Future Outlook for Amare and Distributors

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Yeah, we've got more breaking news, you would think that That this wouldn't be so breaking, but honestly, Amaria is the gift that keeps on giving right now. And cute breaking news music We're going to talk about something else today and then when I went to go grab like the ase from the FTC's website, there was a whole new link I hadn't clicked yet. You want to tell people what you were going to talk about today Well, we're gonna get into some more there's an Amari update. we're gonna get into that. but I want to do a little bit of housekeeping before we get into Aar because there's a few things that have happened. some things that I'm not super proud of, but have brought us so much joy. Oh it really has. And some things that I am really proud of that have also brought me immense joy in my life. We took a week off because there was no feasible way I was going to get an episode out. Both of my kids graduated. Abby from eighth grade and Audrey from UC Santa Barbara a Bachelor' of Arts in communication. Go Guch'. G Gch's And she also got into grad school at SDSU. so she's moving home. Nice. Yeah I'm so proud So yeah, we've got a college graduate in the house and we're gonna to have a high schooler and a grad student next year. Crazy. And life just keeps on truckking. So it does. K of truck with it. We went up to Santa Barbara to see the graduation and had lunch and just sort of enjoyed a little road trip for the day. It was fun We caught World Cup fever We did. There was some World Cup fever. wasas that Netherlands that was playing when we were eating lunch? Yeah, it was great. Yeah, they had we were in this food hall in Santa Barbara and there was a lot of Netherlands fans there. Yes, there was. It was pretty awesome The other thing I wanted to talk about and this is the more embarrassing of the two. Okay. But y'all, if you didn't catch my TikTok live that I did most recently, you might not know, but I joined a pIiss group so you don't have to. Yes, right Unfortunately, my algorithm's pretty fucked. most days because I investigate a lot of strange things And then on Facebook, I started seeing all of these posts from this urine therapy group that's totally public. Right And they often threatened to close it and make it private. And so I just joined it. so even if that happened, I would still be in there And now, you know, I just silently lurk. I don't comment or like or interact at all because I really don't need like my friends being like, what is going on? Right. So explain a little bit about urine therapy. For those who don't know urine therapy Well, we talked about it a little bit last year Mallory's episode back in December. So if you've never heard that episode of Mallory DMille, you should definitely go back and listen to it. We kind of casually like just grazed over it along with like butthole suunning and a lot of other like kind of interesting wellness trends But this group came across my feed And Honestly, it's just It's wild. I don't I don't know. I mean, it it's the fact that there's twenty six thousand people in this group says a lot But it is a very interesting wellness trend and We're going to be sharing some of the best ones that I find with you guys as I find them because I'm going to be working on a much longer episode for the future. So also heads up on that. It is a little TMI and I understand that.ure But alsoso I don't think we've ever like run from things that are strange or interesting or like people should just get a heads up about because it's actually pretty dangerous practice from what I've been researching. right. though no one in the group would believe that. And it totally ruins my sci fi favorite Bruce Willis, Joseph Cordon Levitt movie, Looper Oh, Ruined now Yeah There's a lot of slang that you guys are going to learn over the course of however long it takes me to make this episode, but looping is exactly what it sounds like. and we're just gonna to leave it at that until we've got a good looping post to share with you Gross. Yeah And the other thing that I wanted to cover is the America's Next topop model slash Tyra documentary plus the new subsequent lawsuit And also her defunct MLM Tyra beauty So if you were involved in any of that stuff, hit us up and let's make some episodes So for real, that was the name of the MLM Tyra Beauty rain Creative? No, not at all. Stupid name check, right I mean, it is, I mean, that's not the stupidest name I've heard, but boy, not creative at all.. I mean, but like that's so MLM, right? It really is super dumb Yeah If you were on America's NeTom model or you auditioned for it or you had any experience with it or if you were a member of Tyra Beauty. I mean, they literally like I think it was just like one day, it was just like this is gone. it's over. The MLM is closed And I've always wanted to talk about it, but I think like with this new lawsuit with Tyra and her claims and everything, I just think it would be fun to do a couple episodes. No one made bank with Tyra Banks You know, someone married Brady, so Brill one percent probably made bank with Tber banks. Well, to the meat and potatoes of today's episode, we are going to be reading some of this case, that is the FTC's Nice of motion, and motion for order to show cause why defendant Sean Talbot Amara Global Holdings In Tran and Patrick Hints should not be held in contempt and this is the redacted public version. That is a mouthful Absolutely So from what I can gather And you'll translate into the legales for us. I'll try my best This is Okay, well, let's go back a little bit. Last week in our episode about Amare As I was reading about the former cases that some of these people were already involved in, I literally was like, they're violating their orders right now Yeah And here's a fun fact Talbot and Hints are subject to previous orders with the FTC that prohibit them from making false, misleading and unsubstantiated claims All right, well, again, not surprised in any of this. Right? sururprise, surprise. scammerss gonna scam, Grifters gonna grrif. T they do So he's in trouble for that and he's doing it again So that's what this case is about Exactly They're claiming, no, we're not in violation. And the FTC is basically saying