Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen on Thursday joined the Federal Trade Commission in its lawsuit against three Branford companies and their owner on over alleged deceptive marketing and sales practices resulting in $25 million in ill-gotten revenues from U.S. consumers.
The lawsuit filed on Nov. 7 in Hartford federal court alleges LeanSpa LLC, NutraSlim LLC, NutraSlim U.K. Ltd – all of Branford – and their owner Boris Mizhen of Guilford used deceptive practices to advertise, market and sell dietary supplements, purported to be weight-loss and colon cleanse products over the Internet.
Jepsen and the FTC estimate the three companies obtained more than $25 million from U.S. consumers and were responsible for more than 1,000 complaints to the state, FTC and the Better Business Bureau.
The Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection alone received 145 complaints about the companies from September 2010 to July 2011, authorities said.
The lawsuit seeks consumer refunds, undetermined civil penalties and disgorgement of any money the companies obtained illegally.
While the case is pending, the court has frozen the companies’ assets, put those assets under the control of a temporary receiver, stayed other legal actions and halted the alleged practices, including collecting on customer accounts.
