by WTN Staff

A federal judge in Connecticut has ordered the makers of a diet tea to pay $2 million to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and granted the FTC's request to prohibit the company from continuing to sell its products.

The FTC issued a statement Monday, Jan. 11, essentially saying it had won the case it filed in November 2004 against Bronson Partners (dba New England Diet Center and Bronson Day Spa) and Martin Howard, based in Westport, Conn. According to the FTC, the defendants made deceptive claims that their herbal tea and diet patch would allow users to lose weight quickly without diet or exercise.

For nearly two years, the trade commission said, the manufacturers charged consumers $24.95 plus shipping and handling for a green tea product called Chinese Diet Tea. Advertisements running in national publications claimed the tea would cause users to lose up to six pounds per week if they drank a cup after each meal to "neutralize the absorption of fattening foods." The manufacturers also sold a diet patch containing extracts of fucus, garcinia and guarana.

Judge Stefan R. Underhill, of the U.S. District court for the District of Connecticut, ordered Bronson Partners and Martin Howard to pay the FTC a near-$2 million judgment and identify consumers who were harmed so that restitution could be made. The judge also granted the FTC's request to prohibit the defendants from deceptively selling or advertising any weight-loss products.

In his ruling, Underhill wrote, "Future violations of a similar nature would surely result in financial harm to consumers, and possible physical harm if consumers engage in risky weight-loss techniques in reliance on (the) defendants’ misleading representations."

The complaint against Bronson Partners and Martin Howard was part of the FTC's so-called "Big Fat Lie" campaign, which targeted companies believed to be deceptively marketing weight loss products. One other tea-related company, Femina, Inc., was targeted in the sweep. According to the FTC, the pembroke Pines, Fla.-based company made a diet pill containing green tea extract that it claimed "blocks up to 40 percent of the absorption of fat."