rove it then. Right This was filed When june twelfth. Okay, June literally Friday while we were traveling. Okay It's a notice of motion and motion for order to show cause why defendants should not be held in contement So they have to prove why they should not be held in contempt for violating orders that they had years ago that make them in violation of those orders and then also in violation of the FTC act right now with AMRA as well You summed it up perfectly. Oh my God. Yeah, there's yeah, that one was perfect. I would have said the same thing I couldn't repeat it if you ask me to. R Okay, so let's meet the players. Let's refresh who all of these people are. We are adding an additional defendant this time And David Chung, who is the current CEO, is not named in this. Okay. Tran, who's the former CEO and the founder And then Sean Talbot and Patrick Hints, who we mentioned last week, are also defendants in this So Sean Talbot was the chief science officer at Amar and in a post on social media that he put up on november twenty third, twenty twenty four He told everybody he was leaving Omare. R And when you said Chief science Officer, I noticed you did the air quotes unound the science Yes You just make it up as he goes along. He does. So if you go to his Facebook page, he calls himself Dr. Sean Talbot And he claims he's a scientist. his Facebook page. R. If you go to his actual website And his about me page just says, Hi, I'm Seaan Talbot PhD, CNS, LDN, FACSM, FACN and FAIS. So he's he's a doctor. He has a PhD. He claims he's a psycho nutritionist and that he studies the lines between food and mood. More specifically, the link between nutrients and biochemistry in psychology. Okay So he has a PhD in nutritional biochemistry. He's a clinical, I looked up all his fruit salad behind his name. Yeah. He's a clinical nurse specialist I think becausecause the other ones that were CNS didn't make any sense So I'm going to go with that, but I could be wrong. Let me know if I'm wrong. I mean, it sounds like he's got some bonafides licensed dietician, nutritionist. He's a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine. Okay. He's a fellow of the American College of Nutrition. Yeah. And I looked up FAIS and there were a couple different ones and none of them made like so much sense that I'm like, oh, it's obviously this. So I don't really know If somebody knows Let me know if he's a fellow of something or if it's some other like accolade. or you know, post nominal whatever Yeah Got it I'm not sure if he's currently with an MLM because I didn't look into it. I was just sort of gathering information really quickly, but he definitely is hawking supplements and courses now. On his like link tree thing on his bio, he's got how mentally fit are you, Take the free mental fitness quiz. He's got Wellness Wednesdays, weekly masterclasses with doctor Sean You need this free ebook, level up with ne tropics, adaptogens and psychobiotics Transp for lives, join the mental Wellness certification program today and become a certified coach Get your copy of mental fitness maximizing mood, motivation and mental wellness by optimizing the Brain body biome book by Dr. Sean. Okay. So that's sort of the vibe that we're getting from Dr. Sean. Right He was the one that had the lawsuit. It was three courteslim defendants give up four point five million in cash and other assets, They had to give up four point five million in cash and other assets to settle federal trade commission charges stemming from their roles in the marketing of courtislam Ct to stress The FTC alleged that the defendants made false andubstantiated product claims and used deceptively formatted infomercials in pitching the dietary supplements And so he was told that he could not make benefit or efficacy claims for any dietary supplement food, drug, cosmetic or device unless the claims are truthful and substantiate it. Right Okay, That's important to know right as we go into this. And then doctor Seaan had to give up one point twelve million in assets two hundred and twenty five thousand dollars in cash or the equity from the properties. I mean, we talked about it all last week. So there was all kinds of stuff. There was timehares, so there was all kinds of stuff that he had to give up That's a lot. Yeah The second guy Patrick Hints. is a founding wellness partner at Aar Global All right. I found on Amar's website that he is also at their unstoppable convention this year, he will be a featured speaker. Nice, whichich is kind of wild considering that they're in hot water for platforming this guy, but whatever I know. the name Unstoppable speaks volumes, but It's their convention and it's like featured speaker Pat Hint presidential diamond. Unstoppable. And so I looked up their compensation plan because I wanted to see how high up the chain presidential diamond was. And lo and behold, would you believe this? It is the top of the food chain with less than zero point zero percent of people in this bracket. These at the tippy top And as of november first, twenty twenty two, which is the most updated of their compensation plan As of november first, twenty twenty two, the Presidential diamond was a new rank and only a few distributors were achieving those ranks And so until more qualify, there are no earnings to be reflected on the income disclosure. Interesting. Okaykay. anyyone who's selling anything, he gets a piece of it right now Well see, that's what's interesting. Yes I believe And we can make this assumption and you can hear what is in the FTC case, but I believe Patrick Hs is pyramid pole position number one Okay I really, truly believe that. The only other person that would be above him I would think would be the CEO Right. And it might be like CEO Patrickks And then everybody else is under him in a multitude of pyramids branching all the way down, like a root system. Crazy I don't know that to be for sure There could be a couple people that are directly under the CEO, but a lot of MLMs have like the CEO or the president like is at the top of the pyramid. so they're also collecting a bonus check. I've had multiple people reach out to me and confirm that, including ex wives of CEO's of big MLMs going, yes, you're right, I love your show. This is absolutely happening. That's right but keep me