Enzyte founder guilty of fraud

[Newsjock]

Source: Associated Press

CINCINNATI (AP) — A federal court jury has found the owner of a company that sells "male enhancement" tablets and other herbal supplements guilty of bank fraud and money laundering.

Steve Warshak is founder and president of Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals, distributor of Enzyte and a number of products alleged to boost energy, manage weight, reduce memory loss and aid restful sleep.

Television ads for Enzyte feature "Smiling Bob," a goofy, grinning man whose life gets much better after he uses the product.

Warshak could face more than 20 years in prison and his company could have to forfeit tens of millions of dollars following the verdict on Friday.



Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-02-22-enzyte-fraud_N.htm

[eleny]

1. But...but...

[MaineDem]

5. I hate that guy

I can't get to the remote fast enough when those ads come on.

[eleny]

6. Sorry about that!

[MaineDem]

20. I do like the guy who's smiling because he's "in debt up to his eyeballs"

He has nothing else to do but smile.

But poor Bob. It seems he's stuck with the 4-hour problem that they say to call a doctor for. ;)

[eleny]

27. That one still cracks me up, too

Riding on his lawn mower in a daze.

[The Croquist]

40. I've got a neighbor, Bob, who is just like this guy.

He's always happy, he's the nicest guy in the world and he and his wife are deeply in love. We're pretty sure he's insane...

PS: I'm not kidding.

[MediaBabe]

17. I like Bob

I hate commercials about sex and stuff like that but Bob - how can you not like someone with such a great smile??

[Orsino]

33. Kinda creepy, and he's selling snake oil...

...but he's a cut above usual commercial fare. Those ads are funny.

[NYYFan]

2. Methinks Bob won't be smiling for long

SMH:hide:

[louis-t]

3. I thought he pretty much admitted the stuff doesn't work?

I figured that would be the end of the commercials, but they're still on.

[Warpy]

7. Apparently it doesn't have to work

on anything but the placebo response.

The guy's guilty of greed, not selling snake oil.

[physioex]

10. They are still selling that stuff....

I just saw it the other day at Sam's Club. Anways I thought the "Bob" ads on television were rather hilarious. I know there are some haters here. I especially like the Santa Claus ad.... :rofl:

[Warpy]

15. If I'm not mistaken, he's also the goofy guy in my favorite ad of all time

Big smiling goofy guy on a riding lawnmower, going in circles in front of a McMansion, bragging about the house, the boat, the cars, the vacations, "How did I do it? I'm up to my eyeballs in debt! Please help me!"

I haven't seen that ad since the dumb Enzyte commercials started to air, but it was one of my favorites. It said so much about so many people I know.

[dogfacedboy]

21. That ad made me laugh every time I saw it! n/t

[LTR]

30. The one with all the women lining up to sit on his lap

Crass, but pretty funny.

If you have an erection lasting over four hours, consult a doctor. Like hell - I'd be making a lot of booty calls!

[Frank Cannon]

31. The Enzyte people make no real specific claims

They only provide innuendo that their product offers "male enhancement", whatever that means. You could interpret this to mean a bigger boner or more energy at work.

It's like that stupid HEAD ON product. Do they make any specific claim as to what it does? Hell, do they make any claim that it does ANYTHING?

[alarimer]

34. It's because they FDA has never regulated supplements

they can make all kinds of claims for Enzyte, for Vitamin C, for whatever the hell else. And they do not have to do appropriate scientific tests to show that it works or that it is safe.

It is time for the FDA to start requiring tests for these claims that is at least equivalent for that required for prescription drugs, which is not rigorous enough either. You would see this snake oil disappear so fast, it'll make your head spin. And hopefully drive companies like this out of business.

[Mojorabbit]

4. I absolutely

adore those commercials. Problem is so many people believed them.
My husband who is a physician got so many enquiries about the product he had me look it up years ago. I told him after researching the product, no way would I recommend it.

[pinniped]

8. Send Enzyte Bob to jail along with that fraudulent bucket of turd.

.

[slackmaster]

23. Give them both long, hard sentences

:D

[pleah]

9. Pecker perk clients get stiffed! HAHAHAHAHAAH!!!!!

[Vanje]

11. Ow!

You made coffee come out my nose

[pleah]

12. Sailor Jerry , 92 proof will do that! Ha!

[girl gone mad]

13. Now can they stop airing those damn commercials?

What's wrong with you guys?

I swear, if their were a female equivalent pill being advertised on tv every five minutes, women would be outraged and get it taken off.

[customerserviceguy]

24. We just ignore it

there are plenty of stiffy pills that do not need the placebo effect in order to work. As long as there are car manufacturers and watery beer brewers willing to pay for me to watch football for free, I will continue to ignore them, too!

[girl gone mad]

28. It's not an ED drug..

it's a 'male enhancement' pill. Apparently, small peckers are a big problem for American men. :shrug:

[customerserviceguy]

36. Ok, well

I took it as a non-prescription (you don't have to ask your doctor) ED pill, I don't believe that anything can actually enlarge the size of any part of my body, other than a meal on my belly. But then, I don't read any of the spam I get about increasing my bust size, either!

I guess like all of the ads for hokum, the term 'male enhancement' is used to mean different things to different people.

[notadmblnd]

14. Now they need to go after the EXTENZ people

[catnhatnh]

16. For the first time since the commercials hit the air....

...I'm gettin' a chubby. I hope this bastard is in a sack of trouble....

[Endangered Specie]

18. I bet that was a hard one to swallow....

[Hissyspit]

19. I started a thread in the Lounge a while back asking if anyone knew what was in the stuff...

and people had some speculations, but nobody really knew. Seems people will stick anything into their mouth and swallow it.

[customerserviceguy]

25. "Seems people will stick anything into their mouth and swallow it."

Sigh. If only that were true...

[slackmaster]

22. He must have given out too many free samples

:sarcasm:

[Hotler]

26. I've been using it for six months and have I've grown one..

full shoe size, went from a 12 to a 13. All my socks the ends are broken out from my big toe. Big feet big .......

[MilesColtrane]

29. Barry Bonds, is that you? n/t

[Ian David]

32. This is Bob. This is Bob's cell-mate Bubba. Bubba is one happy prisoner... n/t

[MindPilot]

35. So what's so bad about exploiting dumbassery for cash?

Someone stupid enough to believe a pill will make their dick bigger probably deserves to be separated from their paycheck. This isn't some overly-complex home loan "instrument" pitched to the desperate, this is a claim so absurd that only the rubest of the rubes would fall for it.

I'll buy me some Enzyte then I'm gonna have a star named after me.


I'm glad the fraud is being stopped. I do think it is fundamentally wrong to directly convert gullibility to cash, but it sure is fun to watch.

[toopers]

38. There are other, more blatant frauds . . .

like the state lottery!

[DiverDave]

37. Look, if there weren't guys

that had a, um, problem (mostly imagined) in that area, this stuff wouldn't sell.

That being said, the fallacy of " a big ol fat one" makes a woman happy just keeps the guy that buys this sort of thing lookin for the chubby.

And, no, I don't need anything like this, or want it.

Guys are just insecure, ya know?

[0rganism]

39. Steve should've figured that eventually a DA would be trying his products...

As Marx would say, "eet vass ineveetable!"