FTC Puts The Hammer Down on North American Herb &Spice

[Guest guest]

Howdy y'all,

 

Those who have been around a long time will recall that years back I posted

that I had been seriously shafted by the above organization. There are two

messages contained in this post.

 

One is .. that we must avoid putting ourselves in Harm's Way. We might have

a laundry list of in vivo and/or in vitro lab tests showing that this or

that oil does this or that .. but if we try to extrapolate those results to

mean something that is not clearly stated in the conclusions .. or try to

assign the results to a proven treatment for human critters .. we are

walking in Harm's Way. Matters not if you and me and forty-eleven thousand

other people have good persona, first hand results with an oil, or have a

laundry list of empirical, sworn statements from others who claim to have

had results .. we might still not be on solid ground. What we KNOW and

what we can CLAIM are too different animals.

 

The other is that Mama *Justice is sometimes slow in coming but she does

come around .. * on 31 July 2008, *almost 12 years to the day that Judy Gray

and Cass Igram cheated me out of over $15,000 (in July 1996) .. they got

theirs.*

**

http://www.ftc.gov/os/caselist/0623214/index.shtm

 

Federal Trade Commission v. North American Herb and Spice Co., LLC, a

limited liability company, and Judy Kay Gray, individually and as the owner

and manger of North American Herb and Spice Co.

 

(United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern

Division)

 

Civil Action No. 08 CV 3169

FTC File No. 062 3214

 

*The charge specifically states, " Deceptive acts or practices and false

advertisements in violation of Sections 5(a) and 12 of the FTC Act. 15

U.S.C. 45 (a) and 52.

*

*The Plaintiff is the Federal Trade Commission and the defendants are North

American Herb and Spice, Co., LLC .. AND .. Judy Kay Gray, individually and

as the owner and manager of North American Herb and Spice Co,, LLC. *

*meaning

... both Judy Gray her squeeze and partner .. ex-Doctor Con Artist and

Dishonest Cass Igram, have received their just punishment.

 

From conversations with Gray and Igram, I understood that Gray had the money

when she met Dr. Cass Igram, aka. Cass Ingram, aka. Cassimer Ingram.

Igram was a handsome, charming, charismatic and greedy dude .. I'm pretty

sure that his origin was Syria. Have you ever met a Con Man who was

an ugly, stumble bum with no charisma? He and Judy Gray stayed together

while in Turkey and lived together in the U.S.A. Around 1994 or 1995 or

so they kicked off Oregano sales .. but like Gary Young of Young Living,

they got carried away .. the longer they were left alone the more carried

away they became.

 

Igram wrote a book, " The Cure Is In The Cupboard: How to Use Oregano For

Better Health " , in which he extrapolated the proven therapeutic properties

of Carvacrol and assigned them to near every known illness. They even

opened their own printing company and published that book. Later, Igram

lost his medical license .. but as far as I know he was still authorized to

use the title, Doctor .. he just could not practice medicine.

 

I was his first major supplier .. used to send him 1 metric ton or more of

Oregano Essential Oil each month .. and 2 or 3 hundred kilos of

Rosemary. Though he claimed that he sold ONLY Origanum vulgare and all the

other Origanums would not work .. most of what he purchased from me was

Origanum dubium Carvacrol. I have written for many years now, that there is

not enough Origanum vulgare produced to supply all of the sellers who claim

to be selling it .. but many folks like to believe what they want to

believe. The truth is .. Carvacrol is Carvacrol is Carvacrol .. end of

story!*

**

*My total sales per month were enormous but my producers were small

operators who didn't have the cash flow to purchase the raw materials .. so

I always advanced them $15 to $20 thousand USD each month. *

**

*Igram and Gray came to Turkey and I drove them around Turkey .. did a Round

Robin trip to the Med and all the historical sites .. and I paid all their

expenses .. even their hotel expenses in Ankara because he claimed he lost

his wallet and credit cards .. did I mention that he was greedy? ;-)

 

At the time I had an Australian Turk man working for me .. behind my back,

Igram cut a deal with him to provide Oregano oil for less than I was selling

it for and he could do that because he was operating out of his mother's

home and avoiding all expenses .. including taxes .. which is a complicated

issue that involves what is called " rubber invoicing " . I had to have a

larger (but fair) profit because I had company operating expenses, employee

expenses, etc., and I reported all income and paid taxes on it. Two months

after Igram visited .. I was prepared to ship the next order of oils when he

sent a message saying he couldn't buy because sales were down. To make a

long story short, my producers were stuck with oils I could not buy and they

could not sell and I lost over $15,000 of advance money I had paid. Then

Igram cut another deal and shafted the Turk who shafted me. Worst of it

was Igram and I had a written contract but he laughed about that and said

there was nothing I could do unless I sued him in an American court .. me

being a Turkish company then .. that was not economically feasible.

 

But I did make a trip from Turkey to Buffalo Grove, Illinois .. I wanted to

see him face to face and collect my money .. they weren't home when I got

there. I came back 3 times and once I saw a curtain move so I believe they

were there but were in hiding. Probably good it was I didn't find them

because I was one angry fellow. I was driving back from Illinois to

Washington, D.C. to catch a plane back to Turkey .. low on gas .. so I

stopped in the Appalachian Mountains in Friendsville, Maryland. That was

the beginning of the plan to create my American company there .. Appalachian

Valley Natural Products .. and we are still there. :-)

 

I note from the court order that the $2.5 million fine was a negotiated

settlement .. that is a lot of money. Gray and Igram obviously thought they

could pay much more and maybe even go to jail .. and it might not yet be

over .. it is probable that the IRS will look closely at any company that

loses a case to the FDA or FTC. The judgment/negotiation also states

that they can not appeal the decision. I suspect that the prosecution

recognized that Igram's escape from responsibility was purely technical .. I

was and am still of the opinion that each and every action ever taken by

that company was his decision .. Judy Gray was simply the owner/manager of

record.

 

It also says that they must give the Commission a written list of the names

of all people (to include address, telephone number, e-mail address and

amount paid .. including shipping and handling charges) who , after January

1, 2003, purchased their Oreganol P73, Super Strength Oreganol P73,

Oregacyn, or OreganRESP. And .. they must send a copy of the court order

to each distributor or purchaser since that time .. and provide a sworn

statement to the court within 30 days saying they have done that. This is

what makes me suspect that the entire case is not yet resolved.

 

Then they must monitor their sellers to ensure no violations occur, etc.

It goes on to say that the Commission can also monitor compliance .. even

posing as customers or suppliers. And if you go on the I-Net you will see

hundreds of companies listed as North American Herb & Spice .. they went

Multi Level Marketing. Are these " indpendent " MLM distributors in harm's

way? Only an attorney or a judge can answer that question.

 

Reading on through the decision .. its easy to see that the administrative

requirements the court has laid on them for the next 5 and 8 years are so

heavy that they might be forced to close the company .. and the order is

still valid if they open another company with a different name.* It is

obvious that the FTC was rather upset with the actions of North American

Herb and Spice.

 

So .. that is that and don't ask me if I am unhappy about this court

action. ;-)

 

Y'all keep smiling. :-)

 

Butch .. http://www.AV-AT.com <http://www.av-at.com/>

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