anonymous completely Hey girl So this was the most up to date information on Amara's website was from twenty twenty two. Okay And what's interesting is the link is right next to their compliance guide for their product and income claims, which I find so ironic because they don't even follow them themselves But it was just really interesting And I took a screenshot and it's like, be honest. Follow the company product claims. All claims must be consistent and applicable. I mean, it's just Everything that the FTC is accusing them of is literally written right here. and so it's like, I don't know why they're not soling their own. Let me ask you, is Dr. Sean's like recommendations and claims on the website currently? I don't know because I don't know what claims he's made in the past. Right. But there are there are things in this website and it doesn't matter because all of this is for during the time that r Seaan and Patrick Hints and Hiptran were at the company. So this is from the past. This is not for right now. Right. This is literally to show they have to prove that they shouldn't be held in contempt, and this is the FTC saying We do believe that you should be held in contempt and this is why. I mean, it's right It's pretty damning. So let me get to this. Okay, so the previous filing, the first one, right? That was filed and whenin with the order that said you can't make these claims again. There's one in like twenty thirteen and there's one in like two thousand five Dr. Shan was mentioned in that That is doctor Sean's lawuit. Yeahah. Okay. so courta slim. Yeah. so doctor Sean has been talking about this until he left in twenty twenty four. Yes. Wow. Okay He's been in violation of this. He's probably still in violation. hawking supplements. Gotcha. Absolutely in violation of Amare's policies and what this FTC lawsuit is about. Yeah as far up as twenty twenty four. Yeah. of them al right started in twenty sixteen or twenty seventeen. Right. So that entire time, yes, he's been in violation of his previous order. Okay by doing the exact same thing he did in his previous order, but Adamare Got it And Patrick Hints as well for a different MLM for a different company, actually. Right. So Patrick Hence. top of the pyramid I also got this message from a listener like right after that the last episode came out and It says, Hey, Roberta, I started listening to the Amari episode. Pat Hens and Laura. We're going to leave her name out, but I think if you're an Amari, you know who she is Laura were big time former Shackley people Patt hints, the lawsuit calls him Patrick. was one of the top Shacklely distributors who helped found a May and start the company Laura followed him a few months later And she was a top Shacklely distributor and former vice president on the corporate side of Shacklely. Laura is in one of the audios that you shared during the podcast. I gasped when I heard her voice because I knew exactly who it was. Oh Wow, okay. And then she continues. One of my Shacklely friends went over to help start a MRA and I looked back over our old Facebook messages I would have said the same stuff she was saying about Amar as Shacklely back then. And the text says And I want to tell you that this text message is from january twenty fourth. twenty eighteen. It says from our chief science offfficer who is Saan Talbot Right. R Zoloft comparison. There is no specific slide, but I did talk at the launch event about some of the mood effects we're seeing with fundamentals in mood plus. They are within the same magnitude of effect as prescription medications such as Prozac, Zoloft, etc And our listener says, that's great. Can't wait to start these on Friday She says, I have a couple questions about it. I know you can't combine Zoloft with St. John's Wt, but I wasn't sure if you could take mood at the same time as Zoloft. Okay, what do you say? Reaching out and she's asking a totally normal question if you're mixing supplements and medications. Right. And she was asking the DR She's asking her upline or her friend. Oh, her upline. Okaykay. I'm not sure if it's an a uplender, just a friend, but it was a friend within She says, let me ask. And she comes back and says because she spoke to Chief science officer. Doctor Sean. doctor Sean and says yes, no quote interaction, like with Stt John's wart, but the person would probably need to make a plan to adjust Zolof and dose down after a week or two of using mood And our listener said, okay, thank you So not only is Dr. Sean saying that these Amare supplements are just the same as Prozac and Zoloft He's now saying, Yeahah, you can take it. It will be totally fine but you're gonna have to adjust your dose. notot talk to your doctor to adjust your dose or go talk to a professional like Oh, I'm the doctor, I'm the professional with a PhD in nutritional biochemistry. Do you think that person should be giving medical advice and pharmaceutical advice Mbe. I don't think so. I don't think he knows patient is taking either outside of Zolof. There's a there's a slew of other things that could have, you know, again, I don't know, not a doctor. I have a friend who's a pharmacist I'm sure he could probably say,, I'd have to look at what this person's taking. But even then, it just seems irresponsible. It does. seems illegal. Seems like maybe a supplement company shouldn't be giving medical advice like that, especially over a Facebook messenger This is not even secure. to have medical conversations about what you are and aren't taking It's just it just goes to show you. that was in twenty eighteen, this company does not care about the rules, does not care about people's health, onlyn cares about selling things. Oh yeah, get off your Zoloft. Or yeah, you can use this, just dose it down a little bit or you'll figure it out. Like that's wild advice Yeah It is. It really is Back to making false and misleading claims and the thirteen year old FTC order that is already in place against So he was the one of the marketers who claimed that the fuel additive could drastically increase your fuel economy and reduce emissions. And they settled with the FTC. Right. They settled for eight hundred thousand dollars. and because of that, they were prohibited from making false, misleading or unsubstantiated claims that envyro tabs, when added to any