Documents obtained by the New York Post show that in 2015, Kamala Harris ignored recommendations from her staff as California Attorney General to investigate the dietary supplement company Herbalife over potential pyramid scheme activity.
Her staff had drafted a memo outlining evidence that Herbalife was operating as an illegal pyramid scheme and wanted to begin an investigation.
“Conducting an investigation of Herbalife at this juncture will send the message that this office takes continued monitoring and enforcement of its existing judgements very seriously,” the memo read. “In addition, it will ensure that Herbalife is held accountable for the acts of its distributors.”
However, Harris declined to open a probe.
At the same time, her husband Doug Emhoff worked at a law firm representing Herbalife, though not personally on their account.
Critics argued Harris failed to properly oversee Herbalife and protect consumers from potential fraud due to her husband’s ties to the company through his employer.
“As a result, her staff leaked its memo to us and the media at that time. Unfortunately, by then no one was interested in the story,” Pershing Square CEO Bill Ackman said. “Interestingly, at that same time, AG Harris’ husband was a partner at Venable, one of HLF’s top law firms. HLF has always been very savvy about managing its regulatory and legal risks.”
“The whole situation is an incredibly damning indictment of how our regulatory enforcement apparatus works,” Ackman said.
Herbalife was later sued by the FTC and settled for $200 million in 2016.
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