FTC and Washington File $225 Million Amway MLM Settlement

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Independently fact-checked against primary sources (last audited September 28, 2026). · 5 primary sources cited on this page. How we verify our legal content

FTC and Washington File $225 Million Amway MLM Settlement

Updates

Independently fact-checked against the cited primary sources

Sources and References

  1. FTC press release, 'FTC Takes Historic Action Against Multilevel Marketing Operator Amway for Unfair and Deceptive Business Practices' (September 17, 2026). Accessed September 28, 2026. Establishes: the $225 million figure; the FTC's characterization of it as 'the largest monetary recovery obtained in an FTC action against a multilevel marketing company, nearly all of which will be used as redress to consumers'; that nearly all of the judgment 'will go to IBOs recruited by WWG and LTD who lost money'; the quote from Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection; the 2-0 Commission vote; the filing court (W.D. Wash.); the summarized order terms (70 percent resale, reduced recruiter compensation, prompt customer-sale reporting with actual price and Amway-sent receipts, termination for faked sales, independent outside auditor, pre-recruiting training, no first-year charges by approved providers including WWG and LTD); the statement that 'Information on the FTC's redress program for this case will be provided at a later date'; and the closing NOTE that 'Stipulated final orders have the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.'(ftc.gov).gov
  2. Complaint for Permanent Injunction, Monetary Judgment, Civil Penalty Judgment, and Other Relief, FTC and State of Washington v. Amway Corp., World Wide Group, L.L.C. and Leadership Team Development, Inc. (W.D. Wash., filed September 17, 2026), 83 pages. Read in full from the copy posted on the FTC case page; accessed September 28, 2026. Pinpoints used: caption and CM/ECF stamp 'Case 2:26-cv-03474 Document 1 Filed 09/17/26'; paras. 1-2 (FTC Act sections 5(a), 5(a)(1), 13(b), 15 U.S.C. 45(a), 53(b); Washington CPA, Wash. Rev. Code 19.86, 19.86.080, 19.86.140); para. 3 (executive's 2019 slide quote, 'Independent Business Owner' terminology); paras. 14 and 118-119 (2023 median total bonuses of $139, fewer than 1,600 of more than 241,000 IBOs at $40,000 or more, Amway's published $841 average-earnings figure); paras. 17-19 (WWG's 96-percent-from-recruits illustration; training costs; 2020-2023 joiner and departure counts); paras. 26-28 (party states of incorporation); para. 32 (77 percent of 2023 product sales to IBOs); paras. 106, 109-110, 115-117, 120-121 (bonus and recruiting statistics, decile table, $1,756 90th-percentile figure, top-1-percent average $77,887 and median $49,379); para. 135 (WWG and LTD annual cost figures); paras. 198-199 and 202 (prior 70 percent rule and the 60 percent effective threshold); paras. 209-212 and 216 ('Create a Receipt' system, 'will lie with receipts', 'easy to manipulate', VCS data 'are not valid'); paras. 218-220 (statutory recitals for Section 5(a) and 15 U.S.C. 45(n)); paras. 221-244 (all six counts: unfairness, three deception counts, and two Wash. Rev. Code 19.86.020 counts); Prayer for Relief A-E. Also establishes the negative facts that no Business Opportunity Rule (16 C.F.R. Part 437) count and no pyramid-scheme count is pleaded.(ftc.gov).gov
  3. Stipulated Order for Permanent Injunction, Monetary Judgment, and Other Relief, FTC and State of Washington v. Amway Corp., World Wide Group, L.L.C. and Leadership Team Development, Inc., Case No. 2:26-cv-3474 (W.D. Wash., filed September 17, 2026), 42 pages including Appendices A and B. Downloaded from ftc.gov and text-extracted locally; accessed September 28, 2026. Pinpoints used: caption (Case No. 2:26-cv-3474); Findings paras. 