USANA Earnings Release for Q1 2014 - Analysts Must Demand USANA Disclose Number of Active Babycare Distributors in China.

USANA Health Sciences releases their first quarter 2014 earnings after the markets close today. I beleive it will be as usual, revenues up and active associate numbers up in select areas (I predict they will recruit 400,000 new associates this year alone). What USANA has refused to do for several years now is disclose the number of Babycare distributors. Babycare is a company USANA purchased that already had a direct selling license in mainland China. Multilevel Marketing (MLM) is banned in China so Babycare uses a single-level structure and no recruiting into downlines.

For several years USANA had allowed Chinese Nationals to be recruited into USANA distributor downlines in markets outside mainland China, such as Hong Kong. These illegally recruited distributors were given a phoney address and even phoney phone number. In fact, they were using the same address and USANA distributor genealogy reports show it by the thousands. This caused the Hong Kong active associate numbers to grow to levels that were suspicious: 1 in 100 in Hong Kong were USANA distributors?! Over the past several quarters now, Hong Kong active associates and revenues have declined greatly. USANA claims people from mainland China are no longer joining in Hong Kong. Yeah right...

I suspect USANA is simply fudging their numbers and the auditors have no way to check it. Since USANA allowed phoney addresses to be used thousands of times by Chinese Nationals, I would not put it passed them to simply report the number of Hong Kong USANA distributors minus those that had resided in mainland China. In other words, those from mainland China are still signed up as USANA distributors and in a downline structure, but are simply not being counted in Hong Kong anymore. Nobody can audit the genealogy structure, except the feds.I believe the revenues from Hong Kong are also simply being reported as Babycare revenue.

The main reason for my suspicion has been the fact USANA stopped reporting the number of Babycare associates. Analysts have repeatedly asked USANA to disclose the numbers of Babycare associates during several quarterly conference calls and every time USANA refused to disclose the figures.

My list of USANA disclosures are quite simple this time: DISCLOSE THE NUMBER OF BABYCARE ACTIVE ASSOCIATES.

While you're at it, disclose the number of United States associates, the number of Professional Startup Packages sold, the percent of net revenues that came from USANA associate's initial product purchase used to "activate" their first business center(s), the number of newly recruited associates, and the number of active associates that have been with USANA for more than 2 years.

(I have no stock position with USANA, never have and never will. I have no financial position whatsoever. I gain nothing from my blog. I have never been a USANA associate or an associate from any MLM company.)

China Orders Investigation Into Nu Skin for Conducting Illegal Business - Will USANA Be Next?

Quote from Reuters states the following "China's State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) on Thursday ordered local authorities to investigate media reports that allege skincare products company NU Skin Enterprises Inc distributes false information and conducts illegal business in China, state news agency Xinhua said."

This is exactly what China should do with USANA as well. I have for many years been writing about and showing evidence of massive China fraud regarding the recruitment of Chinese Nationals into USANA's Multilevel Marketing structure. This underground operation involves thousands of members which were all signed up in USANA using the same phoney Hong Kong address in order to circumvent the law. The time is now to act and any investigative firm that wants a lending hand, please contact me.

An Untrue Statement in USANA's 2012 10-K Financial Statement - "Target of False and Misleading Statements Regarding China"

USANA makes untrue statement in their 2012 Form 10-K SEC filing. USANA stated the following:

"More recently, in November 2012, we were again the target of false and misleading statements concerning our business practices, particularly in China and Hong Kong. This adverse publicity also adversely impacted the market price of our stock and caused insecurity among our Associates. There can be no assurance that we will not be subject to adverse publicity or negative public perception in the future or that such adverse publicity will not have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations."

USANA's claim about being the target of “false and misleading statements concerning our business practices, particularly in China and Hong Kong” is a lie. USANA does in fact illegally recruit Chinese Nationals from mainland China into USANA's multilevel marketing compensation plan through Hong Kong (and possibly other USANA territories), which is a direct violation of China's law. Dave Wentz even admitted Chinese Nationals are signing up in the MLM compensation plan during the July 27, 2011 financial conference call:

John San Marco at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC asks:

“Do you know what the percentage of your Hong Kong associates that are actually Chinese nationals?”

Dave Wentz, CEO of USANA Health Sciences responds after trying to avoid answering the question:

“We definitely have a number of people who are building in Hong Kong. We do not have a percentage or have a number that we could point to with any accuracy.”

This violation of the law is not just the problem from a couple associates, but an organized circumvention of Chinese foreign laws conducted by USANA. This violation could (and should) cause USANA to lose their direct selling license in mainland China and possibly face serious fines by regulatory agencies both domestic and foreign. Again, USANA's CEO Dave Wentz already admitted the fraud exists.

USANA May Have Misled Shareholders During Fourth Quarter Earnings 2012 Conference Call Regarding BabyCare, China, and Hong Kong

USANA Health Sciences, Inc. (USNA) appears to have misled shareholders during their fourth quarter 2012 earnings conference call on February 6, 2013 as well as several other calls in the past.


When USANA purchased BabyCare Ltd. in August 2010 (an already established direct selling (single level marketing) company in mainland China) it added 12,000 Active Associates and 7000 Active Preferred Customers to USANA's "Greater China" region. Over the last couple years USANA has attributed any of Hong Kong declining active associates to BabyCare, claiming that leaders would re-evaluate where to go (USANA Hong Kong, or China BabyCare).

Today (over two years later), BabyCare has about 17,000 Active Associates and about 2000 Active Preferred Customers. That's a net gain of ZERO customers since USANA purchased BabyCare! So all this talk about BabyCare being a hot market is simply untrue. All this talk about BabyCare siphoning off Hong Kong distributors was a farce. Truth be told, BabyCare is an utter failure and has virtually no growth.

I have datamined USANA's BabyCare distributor IDs and found there to be 38,000 issued ID numbers as of September 2012. If there are only 17,000 active associates in Babycare right now, then over half of all the associates recruited in BabyCare have quit since USANA purchased them.

