The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has agreed to settle claims with individual and business sellers of cognitive enhancement products. The FTC previously filed a claim under the FTC Act, seeking to obtain permanent injunctive relief, restitution, the refund of monies paid, and other relief in connection with the sellers’ marketing and sale of the products.
The FTC accused the sellers of making false claims regarding their products. Specifically, the sellers were accused of falsely claiming that dietary supplements helped increase users’ concentration, increase brain power, and prevent memory loss. According to the FTC, the sellers promoted the product on websites designed to look like real news sites, but were actually fake websites. The websites contained celebrity endorsements, including assertions that celebrities Bill Gates and Stephen Hawking received dramatic results from using the products. In some instances, the sellers claimed that products had been tested in over 2,000 human clinical trials by the Nottingham Clinical Trials Unit (NCTU).
In a settlement reached earlier this month, sellers have been prohibited from making false claims regarding the efficacy of these products. Collectively, the sellers will be required to pay over $600,000.