type of fuel, will increase the fuel efficiency, reduce emissions, and save customers money In addition to the eight hundred thousand dollars judgment, the settlement prohibits the defendants from misrepresenting tests or studies about any product or service and bars them from making claims about any product without having competent and reliable scientific Evidence Those are their former cases. Right. Both of them have stipulated orders saying that you cannot make false or misrepresented claims about any of the positives of this. Correct. withithout a study Without competent scientific backing. All right, so that's that Okay that's a refresher. And also we have to remember that the former CEO and the founder Tran is also involved in this case. He left in I believe twenty twenty four, the company was purchased by the beauty conglomerate that David Chung is the CEO for. and so he's not the CEO. It's this whole messy thing. MLM's like to do that. R Well, while Tran was involved with Amar, he established the company after navigating his own mental health journey. So this sort of inspiration. a labor of love. And under his leadership, Amar notably acquired the health and wellness MLM Kiani, which has that magic blueberry juice, which we've talked about, I think it was like season one or two a long time ago. Yeah In January of twenty twenty four, like I said, beauty entrepreneur David Chung acquired Amare Global Holdings stepping in as the owner and chairman, and Tran transitioned to a founder and board member. So he's still involved, but he doesn't have like day to day operations. Yeah no, he shows up is a board member. so he'll show up like once a quarter maybe they'll have rubber chicken or maybe they'll go play golf They'll talk about how they could get more money or you know, talk about funding sources. and then G in their merry way And what he's doing now after Amar is he's involved in court payments, KORT And that is a specialized omnich channel payment processing platform that acts as a broad commercial merchant service and heavily target specialized high growth verticals, including e commerce, beauty, healthcare, and MLM spaces. Wow, I got a headache from that. I know Please Sorry, I'm trying to get through the boring stuff really, really quickly. but it is basically an MLM processing app. and he is heavily involved in it. So I just, you know, just littleittle finger in another pie that's sort of kind of related a little bit so I'd mention it.' selling pickaxes to miners, I get it. He's gonna to make money. 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There's even some four K content, and in designated markets, subscribers get local broadcast networks too. No long term contract, no hassle, just the live TV you love Sling lets you do that. Visit sling. com to learn more. restestrictions apply So the case says John Talbot, Amara Global Holdings Inc Tran, and Patrick Hints, collectively known as defendants have marketed and sold over Dead dietary supplements by making misleading and unsubstantiated claims in violation of the stipulated final agreement and order for permanent injunction and settlement of claims for monetary relief as to defendant Sean M. Talbot entered previously by this court. which is the one. that I talked about just a second ago. Yes. Okay. This order forbids Talbot and all persons or entities in active concert or participation with him from making or assisting others in making directly or by implication including through the use of endorsements or product names. any representation about the weight effect other health benefits, performance or efficacy of any covered product unless the representation is true And non misleading And At the time it is made, Talbot possesses and relies upon competent and reliable scientific evidence that substantiates the representation. Okay Clear cut there makes a lot of sense basically You can't make these claims unless it's backed up by science. Right, Right. nine out of ten dentists have to say. I agree, I agree, I agree, I agree. The order also prohibits him and persons and entities in active concert participation with him from making, directly or by implication, any misrepresentation about the existence, contents, validity, results, conclusions, or interpretations of any test or study Okay So he can't make up statistics, he can't twist things around and say that this is what the study means if that is not what the study itly implies. Right. canan't be anecdotal evidence. It can't be like, hey, talked to all my friends who took it. they all said it's great. Look, in fact Nine out of the ten people I talked to said it works perfect There's it's there's no science behind that That's the stormy Wellington Tylenol defeense. It is, right. doesn't work The non party defendants have acted in concert or participation with Talbot to systemically violate these key provisions of the order in connection with the marketing and sale of dietary supplements under the Amari brand The court has broad authority to impose sanctions for violations of its order, including requiring compensation for losses sustained as a result of the failure to comply with the order Good rightfully so Plaintiff Federal Trade Commission, therefore moves for an order to show cause why Talbot, Amare Tran and Hints should not be held in contempt and provides a memorandum of points and authorities in support. There you So now they're going to have to show them We made these claims, and I'll tell you why, they're substantiated claims here is the science backed claims. And so they're going to have to present them It doesnn't seem that hard, right? If they have it be real easy. you know what? I got you I'm going to give this to you right now I don't think they got it So this is thirty two pages long and it is very long and I don't wantna bore everybody with every single detail because there's a lot and a lot of this is actually redacted as well because it's the public version. R Some of it is interesting redactions. Some of it is like, okay, they probably just don't want anybody to know how much they've made because it's public and they want to keep those numbers proprietary. Some of it's kind of like, I'd be interested if this ever became public and unreredacted. I'd be interested to see what they thought. I mean some