Federal Trade Commission Chair Edith Ramirez is feeling the heat.
One week after Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) sent the FTC boss a letter asking her to investigate Herbalife, Ramirez agreed to meet with minority and consumer activists to hear their pyramid concerns about the company, The Post has learned.
Brent Wilkes, executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, which asked for the meeting Jan. 27, said more than a dozen activists from around the country will also meet with Ramirez on Feb. 5.
The group, while in Washington, will bring former Herbalife distributors, who say they are victims of the company’s alleged pyramid activities, to meet with Congressional representatives.
The meeting with Ramirez is the latest effort by critics of the nutritional supplements distributor to press regulators to probe Herbalife. Last week, Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.), who last year asked the FTC to look into Herbalife, held a briefing on pyramid schemes for staffers of fellow lawmakers.
On Jan. 24, the activists had a meeting with the California Attorney General’s office where four people — a former Herbalife executive, a 20-year veteran distributor who reached the millionaire rank before leaving recently, and two recent Hispanic recruits, who consider themselves victims — pressed their case with state officials.
Herbalife, a multi-level marketer, has strongly denied allegations it is a pyramid scheme. The FTC said a company can be considered a pyramid scheme if its distributors make more money from recruitment than from selling product to consumers outside the network.
As for the Feb. 5 meeting with the FTC boss, Wilkes said, “Our main message is that Herbalife is defrauding hundreds of thousands of people in the US every year, and the FTC must act to protect our communities from further abuse.”
Wilkes said he is hoping to avoid a confrontation with the Los Angeles company, as occurred when two company executives showed up uninvited at the meeting with the California AG.
A Herbalife spokesperson said the executives thought the event was public and left when told otherwise.
The FTC did not return calls for comment on the Feb. 5 meeting by deadline.