As for Preferred Customers, what a utter failure. USANA doesn't explicitly state what the figure is this quarter, but since there are 4000 total preferred customers in Greater China, it seems like a safe bet that BabyCare accounts for 2000 active preferred customers. If this figure is accurate, then Babycare has lost 70% of their active preferred customers.

That's a huge problem if Active Associates in Babycare are required to have a certain number of customers to be qualified to earn a commission check.


What is hot right now is the growth in Hong Kong, which is largely attributed to Chinese Nationals from mainland China being illegally recruited into USANA's MLM Hong Kong market (instead of in BabyCare). They are recruited from mainland China and put in USANA under an address from someone living in Hong Kong. This way Auditors, shareholders, and federal regulators can be fooled. USANA allows this to happen and even has a policy set up that allows for over 15 distributors to share the same home address and the same credit card when signing up with USANA.

Stock analysts refuse to address these BabyCare issues with USANA and really don't seem to have a clue about what USANA is doing in China.

USANA Q4-2012 Earnings - Questions USANA Should Answer for Shareholders and Federal Regulators

USANA Health Sciences, Inc (USNA) Fourth Quarter Earnings for 2012 are released at the end of the day today. I'll give my two cents followed by a series of questions I think USANA should answer.

Flat to declining United States, Canada, and Mexico active associates. However, USANA might show a gain in North American active associates which could be due to European associate recruiting. USANA continues to combine Europe with United States associate numbers even though the market territories are over 3000 miles apart.

Greater China will see the biggest increase of active associates, which I attribute to mainland China citizens signing up primarily into USANA's MLM opportunity through Hong Kong rather than joining BabyCare which is only a singlelevel marketing company. As of mid-September 2012, I counted roughly 38,000 Babycare distributor IDs issued. It is unknown how many of those are actually considered "active" and how many have already dropped out.

Philippines will probably show gains since my blog is getting a lot more hits from that area of the world. This seems to be a good indication that recruiting is on the increase. Most of the Google searches that come to my website are searching the term "USANA Scam". Typically new recruits or those who have been approached by a recruit search these such terms. I also receive a lot of emails from concerned family members and friends from the Philippines.

Future sales will probably be forecast higher, which is no surprise since USANA increased the price of several top selling products. Shipping charges have been increased as well.


Questions USANA should answer during their 2012 fourth quarter earnings conference call on February 6, 2013.

New distributors who purchase a Professional Enrollment Pack for $1250 get a $100 commission check sent back to them from USANA. No customers were necessary to receive this commission check.

Question 1) How many Professional Enrollment Packs were sold to new sales reps during the 2012 year?

This answer would give investors an idea of just how much in Net Sales USANA makes upfront from newly recruited sales reps. It will also reveal what percentage of the distributor incentives was paid as a result of a phoney commission payout.


USANA has two classes of sales reps: Distributors and Associates. USANA states that "distributors" must satisfy the 5 customer rule by either having either Preferred Customers, Retail Customers, or a combination of the two. USANA goes on to further state that "associates" must satisfy the 5 customer rule by having only Preferred Customers (typically the terms are used interchangeably, except when referring to the 5 customer rule). There were only 64,000 Preferred Customers during the Q3-2012. This amount of preferred customers can only satisfy up to 12,800 active associates. USANA also states that 1 in 3 associates receive a commission check. There were 242,000 active associates in Q3-2012. So according to USANA's numbers, 80,600 active associates received a commission check.

Question 2) How many active associates received a commission check during the last quarter and how many of them are considered "Associates" and how many are considered "Distributors"?

If more than 12,800 sales reps who collected a commission check are officially classified as "associates", then USANA is not enforcing their own 5 customer rule policy.

Question 3) How many retail customers combined do the active associates who collected a commission check have?

It has to be over 339,000 to cover the remaining active associates who collected a commission check.


Over 200 of USANA sales reps are part of the million dollar club. 10 of them are part of a $5 million dollar club. So over $240 million in commission has been paid out to roughly 200 associates since USANA joined the stock market in 1996. That is over 13% of all commission ever paid out.

Question 4) Are the million dollar club members (who have received over 13% of all commission ever paid out) audited to ensure they have 5 or more customers and if so, how frequently are they audited?


USANA's Asia markets have exploded with distributor growth over the last several years. During that time, i have shown on numerous occasions how unlikely these numbers are real. In fact, according to USANA, 1 in every 100 Hong Kong citizens is a USANA distributor. Citron Research uncovered USANA distributors recruiting Chinese Nationals and training them on how to circumvent US and Chinese laws by opening a bank account in Hong Kong and signing up under their sponsor's home address. Recently I have uncovered a USANA document that shows how USANA has no limit to the number of distributors that can sign up under the same address let alone the same credit card.

Question 5) How long has USANA allowed three or more associates to sign up using the same address?

Question 6) How many USANA associates share the same address with 3 or more other associates?

Question 7) How many USANA associates share the same creditcard with 3 or more other associates?

Question 8) How many Chinese Nationals who live in mainland China have joined USANA's MLM business opportunity in other markets such as Hong Kong, Australia, Philippines, Malaysia, etc...? (Not related to BabyCare)


USANA has defined an "Active Associate" two different ways. In the SEC filings it states that an active associate has purchased product at anytime during the most recent three months. In every single other publicized location regarding USANA's business opportunity, an active associate is defined as one who personally purchases over 100/200 PSV points in order to qualify for commissions.

Question 9) What exactly is an "active associate" as described in your SEC filings. Is it an associate who could have simply purchased a single tube of toothpaste for $7.50, or is it an associate who has met the 100/200 PSV point requirement ($110 to $240) to be commission eligible?


The FTC has made the following statement in a letter to the Direct Selling Association: "a multi-level compensation system funded primarily by payments made for the right to participate in the venture is an illegal pyramid scheme."