of it might might stay redacted. Personal information, social security numbers, identifications, things like that might be, you know, sometimes, I mean, they redact stuff like that all the time, banking account information, credit card information Any real identifiers Oh, they kind of redact, you know, like I'd say financial identifiers. There's a whole slew of reasons why they would do that I don't know. I think some of it could be witnesses too. Some of it could be someone downline or something maybe Someone who's high in the company, I don't know. Who knows? It's hard to say. Again, this is a civil case. So this isn't criminal. so I don't know if they're going be witnesses that are going to be reded Twenty years ago, the court entered an order. Resolving allegations, defendant Sean Talbot made false, deceptive and unsubstantiated representations in connection with the sale of dietary supplements he claimed would reduce or control cortisol usingsing weight loss and preventing or reducing the risk of Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, cancer, and other medical conditions. Right. We talked about this super irresponsible That's the courourtter slim case that we referenced at the beginning of the episode Now the FTC is back because Talbot made false, deceptive, and unsubstantiated health claims in connection with the sale of dietary supplements This time as the Chief science officer for a Mar, a multi level marketing program calling itself the Mental Wellness Company After hiring Talbot in twenty seventeen, Amar earned over redacted in revenue based on false, deceptive, or unsubstantiated claims that its products cure, treat or mitigate the symptoms of anxiety, depression, and ADHD in children and adults. To resolve the original case, Talbot stipulated to, and this court entered order prohibiting Talbent from making or assisting others in making any representations about a covered product's health benefits, performance, or efficacy unless the representation is supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence and misrepresenting the existence, contents, validity, results, conclusions, or interpretations of any test or study used to promote a covered product seemes sensible, right? The order binds not only Talbot, but also all persons or entities in active concert or participation with him. So for me, knowing that a guy I'm going h to be my chief science offfficer in a supplement MLM Knowing that he's not allowed to make the claims I need him to make to make my company successful, why would anybody hire him Right. Again, I mean, we'll start from the premise. The rule here is that can make claims as long as they are true whichich means if they're backed by science, they're true Buck stops with Dr. Shean Right? And if he has the science to back up this, you can say as much as you want. But The science isn't there. It's just unsubstantiated claims. And I think that trickles down to the distributor So now the distributor is making claims based on what person is told from Dr. Sean So from the company, The company perpetuated what Dr. Sean said. Yeah, they're just as in violation as he is. Talbot, Omaray, and its owner and executive Hip Tran and its founding brand partner, Patrick Hints ed in concert to systemically violate these key provisions in the order In twenty seventeen, the year it began operating, Amare hired Talbot as Chief science Officer to develop and launch AmAare's first products Tran. redacted period, the whole sentence about Tran is redacted Talbot created a slate of products marketed for children and adults, including Happy Jewice, Kids Happyewice, and Kids Mood plus that purportedly improve mental health by targeting the gut brain access The products have been primarily sold through Hintz's Downline of brand partartners A MarI distributors and multi level marketing participants who promote the products on social media Tran Hints was aware in twenty seventeen of the order Hints himself is subject to a twenty thirteen court order entered in FTC versus Greenfoot Global That's the one with the fuel tabs. Right. Okay, I remember. ye. R that we talked about So Talbot, Amari Tran and Hintz, both directly and through Omari brand partners have made and disseminated a wide variety of unsubstantiated health and efficacy claims concerning AmAari's product in violation of the order, including that they boost neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, and GABA They lower cortisol and can cure, treat or mitigate the symptoms of conditions like depression, anxiety, and ADHD which we talked about in length in the last episode. Yeah. with a lot of examples. Exactly Moreover, Talbot, the company and brand partners have claimed a product called Kids Mood Plus and another called the Fundamentals pack proven by Amare sponsored and Talbot led studies to provide certain health benefits, including the kids mood plus improves focus, mood, and overall performance in children under stress and fundamentals lowers depression by fifty five percent Talbot, Amar and Amari brand partners have also claimed Amar's products are quote science backed and quote clinically proven But no reliable evidence supports these health claims. The studies they point to are deeply flawed and their claims are misleading. because the studies they point to our studies r Sean did himself Right. Guess what the FTC is basically saying is these guys are just as liable as Dr. Sean is for perpetuating the narrative that this in fact does all the things claims to do Well, it says right here A Mare sponsored and Talbot led stududies Yes is where they're getting their information and their science back branding. And you said that the old stipulation was he could say whatever he wanted to as long as it was backed by studies and science. Well what he's doing is he's taking claims and he's making them quote true by doing studies for them. They're his studies. Right There's no peer review, there's no Any like outside lab doing this. This is all Aare and Dr. Sean testing and then saying, it's proven. It's scientifically backed. Right. It doesn't, I guess withstand maybe scientific rigor It's a conflict of interest Yeah, sure I'm claiming something can cure something and then I'm the only one testing it and I'm the only one looking at the results and