UPDATE: Whitney is calling this story “false,” telling Reality Blurb Justin’s name was “removed from this lawsuit years ago.” Reality Blurb can confirm that Justin’s name was indeed removed from the lawsuit although the lawsuit against the company LiveVantage remains ongoing.
The original story is below.
Whitney Rose’s husband, Justin Rose, previously found himself in some hot water.
As their Real Housewives of Salt Lake City castmate, Jen Shah, continues to insist she’s innocent of a years-long telemarketing scheme that reportedly targeted the elderly, Justin is making headlines after he was accused of allegedly participating in a pyramid scheme.
According to a report from Meaww on December 12, Justin serves as the Chief Sales Officer of LifeVantage, a company that sells dietary supplements, and he also has experience in multilevel marketing. As the outlet explained, the company, which Justin joined in July 2015, follows a direct sales model, which means employees have to sell their products and recruit additional staffers to do the same.
In 2018, about three years after Justin joined the team, a man named Brian Smith sued LifeVantage, alleging the company was running an illegal pyramid scheme, and Justin and two other employees were named as defendants.
The lawsuit stated, “LifeVantage is nothing more than a pyramid scheme dressed up as a multi-level marketer (an ‘MLM’) of dietary supplements. LifeVantage induces people to become Distributors with sales pitches promising wealth and business independence, and its marketing and compensation system encourages its Distributors to recruit others into the system with the same promises of wealth and business independence. Distributors pay money to participate in the business opportunity, which funds LifeVantage’s payments and ‘bonuses’ to other Distributors.”
“Despite LifeVantage’s claims of retail sales, little money comes into the system from actual retail users of LifeVantage products disconnected from the business opportunity. The majority of its retail sales are monthly sales to its Distributors purchasing products in order to participate in the compensation system and remain eligible to receive bonuses. Distributors really can only make money by bringing in new Distributors – a classic pyramid scheme,” the lawsuit continued.
It was also alleged that Justin, specifically, was “actively involved in promoting the LifeVantage scheme to potential recruits at LifeVantage events, through social media, and by his direction of LifeVantage’s top promoters.”
Although claims of a pyramid scheme remain under investigation, a judge recently dismissed several other allegations due to a lack of evidence.
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City season two airs Sundays at 9/8c on Bravo.
Photos Credit: Charles Sykes/Bravo, Instagram/WhitneyRose