Question 10) What percentage of net sales was the result of the distributor's PSV purchases to be commission qualified and remain as "active associate" status?

The FTC letter further states that "Modem pyramid schemes generally do not blatantly base commissions on the outright payment of fees, but instead try to disguise these payments to appear as if they are based on the sale of goods or services. The most common means employed to achieve this goal is to require a certain level of monthly purchases to qualify for commissions. While the sale of goods and services nominally generates all commissions in a system primarily funded by such purchases, in fact, those commissions are funded by purchases made to obtain the right to participate in the scheme."


USANA has never published a worldwide statistic of their distributor's leadership ranking and the percentage of distributor incentives paid out to each of those rankings. Doing so I believe would raise a red flag to federal regulators like the FTC as it would reveal just how little USANA distributors make.

Question 11) How many distributors in 2012 were in each of the Leadership Rankings from plain "associate" (commissionless) to "sharers" (bare minimum) to "#-Star Diamond Directors" (yes, each of the star rankings listed separately)?

Question 12) How much distributor incentives was paid out to each of the leadership rankings during the 2012 year?


It has been stated for many years now that MLM companies (including USANA) have a 99% distributor failure rate, meaning they did not make a profit. Based on my years of research into USANA I also have come to the same conclusion based on available information I have been able to find. However, USANA could clarify this issue once and for all and answer the following:

Question 13) What percentage of USANA sales reps make a "profit" after expenses are subtracted?


USANA states in their SEC filings "we experience a high turnover among new Associates from year to year". This is very vague and could mean 10% or it could mean 90%. This needs to be clarified with a real value.

Question 14) What is USANA's distributor turnover rate in 2012 among new associates from year to year in terms of a percentage? 


USANA claims to have about 242,000 active associates as of Q3-2012. Last year at this time it was said to have 222,000 active associates (Q4-2011). This would lead investors to believe USANA recruited 20,000 more active associates. However, because of a high turnover rate, it is actually unknown how many new associates joined.

Question 15) How many unique individuals were USANA Active Associates during the 2012 year (total)?

Question 16) How many associates left their distributorship and cancelled their membership?


I believe many USANA associates stay as a member because upline leaders discourage their members from cancelling memberships and tell them that one day they may have a downline under their business center. So the idea is that all these associates who didn't drop out have to do is keep paying a yearly renewal fee of $20. As of mid-September 2012, I have counted over 1.3 million USANA distributor IDs.

Question 17) How many distributor's paid a $20 renewal membership fee during the 2012 year?

Question 18) How many Business Development Systems (BDS) were sold or given to new distributors throughout 2012?


All of these questions are useful in continuing to build the case that USANA is a product-based pyramid scheme similar to the MLM Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing (FHTM) which was recently shut down by the FTC. It may be that the FTC chose to go after Fortune Hi-Tech first, build a strong case, and then apply that case and the judges rulings to other MLMs in the industry like Herbalife (HLF), Nu Skin (NUS), Amway, Monavie, Ariix, and hundreds of others that all have a similar business model.

Disclosure: I have no stock position in USANA or any of their competitors. I have never and will never hold a stock position with USANA. I am not paid to write this article. I make no money from this blog. I have never and will never be a USANA distributor or a distributor of any other MLM company.

USANA Allows Distributors To Sign Up Under The Same Home Address and Credit Card - Recipe For Circumventing Foreign Laws

USANA Health Sciences, Inc (USNA) has virtually expanded their Multilevel Marketing (MLM) operation from about 19 markets to every market in the entire world.

A recently written internal USANA document reveals a secret policy that only insiders and several top distributors are aware of. This hidden policy allows over 15 active associates to use the same home address as well as using the same credit card. I cannot find this sort of policy mentioned anywhere on the web or through distributor literature. This policy essentially allows USANA distributors to sign people up into their MLM downlines within any country in this world including unauthorized markets such as mainland China, which has laws preventing their citizens from participating in MLM schemes.

Internal USANA document regarding address and creditcard enhancements states the following:
QUOTE

         Address and Credit Card System Enhancements

    - System enhancements took effect starting as of January 26, 2013.
    - As each of you are aware, in order to enroll as an associate in any market where USANA does business an associate must provide their correct address in country to show residency and to allow us to contact them.
    - In addition, downline purchasing is strictly forbidden, meaning an associate must pay for his or her own orders.
    - These policies are difficult to enforce at times because an associate may “lend” the use of his or her address to downline members allowing enrollments that do not meet residency requirements.  Likewise, an upline may use the same credit card to pay for all orders in an organization, thus causing compensation plan manipulation.
    - The compliance team has been charged with enforcing these rules but has found it difficult.
    - With project upgrade complete IT has been able to help this situation with two new enhancements.
    - First, as of January 26th the online enrollment system will not accept any address as a home address if that address has already been used by more than 15 other active associates.
          - Limited to main addresses only
          - however will not catch spelling or abreaviation differences
                - example: 123 Jon Boulevard vs. 123 Jon Blv.
          - The example would read as two different addressses
          - This will need to be evaluated and reported to compliance when noticed
          - This prohibition can be manually over-ruled by a DSR so that in the extremely rare circumstance that more than 15 associates truly do share the same address they simply need to enroll by phone.
          - A DSR will then verify that the address is really their address and can complete the enrollment.
    - Second, as of January 26th our online product order system will not accept as payment for product any credit card that is already in use on more than 15 active distributorships. 
          - This rule will not apply for the time being in Mexico or the Philippines until we are comfortable that we have a working solution in those markets for distributors who do not have a credit card. 
          - In addition, this prohibition will not apply to an associate’s first order as it is common for a sponsor to lend his or her credit card to a new associate and take cash as payment for the first order.
          - As with the first system enhancement, this prohibition can also be manually over-ruled by a DSR where the DSR speaks to the associate and the upline and verifies that the associate has paid cash to the upline and the upline authorizes use of the card.
    - Note that these enhancements do not represent a change in policy.  The policy remains that each associate must pay for his or her own orders and provide a legitimate address to enroll.  These enhancements simply will allow us to better enforce rules that were previously more difficult to enforce.
    - Kevin Guest and Deborah Woo informed each of the IDCs about this new enhancement in November and there were no complaints.
    -  Brent Neidig will be writing a compliance corner article to remind associates of these policies.
    - In addition associates who have previously had a practice of signing many people up at one address or with one credit card will notice the restriction.
    - Please make sure you are prepared to respond to these associates and help them understand the restrictions and that your DSRs, compliance and field development staff

