Marketing firm fined $1.6M over fake news sites

An online marketing company has been ordered to pay more than $1.6 million in fines and sell a Porsche in a government settlement over false claims about diet supplements.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has cracked down on a website by the company Beony International that connected Internet users to fake news websites touting the weight-loss qualities of acai berry and other supplements.

According to the FTC, the Beony websites had titles such as “Health News Alerts,” and used the logos of mainstream news outlets to entice consumers.

“Investigative-sounding headlines presented stories that purported to document a reporters’ first-hand experiences with acai berry supplements — typically claiming to have lost 25 pounds in four weeks,” the FTC said.

The case against Beony and two of its employees is one of 10 that the agency is in the process of prosecuting. Other cases under way at the FTC involve potentially deceptive claims about colon cleansers, teeth whiteners, debt-reduction plans and work-at-home opportunities.

Beony International, its owner Mario Milanovic and an employee, Cody Adams, could have to pay more than $13 million if the financial statements they provide to the FTC are determined to be false in any way. But for now, the fines stand at just $1.6 million — not including the sale of a 2008 Porsche.

The FTC will also be collecting $9.4 million in fines from two associated websites.

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