won’t Answer This: Is Vemma Pyramid Scheme?
	NBA Says it Never Cleared Vemma’s Biz Structure
	Vemma Complaints by the Numbers