then tweaking those results to fit my narrative so that I'm allowed to say quote, the truth because I'm in violation of another court order if I don't That just seems like a big ass conflict of interest to me It does. I mean, a lot of the times I guess that's what the whole purpose of this is prove prove it. show us the science behind this Show us your research findings. showh us this. giveive us this And then, you know, we're wrong. But here's the thing, it's not. I'm guaranteed this is probably anecdotal at best. I could be wrong. mayaybe this is past scientific standard, but Something tells me it hasn't. We'll see. Well, here are two things that kept coming up in me reading this and trying to figure out what all of this was. were two terms. It was the gut brain access, which Amara uses all the time Yes And then the blood brain barrier Okay.. So I'm just gonna read some basic stuff that I found quickly online I'm not a doctor maybe if you are and you understand this better, you can comeome on and explain it to us a little bit better. but I was looking up whether or not supppplements benefit the gut brain access because that's what this says that these supplements are beneficial to the gut brain access that your gut and your brain talk And a lot of times like you can have anxiety and it'll give you gastrointestinal issues. And there is a link to this Yeah. And so they're trying to say that their supplements like help cure that and help strengthen it so that you don't have those side effects as much. Sign me up, I want to. So I was looking up whether or not gut brain access supplements could be beneficial at all and if there was any scientific backing outside of doctor Shean's studies And it says that they can be beneficial But their effects are highly specific and they are not a cure all They can noticeably reduce symptoms of stress, anxiety, and mild depression benefits heavily depend on the exact bacterial strains used and they work best as supportive complementary tools rather than standalone treatments So again, like a supplement is to supplement things It's always wild to me while people are like, oh, you just get off your meds and you're just on your supplements. It's like a supplement is meant to supplement. If it works with the meds, then eep it that way. Like don't get off your meds. I think their argument is supplement with your natural body chemistry. I don't know Mm Yeah, I don't get. So potential benefits of a gut brain access supplement could be, like I said, like reducing stress and anxiety, supporting your mood regulation, soothing IBS related distress, like we talked about a second ago, and even mild cognitive support, right? But the concerns are they have inconsistent results And they are highly unpredictable They are not a first line medication, and so psychobiotics cannot replace targeted psychiatric medications or therapy for clinical disorders. right there saying like, oh, you can get off your Zoloaft and you can go on mood plus, like no, you can't. They're not the same thing. No I mean, and I would It's one of those things. I mean, if you are taking Zoloft and then they' they're selling selling you happy Juice or mood plus I would obviously Consult a physician and or a pharmacist and say, can I take this together? Should I even be taking this at all? These are all the things that are important things Absolutely. And also, these sort of supplements are not a one size fits all solution. Everybody is different. I think we figured that out a long time ago. Every single body is different and everyone's native microbiome in your gut is going to be completely unique as well. And so what works for you might not work for me. And what works for me isn't going to work for you And so taking a one size fits all happy juice drink that's going to fix everything. And I mean, and the stuff they claim it fixes, it fixes everything. It might as well be making me dinner and regrouting my tile. Like it's so ridiculous all of the things that proport They're claiming, I guess it helps with autism, right? It helps with ADHD. it helps with stress stress Anxiety Anxiety. Depression. Dpression. Oh, it helps you sleep But it also helps you stay awake. Aud it helps you stay awake too as well It's just that it's just wild. And then the other thing that kept coming up was the blood brain barrier Okay. And that is a highly selective semi permeable border of endothelial cells. okay? It basically is a network of cells that act as a gatekeeper between your bloodstream and your central nervous system I know a little bit about this. My grandmother had brain cancer. I think there wasn't like a whole likelihood of that cancer to spread because of this what this is. Yeah. It protects the brain from toxins and pathogens and while it allows essential nutrients and water and oxygen to pass through. So it keeps out the bad stuff and it brings in the good stuff. Right Okay, so let's get to the statement of facts. Okay. Products and claims. A lot of this is stuff we already know, but Amari sells a variety of dietary supplements formulated by Dr. Sean, purportedly targeting the gut brain access. to provide mental and other health benefits for children and adults. One of Amar's most popular offerings is a pack of a multitude of Aari supplements called happy juice Happy Juice contains mentibiotics probiotic and prebiotic blend, and a version of a new tropic called Edge or Edge plus Some happy juice packs also contain an energy supplement called Energy plus Amari also sells an all in one kids supplement called Kids Happy Juice and an herbal product called Kids Mood Plus Additionally, since launching in twenty seventeen, Amar has sold another adult pack called Fundamentals, which, like happppy Juice, contains mintabiotics and two other supplements, Mintaync and Mintafocus. Then there's a redacted section and it says Redacted, whose social media posts and pages direct consumers to personalize brand partner pages on the Amar website The brand partners work in a multi level marketing structure earning commissions from their own sales and the sales of other brand partners they recruit to Amari as part of their downline So let me ask you, I think a lot of this, the claims that they're making I mean are very similar to claims that you could find when you go to any kind