This article examines the legal issues surrounding written earnings claims and income representations made by direct selling, multilevel marketing or network marketing companies and their distributors, and analyzes federal and state law relative to such representations.

By Jeffrey A. Babener © September, 1996 Whether you are an MLM distributor or company, sound business, tax and liability reasons may have guided you to incorporate. So you have decided to incorporate your business and you are headed down to your lawyer's office. Hold off for a minute, and take some time to get organized - save yourself some time and money. Here is a checklist for some things to consider for a first meeting with your corporate counsel

The independent contractor is at the very core of direct selling. Some important issues are discussed in this article.

By Jeffrey A. Babener © 2003 OK, you have either been recruited for a network marketing opportunity or you are the one doing the recruiting. Inevitably, this question will come up: Is this a pyramid scheme or a legitimate business opportunity?

Copyright © Grimes & Reese 1996 A primer covering multilevel marketing, buying clubs, business opportunity statutes, referral sales, securities, lotteries, and recent litigation.

Arizona Attorney General Arizona Republic (Phoenix) (AZ) 5/25/06 1:27 AM Attorney General Terry Goddard on Wednesday announced a $115,000 settlement with Scottsdale-based Liberty League International LLC and its principals, Brent Payne and Shane Krider...The consent judgment resolves complaints that the multilevel marketing corporation tricked customers into spending substantial amounts of money by promising "sizable commissions" if they ...

By Jeffrey A. Babener © 1998 Regulators Look to Value. Ask any regulatory agency about the review of MLM programs and you will be told that the first criteria of legitimacy is quality product at a competitive price. Consumer protection agencies want to know that the products or services offered by network marketing companies stand on their own in the marketplace and that distributors or customers buy those products because of the products' intrinsic value rather than the mere "buy-in" to an opportunity.

Regulators will not be fooled by legally designed programs that are implemented in the field in ways not intended by the corporation. Learn about the issue in this article.

Marketers of gas additive shut down Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX) 5/18/06 5:37 AM .. than $1 million in 14 months in the network marketing industry. BioPerformance's Web site remained active Wednesday afternoon despite an order by state District Judge ...

We live in an information age. At every turn we are asked to produce the threads of data that add up to produce a fabric of our identity. Numbers, numbers, numbers….we yield credit card data, our social security numbers, our driver licenses at the shopping mall, to rental car agencies, to online marketers and at the grocery checkout stands.