1-5 (jurisdiction; the charges; 'Defendants neither admit nor deny any of the allegations in the Complaint, except as specifically stated in this Order'; waivers); Definitions B, D, J, K, N, O, T (Approved Provider, Business Support Materials, Eligible Customer, Eligible Customer Sale with 72-hour reporting and 24-hour Amway receipt, Marketing Plan, Monthly Product Volume, Unsold Product Purchases); sec. I.A.1-4 (permitted benefits, the 70 percent requirement, proportionate reductions to participant and upline, no upline credit for a new recruit's unsold purchases in the first six months); sec. I.B (three eligible customers plus training before enrolling anyone); sec. I.C (training content and timing); sec. I.D (12-month refund right and return shipping); sec. I.E (purchases not required for benefits; no benefits for recruitment); sec. I.F (nine-month effective date; 10-year duration); secs. II.A-D (bans on instructing false reporting and numeric purchase targets; no payments collected from participants in their first 12 months; 10-year duration); sec. III (corrective-action duty on faked sales); sec. IV (permanent misrepresentation bans); sec. V (permanent earnings-claim disclosure requirements, including median alongside average and expense information); sec. VI.A-G (monitoring, termination of Platinum-and-above violators, suspension and retraining then termination for others, permanent revocation of an approved provider's authorization, clawback, data retention, complaint investigation); sec. VII.A-J (third-party auditor, 120-day appointment, methods selected by the Commission and the State, annual reports for 10 years, Amway-paid, full real-time access, participant reporting database defendants cannot access); sec. VIII.A-G (the four judgments: $154,700,000, $39,780,000, $26,520,000, $4,000,000; escrow at Kelley Drye & Warren LLP; 7-day and 30-day payment deadlines; sec. VIII.D redress-fund language); sec. IX.B-C (complaint facts taken as true in later FTC or State litigation; 11 U.S.C. 523(a)(2)(A) effect); sec. X (customer information for redress within 14 days); sec. XI (Appendix B notice within 7 days to all U.S. participants from January 1, 2021 to entry, nothing added); secs. XII-XV (acknowledgments, one-year compliance report, 10-year notices, recordkeeping, compliance monitoring, FTC matter number 2223079 in sec. XIII.E); sec. XVI.A-B (retained jurisdiction; civil penalties up to $125,000.00 per violation under Wash. Rev. Code 19.86.140 for order violations); Appendix A (business-volume credit formula and four worked examples); Appendix B (the notice text, including 'do not admit or deny these allegations'); signature pages (defendants' counsel dated August 13, 2026, plaintiffs' counsel dated September 17, 2026, judge's signature line blank).(ftc.gov).gov
  4. FTC case page, 'Amway, FTC v.' (last updated September 17, 2026). Accessed September 28, 2026. Establishes the full case caption naming the FTC and the State of Washington as plaintiffs, a case status of Pending, and the two posted documents (the September 17, 2026 complaint and the September 17, 2026 stipulated order). Establishes the negative fact relied on in the article: the page displayed no civil action or docket number as of September 28, 2026.(ftc.gov).gov
  5. 15 U.S.C. 45, Federal Trade Commission Act Section 5 (unfair methods of competition unlawful; prevention by Commission), including subsection (a) and the subsection (n) standard for unfairness that the complaint recites at paras. 218-220. Used only to confirm the statutory citations pleaded; the article's statements of the standard are quoted from the complaint's own recitals. Accessed September 28, 2026.(law.cornell.edu)
  6. Washington State Office of the Attorney General, news release dated September 17, 2026 announcing the joint filing with the FTC. Establishes the State's role as co-plaintiff, Attorney General Nick Brown's statement, the $225 million figure, the Western District of Washington as the forum, and the State's own description of the filing as a proposed settlement rather than an entered judgment. Accessed September 28, 2026.(atg.wa.gov).gov
  7. Docket, Federal Trade Commission v. Amway Corp., No. 2:26-cv-03474 (W.D. Wash.), via the Free Law Project RECAP mirror of PACER. Source for the assigned judge, Jamal N. Whitehead, and for the central posture fact in this article: docket entry 2 is an unopposed motion whose attachment is labeled a proposed order, the case carries no termination date, and no entry of the stipulated order appears. The mirror's own PACER refresh is stamped September 22, 2026. Accessed September 28, 2026.(courtlistener.com)
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