of supplement store. They're selling like unicorn horn. There's always like a caveat to that. like, hey, you know, this doesn't claim to do anything. You look at it and you go you see those supplements a lot of the time but you'll go, oh okay So They'll do that theirs does not They're actually telling you forgo your Zolof, Forgo your whatever you're taking, stop taking Ridlin, stop taking whatever it is for ADHD. You don't need that anymore. You could take this now Here's the next section that kind of goes with that. Okay Talbot and Amare with Tran and Hints Aided and abetting have made claims about the health benefits of AmRI's products, which brand partners repeat and expand upon as they market on social media whichich if any of this is brand new news for you, go back and listen to last week's episode because like I said, there's so many examples of this. And I found them So easy. Yeah Among other things, they have claimed that happy Juice, kids happy Juice and Kids Mood plus increase or normalize serotonin, dopamine, and GABA That happy Juice, kids, happay Juice and Kids Mood plus reduce and regulate cortisol that happppy Juice, mentibiotics and Kids Mood Pus cure, treat or mitigate the symptoms of depression. That happy Juice, kids, happay Juice and Kids Mood pllus cure, treat or mitigate the symptoms of anxiety And that happy Juice, kids, happappy Juice and Kids Mood pll cure, treat or mitigate the symptoms of ADHD Brand partners use these claims to both sell Aari products and to recruit new brand partners who then become Amare brand partner agents and repeat the cycle But as explained below, none of the product claims are substantiated by competent and reliable scientific evidence Gotcha All right Hey, casual soccer fan! Heads up! The twenty twenty six FIFA Men's World Cup is coming to the US, Canada and Mexico. forty eight teams, one hundred four matches, and no weird kickoff times. Sling TV has the action live. Select in Fox local markarkets is twenty four doll ninety nine cents a month, or seelect non Fox Markets starts at nineteen ninety nineents. Sling TV makes it easy Don't miss the World Cup, starting at just twenty four dollars ninety nine cents a month. Go to sling dot com for more details and sign up today Tonight, you're planning on watching the ultimate soccer showdown. During the match, you'll probably drink vodka, which will lead to texting your ex and maybe dancing on the bar. You should be a little worried, but you aren't because you're not gonna do any of those things Tonight you're going to drink differently with RK, the world's first zero proof spirit that tastes like the real thing. All the flavor, all the burn, none of the bad decisions. Drink differently and get some RK for the match at arkbeverages. com Unlike the boys on the pitch, RK is redefining what alcohol free can taste like. RK has been distilling alcohol free spirits since twenty eleven, and they deliver that familiar burn without the alcohol or the hangover. Drink differently and get some RK for the match at arkbeverages. com So Amari and Talbot acknowledge their product claims are inadequately substantiated. For example, in twenty twenty four, chairman and owner of the company, David Chung publicly remarked We need to have clinical studies done notot only on the ingredients, but on the finished goods showing awareness that the ingredient studies Amari possesses are insufficient to substantiate the company's claims. Wow, okay. Indeed, analysis performed by Dr. Drew Keery an attending physician in the Department of Psychiatry and tenured associate professor in the Department of Translational Neuroscience and Department of Psychiatry at Wake Forest University School of Medicine confirms the substantiation for Amari's claims does not meet the competent and reliable scientific evidence standard under Talbot's order. So like I said, he's in violation of his order Talbot, Amara, and its brand partners have claimed that happppy Juice, kids Happy Juice and Kids Mood plus increase or normalize neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, and GABA, and lower or reggulate cortisol a hormone. These claims originate with Talbit and Amare. Their videos and websites claim happppy Juice lowers cortisol and increases serotonin, dopamine, and GABA Optimizing neurotransmitters for happiness. That's a direct quote They also asserted that Kids Mood Pus modulates neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, reduces stress hormones and helps maintain healthy levels of cortisol Brand partners routinely repeat these types of claims about Happy Juice, Kids Mood Plus, and Kids Hay Juice on social media but these claims are not supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence None of the studies on the products or the products' individual ingredients meet the standard professionals in the field of psychiatry and neuroscience would require to substantiate claims the products have any effect on neurotransmitter activity cortisal levels To substantiate such claims would require appropriately analyzed results of independent, well designed, well conducted, randomized, double blind, placebo controlled clinical trials, testing the product at the recommended dosage and which involve an appropriate sample population in which reliable data on appropriate endpoints is collected over an appropriate period of time Wow It is literally like the professional is Correct of testing for this particular for like psychiatry and stuff. Right Yeah The basics. Right. The FTC iss just not making this up. They're literally saying, Hey, yeah, we looked it up. This is what you need to do. Well, they talked to the head of the the professor, the head of the psychiatry department at Wake Forest University Like they didn't just not talk to that person. The doctor literally said this is not enough. Correct. This violates the order. Correct. But these claims are not supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence. None of the studies on the products or the product's individual ingredients meet the standard professionals in the field of psychiatry and neuroscience would require to substantiate claims that products have any effect on neurotransmitter activity or cortisol levels. To substantiate such claims would require appropriately analyzed results of independent, well