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  Government Action: BBB reports on known government actions involving business’ marketplace conduct:

  FTC vs Gravity Defyer
  Gravity Defyer Medical Technology Corporation (Gravity Defyer) and its owner Alexander Elnekaveh will have to stop making alleged deceptive pain-relief claims for Gravity Defyer footwear, under a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission.
  
  
  
  The federal order also requires Elnekaveh to pay a $175,000 civil penalty for allegedly violating a prior Commission order barring him from deceptive advertising.
  
  
  
  California-based Gravity Defyer advertised their Gravity Defyer footwear as containing soles with “VersoShock” technology that supposedly relieves pain, including pain from numerous medical conditions, according to the FTC’s complaint. The complaint alleged the ads claimed, without adequate scientific evidence, that Gravity Defyer footwear:
  
  
  
  will relieve pain, including knee, back and foot pain;
  
  will relieve pain in people suffering from multiple conditions such as plantar fasciitis, arthritis, joint pain, and heel spurs; and
  
  was clinically proven to relieve pain, including 85% less knee pain, 91% less back pain, 92% less ankle pain, and 75% less foot pain.
  
  The FTC alleged that Elnekaveh’s conduct violated a 2001 order barring him from such allegedly deceptive advertising by making scientifically unsupported claims and using misleading consumer testimonials to sell Gravity Defyer products.
  
  
  
  The stipulated order settling the complaint bars Gravity Defyer and Elnekaveh from making pain relief claims or claims that a device will cure, mitigate, or treat any disease unless they have competent and reliable scientific evidence to back up the claims, including human clinical trials.
  
  
  
  The order further prohibits Gravity Defyer and Elnekaveh from making health, efficacy, and safety claims about other products unless they are supported by scientific evidence, bars them from misrepresenting the results of any test, study, or research, and requires them to preserve certain scientific records related to human clinical studies.
  
  
  
  Finally, the order imposes a $175,000 civil penalty against Elnekaveh. He must also notify retailers selling Gravity Defyer footwear of the Commission’s order.

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