UNQUOTE

DSR stands for Distributor Services Representative
IDC stands for Independent Distributor Council

USANA's 2012-2013 Independent Distributor Council (IDC) is made up of the following distributors:

Zak Ross – 10 Star Diamond Director
Simon Chan – 3 Star Diamond Director
Tony and Tammy Daum – 2 Star Diamond Director
Daniel and Paige Hunter – 2 Star Diamond Director
Jordan Kemper – Diamond Director
Tom and Lorie Mulhern – Diamond Director
Jared Creds – Ruby Director
Soomin Kim – Ruby Director

USANA is only talking about restricting their ONLINE ENROLLMENT SYSTEM from allowing associates to sign up more distributors under the same address if they already have 15 active associates sharing that address. Obviously distributors have been doing this or else USANA would not have to put in place a limit on the online enrollment. Does it really matter though since all the associate has to do is call USANA's customer service to get an override.

This policy outlined in the internal memo about allowing over 15 associates sharing the same address contradicts USANA's published policies and procedures which states the following:
QUOTE

3.13 One Distributorship
 

An Associate may operate, receive compensation from, or have an ownership interest, legal or equitable, as a sole proprietorship, shareholder, trustee, or beneficiary in only one USANA Distributorship. However, notwithstanding this rule, your spouse may become an Associate and operate a second distributorship as long your spouse’s distributorship is placed below one of your business centers and not in a cross line sales organization. The second business must be a bona fide independent business that is operated by the person listed on the agreement and not by the owner of the first business.

UNQUOTE

Now unless USANA executives have been watching too much "Sister Wives" on The Learning Channel, there is no way somebody has 4 spouses let alone over 15! So aside from polygamy, USANA's policies and procedures limits a household to only two distributor accounts. The policies and procedures USANA publicly publishes serves as nothing more than lip service to federal regulators. USANA's unpublished set of policies shown in these internal memos are the real policies that the federal regulators should be interested in.

A couple years ago there was another internal USANA document regarding compliance and training for their employees that makes the following contradictory statements:

QUOTE (my emphasis in red)

VII. Questions from DSR
II. When can we get the computer to list accounts with same address, phone, ssn, etc.
 

i. We already have access to most of that information, it just doesn’t automatically show us it. We have spoken with IT and the more actions we place on the system, the more burdensome it becomes and the slower it  operates. So for now, we have to run our own little reports to try and find multiples.

UNQUOTE

At the time why would USANA be interested in finding distributor accounts that share the same address? USANA admits they have access to the information and is fully capable finding these "multiples". Obviously there was a problem back then with associates using the same home address.

Lets look at another quote regarding credit card fraud and usage.

QUOTE (my emphasis in red)

III. Fraud
iii. Credit card usage

1. If someone is trying to use a card other than their own, do not let them. There have been several instances of fraud lately where people’s cards have been stolen and used to purchased product.

2. A good response would be: “I noticed that the name on this card is different than your own. You may not be aware of this, but recently there have been several instances where credit card fraud has taken place. Because of this, we are trying to increase our associates protection by only allowing the account holders credit card to be used  on their account. So unfortunately I can’t let you use this credit card. I know it may be a bit inconvenient, but I’m sure you would be glad if we
stopped someone else from using your card on their account without  your authorization.”

VII. Questions from DSR
III. How rampant is credit card fraud in the system?
i. Lately we have had several issues with Fraud. I don’t have an exact  number on how many issues we have, but it is a growing concern. As a result, we are currently working on changing our credit card policy to ensure an added level of protection for our associates.

UNQUOTE

According to USANA's 2010 internal document, credit cards can only be used on the card holder's own distributor account. Here USANA discusses trying to tackle credit card fraud. Yet, in their latest internal document just recently written they allow over 15 active associates to all use the same credit card.


So why does any of this matter at all? For starters, it allows a distributor to recruit anyone from anywhere into their downline. All they have to do is use the sponsoring distributor's address and credit card. The sponsoring distributor is simply reimbursed by those in his or her downline who reside in countries that are not authorized to participate in MLM companies. This leads me to China.

For several years now I have been writing on my blog about mounting evidence that USANA has been signing up Chinese Nationals into their MLM compensation plan. It is against the law for Chinese Nationals to own or operate a MLM distributorship. USANA is not authorized to conduct MLM activities within mainland China.

So one possible way USANA can circumvent China's laws is to sign up Chinese Nationals in other countries such as Hong Kong and use the sponsoring distributor's Hong Kong address. By doing so, it removes any paper trails within USANA's computer system and from auditors eyes. The shareholders simply see USANA's Hong Kong market rise sharply while the rest of USANA's markets hold steady or even decline. This sharp rise in sales and distributorships in Hong Kong sends USANA's stock price soaring. When the price is right, insiders dump millions of dollars worth of stock (Myron Wentz sold over $30,000,000 in November and December).

In November, Citron Research released evidence of Chinese Nationals being recruited in USANA's MLM compensation plan by a distributor from Hong Kong. Each of the Chinese Nationals used the address of the distributor from Hong Kong. They were also instructed to open up bank accounts in Hong Kong as well. This internal memo is strong evidence that USANA has in place a policy that allows for such questionable recruiting activities. USANA filed a response with the SEC regarding the Citron report and simply stated that they operate BabyCare Ltd. in mainland China and do it legally. USANA's response diverges from the actual issue, which is the recruitment of Chinese Nationals into USANA's MultiLevel Marketing plan through Hong Kong, not the BabyCare SingleLevel Marketing plan already established in mainland China.

