FTC Mailing CogniPrin Memory Improvement Supplement Checks

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The Federal Trade Commission announced that it will be sending $355,000 in checks to more than 2,000 consumers who bought CogniPrin “memory improvement” supplement.

The FTC says that the checks will amount to $168.08 – a full refund to those who bought CogniPrin, which was allegedly deceptively marketed and sold. These checks must be cashed by June 1, 2018.

Last year, the Maine Attorney General along with the FTC filed a lawsuit against XXL Impressions LLC, Jeffrey R. Powlowsky, J2 Response LLP, Justin Bumann, Justin Steinle, Synergixx, LLC, Charlie Fusco, Ronald Jahner, and Brazos Minshew alleging that the CogniPrin supplement was deceptively marketed using false and misleading claims, and using a medical expert that was paid by the manufacturer based on sales of the supplement.

The lawsuit alleged that the supplement maker made misleading claims about the effectiveness of CogniPrin. The lawsuit settled shortly after it was initiated. The makers of CogniPrin were ordered to pay the FTC $6 million and slapped with a litany of other restrictions prohibiting the supplement makers from any form of deceptive advertising.

The supplement maker was also slapped with a 20-year ban on direct response marketing of food, dietary supplements, or drugs for which a health benefit is claimed. The actions barred, include “advertising, marketing, promoting, offering for sale, or distributing through Direct Response Marketing, or assisting in the advertising, marketing, promoting, offering for sale, or distributing through Direct Response Marketing, any Covered Product for which a health benefit is claimed expressly or by implication,” according to the court order.

Unless the makers of CogniPrin can furnish competent and reliable scientific evidence, the court prohibited them from “making, or assisting others in making, expressly or by implication, including through the use of a product name, endorsement, depiction, or illustration, any representation about the health benefits, safety, performance, or efficacy of any Covered Product, other than a representation covered under the Section of this Order entitled Prohibited Representations: Pain Relief, Cartilage Rebuilding, Cognitive Decline, Memory Improvement, and Disease Claims.”

The makers of CogniPrin were also barred from misrepresenting that an expert endorses any goods or services as a part of the settlement agreement.

Further, the settlement prohibits the supplement makers from presenting TV or radio segment 15 minutes or longer absent of a disclosure that the program is a paid advertisement.

The settlement also bars the makers of CogniPrin from representing to customers that they will receive a money-back guarantee, free trial offers, risk-free trials, free gifts, or bonuses. They are also enjoined from misrepresenting the total cost, including shipping, the timing or manner of charges, any material restriction, as well as any other material aspect of the product or service.

In addition to being enjoined from misleading and deceptive advertising, the court order also dictates that the makers of CogniPrin make required disclosures regarding billing, total costs, timing, fees, and terms and conditions of refunds to consumers.

The CogniPrin Lawsuit is Federal Trade Commission, et al. v. XXL Impressions LLC, et al., Case No. 1:17-cv-00067-NT, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine.