My complaints to both the FTC and FDA have also been filed.

Looks like an FDA and FTC complaint to me.

Here’s a copy just in case you’re curious to know what you’ll be defending yourself against.

—————
Re: Phillip and Christine Lafon
http://phillipandchristinasstories.blogspot.com

Mr. and Mrs. Lafon are distributors of Monavie brand juice who are advertising the product using testimonials that state or imply that it can treat, prevent, cure and/or mitigate the symptoms of diseases including sciatica, knee pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, back pain, severe acid reflux, mouth ulcers, digestive track (sic) problems, osteogenesis imperfecta, allergies, high cholesterol, and hypertension.

These claims clearly promote Monavie (‘Original’, ‘Active’, and ‘Pulse’) for conditions that cause the products to be drugs under section 201(g)(1) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the Act) [21 U.S.C. § 321(g)(1)].

The distributors in question (Mr. and Mrs. Lafon) have the Monavie distributor identification number 2216622.

They operate the following Monavie sales websites:
http://feelthejuice2.blogspot.com
http://2216622.mymonavie.com

The contact information listed for Mr. Phillip A. Lafon is:

256 New Covenant Way
Ellenboro, NC 28040-4718
(828) 453-1631
feelthejuice2@gmail.com

Monavie LLC can be contacted at:
10855 River Front Parkway,
South Jordan, UT‎
(801) 748-3100‎
(866) 217-8455
compliance@monavie.com

Thank you in advance for your prompt attention to this very serious matter.

There’s nothing contained within Monavie (which is NOTHING more than fruit juice) that would account for the improved of symptoms any of the above conditions and definitely not acid reflux – in fact, it is common knowledge that many fruits and fruit juices aggravate the symptoms of same so it’s more than safe to conclude Phillip’s testimony is absolute bull$hit.

I’d personally like to see not only the axe dropped but a bottle of that Monavie crap dropped on this fraudster’s head – the level of deceit is unbelievable.

I can’t help but continue to be disappointed that despite being spoon fed the details concerning the law and company policy which prohibits the use of testimonials such as those posted on Phillip’s site, distributors STILL continue to use these and even defend the use of same!

Phillip – if Monavie was so great, you wouldn’t need to break the law and breach company policy to sell the product. IF anyone you know has thought to have experienced benefits from what is proven to be a nutritionally void fruit juice, it’s in all likelihood because YOU (who is has a vested financial interest in the venture) planted the seed suggestive of it – you know, a placebo effect. Disgraceful.

Hey Phillip, I’m going to cut you a break since you at least had enough gumption to post your ID# (albeit after being prodded). Unfortunately, the bad news for you is that I had a look at your Monavie website and found that you are illegally advertising the product using numerous testimonials (including your own and your wife Christine’s) implying that Monavie can treat, prevent, cure and/or mitigate the symptoms of diseases including: sciatica, knee pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, back pain, severe acid reflux, mouth ulcers, digestive track (sic) problems, osteogenesis imperfecta , allergies, high cholesterol, and hypertension.
http://phillipandchristinasstories.blogspot.com

I won’t engage in any argument with you about whether your advertising is illegal — it clearly is. It clearly violates the regulations set forth in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (Food & Drug Act) and the terms of your agreement with Monavie, which explicitly forbids you from (a) using testimonials, and (b) using implied medical claims to market the product. Monavie’s distributor training materials make these regulations and policies clear. I can’t imagine that you could be unaware of these regulations and policies, so I have to assume that you willfully chose to ignore them. That doesn’t speak well of your business ethics.

Just to recap, this is what the company says about the use of such testimonials:

“You may not make any claims or personal testimonials that state that MonaVie cures diseases, is therapeutic, is a treatment, mitigates, or is used to diagnose or prevent any disease, illness, or condition. If you say anything like that, not only are you violating MonaVie’s rules, you are also violating laws and regulations in your country.”

But since you were forthcoming with your ID#, I didn’t file a report with the FDA or notify the company regarding your violations yet. Instead, for now, I’ll give you the opportunity to remove the claims of your own accord, and I certainly hope that after you do remove them, you won’t continue to use such claims covertly offline. Should you choose not to comply, the complaints will be filed. You might also want to make amends with the people you swindled; I’ll leave that up to you.

Fair enough? I’m giving you this opportunity to redeem yourself because maybe, just maybe, you’re a decent enough person to do the right thing. Don’t disappoint me.

1) You are a distributor and not complying with MonaVie’s rules on social media and violating the FTC’s guidelines that MonaVie has specifically asked that you adhere to.
2) You are not a distributor and lying.

It’s too bad it only took you about 8 posts to pick one.

Monavie is a private company. As such there is no reliable information about how much business the company is doing. Plus all business to distributors and not to end-users doesn’t count as retail sales which is the important number. If MonaVie has done a large business, it only reflects poorly on the distributors like yourself who continue to back it. Bernie Madoff’s pyramid scheme also did billions of dollars, so surely we must consider that reputable, right? Enron had more than a billion dollars in business too, so there you go. I’m not going to comment on the failures of other MLM companies. It just shows that MonaVie may be the most successful of a bad model. That’s like putting the best little league baseball player on an all-state high school team… the little league player isn’t really going to be any good.