With unethical hidden policies like these it's no wonder USANA executives are leaving like rats on a sinking ship. Someone should ask USANA during their financial conference call next week "how many associates share the same address with three or more other associates and what percentage of net sales did they account for."

I'll finish with one of my favorite non-disclosures by USANA revealed in the older internal USANA document:
QUOTE

IV. What is the biggest market that buys our products that we are not eligible to operate in?

i. Once again I couldn’t give you an exact answer on this. Since I work with our Asian markets, I know that a large sum of product ends up in China, but I’m sure product somehow gets shipped to other unauthorized markets as well…

UNQUOTE

A Large Sum sounds like a lot to me.

Now that the FTC has shut down MLM company Fortune Hi Tech (FHTM), could USANA be next in their sights? I will discuss this in my next article.

Disclosure: I have no stock position in USANA or any of their competitors. I have never and will never hold a stock position with USANA. I am not paid to write this article. I make no money from this blog. I have never and will never be a USANA distributor or a distributor of any other MLM company.

USANA - Myron Wentz Sells $30 Million in Stock In Last 30 Days

USANA Health Sciences, Inc (USNA) took a dive today dropping $4.43 (10.58%) to $37.44. In the last 30 days, Myron Wentz (Founder of USANA) sold $30.3 million in stock. No mention of this has been made in the news, but I think someone has been selling on insider information. Also don't forget about the Citron report on the illegal recruiting of Chinese Nationals into USANA's MLM business opportunity. That could very well play a role in this drop today as well.

Citron Research Reveals Evidence of USANA's Illegal Activities In Mainland China

Citron Research has just backed up everything I have written about USANA's fraudulent China activities. They even have undercover investigative evidence! Be sure to read the full investigative report! Allegations are that USANA has been illegally recruiting Chinese Nationals into their Hong Kong MLM compensation plan.

For additional information regarding the allegations of USANA's fraudulent China activities, read through my blog and you will find several years of information revealing it all!

If Nu Skin Loses Their China License, USANA Might Lose Their China License As Well

There might be a very good reason Citron Research made the following Twitter comment today:

Rumors of NUS losing its license in China (cannot confirm), If so REAL BAD for USNA who has as many if not more "China issues" than NUS
— Citron Research (@CitronResearch) September 25, 2012

I can think of several USANA "China issues" that I have mentioned on my blog over the last several years. The biggest one that stands out is the illegal recruiting of Chinese Nationals into USANA's Hong Kong MLM compensation plan. It is illegal for any Chinese National to participate in Multilevel Marketing companies. China has outlawed MLM because it is a pyramid scheme.

I have pointed this out many times to my readers over the past several years. USANA's Hong Kong market exploded in growth a couple years ago and when the active associates in that market represented 1 out of every 100 Hong Kong citizens, it seemed pretty obvious to me that something is wrong. I have pointed out an internal USANA memo that admitted to sending a "LARGE SUM" of product to mainland China. There is no reason for a large sum of product to be sent to China unless they were going to distributors over there.

Then Dave Wentz and Fred Cooper actually admitted they have people signing up from mainland China in USANA's Hong Kong market. When a stock analyst asked USANA what percentage of USANA's Hong Kong market were Chinese Nationals, USANA refused to answer claiming they did not know (and never provided an actual answer). The analyst was satisfied with the non answer and dropped the subject.

I believe USANA has had tens of thousands of Chinese Nationals join USANA's MLM compensation plan. I believe USANA knows about it and is even training their associates to recruit Chinese Nationals into the MLM plan. The Fraud Discovery Institute uncovered this 5 years ago! According to the Fraud Discovery Institute (FDI), they had an undercover couple go into USANA's Hong Kong office and one of USANA's employees told that couple (who claimed they were from mainland China) to open up a bank account at the China Merchant Bank and use an address in Hong Kong. Also according to FDI, the USANA employee claimed there were 30,000 Chinese Nationals signed up in Hong Kong. Remember, this was 5 years ago. I believe this to be true.

Shortly after this China Report came out, FDI settled a lawsuit with USANA for an undisclosed amount and all the FDI material on USANA was removed from the internet. Then several years later Fred Cooper and Dave Wentz admit that Chinese Nationals signed up in Hong Kong.

Let it also be known that I brought this information to the attention of PriceWaterhouseCooper (USANA's Auditors) regarding the "LARGE SUM" of product being sent to mainland China as well as the recruiting of Chinese Nationals. PriceWaterhouseCooper ended their communications with me after I sent them all the information. Seems they didn't really care. But just for the record, they cannot claim they weren't informed about it years ago.

If there are tens of thousands of Chinese Nationals in USANA's Hong Kong distributorship, that could represent a very large portion of USANA's net revenues. Without this China recruiting, USANA's net revenues could have been on the decline like their United States market is. With such a decline, USANA's stock would be drastically lower. Which gets to my point about USANA executives selling their stock recently for millions of dollars with a stock price over $45. If these insiders know about the Chinese National recruiting scheme, then they know the stock price is grossly inflated because of the inflated earnings. I believe this is a form of stock manipulation.

USANA Executives Sell Millions of Dollars Worth of Stock

Myron Wentz sells $4,735,010 worth of stock in the last couple days (Sept 12 and 14). So I will update the figures below with the latest data. Someone should ask USANA to disclose what days the company repurchases the stock. Today it appears Myron Wentz sold his stock at the last 15 minutes of trading. (Update Sept 14, 2012)

Over the past couple weeks USANA's CEO Dave Wentz sold $2,960,088 of his stock.

Since the beginning of 2012, USANA executives have sold a total of $14,573,605 in stock. They have purchased $0.

