$5 Million Multi-State Settlement Correcting Deceptive Sales Practices

Attorney General Jim Petro said today that Ohio and several other states and the District of Columbia have reached a $5 million settlement agreement with Steve Warshak of Cincinnati, Ohio and his dietary supplement firms Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals, Lifekey Inc., Boland Naturals Inc., Warner Health Care, and Wagner Nutraceuticals (“Berkeley”) to correct business practices that were violating Ohio's consumer protection laws.

Petro has alleged that when consumers made an initial order of a “free” 30-day trial of dietary supplement pills, Berkeley representatives failed to tell them they would receive and be automatically billed for additional shipments -- a marketing tactic known as a “negative option feature” -- and often made it difficult to cancel shipments or get their money back. More than 1,000 consumer complaints from across the country, including about 150 from Ohio, were received by Petro’s office about Berkeley.

Berkeley has attracted customers with advertisements resembling those for genuine pharmaceutical drugs. The companies’ products include pills purported to address numerous physical ailments, most notably a pill to enhance sexual function, advertised in television spots featuring a character named “Smiling Bob.” Read more at oh.us