Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, INDUSTRY NEWS: Former FTC commissioner joins Herbalife in compliance, privacy role, (Oct 6, 2014)

Global nutrition company Herbalife today announced the appointment of Pamela Jones Harbour to the newly created role of senior vice president, global member compliance and privacy. Leading a global member compliance team across 91 markets, Harbour will develop and enhance policies and infrastructure that ensure effective education, training and mentoring programs for the nearly 4 million independent Herbalife members worldwide, supported by robust and consistent monitoring and enforcement procedures. In addition to her compliance responsibilities, Harbour will also coordinate the company's global privacy and cyber security efforts.

Herbalife Ltd. is a global nutrition company that sells weight-management, nutrition and personal care products. Herbalife products are sold in more than 90 countries to and through a network of independent distributors.

Harbour was formerly a partner at BakerHostetler, where she was Co-Leader of BakerHostetler's national Privacy and Data Protection team, with a practice focusing in the areas of privacy, data protection, and antitrust law. Previously, she was a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, a global full service legal practice. In addition to her roles in private practice, Harbour spent a number of years in government, serving as a Commissioner at the FTC from 2003-2010 and a prosecutor at the New York State Attorney General's office for 12 years.

Harbour received her J.D. from Indiana University School of Law and holds a bachelor's degree from Indiana University School of Music. Harbour has been admitted to both the District of Columbia and the New York State Bars, and is a member of the Loyola University: Institute for Consumer Antitrust Studies and EPIC Advisory Boards.

Harbour joins Herbalife, as the company continues to refute suggestions that its business model is based on a pyramid scheme. In July 2014, Herbalife released the findings from research and analysis conducted by Walter H. A. Vandaele, Ph.D. of Navigant Economics, LLC regarding Herbalife's U.S. business operations. Dr. Vandaele, engaged by the company to conduct this economic analysis, assessed whether Herbalife's operations appropriately are classified as a beneficial, legitimate Multi-Level Marketing ("MLM") firm.

Among his numerous determinations, Dr. Vandaele concluded that, "Herbalife's U.S. business operations are consistent with the socially beneficial MLM model and inconsistent with the socially harmful pyramid scheme model." According to the company’s statement, Dr. Vandaele conducted extensive research and analysis to compile his report, which supports Herbalife's U.S. business practices and validates the company's classification as an MLM.

Companies: Herbalife Ltd.

News: IndustryNewsTrends