Wentz Dave	$2,960,088.00
Wentz Myron W	$8,616,930.00
Macuga Daniel A.	$515,973.30
Woo Deborah	$500,436.24
McClain Jerry G	$103,737.70
Guest Kevin	$970,099.00
Iiekking G Doug	$348,718.20
Fuller Gilbert A	$164,095.00
Bramble James	$196,329.00
Truett Roy	$197,199.00

And I'd like to remind the readers how Dave Wentz responded during a past conference call:
John San Marco at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC:
"Do you know what the percentage of your Hong Kong associates that are actually Chinese nationals?"

Dave Wentz replies back with:
"We definitely have a number of people who are building in Hong Kong. We do not have a percentage or have a number that we could point to with any accuracy."

Also this Internal USANA Memo that admits to sending product to mainland China:
"IV. What is the biggest market that buys our products that we are not eligible to operate in?

i. Once again I couldn’t give you an exact answer on this. Since I work with our Asian markets, I know that a large sum of product ends up in China, but I’m sure product somehow gets shipped to other unauthorized markets as well…"

And also what USANA's ex-president Fred Cooper stated:
"we have a large group of Asian Associates who are involved with USANA only because of the products and are buying in Hong Kong for consumption only."


So USANA executives are fully aware of the Chinese Nationals that are recruited into USANA's MLM compensation plan through Hong Kong China. And has I have written about for years, the ratio of USANA distributors in Hong Kong to citizens in Hong Kong is about 1 in 100. That's a major red flag. Now USANA admits to the recruiting of mainland China citizens. The problem here is, it is AGAINST CHINA'S LAW for any of their citizens to participate in MLM. Why is that? MLM is against the law in China. So USANA is knowingly circumventing foreign laws and the SEC should investigate this matter.

As I have stated before, I believe that if you remove the net revenue generated by these illegal distributors, USANA would no be growing, but actually declining!. Thus, the stock price would be far lower. I believe the stock price is grossly inflated because of the illegal recruiting of Chinese Nationals and believe the executives selling their shares at these inflated prices could land them in hot waters.

It would be very interesting to find out how many USANA distributors are illegal recruits from foreign territories that restrict MLM from operating in their own borders. 

USANA Recruits Chinese Nationals To Participate and Build Their Business in Hong Kong in Violation of Chinese Direct Selling Laws.

I've been stating this for years now. USANA has been recruiting citizens from mainland China as distributors in a multilevel marketing company for their Hong Kong territory. I've pointed out in the past how USANA's Hong Kong distributor numbers are way out of proportion (now 1 in every 112 Hong Kong citizens are USANA distributors = RED FLAG) and that mainland China only allows their citizens to participate in SINGLE-level marketing companies.

Well, today USANA was asked during their dismal second quarter earnings results the following question by John San Marco at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC:

"Do you know what the percentage of your Hong Kong associates that are actually Chinese nationals?" - Transcripts

Finally, someone asks USANA a real question instead of the soft balls USANA usually receives. Dave Wentz's first answer was a very calculated "No, we do not". If Dave is being honest, then USANA's management team doesn't know their ass from a hole in the ground. But I'm sure USANA knows the answer but refuses to publicly disclose that number.

Better yet, Dave Wentz could have just simply quoted their own internal document that surfaced over a year ago!

"IV. What is the biggest market that buys our products that we are not eligible to operate in?

i. Once again I couldn’t give you an exact answer on this. Since I work with our Asian markets, I know that a large sum of product ends up in China, but I’m sure product somehow gets shipped to other unauthorized markets as well… "

Dave could have simply stated that he isn't sure of the exact percentage, but that a "LARGE SUM OF PRODUCT ENDS UP IN CHINA". But Dave is only the CEO, so why would he know any of this...

After John San Marco asked for USANA to at least give a ball park estimate on the percentage, Dave Wentz replies back with:

"We definitely have a number of people who are building in Hong Kong. We do not have a percentage or have a number that we could point to with any accuracy."

 Really!? Chinese Nationals "building in Hong Kong"? Uh oh! Dave Wentz was not suppose to admit that. During the first quarter's conference call 3 months ago, USANA's Fred Cooper said "we have a large group of Asian Associates who are involved with USANA only because of the products and are buying in Hong Kong for consumption only."

So now USANA is in a pickle. Dave Wentz lets the truth come out and admits that the Chinese Nationals are actually building a USANA downline in Hong Kong. So USANA has been "Cheating in China". And of course they are having trouble "transitioning" these distributors over to BabyCare because they all know that without a downline they have no chance of making a dime. The product is over priced and over rated. There is little to no demand for USANA's product except as a required purchase to participate in a pyramid scheme. To transition these Chinese Nationals over to BabyCare would mean breaking apart their already formed downlines. And best of all, these downlines are attached beneath many of USANA's top distributors. That is why USANA's distributor leaders were upset about some changes USANA was trying to implement which forced USANA to quickly retract their plan. To split up the Chinese Nationals out from USANA would mean top distributors of USANA losing tens of thousands of dollars in commissions. Commissions which come from the mandatory product purchases by these Chinese Nationals in order to participate in the scheme.


Lastly, John San Marco asks USANA if there are any Chinese Laws that prevent Chinese Nationals from doing any sort of multilevel marketing outside their borders. Dave defers the question to Jim Bramble, USANA's legal officer. Jim dances around the question and John had to then be more specific. Finally, Jim makes the following statement:

"Well if an individual does not have residency in Hong Kong and the ability to build in Hong Kong, then they can only build in China." - Jim Bramble

Jim follows that up with a lot of rambling and back peddling. So in otherwords, Chinese Nationals are not legally allowed to participate in USANA's multilevel marketing business opportunity whatsoever. I have been making this claim for a while now USANA finally admits it. But wait a minute, in regards to Chinese Nationals, Dave Wentz had just stated that "We definitely have a number of people who are building in Hong Kong." I think we have a winner folks. USANA caught in a lie regarding Chinese Nationals as USANA distributors.


