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Gero Vita Promoter Settles FTC Charges

January 30, 2006

Gero Vita • Gero Vita Promoter Settles FTC Charges • Gero Vita Promoter Fined $4.5 Million • Gero Vita Settles Federal Charges • Gero Vita Head Got Clinton Pardon • Gero Vita, Theraceuticals Use Deceptive Advertising, FTC Charges • Consumer Complaints

The creator of allegedly false and misleading advertising for Gero Vita International's dietary supplements has settled Federal Trade Commission charges.

Chase Revel is required to post a $1 million performance bond before advertising, marketing, or selling any food, drug, dietary supplement, device, or health-related service. As part of the settlement, he also will pay $27,500 for consumer redress.

"Consumers have a right to expect the ads they read to be truthful," said Lydia Parnes, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. "Anyone who cooks up false or misleading claims in an ad -- from those who write them to those who sell the product -- will be held accountable."

In its complaint, the FTC alleged that seven corporations, A. Glenn Braswell, Revel, and three other individuals deceptively marketed five of their dietary supplements, mostly through direct mail advertising, including the Journal of Longevity, a direct mail ad that purported to be a health-information magazine.

The challenged products included:
• "Lung Support Formula," a dietary supplement that purportedly cured nearly all breathing and respiratory problems, including asthma, emphysema, and smoking-related damage;
• "Antibetic Pancreas Tonic," an herbal supplement that purportedly treated or cured both Type I and Type II diabetes;
• "G.H.3," also known as "Theraceuticals GH3 Romanian Youth Formula," marketed as an anti-aging product that could reverse and prevent Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia;
• "Chitoplex," a chitosan-based weight-loss product that purportedly enabled users to lose weight without diet or exercise; and
• "Testerex," a yohimbe product touted as effective in treating 62 to 95 percent of cases of impotence and erectile dysfunction.

According to the complaint, Revel created misleading ads for Lung Support, Antibetic, and G.H.3., as well as ads for other products the defendants made that were not named in the complaint. He is the final defendant to settle the FTC's charges.

As part of the settlement, Revel is prohibited from making false, misleading, or unsubstantiated efficacy or safety claims for any food, drug, dietary supplement, device, or health-related service. He also is prohibited from using misleading ad formats (including phony magazines), misleading or unsubstantiated expert endorsements, and misleading scientific evidence.

Before he can advertise, market, offer for sale, sell, or distribute a food, drug, dietary supplement, device, or health-related service for human use or consumption, he must first obtain a $1 million performance bond, or irrevocable letter of credit, or put the full amount into an escrow account supervised by an approved escrow agent.

Revel will pay $27,500 for consumer redress. If it is found that he misrepresented his financial status, he will be responsible for the full judgment amount of $1 million. Revel also is the subject of a 1994 stipulated order with the FTC involving the advertising and marketing of pinhole eyeglasses.

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