designed, well conducted, randomized, double blind placebo controlled clinical trials, testing the product at a recommended dosage and which involve an appropriate sample population in which reliable data on appropriate endpoints is collected over an appropriate period of time Because ARi's products do not meet this standard, The company cannot claim these mechanisms of action cause clinical outcomes Example treating depression, anxiety, or ADHD. You cannot say that Further Even if these products or their ingredients had an effect on neurotransmitter levels in the gut Those benefits would not translate to the brain. sererotonin and dopamine made outside the brain Do not enter the brain across what is known as the blood brain barrier, which we explained. Yes meaning they cannot cause changes in or affect brain function. So nothing that you are consuming that is going through your stomach and then through your blood can cross over that blood brain barrier that we talked about earlier. Correct. That makes sense. So none of these things even make it there. Right While there is some contested literature finding GABA could cross the barrier Scientific consensus holds that it does not cross in consequential amounts wise, meaning there would be no benefit in the brain Additionally, while cortisol is a well known hormone associated with stress No treatments reducing or blocking cortisol signaling in the body have been found effective in treating any neurop psychiatric condition Thus, even if Amar's products lowered cortisol, No scientific evidence indicates the effect would be clinically significant And because scientific evidence shows cortisol plays an important role in regulating certain bodily functions and too little cortisol can lead to extreme fatigue, dizziness, hypoglycemia and upset stomach, blocking or lowering cortisol may in fact cause side effects reducing overall bodily health Wow. Okaykay. I mean, it goes on. It goes on and on and on. It talks about the same sort of scientific testing needed for ADHD and needed for all this, that obviously AMaria is not doing. So I mean, I guess, what's gonna to happen to M right What's the over under? Do you think they're just gonna shutter their doors this year You know, I don't really know I know that they're in hot water and they're trying to get out of this contempt that they're trying to get out of, being held in contempt because they're in violation of those previous orders. And then the FTC like this is like a slapdown Yeah This just like This is like the FTC is like, you guys are breaking the rules. And they're like n ah, and the FTC iss like Yeahaha. But I mean, what I mean Literally, this is their bread and butter And if they cannot They're going to have to Stop making these claims What are they going to sell? How are they going to sell it I mean, now it's going to be kind of a distributor thing where the distributors could get thrown under the bus for even saying these things. Yeah. it's either A are they going to keep this up Or is this going to go on for the next couple years? D. AmarA is just not going to make these claims anymore and then the distributors are and then they're going to be slapped with, you know, FDC kind of, you know, and not lawsuits, but complaints. I mean, this is a big deal This could be right here what we're reading right now could be the end of MRA, as we know If this actually like becomes a case and isn't settled, it could be the end of like a lot of wellness MLMs. Because if this becomes case law, this case of like these unsubstantiated things, like they'll reference this case in every other MLM supplement would lawsuit, wouldn't they Yes, yes, it could you know, in the legal world, that starry decisis is what they call it This could be the lyinchpin that they could go after everyone. just like in US VMRA You can't do this or you can't make these claims. But again, that's already been established. You know, I guarantee in the body of that, there's probably a whole slew of other cases that they probably mentioned where they say these guys can't make these claims. So again, these are going to be individual suits against each one of these individual companies that are making these claims. And I think this wellness fear is so huge that the FDC's got this work cut out for him. it's not that easy to mount this. But This could be the end of Amar. I mean, I feel like this could be it I really do You know, I've said that so many times or I' like, this is the end of the MLM. This is how, you know, this is how we cut its head off. And then it's like, oh it's aydra. it has five more heads So maybe, maybe I see this as something very positive for anti MLM and sort of proving our point of right Th companies are not truthful. These companies do not have your best interest. They're not protecting you at all. They absolutely could go after brand reps that are doing this. They absolutely could find people, send people letters. Just thinking right here that, you know, they could fall back on the do your own research kind of stuff. You know, and they could kind of say, hey, you know, we're not going to tell you what works, but, you know, do your own research They could do that. could you know, gain a couple more years of life. I mean, listen We know for a fact, there's twenty six thousand people right now that we know of that are either soaking or drinking their own urine. that we know of. And I'm sure that number is much larger Man, you went there. You went back full circle. I did I was going write a book end this. before you book end it, I was gonna say one of the outcomes would be to Terminate Patrick Hints Um, you think you're going to they're going to sacrifice him? I doubt it I don't know. he's causing them a lot of trouble right now I mean they're the ones that are just as liable as Patrick Kant is Right, But one thing about MLMs is it's never their fault, right? And so they're going place the blame. The reps are not listening to this podcast. The reps are not listening to the truth. The reps are not reading the FTC, They're not seeing the evidence. They're not finding it themselves and going, Ohh my gosh, I didn't know this was illegal. The reps aren't doing that. The reps are being told, oh my God, this company is so incredible that the FTC wants to take us down