Penalty Amount
$750,000
The FTC alleged that Vanilla Chip LLC (d/b/a TruHeight) deceptively advertised height-enhancing supplements for children and teens without competent scientific evidence, and used fake employee-written and incentivized 5-star reviews. The proposed settlement requires TruHeight and its principals to pay $750,000, bars false health claims, and prohibits misleading review practices. A $4 million total judgment is partially suspended due to the respondents' inability to pay the full amount.
TruHeight and its principals are ordered to pay $750,000, partially satisfying a $4 million judgment suspended due to inability to pay. They are permanently enjoined from making false or unsubstantiated height and growth claims, and banned from making any health benefit claims without competent and reliable scientific evidence. They are also prohibited from misrepresenting reviewer identity or experience, and from purchasing reviews conditioned on particular sentiment. The order is a consent decree issued by the FTC.
In-house legal teams should review all vendor agreements with marketing agencies, social media management firms, and review platform providers to prohibit incentivized reviews, fake testimonials, and automated bot-generated content. Customer-facing advertising contracts and terms of service should include warranties that all health-related claims are supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence, and that all reviews are genuine and uncompensated. Employee agreements must explicitly ban staff from writing fake reviews of company products, and contracts with third-party review platforms should require full disclosure of any review incentives and prohibit sentiment-conditioned payments.
Entity
Vanilla Chip LLC
Industry
HealthcareOfficial Press Release
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/04/ftc-takes-action-against-truheight-deceptive-unsubstantiated-advertising-supposed-height-enhancing
TruHeight Complaint
https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/TruHeight-Complaint.pdf
2423093truheightdecisionandorder
https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/2423093truheightdecisionandorder.pdf
Federal Trade Commission Enforcement Page
https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement
"Vanilla Chip LLC, which does business as TruHeight"
"requires TruHeight and its principals to pay $750,000"
"violated the FTC Act and the agency’s Reviews and Testimonials Rule"
"April 13, 2026"
"Federal Trade Commission"
"Proposed settlement order"
$750K
The FTC finalized a settlement with Vanilla Chip LLC (doing business as TruHeight) and its principals over allegations that they deceptively advertised height-enhancing supplements for children and teenagers without competent and reliable scientific evidence. The FTC also alleged that TruHeight used fake social media bot profiles and relied on reviews written by employees, vendors, or consumers who received free products or discounts for 5-star reviews. Under the final order, TruHeight must pay $750,000 and is barred from making unsupported health claims or misrepresenting reviews.
The FTC issued a policy statement abandoning disparate-impact liability, stating it will no longer bring claims based on this theory. It also modified compliance obligations for several companies based on past decisions.
The FTC, along with Utah and California, filed a complaint against Hims & Hers alleging the telehealth provider shared consumers' sensitive health information with third-party advertising platforms without consent, and deceived consumers about billing and cancellation practices. The complaint alleges violations of the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act.
$300K
The FTC alleged that Elite Events and Tickets LLC, doing business as Smart Scalpers, violated the Better Online Ticket Sales Act by circumventing security measures to bypass ticket purchase limits for over 2,400 events, reselling tickets at a profit. The proposed order requires payment of $300,000 (with a total penalty of $10.7 million partially suspended) and permanently prohibits the company and its owners from engaging in such circumvention tactics.
$45.9M
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$16.5M
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