What Happened
The Federal Trade Commission announced Monday that it took action against Steven and Gina Merritt, senior-level participants in the multilevel marketing company LifeWave, over allegations they used false or baseless earnings claims to recruit workers. LifeWave sells health and wellness products. The FTC says the pitch was not just optimistic; it was financial fan fiction with a compensation plan attached.
According to the FTC complaint, the Merritts repeatedly claimed people could earn substantial income by selling LifeWave products and recruiting new members. In one May 2025 recruiting video quoted by the agency, Gina Merritt allegedly said, "We're going to make you a — can I say buttload — a buttload of money," and talked about helping people reach the top rank and make $25,000 or more a week.
Steven Merritt allegedly described money that "keeps coming, even if you don't show up" and compared it to "a spigot full of $100 bills" coming at you. That is a vivid image. Unfortunately, it is also the kind of image that should make adults check whether the nearest exit is behind them.
The FTC says LifeWave's own 2024 income disclosure statement told a different story: 79% of active participants earned nothing in commission payments in 2024, and at most 0.035% of active participants earned more than $25,000 a week. That is not a spigot of hundred-dollar bills. That is a statistical dust mote wearing a motivational headset.
Why This Matters
MLM pitches often live in the emotional space between desperation and aspiration. They sell flexibility, community, independence, and the idea that ordinary people can build wealth if they just believe hard enough and recruit correctly. The problem is that belief does not override math, and math keeps showing up to these parties like a cop at a noise complaint.
The FTC's basic point is simple: if you tell people they can make lots of money, you need evidence. You cannot point to the tiny fraction of top earners, wrap the pitch in luxury language, and let recruits assume the exception is the business model. If most people earn little or nothing, that fact belongs near the front of the pitch, not buried where hope goes to get mugged.
The proposed order settling the allegations would prohibit the Merritts from misrepresenting how much money people can earn from business ventures. It also bars misleading claims made through images of homes, vehicles, purchases, or travel. That matters because modern earnings hype is not always a sentence. Sometimes it is a rented car, a beach photo, a hotel lobby, and a caption about "freedom."
The Scammy Little Word: Possible
Lots of questionable money pitches survive by leaning on what is technically possible while hiding what is actually likely. Is it possible someone earns $25,000 a week? Maybe, if the disclosure says a microscopic slice did. Is it likely for the person watching the recruiting video? That is a different question, and it is the one the pitch usually does not want to answer.
The FTC's numbers are brutal because they cut through the fog. Seventy-nine percent earning zero commission is not a footnote; it is the headline. If a restaurant said 79% of customers left hungry, nobody would call that a dining opportunity. If a gym said 79% of members never found the building, nobody would call that fitness coaching. But in MLM land, the gap between pitch and outcome gets decorated with testimonials until it looks like entrepreneurship.
The lesson is boring and therefore useful: before paying to join any money-making program, look for written income disclosures, ask what the median participant earns after expenses, and distrust anyone selling certainty with fireworks. If the pitch needs a spigot full of imaginary cash, the real numbers are probably hiding under the couch.
Sources
FTC: FTC takes action against high-level MLM participants who deceived workers about earnings
FTC Business Guidance: Advertising and marketing basics