Feds Freeze Assets,Halt Sales of HGH Product

Feds Freeze Assets,Halt Sales of HGH Product

CHICAGO A federal court inChicago issued a court order against Creaghan Harry of Boca Raton, Fla., who isaccused of selling bogus human growth hormone (HGH) products through illegal spamming,the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced. The court order halted Harrysspamming and allegedly deceptive product claims and froze his assets. The actionwas taken ex parte due toconcerns that the defendant would try to hide assets if he received advancenotice of the action.

The FTC complaint alleged the defendant has sold a variety ofproducts falsely claiming to be dietary supplements that contain HGH or produceeffects similar to those of HGH. According to the complaint, the productscontained no HGH but contained amino acids that, when taken in the indicateddoses, would have no effect whatsoever, much less an effect similar to HGH. Thecomplaint also cited the defendants use of false health claims includinglowered blood pressure, cellulite reduction, improved vision, new hair growth,improved sleep and weight loss without diet or exercise.

Sales of the product were made through dozens of Web sites,many of which failed to identify any registered business name and were actuallyregistered to individuals in China. Proceeds from the sale of the products,estimated by FTC to be hundreds of thousands of dollars, were wire transferredto a Latvian bank account owned by the defendant. In addition to making falsehealth claims, the defendant is also charged with violating the CAN-SPAM Act(Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003)by sending millions of e-mail messages with the source disguised, with no validphysical postal address in the message, and without a clear and conspicuousnotice inviting consumers to opt out of further e-mails.

FTC reported consumers had forwarded about 40,000 complaintsto the agency concerning spam messages linked to Harry. An FTC spokesperson saidthe agency intervened because of the number of consumers who had been affectedby Harrys business, and hopes the court order will send a message to thoserunning similar operations.

The full FTC complaint and other related documents areavailable at www.ftc.gov/os/caselist/0423085/0423085.htm.

Industry attorney Marc Ullman commented on the actions takenby FTC. This is a clear statement that FTC intends to take serious action intwo areas that it has made enforcement priorities: SPAM and bogus dietarysupplements, he said. The likelihood that FTC will seek immediaterelief in the form of Federal Court Orders enjoining illegal marketingactivities and freezing assets is exponentially increased when individuals orcompanies take the kind of steps to hide themselves that FTC encountered here.Actually, if Mr. Harry was really selling products containing HGH, he isfortunate FDA [Food and Drug Administration] did not participate in thisenforcement action, as he could be facing felony charges for the illegaldistribution and/or possession of human growth hormone.