Maine Attorney General Janet Mills says three supplement marketers have settled a complaint filed by her office and the Federal Trade Commission about a deceptive sales campaign.
Mills says the federal complaint charged that three corporations and six individuals conducted a deceptive campaign to sell joint and cognitive health supplements in violation of state and federal laws. She says the remaining three defendants to settle are ad agency Synergixx, its principal Charlie Fusco and collaborator Ronald Jahner.
Mills says the defendants marketed and sold Flexiprin to improve joint health.
“And it was frankly untrue and deceptive,” Mills says. “Similarly something called cogniprin, which is obviously a sales gimmick designed to affect people who feel they’re losing memory capacity that was another product that did absolutely nothing.”
Mills says the settlements include proposed consent orders barring the defendants from using the type of advertising and marketing that financially harmed consumers.
"They took advantage of people who were at their most vulnerable state in life and made it impossible for people to get their money back when these products proved to be totally ineffective," she says.
The consent order still requires approval from federal district court.