I want to thank John San Marco at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC for asking USANA his questions. Good job.

USANA Purchases BabyCare Ltd for its Direct Selling License in China for $62,716,000

USANA recently purchased a company based in Beijing China that has been unprofitable. However, this company had something USANA has not been able to obtain; a direct selling license in mainland China. USANA paid a whopping $62,716,000 for a company that only had $15,000,000 in annual net sales and $19,000,000 in total assets. The transaction took place in the Cayman Islands, so it is questionable whether or not either party had to pay any US or Chinese tax.

USANA Health Sciences, Inc. is successful for one reason, Multilevel Marketing (MLM). USANA distributors can recruit more distributors, and because any distributor who wants to participate must personally purchase over $100 worth of product every 28 days, there is no need to retail product. Commission is paid to upline distributors from those mandatory product purchases made by their downline. So in MLM, selling the dream of making money and recruiting new distributors is what makes 1% of distributors a lot of money and make USANA very profitable. However, mainland China does not allow MLM compensation plans!

Mainland China only allows single level marketing compensation plans. So the only means for a distributor to make any money would be to retail product to real customers, which is really what direct selling is suppose to be about. For USANA to bring their product into China, USANA must at least drop the price of their product line in half (or more). This would allow its distributors in mainland China to retail the product and make a “Profit Margin”. This profit margin in currently unheard of with USANA's products around the rest of the world because the distributors already pay a premium retail price for the product and cannot resell it for more than they paid. Also, USANA's preferred customers pay the same price as the distributors. USANA would also have to reward those Chinese Nationals that actually retail product unlike those around the rest of the world which are rewarded for recruiting more distributors instead of retailing product. In case this isn't clear, distributors in mainland China would not have a downline! These distributors would also only be recruited by USANA's corporate office (or BabyCare for now) and not by distributors inside or outside the country.

There are good reasons for USANA to make this move however. They will try to use it to encourage the rest of their markets to recruit like crazy. USANA can put in their promotional material that they are only 1 of 25 companies in the world that have a direct selling license in mainland China, which is now the second largest economy in the world. If USANA distributors thinks USANA will be able to grow a large distributor base in China and maintain those distributors, then those distributors are in for a surprise. Again, what incentive is there for Chinese Nationals to join a distributorship with BabyCare/USANA? Unlike MLM where distributors think they work as a team, single level marketing means that each distributor is a competitor to one another. So the more distributors in a single level marketing plan, the less each distributor has to potentially make. Because of this, the number of Chinese distributors not rise as much as some believe. If the numbers grow too big, Chinese distributors will not last very long and will drop out even quicker than MLM distributors do.

Goodluck to USANA though. If USANA brings their product line into mainland China, they'll be forced to drastically lower the price of their products. Then the Chinese National distributors will pay about $50 USD or less for a USANA HealthPak100 and resell it for about $70 USD and make a $20 profit from each box sold, unless USANA refuses to lower the price. Oh, and if you think the product sent to Chinese Nationals would only be resold in China, think again. USANA has been unable to police Ebay and other auction sites for USANA distributors who have been reselling massive amounts of product at half the price that it costs distributors to purchase; all for the sales volume points (MLM point game)! What would stop Chinese Nationals from using ebay to resell all their product world wide and do it for a real profit while still reselling it for a cheaper price than any other USANA distributor elsewhere in the world could even buy it for.

Bottom line, MLMs have not been successful in mainland China and that is because MLMs were never about retailing product. MLM's like USANA are in business to sell the opportunity to make money (the dream). China is smart because they know a pyramid scheme when they see one; MLM. Companies in mainland China with a direct selling license can only succeed if the product is very affordable and competitive against those on store shelves. With a LIMITED distributor base, the product line can make the company and its distributors a lot of money. But if the product is too expensive, customers will not buy, and distributors will leave.

USANA's Active Associate Per Territory, Evidence of Illegal Recruiting in Mainland China, and Misleading Philippines Associate Figures.

The following table shows the number of reported Active Associates for USANA Health Sciences, Inc. 2nd quarter financial results in 2007 and 2010. Also included is a ratio of the number of USANA active associates to the population for the given territory. The results of this chart reveal what I believe is strong evidence that supports the notion that illegal associate recruiting is taking place in mainland China. I've been saying this for quite a while now, but the SEC needs to investigate this matter.

Territory	06/30/07	07/03/10	USANA Associates Per Citizen
North American Region
United States	63,000	57,000	1 : 5,436
Canada	27,000	26,000	1 : 1,315
Mexico	14,000	12,000	1 : 9,268
SE Asia/Pacific Region
Australia-New Zealand	21,000	18,000	1 : 1,476
Singapore	8,000	5,000	1 : 998
Malaysia	11,000	14,000	1 : 2,022
Philippines	0	7,000	1 : 13,140
E Asia Region
Hong Kong	13,000	52,000	1 : 135
Taiwan	15,000	11,000	1 : 2,095
N Asia Region
Japan	4,000	4,000	1 : 35,855
South Korea	2,000	4,000	1 : 12,190

1. It is very interesting that over the past 3 years Hong Kong gained 39,000 active associates, which is a 300% increase. How is this possible when the rest of USANA's markets did so poorly? And to top it off, Hong Kong has 1 USANA associate for every 135 citizens! This is a huge red flag and should easily prompt an SEC investigation into the illegal recruiting of Chinese Nationals. USANA is forbidden to recruit associates from mainland China because China has banned MLM from operating in their country. Any recruiting of people from mainland China breaks foreign laws. USANA is fully aware of the associates they are recruiting from mainland China. In a leaked USANA internal document from October 2009, USANA admitted that a "large sum" of product ends up in mainland China. USANA has never disclosed this information to shareholders. Besides, according to a long time USANA distributor, over 5 years ago USANA already had some problems with about 1400 of their distributors that were all Chinese Nationals who joined illegally, so it isn't like this would be the first time.

