Herbalife: The Largest Pyramid Scheme in History?

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/11/herbalife-documentary-betting-on-zero

>When a documentary film questioning Herbalife’s business practices hit the festival circuit last year, the global nutrition giant launched a swift, devastating counterattack.

>The stakes, after all, were high. The film, Betting on Zero, asked if the company was a vast pyramid scheme that bilked hundreds of thousands of poor, vulnerable people in the US and across the world. The company maintains its direct sales model has been misunderstood.

>Even before the film premiered at New York’s Tribeca film festival, a well-connected Democratic lobbyist tweeted that the film was funded by a Wall Street vulture who had staked a billion dollars on Herbalife’s demise.

>A website mimicking the documentary, bettingonzero.com, funneled Google searches to a litany of damaging accusations against the film. Picketers at festival screenings handed out flyers that repeated the accusations.

>Lobbyists bought half the tickets for a screening at the National Portrait Gallery and did not show up, leaving scores of empty seats. If the goal was to snuff out the 99-minute film, it almost worked.

>But the tide turned, Braun said. “The reception was tremendous. It tipped things over. It made the distributors feel confident there was a big market for this film.”

>Betting on Zero had a theatrical release last month and started streaming on-demand over the weekend, debuting as the top documentary on iTunes.

This is huge guys. If Herbalife collapses it will be like Maddox and Enron together. We are talking one of the world's largest companies.