2. Also revealed by this chart is the fact that after three years USANA is losing active associates in most of their territories. Are shareholders aware of just how saturated USANA's markets are? USANA only reports in their SEC filings the active associate results for each region (North American, E. Asia, N. Asia, SE Asia). Investors have no idea how bad each of USANA's markets are doing because they are grouped together as a whole. After three years, US down 6000, Canada down 1000, Mexico down 2000, Australia/New Zealand down 3000, Singapore down 3000, Taiwan down 4000. Japan remains the same. Malaysia went up 3000 and South Korea went up 2000. The Philippines have 7000, but didn't exist 3 years ago. And finally, Hong Kong went up 39,000! Red Flag???

I believe the massive recruiting situation in Hong Kong and this large sum of product that is being sent to mainland China are signs of fraudulent activity. It is also evident that USANA's management is fully aware of the situation since they acknowledge it in their internal document. Without this situation in Hong Kong, USANA's stock would be in the toilet.

3. Another thing to point out are the number of active associates in the Philippines. If stockholders followed USANA's press releases after the Philippines market opened, they would expect the number to be much higher!

USANA Q1-2009
"the addition of 5,000 Associates in the Company’s newest market, the Philippines"


USANA Q2-2009
"Additionally, the Company’s newest market, the Philippines, added 5,000 Associates during the quarter." 

USANA Q3-2009
"Additionally, the Company’s newest market, the Philippines, added 6,000 Associates."

USANA Q4-2009
"Additionally, the Company's newest market, the Philippines, added 4,000 Associates."

USANA quit reporting the Philippines numbers during Q1 and Q2 of 2010, and never mentions any increase or decrease in the Philippines market. So shareholders and distributors are left to believe USANA has at least 20,000 active associates in the Philippines. However, according to my chart above, USANA only has 7,000 active associates in that market! What kind of management runs a publicly traded company with such irregularities like this?

Why is USANA management trying to fool investors? Is it so the stock price will rise? What does the SEC think about all of this? Someone should ask them.

USANA Announces Their Intention to Enter China - They're Already In China!

USANA announced that they have intentions to enter China. They made this announcement during their Hong Kong convention. Who are they trying to fool? USANA's already conducting their pyramid scheme in mainland China. They already admitted in an October 2009 internal document that a LARGE SUM of product ends up in mainland China. That's because they are allowing illegal recruiting to take place in mainland China.

MLM is banned in China, and the only way for USANA to enter China is to do away with their MULTI-LEVEL marketing structure. USANA will have to design a SINGLE-LEVEL marketing compensation plan just for China. But why bother? USANA's products are designed to be overpriced and forced to purchase by their distributors in order to participate in the pyramid scheme. Without the incentive to recruit large downlines, there is no reason to purchase the product. Investors might see this announcement as a positive, and the stock will probably go up. However, everyone will soon find out that no entrance into China will happen. USANA will lose money if they change to a single level marketing structure.

So when will stockholders demand USANA to disclose how much product and how many active distributors are a result of illegal China recruiting? When will PriceWaterhouseCoopers do their job according to their code of ethics and require USANA to comply with SEC filing rules and disclose this "Large Sum" of product that was illegal sent to mainland China?

Reference: USANA Health Sciences Announces Its Intention to Open in China

USANA, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and China - Post on Yahoo Forum

The other day a gentleman asked me a question regarding USANA and China. The Following is a copy of my response on that forum: Yahoo Posting

"it is so surprise as all know USANA is doing sales to china. how can hong kong do sales of so many sale with only small number of population." - Stevechu6264

Good observation. It does seem a bit odd that so many people in Hong Kong want to join USANA's MLM.

"what if someone tell china customs." - Stevechu6264

Fraud Discovery Institute did a couple years ago. They even have video of a USANA "employee" in Hong Kong trying to show how someone from mainland China can set up bank accounts in Hong Kong to hide under the radar.

"so risk to USANA distributor if usana is stop in china. why does sec care. is it illegal to stock because it keep going up? did company lie? why cant they get license to do legal job?" - Stevechu6264

China has banned all MLM companies from doing business within their country. They do not allow "Multi-Level" compensation plans because they are not stupid. China understands that it is a pyramid scheme. So because USANA is a Multi-Level business, they are not welcomed in China.

USANA can get a license to do business in China if they designed a Single-Level compensation structure for mainland China. But if USANA did that, they would never sell any product because the product is overpriced. The only reason USANA is able to sell product is because it is a requirement for all distributors to purchase at least $100 USD worth every 28 days if that distributor wants to participate in the compensation plan. So without the Multi-Level structure, USANA would never stand a chance.


Would you buy a $112 USANA Healthpak from a USANA distributor that lasts only 28 days when you can get the same exact USANA Healthpak off EBAY for $50 from USANA distributors who can't sell it? Both boxes are unopened and brand new.

The SEC should care because USANA has stated in an internal company document that a "LARGE SUM" of product ends up in mainland China. And the only way product is sold is to "Distributors". So USANA is recruiting distributors from Mainland China into their MULTI-LEVEL compensation plan. And doing so violates China's Laws. The SEC should care because USANA is breaking foreign law. Because USANA admitted a "LARGE SUM" of product goes to China, then USANA is knowingly withholding this information from their stockholders.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers is USANA's financial auditor, and it is their duty to make sure USANA complies with the SEC filing rules. It is PWC's responsibility to either force USANA to comply and report the amount of sales that went to mainland China, or PWC must resign as USANA's auditors. Because PWC was notified of this document many months ago and has not done anything about it, then PWC is now as guilty as USANA is.

So if the SEC ever decides to do their job and investigate this matter and finds USANA guilty, then PWC should also be held accountable.

Investors are being misled by USANA's E. Asia growth. No where else in the world is USANA expanding their distributor force. However, they are doing so in areas with small populations. I would bet the growth is from mainland China.